I just finished an interpretive translation of the biblical book of Numbers for “The Voice,” a multi-volume project to which many extraordinary Christian writers have contributed. I’m honored to be in their company. Numbers is a funny book — one minute you can be slogging through mind-numbing details of genealogies or ritual details and the next you’re suddenly smack in the middle of high drama. Remarkably economical, few biblical narratives go in for the kind of backstory, landscape, or inner thoughts that enrich modern stories. And sometimes the result is heart-breaking.
That was true for me in reading about Aaron’s death. Aaron, the brother of Moses, and partner in the great escape from Egypt, adventure of Sinai, and the tribulations of wandering for decades through the desert wilderness, never got to enter the Promised Land. And his death is a matter-of-fact thing for God, who directs it with no more fanfare than a McDonald’s manager instructing a new employee on proper french-fry bagging technique. Maybe because I felt so bad for these brothers, I added a little to the empty spaces. But there’s still a great and deafening silence to the whole thing.
At the end of chapter 20, the narrator tells that God said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you two didn’t follow my orders back at Meribah, neither of you will get to enter the Promised Land. Let this be the place where Aaron dies. Here, he shall join your ancestors who passed on before (‘be gathered to his people, as the saying goes). So, bring Aaron along with the son who will be his successor, Eleazar, up to the top of Mount Hor. There, you shall strip Aaron of the garments that distinguish him as the priest of priests, and put them on Eleazar. There, Aaron shall die.”
With a heavy heart, Moses did just as the Eternal One had instructed. These brothers, now old, slowly made their way up Mount Hor, one behind the other, while the whole community watched. When they reached the top, well, I will say only this: Moses stripped Aaron of his priestly robes and put them on Eleazar, and Aaron died there. Having satisfied the Lord’s command, Moses and Eleazar walked back down the mountain. Understanding that Aaron was dead, the whole congregation wept, and because he was so important to them, their mourning went on for thirty days, instead of the usual seven.
