Numbers 20:26

_AARON SHALL BE GATHERED UNTO HIS PEOPLE: FOR HE SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE LAND WHICH I HAVE GIVEN UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, BECAUSE YE REBELLED AGAINST MY WORD AT THE WATER OF MERIBAH._ Aaron shall be gathered unto his people. In accordance with his recent doom, he, attired in the high priest's costume, was commanded to ascend that mountain and die. But although the time of his death was hastened by the divine displeasure, as punishment for his sins, the manner of his death was arranged in tenderness of love, and to do him honour at the close of his earthly service. His ascent of the mount was to afford him a last look of the camp and a distant prospect of the promised land. 'From the flat roof of the chapel we overlooked his last view-that view which was to him what Pisgah was to his brother. We saw all the main points on which the eyes of Aaron must have rested. He looked over the...

22-29 God bids Aaron prepare to die. There is something of displeasure in these orders. Aaron must not enter Canaan, because he had failed in his duty at the waters of strife. There is much of mercy in them. Aaron, though he dies for his transgression, dies with ease, and in honour. He is gathered to his people, as one who dies in the arms of Divine grace. There is much significancy in these orders. Aaron must not enter Canaan, to show that the Levitical priesthood could make nothing perfect; that must be done by bringing in a better hope. Aaron submits, and dies in the method and manner appointed; and, for aught that appears, with as much cheerfulness as if he had been going to bed. It was a great satisfaction to Aaron to see his son, who was dear to him, preferred; and his office preserved and secured: especially, to see in this a figure of Christ's everlasting priesthood. A good man...

Verse Numbers 20:26. _STRIP AARON OF HIS GARMENTS_] This was, in effect, depriving him of his office; and putting the clothes on his son Eleazar implied a transfer of that office to him. A transfer of office, from this circumstance of _putting the clothes_ of the late possessor on the person intended to succeed him, was called _investing_ or _investment_, (_clothing_); as removing a person from an office was termed _divesting_ or _unclothing_. Among the Catholics, and in the Church of England, this same method is used in degrading ecclesiastics. Hence such a degradation is termed by the common people _stripping a man of his gown_....

The priestly garments, wherewith Moses had invested Aaron Leviticus 8:7, were put upon Eleazar by way of solemn transference of Aaron’s office to him; compare 1 Kings 19:19....

EXPOSITION THE LAST MARCH: FROM KADESH TO HOR (Numbers 20:1). NUMBERS 20:1 THEN CAME THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, EVEN THE WHOLE CONGREGATION. The latter words are emphatic here and in Numbers 20:22, and seem intended to mark the period of reassembly after the dispersion of nearly thirty eight years. Probably a portion of the tribes had visited Kadesh many times during those years, and perhaps it had never been wholly abandoned. INTO THE DESERT OF ZIN, _i.e; _if the western site be maintained for Kadesh, the Wady Murreh. See th

AND STRIP AARON OF HIS GARMENTS,.... His priestly garments, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi: AND PUT THEM UPON ELEAZAR HIS SON; thereby declaring him to be high priest in his father's stead: AND AARON SHALL BE GATHERED UNTO HIS PEOPLE, AND SHALL DIE THERE; the phrase of gathering to his people is here explained of his dying....

10. AT KADESH IN THE FORTIETH YEAR: MURMURING AND CONQUEST CHAPTER 20 _ 1. The death of Miriam (Numbers 20:1)_ 2. The murmuring of the people (Numbers 20:2) 3. The divine instruction (Numbers 20:6) 4. Moses' and Aaron's failure (Numbers 20:9) 5. Edom's refusal (Numbers 20:14) 6. The death of Aaron (Numbers 20:23) Between the nineteenth and twentieth chapter lies the unrecorded period of almost 38 years, th

THE DEATH OF AARON (P).- Mt. Hor, the scene of Aaron's death, has been identified by some with Jebel Maduran, an isolated hill not far from the S. end of the Dead Sea, which must have been near to the NW. frontier of Edom. If the identification is correct, P must have believed that Israel crossed, instead of compassing, Edom. Others identify it with Jebel Haroun, near Petra. According to Deuteronomy 10:6, Aaron's death took place at Moserah (the Moseroth of Numbers 33:30). The date of it is definitely assigned in Numbers 33:38 to the fortieth year after the Exodus....

UNTO HIS PEOPLE. Figure of speech _Ellipsis,_ supplied from Numbers 20:24....

_The death of Aaron_....