067. Aaron--Moses' Brother
Aaron--Moses’ Brother
Num 20:23-29. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazer his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into mount Hor, in sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son: and Aaron died there in the top of the mount. And Moses and Eleazer came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. The lives of most men, from the womb to the grave, pass away unobserved, unregarded, unknown. When their course is finished the whole history of it shrinks into two little articles; on such a day they were born, and after so many days, they died. Of those who emerge out of the general obscurity, some begin their public career at an advanced period of life, and of course it consists of a few shining, interesting, important events, and is confined within the compass of a very few fleeting years. While the progress of a little selected band, whom an indulgent Providence has vouchsafed signally to nobilitate, and whom the historic pencil is fond to delineate, is distinguished from the cradle to the tomb, by an uninterrupted series of splendid incidents, exemplary virtues, and brilliant actions. The characters of men are mixed like their fortunes. The most perfect instruction, for the generality of mankind, which history furnishes, is perhaps supplied from the exhibition of mixed, that is, of imperfect characters. Unvarying scenes of fraud, violence, and blood; the representation of undeviating, unrelenting, unblushing profligacy, must, of necessity, create disgust, or diminish the horror of vice. The real annals of mankind present no model of pure and perfect virtue, but one: and from its singularity, it cannot, in all respects, serve as a pattern for imitation. We contemplate it at an awful distance; we feel ourselves every moment condemned by it: we turn from the divine excellency, which covers our faces with shame, and casts us down to the ground, toward the mercy which has sealed our pardon, and the grace which raises us up again. The fanciful representations of perfect virtue, which are supplied from the stores of fiction, can but amuse at most; edify they cannot. They want truth, they want nature, they come not home to the bosoms of ordinary men. I might more easily ape the state of a king, than imitate the affectedly sublime virtue of the heroes of romance. Many of the persons whose profession it is to retail those ideal virtues, are notoriously among the most abandoned and profligate of our race. Those examples, therefore, are to be considered as the most useful, as I flatter myself they are more frequent, which exhibit a mixture in which goodness predominates, and finally prevails; in which virtue is seen wading through difficulties, struggling with temptation, recovering from error, gathering strength from weakness, learning wisdom from experience, sustaining itself by dependence upon God; seeking refuge from its own frailty and imperfection in divine compassion, and crowned, at length, with victory over all opposition, and the smiles of approving Heaven. Of this sort, is the history and character which the pen of inspiration, which the pencil of a brother has drawn for the instruction of this evening.
Aaron, the first high priest of the Hebrew nation, and the only brother of Moses, their celebrated legislator, was born in the year of the world two thousand three hundred and seventy; before Christ one thousand six hundred and thirty-four; and before the birth of his brother three years. It is probable he came into the world before the edict of the king of Egypt was published, which commanded all the Israelitish male children to be put to death. For that edict seems to have been directed by a special interposition of Providence, precisely to mark, and eminently to signalize, the first appearance of the great prophet of the Jews. Exposed to no special danger of infancy, the subject of no interesting memoir in early life, distinguished by no memorable talents or exploits in manhood, we see him far declined into the vale of years before we see him at all; and, for all our knowledge of him, earlier or later, we are indebted to the labors of his younger brother. Another, among a cloud of witnesses, to prove that the birthright of nature, and the destination of Providence, are intended to confer distinctions of a very different kind. Moses has shone forty years in the court of Pharaoh, has formed an alliance by marriage with a foreign prince, and cultivated the virtues, and prosecuted the employments of private life for forty years more, before his elder brother is heard of. And when he is at length brought upon the scene, at the advanced age of eighty-three, it is to occupy an inferior department to his brother, and the elder is yet again designed to serve the younger. His first introduction, however, to our acquaintance, places him in a most interesting, respectable, and honorable point of view. We behold a venerable man, fourscore and upwards, agitated with public cares, and moved with fraternal tenderness and affection, on his way through the wilderness, in quest of his long absent brother. In these our days of speedy conveyance and communication from pole to pole, from the east to west, by land, by water, through the air, we can form but a slender idea of the anxiety of friends, removed but a few leagues’ distance from one another, and their consequent ignorance of each other’s situation. Proportionally sweet must have been the delight of meeting together, after long separation. Scripture has described this, as it does everything else, in its own inimitable manner. “Aaron thy brother, behold he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.”