AARON ā rŏn (אַהֲרﯴן, H195, LXX ̓Ααρών, G2). The meaning of the name is unknown, as is the case with many Biblical names. A connection with “ark” (’aron) is quite improbable, as are also “mountaineer” (from har, “mountain”), “illumined” (from ’or, “light”). The ending ōn occurs frequently with personal names. This particular name was borne only by Moses’ brother. No explanation or interpretation of it was given in Scripture, which may indicate that, unlike Moses (Exod 2:10), his name had no special significance.

1. The family. Aaron was the elder son of Amram and Jochebed. Amram belonged to the tribal family of Kohath, the son of Levi (Exod 6:16). The genealogy given suggests that Amram was a son of Kohath and consequently a grandson of Levi. The fact that, at the time of the Exodus, the Kohathites numbered 8,600 (Num 3:28) makes it probable that Amram, Izhar and Uzziel (Exod 6:20ff.) were descendants of the men of like name in v. 18, with a considerable, though unindicated, interval of time between them (cf. Lev 10:4). On the other hand, the remarkable longevity attributed to Levi (137 years), to Kohath (133 years) and to Amram (137 years) may have a significant bearing on this problem. The name of Aaron’s mother was Jochebed (“Jehovah is glorious”), which may be significant since names combined with Jehovah were rare in this early period. Aaron’s wife was Elisheba, sister of Nahshon, apparently the prince of Judah who was an ancestor of David (Exod 6:23; Ruth 4:20; 1 Chron 2:10). He had four sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar (Exod 6:23), the first two of whom were slain for an act of sacrilege (Lev 10:1f.).

2. Moses’ spokesman. The subordinate role of Aaron, as compared with Moses, is indicated clearly. He was completely ignored until Moses showed almost insuperable unwillingness to obey God’s call to be the deliverer of Israel. “Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite?” (Exod 4:14, following the word order of the Heb.). The phrasing of the question is remarkable. “Your brother,” indicates that Aaron owed his position primarily to his relationship to Moses. Kinship and descent played a prominent role in Bible history. Aaron was called Moses’ brother eleven times. He was eighty-three years old at this time (Exod 7:7) and the designation, “the Levite,” suggests that he occupied a prominent position in this particular tribe of the enslaved Israelites. What it was is unknown; the text simply says that his ready tongue (Heb., “he can certainly talk”) would make up for Moses’ slowness of speech (Heb. “heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue”).

3. Aaron and the Exodus. Aaron was constantly associated with Moses in performing the mighty acts which brought about the deliverance (Exod 5-13). The rod as the symbol of authority was sometimes wielded by Aaron. God frequently spoke to both Moses and Aaron, rarely to Aaron alone. Aaron had no part in the giving of the law, but he and his two elder sons, with the seventy elders, witnessed the divine self-manifestation and ate and drank in God’s presence (Exod 24:9-11).

4. Aaron and the Tabernacle. Aaron nad nothing to do with the construction of the Tabernacle or the making of the Ark and the sacred vessels. Everything was made, including the vestments of Aaron and his sons, by Bezaleel of Judah and Aholiab of Dan (Exod 31:1-6) and by the willing-hearted among the people (Exod 35:21-35), “as the Lord had commanded...” (Exod 39:43).

5. Aaron’s investiture. The priests, and especially Aaron, wore a special garb. Much is said about the garments which were made for Aaron, “for glory and for beauty” (Exod 28:2), especially the girdle and the breastplate on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes (vv. 9f., 21, 29), and the Urim and Thummim (q.v.). The “plate of gold” with the engraving, “Holiness to the Lord” (“Jehovah”?) (v. 36 KJV) which was placed on the front of the miter was symbolic of his office. Aaron was in a preëminent sense both the representative of the people and their mediator with God. The hereditary character of his office is stressed by the fact that his garments were to be worn by his successors in office (Exod 29:29f.; Num 20:25-28). In contrast, nothing is said about Moses’ garb; and Moses had no successors. His office as lawgiver was unique and the law which he gave was of perpetual validity (Mal 4:4). All the priests were anointed with oil (Exod 40:12-15; Lev 8:12), yet apparently the anointing of Aaron and his successor was different from that of the ordinary priests. Hence, the high priest was, in a special sense, the “anointed priest” (Lev 4:3, 5; 6:20, 22; 21:10).

