When Moses and Eleazar returned from the mountain without Aaron, Israel
said to Moses: "We shall not release thee from this spot until thou
showest us Aaron, dead or alive." Moses prayed to God, and He opened
the cave and all Israel saw within it Aaron, lying dead upon a bier.
They instantly felt what they had lost in Aaron, for when they turned
to look at the camp, they saw that the clouds of glory that had covered
the site of the camp during their forty years' march had vanished. They
perceived, therefore, that God had sent these clouds for Aaron's sake
only, and hence, with Aaron's death, had caused them to vanish. These
among Israel who had been born in the desert, having now, owing to the
departure of the clouds of glory, for the first time beheld the sun and
moon, wanted to fall down before them and adore them, for the clouds
had always hidden the sun and the moon from them, and the sight of them
made a most awful impression upon them. But God said to them: "Have I
not commanded you in My Torah: 'Take ye therefore good heed unto
yourselves…lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou
seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven,
thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them?' For it is God
that led thee out of the furnace of Egypt, that thou mightest be the
people of His inheritance." [645]
The disappearance of the clouds of glory inspired Israel with terror,
for now they were unaided against the attacks of enemies, whereas none
had been able to enter into the camp of Israel while the clouds covered
them. This fear was not, indeed, ungrounded, for hardly did Amalek
learn that Aaron was dead and that the clouds of glory had vanished,
when he at once set about harassing Israel. [646] Amalek acted in
accordance with the counsel his grandsire Esau had given him, for his
words to his grandson had been: "In spite of all my pains, I did not
succeed in killing Jacob, therefore be thou mindful of avenging me upon
his descendants." "But how, alas!" said Amalek, "Shall I be able to
compete with Israel?" Esau made answer: "Look well, and as soon as thou
seest Israel stumble, leap upon them." Amalek looked upon this legacy
as the guiding star of his actions. When Israel trespassed, saying with
little faith, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" Amalek instantly
appeared. Hardly had Israel been tempted by its spies wickedly to
exclaim, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt," when
Amalek was upon the scene to battle with Israel. In later times also
Amalek followed this policy, and when Nebuchadnezzar moved to Jerusalem
in order to destroy it, Amalek took up his position one mile away from
the holy city, saying: "If Israel should conquer, I should declare that
I had come to assist them, but should Nebuchadnezzar be victorious,
then shall I cut off the flight of the fleeing Israelites." His hopes
were realized, for Nebuchadnezzar was victorious, and standing at the
crossway, he cut down the fleeing Israelites, and added insult to
injury by hurling invectives against God and the people, and ridiculing
them.
When, after Aaron's death, Amalek no longer considered Israel
dangerous, since the clouds had disappeared, he instantly set about
making war upon them. Amalek did not, however, go in open warfare
against Israel, but tried through craft to attain what he dared not
hope for in open warfare. Concealing their weapons in their garments,
the Amalekites appeared in Israel's camp as if they meant to condole
with them for Aaron's death, and the unexpectedly attacked them. Not
content with this, the Amalekites disguised themselves in Canaanite
costume and spoke the speech of the latter, so that the Israelites
might not be able to tell if they had before them Amalekites, as their
personal appearance seemed to show, or Canaanites, as their dress and
speech indicated. The reason for this disguise was that Amalek knew
that Israel had inherited the legacy from their ancestor Isaac that God
always answered their prayer, hence Amalek said: "If we now appear as
Canaanites, they will implore God to send them aid against the
Canaanites, and we shall slay them." But all these wiles of Amalek were
of no avail. Israel couched their prayer to God in these words: "O Lord
of the world! We know not with what nation we are now waging war,
whether with Amalek or with Canaan, but whichsoever nation it be, pray
visit punishment upon it." [647] God heard their prayer and, promising
to stand by them, ordered them totally to annihilate their enemy,
saying: "Although ye are now dealing with Amalek, do not treat him like
Esau's other sons, against whom ye may not war, but try totally to
destroy them, as if they were Canaanites." Israel acted according to
this command, slaying the Amalekites in battle, and dedicating their
cities to God. [648] Amalek's only gain in this enterprise was that, at
the beginning of the war, they seized a slave woman who had once
belonged to them, but who later passed over into the possession of the
Israelites. [649]
For Israel this attack of Amalek had indeed serious consequences, for
as soon as they perceived the approach of the enemy, they were afraid
to continue the march to Palestine, being now no longer under the
protection of the clouds, that vanished with Aaron's death; hence they
determined to return to Egypt. They actually carried out part of this
project by retreating eight stations, but the Levites pursued them, and
in Moserah there arose a bitter quarrel between those who wanted to
return to Egypt and the Levites who insisted upon the continuance of
the march to Palestine. Of the former, eight tribal divisions were
destroyed in this quarrel, five Benjamite, and one each of the
Simeonite, Gadite, and Asherite divisions, while of the Levites one
division was completely extirpated, and three others decimated in such
a way that they did not recover until the days of David. The Levites
were finally victorious, for even their opponents recognized that it
had been folly on their part to desire to return to Egypt, and that
their loss had been only a punishment because they had not arranged a
mourning ceremony adequate to honor a man of Aaron's piety. They
thereupon celebrated a grand mourning ceremony for Aaron in Moserah,
and it is for this reason that people later spoke of this place as the
place where Aaron died, because the great mourning rites took place
there. [650]