[*]Exo 4:14 Behold the interview of two brothers, not the result of previous concert, not the effect of human sagacity, not the fortuitous coincidence of blind, blundering, accidental circumstances; but planned and conducted of Heaven, and effected by Him, “who worketh all things after the counsel of his will,” and for a great and noble purpose. The occasion of Aaron’s first appearance in the sacred drama, is not less memorable. Moses having received the divine commission to proceed to the deliverance of his nation from Egyptian bondage, repeatedly excuses himself from undertaking that honorable employment, particularly on the footing of his deficiency in the arts of eloquence and persuasion. Did this arise from timidity in Moses? was it a false modesty and humility? or did he indeed labor under a defect of this kind? If the last, can we avoid reflecting on the wonderful equality with which nature distributes her gifts? In conception who so sublime, in composition who so elegant, in narration who so simple, in written language who so perspicuous, so forcible, so impressive as Moses? Can it be true, then, what he says of himself, “O, my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”[*]Exo 4:10 Who is so favored of nature and Providence, as to possess every talent, every blessing? Who so hardly dealt with, as to be left destitute of all? The praise of eloquence certainly belongs to Aaron; for it is bestowed by him, who is best able to estimate his own gifts. “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well.”[*]Exo 4:14 But O how different the nature, the importance, the effect, the duration of one talent compared to another! The tongue which overawed Pharaoh, which astonished all Egypt, and charmed the listening ear of Israel, speedily became mute; and of its powerful charm, not a single trace remains behind: while the productions of Moses’ pen exist and shall exist till nature expire, to instruct, delight, and bless mankind. The various instruments which heaven employs are ever suited to their seasons, occasions, and ends. The interview between the brothers takes place according as infinite wisdom had contrived it; and it behoved, on many accounts, to be a pleasant one. Two wise and good men, so nearly related, so fondly attached to each other, after a separation so tedious, to meet again in health, to confer together on matters of such high moment, to enter, under the assured protection of Heaven, upon the noblest and most generous enterprise that can engage great and lofty spirits, the deliverance of their country! What a field for the exercise of private friendship, of natural affection, of public spirit! On Aaron, according to the divine appointment, fell that most grateful of all tasks, to announce to the wretched the period of their misery, “to proclaim liberty to the captives,” the truth and faithfulness of God to the desponding and dejected, and the possession of Canaan to the slaves of Pharaoh.
Eloquence has an enchanting power, even over those who have no interest in the subject of it. How potent, then, the enchantment of the heaven-taught eloquence of Aaron the Levite! What grace must have been poured into his lips, when delivering the message of love from the great “I AM,” the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to their hapless offspring, assuring them, that the time to favor them was now come, that his covenant was sure! With what ravished ears must the elders of Israel have listened to such tidings, flowing from such lips! Happy Aaron, thus accomplished, thus commissioned, thus prospered! Happy people, thus remembered, thus addressed, thus persuaded! But wherefore envy his honor or their happiness? A greater than Aaron is with us; even He who says of himself, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound:”[*]Isa 61:1 We announce to you, that Jesus “in whom all fulness was pleased to dwell,” whom admiring multitudes worshipped, saying, “never man spake like this man!” whose all-commanding voice checked the boisterous elements, put demons to flight, and pierced the ear of death.
Christians, we come not to you with the eloquence of an Aaron; but we bear a message infinitely more important than his. Our “speech and preaching is not with enticing words of man’s wisdom:”[*]1Co 2:4 O that it might be “in demonstration of the spirit, and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”[*]1Co 2:4-5 He proclaimed freedom from fetters of iron, and the oppression of an earthly tyrant: we proclaim liberty from the bondage of -sin; from everlasting chains under darkness; from the cruel tyranny of the devil; from the dreadful curse of God’s violated law, which arms Satan with his tremendous power, digs the vast recesses of the unfathomable abyss, and feeds the inextinguishable flame of the fiery lake. He published a covenant of a temporary effect, which conveyed temporal advantages, which was clogged with hard and hazardous conditions, which has passed away. We publish a covenant, “ordered in all things and sure,” whose stability depends not on our fidelity, which possesses a commanding influence on eternity, which proposes everlasting benefits, which makes provision for human frailty, which outruns our utmost wishes, composes our justest apprehensions, transcends our highest hopes. The message of Aaron issued in the prospect yet distant, of a land flowing with milk and honey, of a pure air, and a fruitful soil; but infested with enemies, influenced by, and exposed to, inclement seasons, and liable to forfeiture. But our preaching, men and brethren, looks beyond time, and the flaming boundaries of this great universe: it holds out the distant, but not uncertain, prospect of a celestial paradise, stored with every delight that is suited to the nature of a rational and immortal being: which is exposed to no hostile incursion, to no elementary strife; and whose eternal possession is insured by the almighty power of God, and the purchase of a Savior’s blood.