6. Aaron and the priesthood. Leviticus is the manual for the priests. The name Leviticus, taken from the LXX, was perhaps a misnomer, since the Levites are mentioned only in one passage in the entire book (25:32f.); and yet it does contain a manual of instruction for the Levitical priests to follow. Chapters 1-7 deal with the elaborate sacrificial ritual which was to be performed by Aaron and his sons. To make atonement for sin was the great mediatorial duty of the priests. Their duties also included the removal of all forms of uncleanliness from the people of God, as a holy community (Exod 29:43-46); clean and unclean animals (Lev 11), the purification of women after childbirth (ch. 12), leprosy (13-14), bodily issues or secretions of men and women (15), prohibited relationships in marriage (18), miscellaneous ritual laws (19-22), the sabbath and the annual feasts (23), the sabbaths of the land, tithes, blessings and cursings, vows, etc. (24-27). The fact that the enforcement of these laws was entrusted to the priests made them in a preëminent sense the teachers of the people (Deut 31:9-11).

7. The Day of Atonement. The rite in which Aaron as high priest and the high priests who followed him played a distinctive role was the ceremony of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) (Lev 16) when the high priest made atonement for the Tabernacle, the priests and the children of Israel “for all their sins once a year” (v. 34 KJV). The “all” refers principally to sins of ignorance or inadvertence (Num 15:22-29), since for sins of presumption, the sins of the “high hand,” the penalty was death (vv. 30-36).

Aaron vigorously opposed the people at Kadesh-barnea when they refused to go forward to possess the land (Num 14:5), and the Levites had no representative among the twelve spies, from which one may infer that the priests and the Levites were not included in “the generation of wrath” which was condemned to perish in the wilderness for its disobedience and unbelief (vv. 26-38). The rebellion of the Levite, Korah (Num 16) was directed against the exclusive authority of Moses and Aaron, and Aaron was instrumental in the staying of the plague which followed (vv. 46-50). The ritual of the red heifer providing for the purification from uncleanness was the last of the ritual ordinances instituted in the lifetime of Aaron (Num 19).

8. Meribah. Aaron’s life had a tragic ending. The sojourn in the wilderness of Zin (Num 20:1) led to one more of the many murmurings of the Israelites, no water! Moses and Aaron were encouraged by the sight of the glory of God (v. 6). They were then commanded to take the rod, to assemble the people and to “speak” to the rock. Instead “he,” Aaron, said to the people, “‘Hear now, ye rebels, is it from this rock we shall bring forth for you water?’ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice, much water came forth and the congregation drank and their cattle” (Heb.). Then one reads, “And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore....’” The chapter closes with a brief account of Eleazar’s investiture with Aaron’s high-priestly garments, and with Aaron’s death. The narrative makes it quite plain that both Moses and Aaron were involved in this sin of presumption or self-assertion, and this incident serves as a solemn warning to all servants of God, lest they take to themselves the credit for the “mighty works” which God accomplishes through them.

9. Aaron the man. If one reads the character of this brother of Moses correctly, he sees that Aaron owed his exalted position to two things, a ready tongue and his kinship to Moses. Aaron’s character must be estimated by two incidents, the first was the supreme test of his life, i.e. the golden calf. Aaron had heard the Decalogue with its “shalt nots” proclaimed by the voice of God. He had “seen God” and had taken part in a sacramental feast (Exod 24:9-14). His brother had gone up into the mountain to commune with God; Aaron and Hur were left in charge. The people, impatient at Moses’ long absence of forty days, demanded gods. Aaron asked for the gold needed to make them. He made an idol of a calf and built an altar for it. Then he announced a feast in honor of Jehovah even though He had prohibited idolatry. When confronted by the fiery wrath of Moses, he laid the blame on the people and disclaimed all responsibility for the shape assumed by the molten image (32:22-24). He expressed no remorse for the “great sin” (vv. 30f.) into which he had led the people; it was only Moses’ intercession (Deut 9:12, 16, 20), not his own repentance, which saved him from the death penalty, which he perhaps deserved more than did the three thousand who perished for, and in, their iniquity.

