page_title: Aaron
section_title: Conflicts
hierarchical_section_title: Aaron / Biblical narrative / Conflicts
caption_attribution_description: English: Aaron's rod blossoming, as in Numbers 17:23, etching by Augustin Hirschvogel before 1553; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: Aaron was a prophet, high priest, and the elder brother of Moses in the Abrahamic religions. Knowledge of Aaron, along with his brother Moses, comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Bible and Quran.
  The Hebrew Bible relates that, unlike Moses, who grew up in the Egyptian royal court, Aaron and his elder sister Miriam remained with their kinsmen in the eastern border-land of Egypt. When Moses first confronted the Egyptian king about the Israelites, Aaron served as his brother's spokesman to the Pharaoh. Part of the Law that Moses received from God at Sinai granted Aaron the priesthood for himself and his male descendants, and he became the first High Priest of the Israelites.
  Aaron died before the Israelites crossed the North Jordan river and he was buried on Mount Hor. Aaron is also mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible.
context_section_description: Aaron plays a leading role in several stories of conflicts during Israel's wilderness wanderings. During the prolonged absence of Moses on Mount Sinai, the people provoked Aaron to make a golden calf. (Exodus 32:1-6). This incident nearly caused God to destroy the Israelites (Exodus 32:10). Moses successfully intervened, but then led the loyal Levites in executing many of the culprits; a plague afflicted those who were left (Exodus 32:25-35). Aaron, however, escaped punishment for his role in the affair, because of the intercession of Moses according to Deuteronomy 9:20. Later retellings of this story almost always excuse Aaron for his role. For example, in rabbinic sources and in the Quran, Aaron was not the idol-maker and upon Moses' return begged his pardon because he felt mortally threatened by the Israelites (Quran 7:142-152).
  On the day of Aaron's consecration, his oldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, were burned up by divine fire because they offered "strange" incense (Leviticus 10:1-3). Most interpreters think this story reflects a conflict between priestly families some time in Israel's past. Others argue that the story simply shows what can happen if the priests do not follow God's instructions given through Moses.
  The Torah generally depicts the siblings, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, as the leaders of Israel after the Exodus, a view also reflected in the biblical Book of Micah. Numbers 12, however, reports that on one occasion, Aaron and Miriam complained about Moses' exclusive claim to be the LORD's prophet. Their presumption was rebuffed by God who affirmed Moses' uniqueness as the one with whom the LORD spoke face to face. Miriam was punished with a skin disease (tzaraath) that turned her skin white. Aaron pleaded with Moses to intercede for her, and Miriam, after seven days' quarantine, was healed. Aaron once again escaped any retribution.
  According to Numbers 16–17, a Levite named Korah led many in challenging Aaron's exclusive claim to the priesthood. When the rebels were punished by being swallowed up by the earth (Numbers 16:25-35), Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was commissioned to take charge of the censers of the dead priests. And when a plague broke out among the people who had sympathized with the rebels, Aaron, at the command of Moses, took his censer and stood between the living and the dead till the plague abated (Numbers 17:1-15, 16:36-50).
  To emphasize the validity of the Levites' claim to the offerings and tithes of the Israelites, Moses collected a rod from the leaders of each tribe in Israel and laid the twelve rods overnight in the tent of meeting. The next morning, Aaron's rod was found to have budded and blossomed and produced ripe almonds (Numbers 17:8). The following chapter then details the distinction between Aaron's family and the rest of the Levites: while all the Levites (and only Levites) were devoted to the care of the sanctuary, charge of its interior and the altar was committed to the Aaronites alone (Numbers 18:1-7).
caption: The Blossoming of Aaron's Rod, etching by Augustin Hirschvogel
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