Moses wanted to inform his brother of his impending death, but knew not
how to go about it. At length he said to him: "Aaron, my brother, hath
God given anything into thy keeping?" "Yes," replied Aaron. "What,
pray?" asked Moses. Aaron: "The altar and the table upon which is the
shewbread hath He given into my charge." Moses: "It may be that He will
now demand back from thee all that He hath given into thy keeping."
Aaron: "What, pray?" Moses: "Hath He not entrusted a light to thee?"
Aaron: "Not one light only but all seven of the candlestick that now
burn in the sanctuary." Moses had, of course, intended to call Aaron's
attention to the soul, "the light of the Lord," which God had given
into his keeping and which He now demanded back. As Aaron, in his
simplicity, did not notice the allusion, Moses did not go into further
particulars, but remarked to Aaron: "God hath with justice called thee
an innocent, simple-hearted man."
While they were thus conversing, a cave opened up before them,
whereupon Moses requested his brother to enter it, and Aaron instantly
acquiesced. Moses was now in a sad predicament, for, to follow God's
command, he had to strip Aaron of his garments and to put them upon
Eleazar, but he knew not how to broach the subject to his brother. He
finally said to Aaron: "My brother Aaron, it is not proper to enter the
cave into which we now want to descend, invested in the priestly
garments, for they might there become unclean; the cave is very
beautiful, and it is therefore possible that there are old graves in
it." Aaron replied, "Thou art right." Moses then stripped his brother
of his priestly garments, and put them upon Aaron's son, Eleazar. [636]
As it would have been improper if Aaron had been buried quite naked,
God brought about the miracle that, as soon as Moses took off one of
Aaron's garments, a corresponding celestial garment was spread over
Aaron, and when Moses had stripped him of all his priestly garments, he
found himself arrayed in eight celestial garments. A second miracle
came to pass in the stripping of Aaron's garments, for Moses was
enabled to take off the undermost garments before the upper. This was
done in order to satisfy the law that priests may never use their upper
garments as undergarments, a thing Eleazar would have had to do, had
Moses stripped off Aaron's outer garments first and with these invested
his son. [637]
After Eleazar had put on the high priest's garments, Moses and Aaron
said to him: "Wait for us here until we return out of the cave," and
both entered it. At their entrance they beheld a couch spread, a table
prepared, and a candle lighted, while ministering angels surrounded the
couch. Aaron then said to Moses: "How long, O my brother, wilt thou
still conceal the commission God hath entrusted to thee? Thou knowest
that He Himself, when for the first time He addressed thee, with His
own lips declared of me, 'When he seeth thee, he will be glad in his
heart.' Why, then, dost thou conceal the commission God hath entrusted
to thee? Even if it were to refer to my death, I should take it upon
myself with a cheerful countenance." Moses replied: "As thou thyself
dost speak of death, I will acknowledge that God's words to me do
concern thy death, but I was afraid to make it known to thee. But look
now, thy death is not as that of the other creatures of flesh and
blood; and not only is thy death a remarkable one, but see! The
ministering angels have come to stand by thee in thy parting hour."
[638]
When he spoke of the remarkable death that awaited Aaron, Moses meant
to allude to the fact that Aaron, like his sister Miriam and later
Moses, was to die not through the Angel of Death, but by a kiss from
God. [639] Aaron, however, said: "O my brother Moses, why didst not
thou make this communication to me in the presence of my mother, my
wife, and my children?" Moses did not instantly reply to this question,
but tried to speak words of comfort and encouragement to Aaron, saying:
"Dost thou not know, my brother, that thou didst forty years ago
deserve to meet thy death when thou didst fashion the Golden Calf, but
then I stood before the Lord in prayer and exhortation, and saved thee
from death. And now I pray that my death were as thine! For when thou
diest, I bury thee, but when I shall die, I shall have no brother to
bury me. When thou diest, thy sons will inherit thy position, but when
I die, strangers will inherit my place." With these and similar words
Moses encouraged his brother, until he finally looked forward to his
end with equanimity.
Aaron lay down upon the adorned couch, and God received his soul. Moses
then left the cave, which immediately vanished, so that none might know
or understand how it had happened. When Eleazar saw Moses return alone,
he said to him: "O my teacher, where is my father?" Moses replied: "He
has entered Paradise." Then both descended from the mountain into the
camp. [640] When the people saw Moses and Eleazar return without Aaron,
they were not at all in the mood to lend faith to the communication of
Aaron's death. They could not at all credit that a man who had overcome
the Angel of Death was now overcome by him. Three opinions were then
formed among the people concerning Aaron's absence. Some declared that
Moses had killed Aaron because he was jealous of his popularity; some
thought Eleazar had killed his father to become his successor as high
priest; and there was also some who declared that he had been removed
from earth to be translated to heaven. Satan had so incited the people
against Moses and Eleazar that they wanted to stone them. Moses
hereupon prayed to God, saying: "Deliver me and Eleazar from this
unmerited suspicion, and also show to the people Aaron's bier, that
they may not believe him to be still alive, for in their boundless
admiration for Aaron they may even make a God of him." God then said to
the angels: "Lift up on high the bier upon which lies My friend Aaron,
so that Israel may know he is dead and my not lay hand upon Moses and
Eleazar." The angels did as they were bidden, [641] and Israel then saw
Aaron's bier floating in the air, while God before it and the angels
behind intoned a funeral song for Aaron. God lamented in the words, "He
entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walketh in
his uprightness," whereas the angels said: "The law of truth was in his
mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with Me
in peace and uprightness, and did turn many away from iniquity."