10. Aaron, the disloyal brother. Aaron was apparently fully aware that he owed his exalted position to the fact that he was Moses’ brother. He even called Moses “lord” (Exod 32:22; Num 12:11). Yet he could not entirely forget that he and Miriam were both older than Moses. Hence, on one occasion they followed the example set them by the people who murmured against Moses (Num 12). The occasion was a personal or family matter, Moses’ marrying a Cushite woman. As in many other instances, the Bible states the fact without explanation or argument. Who the woman was, why Moses married her, what had become of Zipporah, were not told. Miriam and Aaron found in this circumstance an occasion or pretext for challenging Moses’ unique authority. The Lord intervened directly and summarily, rebuked Miriam and Aaron, and even smote Miriam with leprosy, the removal of which was granted only in response to Moses’ prayer, at Aaron’s plea. Aaron was not a real leader of men. He owed his position to his kinship to Moses and he needed the support of that wonderful brother to qualify him as high priest.

11. Aaron and the critics. Aaron has received remarkable treatment at the hands of the critics of the OT. His name appears in the Heb. Scriptures nearly 350 times, of which 300 are in the Pentateuch itself (Exod 115, Lev 80, Num 101, Deut 4). Often his name is coupled with that of Moses, which means that at the time of the Exodus he was second only to Moses in prominence. According to the still widely held hypothesis of Wellhausen, Aaron was an artificial concoction of late Biblical tradition. Such writers avow that, “Aaron is missing from J; and is only incidental in E (Deut 9:20; 10:6; 32:50)” (Brightman). It is illuminating to examine the basis for this statement. In the J document Aaron’s name is coupled with that of Moses (“Moses and Aaron”) ten times, describing their dealings with Pharaoh. How then can it be asserted that Aaron is missing from J? Brightman points out that many critics following the lead of Wellhausen regard “and Aaron” as an insertion of a late redactor of the Pentateuch; in other words, Aaron’s name was not originally in the earliest document of the Pentateuch. Aaron is declared to be “incidental in E” (the next earliest source), although E mentions him twenty-one times, of which more than half are in the incident of the golden calf (Exod 32), and in the challenging of Moses’ authority (Num 12), both of which were important events in Israel’s history. This leaves the vast majority of the occurrences of his name to P (the document dealing mostly with the ritual), which is claimed by the critics to be postexilic. Consequently, the Aaronic priesthood and Aaron as high priest can be regarded as a late invention in Israel; and Aaron becomes largely a figment of the imagination of the priests of the exilic period. How arbitrary this reconstr uction may be is indicated by the fact that the words “then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron” (Exod 8:8, 25; 9:27; 10:16; 12:31), which are assigned to J, require in each instance the deletion of the “and Aaron.” On the other hand, the words, “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron” (Exod 7:8 and fifteen other occurrences which are introduced by similar words) are assigned to P and regarded as properly belonging there, and therefore not subject to deletion. This handling of the text requires a remarkable disregard of consistency, to say the least, and is forthrightly rejected by conservative scholarship. See Priests and Levites.

Bibliography G. F. Oehler, Theology of the Old Testament (1883); J. Orr, Problem of the Old Testament (1909), 180ff.; S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (1910), 22-69; W. E. Addis, art., “Aaron” in EBi (1914); E. S. Brightman, The Sources of the Hexateuch (1918), 82, 208; O. T. Allis, The Five Books of Moses (1949), 191ff.; J. Bright, A History of Israel (1959).