Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Bemidbar 20:29 and Devarim 10:6 - Where did Aharon die?

Devarim 10:6 records “And the children of Israel marched from the Wells of the Children of Ya’akan to Mosera: there Aharon died, and he was buried there; so El’azar his son served as priest in his stead.” The word “there” refers to the previous location mentioned, Mosera, which means that according to Devarim 10:6, Aharon died in Mosera and not Mount Hor. Yet, Bemidbar 20:22-29 record that Aharon died on Mount Hor, and this is repeated in Bemidbar 33:39 and Devarim 32:50. Where did Aharon die?

Rashi based on the Midrash explains that Moshe’s reference to the death of Aharon in Mosera means that the people associated Mosera with Aharon's death but really he died on Mount Hor. Rashi explains that when Aharon died on Mount Hor, the clouds of G-d’s glory departed from the people, and hence the people feared the King of Arad, which caused them to march back towards Egypt. The people marched backwards to Mosera, and there the tribe of Levi battled with the people to stop their march back towards Egypt. Many people died in this battle at Mosera, which caused a great mourning for Aharon because his death had led to this tragic civil war. Thus, while Aharon really died at Mount Hor, because of the great mourning at Mosera, they associated his death with Mosera.

This explanation is difficult for many reasons. One, there is no mention at all in the Torah of this battle between the people and the tribe of Levi at Mosera. Two, as pointed out by the Malbim (1809-1880, on Bemidbar 20:29), Devarim 10:6 records that Aharon died and was buried in Mosera, which cannot be understood to mean that the people associated Aharon's death with Mosera.

Hizkuni quotes from an unknown Midrash a slight variation of Rashi’s approach. This explanation is that for some time after the people left Mount Hor, they were able to see Aharon’s gravesite. It was only when they reached Mosera that they were unable to see the gravesite, and hence it seemed to the people that Aharon died at Mosera. However, the Malbim’s question also applies to this suggestion since Devarim 10:6 records that Aharon died at Mosera and not that the people associated his death with Mosera.

A second approach to explaining where Aharon died is to argue that the places Mount Hor and Mosera are not really two separate places. Ibn Ezra seems to suggest that Mosera was the name of the desert where Mount Hor was situated. According to this approach, Aharon died both in Mount Hor, the specific place, and Mosera, the general name of the area.

Ramban rejects Ibn Ezra’s answer because he claims that Mosera is really the same place as Moserot (Bemidbar 33:31), which means that it is a name for a local area and not for a general area. Instead, Ramban suggests that Mount Hor was a large mountain, and due to its great size, there were many places that faced the mountain. Bemidbar 20:22 records that the people camped by Mount Hor, which means that they were at the foot of the mountain. Bemidbar 20:25-27 records that Moshe, Aharon and El’azar went to the top of the mountain and Aharon died at the top of the mountain. Ramban then suggests that Mosera was the place that faced the top of the mountain, and thus it could be said that Aharon died at Mosera. Ramban further suggests that maybe the mountain was also referred to by the names of the places situated near the mountain, so then Mosera would also be a name for Mount Hor.

David Tzvi Hoffmann (on Devarim 10:6) slightly varies Ramban’s answer. He suggests that Mosera was the name of the place where the people camped by the foot of Mount Hor, and Aharon died on the Mount Hor itself. Thus, it could be written that Aharon died on Mount Hor, but also his death could be considered as being at Mosera as that was where the people were camped. Hoffmann then suggests that Bemidbar 20:22 recorded the encampment of the people as being at Mount Hor, even though it really was Mosera, to focus on the death of Aharon, which was on Mount Hor. Yet, if all the names really refer to the same place, then one would have thought that the Torah would have used just one name consistently in all references to Aharon’s death.

A third approach is to understand that the word “there” in Devarim 10:6 is not referring to Mosera. The idea is that the word “there” means at that time, and then 10:6 should be understood that at the time when the people were traveling to Mosera, they happened to be near Mount Hor and Aharon died on Mount Hor. This approach is quoted by Ibn Ezra in the name Yitzhak Ibn Geat (?), Da’at Zekenim (13th century), Bekhor Shor (12th century) and Hizkuni (13th century). (The last three are all part of the Ashkenazi school of medieval commentators.) This approach is difficult since it introduces a break in the sentences, and requires one to add words to the verse.

Malbim (on Bemidbar 20:29) offers two answers. The first explanation centers on the fact that Bemidbar 20 only mentions that Aharon died but does not mention burying Aharon, and only Devarim 10:6 records where Aharon was buried. (It is true that Bemidbar 28:26 records that only Moshe and El’azar went down the mountain, which would imply that Aharon was buried on the mountain.)

How could Aharon be buried on Mosera if he died on Mount Hor? Malbim explains that after Aharon died on Mount Hor, the people went up and saw his body (Bemidbar 20:29) and they intended to eulogize him on the mountain in the presence of his body. However, the Canaanites attacked the people during the time they were doing the eulogy, as Bemidbar 21 records this attack immediately after the mention of Aharon dying. The people retreated due to this attack, as Bemidbar 21:1 records that the Canaanites were initially successful in their attack. When the people retreated they did not want to leave Aharon’s body with the Canaanites, so they took it with them on their retreat from Mount Hor. In their retreat they went to Mosera, and there they buried Aharon. This answer while appealing is problematic since Devarim 10:6 records that Aharon also died in Mosera. Malbim answers that Devarim 10:6 only mentions that Aharon died as part of the reference to the burial. However, this is difficult since according to this approach, Devarim 10:6 should have just recorded that Aharon was buried in Mosera, and not mentioned anything about where Aharon died.