Aaron preached, alas! to men who could not enter in because of unbelief, and the tongue itself which announced Canaan to others, was silenced before Jordan divided. Avert, merciful Father, avert the dreadful omen. Let not the preacher, let none of the hearers of this night, be missing in the day when thou bringest home thy redeemed ones to thy heavenly rest. The events of Aaron’s life are so blended with, and dependent upon those of his brother, that they cannot be separated. Many of them have accordingly been already adverted to, and shall not therefore now be repeated, our intention being to select those passages of his history, which are more personal and peculiar; which more clearly mark a distinct character; and which represent him invested with an office which was to be hereditary in his family, and typical of the unchangeable priesthood of the Son of God. In the conclusion of the sixth chapter, Moses interrupts the thread of his narration, to deliver the genealogy of the family of Levi; a matter of no little moment in the settlement of that political and religious economy, which God was about to erect for the better government of his people Israel. From this it appears, that Aaron and himself were in the fourth generation, in a direct line, from Levi, Jacob’s third son; being the sons of Amram, the eldest son of Kohath, the second son of Levi. Hence, they are in the fifth generation from Jacob, in the sixth from Isaac, and the seventh from Abraham. It farther appears, from this genealogical deduction, that Aaron had connected himself with the tribe of Judah, by marrying Elisheba, the daughter of Aminadab, and sister to Naashon, who became soon after the head of the prerogative tribe, the progenitor of its long succession of princes, and the root, according to the flesh, of the promised Messiah. By her he had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazer, and Ithamar. On all which I have only to observe, that as the miseries of Egyptian bondage deterred not Aaron from entering into that state which Providence has established for improving the happiness and mitigating the sorrows of human life, so the God in whom he trusted, rendered this virtuous union productive of a race of high priests to minister unto the Lord, and to support the honors of their father’s name and office, to the latest ages of the Jewish commonwealth. With what care has Providence watched over, and preserved entire, the royal and sacerdotal line, till the great purposes of Heaven were accomplished, till the descent of the promised seed was ascertained! From that period genealogy was, as it were, broken into ten thousand fragments, the connection and succession of families were blotted out, as a thing of nought, and a new family was established on different principles, in endless succession, all claiming and holding of this “first-born among many brethren.” As Aaron is represented in the possession of the most pleasing powers of speech, to soothe the woes of Israel, so we see him armed with a tongue, sharp as a two-edged sword, to smite and to break the pride of Pharaoh and of Egypt; and bearing a potent rod, endued with power to deliver or to destroy. And in this the world is taught to respect, to revere the weakest, meanest, most contemptible weapon, which the hand of Jehovah vouchsafes to use. Its virtue lies not in itself, but in the arm that wields it. Through the whole of the astonishing transactions which follow, we find an exact order and method observed. Aaron uses not the rod at his own discretion, neither does God ‘communicate his pleasure immediately to him; but the Lord gives the word to Moses, who delivers it to Aaron, who follows the instructions given him. And thus, by an example of the highest authority, we are instructed, in obedience to an injunction given long after under another dispensation, “that all things be done decently and in order.” The next memorable event of Aaron’s life, after assisting in the plagues of Egypt and the consequent deliverance of Israel, is his contributing to the defeat of Amalek, by aiding Hur in supporting the weary hands of Moses his brother upon the mount. To the observations already made on this part of the history, I have only to repeat and to urge upon your minds the reflection of the Psalmist, “Behold how good a thing it is,” in every point of view, “and how pleasant, for brethren to dwell together in unity!”[*]Psa 133:1 By concord the weakest powers grow and stand through disunion the strongest are dissolved and fall.
