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From Eternity Past
with Moses, offended the Lord at Kadesh by disobeying the command
to speak to the rock that it might give forth water.
Aaron bore the names of Israel upon his breast. He communicated
to the people the will of God. He entered the most holy place on the
Day of Atonement, “not without blood,” as a mediator for all Israel.
It was the exalted character of that sacred office as representative of
our great High Priest that made Aaron’s sin at Kadesh of so great
magnitude.
With deep sorrow Moses removed from Aaron the holy vestments
and placed them upon Eleazar, his successor by divine appointment.
For his sin at Kadesh, Aaron was denied the privilege of officiating
as God’s high priest in Canaan—of offering the first sacrifice in the
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goodly land. Moses was to continue leading the people to the very
borders of Canaan but was not to enter it. Had these servants of God
borne unmurmuringly the test at Kadesh, how different would have
been their future! A wrong act can never be undone. It may be that
the work of a lifetime will not recover what has been lost in a single
moment of temptation or thoughtlessness.
As the people looked about upon their vast congregation, they saw
that nearly all the adults who left Egypt had perished in the wilderness.
They remembered the sentence pronounced against Moses and Aaron.
Some were aware of the object of that mysterious journey to the summit
of Mount Hor, and their solicitude was heightened by bitter memories
and self-accusings.
Lessons From the Death of Aaron
Moses and Eleazar were at last discerned slowly descending the
mountainside. Upon Eleazar were the sacerdotal garments, showing
that he had succeeded his father in the sacred office. As the people
gathered about, Moses told them that Aaron had died in his arms upon
Mount Hor and that they there buried him. The congregation broke
forth in mourning and lamentation. “They mourned for Aaron thirty
days, even all the house of Israel.”
The Scriptures give only the simple record, “There Aaron died,
and there he was buried.”
Deuteronomy 10:6
. In striking contrast, in
modern times the funeral services of a man of high position are often
made the occasion of extravagant display. When Aaron died, there