Malbim’s second explanation centers on the fact that Bemidbar 20:29 records that the people saw that gavah Aharon. The word gavah seems to refer to death, but why did the Torah not use the word met, the more typical word for death? Malbim notes that there is a difference between gavah and met. He claims that gavah means a loss of crucial life functions, while met refers to the state afterwards where the body degenerates due to the loss of these life functions. Thus, he explains that Bemidbar 20:29 means that the people only saw that Aharon was in a state of gavah but not a met. Thus, Aharon only partially died by Mount Hor, but the state of being a met only occurred when the people were at Mosera. Accordingly, only in Mosera was Aharon buried since one does not bury somebody who is in a state of gavah.

I like this explanation best since in Bereshit 25:8,17; 35:29, the Torah records that the person died (met) after the use of the word gavah. This implies that gavah is separate from dying. However, Bemidbar 20:26,28 record the word met in reference to Aharon by Mount Hor, which implies that both states of death occurred on Mount Hor. I did not see how the Malbim explained the use of the word met in Bemidbar 20:26,28.

I would vary the Malbim’s definition of the term gavah. Gavah would not be a cessation of crucial life functions, which would signify death, but a condition where a person is alive but something (a famine, a virus, a decree, not including the aging process) is impacting the person that he/ she will die because of this thing, the person understands that the thing will kill him, and a person has no ability to reverse this process. The process where the person dies from this “thing” could be imminent, as in Bereshit 7:21, by the waters of the flood, or even long term. Thus, Bereshit 47:18 records that the people of Egypt, who were obviously alive, referred to themselves as geviyatenu, since they were running out of food, and they feared that they would die in the near future if Yosef did not give them food, as Bereshit 47:19 records. This is also the meaning of the term in 17:27,28, when the people realized that they were destined to die from G-d’s decree after the sin of the spies, see our discussion on 17:27,28, “The people’s state of mind after the rebellion of Korah and the miracle of the blossoming of the staffs: Hopeless in the desert.” Note, that in some situations this could be a better state than dying instantaneously since it allows a person to “say goodbye to the world,” see Bereshit 25:8.

Following this understanding of the word gavah, then the word met was used in Bemidbar 20:26,28 to signify that Aharon was considered as if he was dead even though he was still alive, or that since he was about to die, then he was considered as being dead with regard to his inability to retain being the high priest. Accordingly, since Aharon was on the verge of dying, then the term gavah could be used in 20:29. Furthermore, the Torah does not state in 20:23-29, that Aharon was gathered to his kin since he had not died yet, as 20:24,26 mean that he would be gathered to his kin in the future, and this process started on Mount Hor.

Devarim 32:50 does imply that Aharon was gathered to his kin on Mount Hor, but it also records that he died on Mount Hor. Thus, just as the dying on Mount Hor was the beginning of the death process, so too the reference to Aharon gathering to his kin on Mount Hor should be understood as the beginning of the gathering process.

With regard to the people seeing that Aharon gavah in 20:29, many answers have been proposed to explain what was this seeing. Rashi (on 20:29) quotes the Midrash Tanchuma that the angels showed the people Aharon lying upon the bier. Ibn Ezra (on 20:29) just writes that the people saw the process of Moshe, Aharon and Eleazar transferring the office of high priesthood. Hizkuni (on 20:29) quotes that seeing can be an understanding that the people understood that Aharon had died or that they saw Moshe in mourning for Aharon.

A simpler idea is that since Aharon was not buried at Mount Hor, then the people saw Aharon’s body, though it would remain a technical question how did this happen? Did people go up and get Aharon’s body? This seems strange since then Moshe and Eleazar would have left Aharon somewhat alive on the mountain by himself. Did they know that G-d would protect Aharon from animals? 

A different possibility is that Moshe and Eleazar carried Aharon down, and then since Aharon was not considered dead, he did not generate any tumah. Even if this true, then still is would have been physically hard for just two people to carry Aharon down a mountain. 

A third possibility is that other anonymous people went up with Moshe, Aharon and Eleazar on Mount Hor, and these unnamed people brought Aharon down.

One could combine the first and third ideas based on the phrase at the end of 20:27, that the people saw Moshe, and presumably, Aharon and Eleazar going up on Mount Hor. What is the significance of this seeing? This was supposed to be a private ceremony. Maybe the significance is that when the people saw Moshe, Aharon and Eleazar going up on Mount Hor, they followed in the distance. Thus, when after the transfer of clothing was over, Moshe and Eleazar left, but the people came up and saw that Aharon was dying. With this idea, there was almost no time when Aharon’s body was left unattended, and 20:29 can be understood literally.

To summarize, Bemidbar 20:28, Bemidbar 33:39 and Devarim 32:50 which all record that Aharon died on Mount Hor, should be understood to mean that he was on the verge of dying as indicated by the use of the word gavah in Bemidbar 20:29. Because he was on the verge of dying, he was no longer the high priest after he went up to Mount Hor. However, Aharon only finally expired at Mosera and there he was buried as recorded in Devarim 10:6.

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