Aaron and his two eldest sons, with seventy of the elders of Israel, by divine appointment, accompanied Moses to the lower region of mount Sinai, when he went up to meet God, in order to receive the civil and religious constitution of the state: and with them, as the federal heads and representatives of the nation, the political union and covenant were ratified and confirmed. And this brings us forward to the eventful period of Aaron’s history, his solemn destination to the office of priesthood, his preparation for it, and his investiture in it. The appointment was of Heaven; for “no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron:”[*]Heb 5:4 and even a king, in later times, who presumed to thrust himself into the priest’s office, paid the price of his rashness, by a leprosy which cleaved to him till the day of his death.[*]2Ch 26:16-21 “Take thou,” says the great Source of all honor and authority, “take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazer and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.”[*]Exo 28:1 It has been objected to Moses, as a proof of a selfish and worldly spirit, that he employed his authority, to perpetuate a station of the first dignity and emolument, in his own tribe and family, by the appointment of Aaron to the priesthood, and by the entail of it upon his posterity for ever. But surely the objectors must have studied the case very superficially. The priesthood, though of high dignity, possessed very slender emoluments, and still less authority. It subjected the possessor of it to much painful attendance, to much laborious and much unpleasant service, considered as a mere secular employment. It was a post, if of distinguished honor, so of high responsibility. But supposing it were as lucrative and honorable as it is alleged, why did not Moses assume it to himself? Why did he pass by his own sons? Why not secure the reversion, at least, for his own children and their heirs! When a man has immediate descendants of his own body, he is seldom solicitous about the aggrandizement of more distant relations, especially to the prejudice of his own children. The conduct of Moses, therefore, in the disposal of this high office, on the supposition that he had a choice in the matter, is the reverse of selfish; it is generous and disinterested to the last degree. The dignity of magistracy is, in his own life-time communicated with Joshua; and, at his death, is wholly transferred to him. The office of high priest is conferred upon Aaron, and made perpetual to his branch of the family; while the sons and descendants of Moses sink into the rank of private citizens, without the stipulation of so much as a foot of land, extraordinary, in Canaan, in consideration of their father’s eminent services. Does this look like avarice and ambition? But the truth is, Moses had no choice at all in the case, and presumed to exercise none. God had declared his will, and that was sufficient to him, and will be so to every good man.
If we attend to some lines in the character, and some steps in the conduct of Aaron, we shall find more just reason of surprise at his appointment to this sacred office. We behold him, at the very era of his appointment, an abettor of idolatry, and even after his installment in it, we find him meanly and wickedly envying the distinction which was put upon his meek and gentle brother, and, with his sister Miriam, heading a revolt from his just authority. But, alas! were perfect men only to minister before God, the altar must soon be deserted. Were not sinful men to be addressed by sinful men, the world must speedily be destitute of preachers. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”[*]2Co 4:7 The design of Providence, from the beginning, seems to have been, to convince the world, that in every hand his work must prosper; that if he interpose, all instruments, the most inadequate, must prove powerful, and shall succeed. A few remarks on the particulars of Aaron’s sacred dress, the services in which he was employed, his solemn consecration to the performance of them, and the subsequent events of his life up to the age of one hundred and twenty-two, together with a cursory view of his typical importance, as the figure of the great High Priest of our profession, shall, with divine permission, furnish the subject of the next Lecture.--We conclude the present with earnestly exhorting you, To be instructed by the history of Aaron to begin to live betimes: if not to public observation, utility, and importance, at least to the purposes of piety, and to the duties and virtues of the private man and of the citizen. He lived long in obscurity, before he arose into distinction, and was nurtured in the school of affliction, for station and eminence. And it is generally found that those persons fill high and difficult situations most respectably, who arrive at them through painful study, many obstacles, and much opposition. It was late, very late in life with him, better he began to appear on the great theater: let none be thereby deluded into the vain, deceitful hope of living long. The instances of a longevity so vigorous, and so extended, and so distinguished, are too rare to encourage any one to trifle with the season of improvement, to neglect the present hour, to presume on a distant uncertain futurity. Old age, should you be one of the few who attain it, never can be supported with dignity, nor enjoyed in comfort, if youth be wasted in dissipation, or permitted to rust in ignorance. In order to possess the vivacity and soundness of youth, under the pressure of years, a portion of the reflection, steadiness, and composure of age, must be called in, to temper and direct the pursuits and enjoyments of early life.
If is natural to be dazzled with the display of shining talents, and to envy the possessor of them. But these also, are the portion of only a favored few. The eloquence of an Aaron is, perhaps, more rarely to be found, than a man of a hundred and twenty-two years old. Covet, then, and cultivate the virtues which are attainable by all, and are in themselves infinitely more valuable than the gifts which are bestowed more sparingly, which do not always prove a blessing to their owner, and are not always accompanied with true goodness, which alone is in the sight of God of great price. Has an indulgent Providence, however, distinguished you by those rarer accomplishments, which lead to fame, to honor, to usefulness? See that you bury them not, pervert them not, abuse them not. Ability, unsupported by worth, by moral excellence, only renders a man more odious and contemptible, as well as more dangerous, more mischievous; and criminal. He is responsible both to God and man, for the use or abuse of his superior powers; and to be conspicuously criminal and wretched, is a dreadful aggravation of quilt and misery. “Covet earnestly the best gifts:” and yet it were easy to show unto you “a more excellent way.” If you know it, happy are you if you pursue it.