Volume 1

The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor.

Date:
1901-1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    53/752 (page 5)
    Aaron’s Kod the first and typical high priest. Together tliey thus represent the moral and religious functions which Israel had to fulfil. With this idea in mind, the later Biblical writers treated the character and work of the two men representatively, so that they pre- sent not only a historical, but an idealized, Moses and Aaron. It is, moreover, significant that, leaving P aside, a fairly consistent biography may be made out, and this must be adhered to in the main; for P throughout is constructive and idealistic, using its narrative to indicate how the postcxilian priestly system must have grown up to its ideal complete- ness in the course of Israel’s history. Much has been theorized by some critics, tending to show that Aaron the priest was a figment devised to give validity to the sacerdotal order. Even, however, if some interpolations in the documents earlier than P, due to priestly hands, be assumed, there remains a substantial historical basis of fact for the career of Aaron as the assistant and spokesman of iSIoses, as the deputy of his brother during the desert wan- derings, and as the chief priest of his people. Among other considerations, a guaranty for the i soundness of the tradition in the record of jiersonal actions is afforded by the fact that what is disad- vantageous to Aaron is told as well as what is favorable, and that he is shown, especially in the ( affair of the calf-worship, to have been influenced ' by the moral and spiritual limitations of his age ) aiid environment. See also Pkiests, Phiestiioou, f etc. J. F. McC. 1 AARON’S ROD.—Biblical Data: A rod ! which, in the hands of Aaron, the high ]>riest, was endowed with miracidous power during the several plagues that preceded the Exodus. In this function the rod of Closes was equally potent. Upon two occasions, however, the singular virtue of spon- taneous power, when not in the grasp of its posses- sor, was exhibited by Aaron’s Rod. At one time it swallowed the rods of the Egyptian magicians, and at another it blossomed and bore fruit in the Tabernacle, as an evidence of the exclusive right to I the priesthood of the tribe of Levi (see A.vnox). In ] commemoration of this decision it was commanded that the rod be juit again “ before the testimony ” (Num. xvii. 10). A later tradition asserts (Heb. ix. 4) that the rod was kept in the Ark of the Covenant. The main fact, however, is thus confirmed, that a rod was preserved in the Tabernacle as a relic of the institution of the Aarouic priesthood. J. F. McC. In Rabbinical Literature: The Bible as- cribes similar miraculous powers to the Rod of Aaron and to the staff of Moses (compare, for example. Ex. iv. 2 et seq. and vii. 9). The Haggadah goes a step further, and entirely identifies the Rod of Aaron with that of Moses. Thus the Dlidrash Yelamdenu (Yalk. on Ps. cx. § 869) states that “ the staff with which Jacob crossed the Jordan is Identical with that which Judah ?ave to his daughter-in-law, Tamar (tien. xxxii. 10, xxxviii. 18). It is likewise the holy rod with which Moses worked (Ex. iv. 30, 31), with which Aaron per- formed wonders before Pharaoh (Ex. vii. 10), and with which, finally. David slew the giant Goliath (I Sam. xvii. 40). David left it to his descendants, and the Davidic kings used it as a scepter until the destruction of the Temple, when it miracu- lously disappeared (GD). When the Messiah comes it will be given to him for a scepter in token of his authority over the heathen.” Legend has still more to say concerning this rod. God created it in the twilight of the sixth day of Creation (Ab. v. 9, and Mek., Beshallah, ed. Weiss, iv. 60), and delivered it to Adam when the latter was driven from paradise. After it had passed through the hands of Shem, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob successively, it came into the possession of Joseph. On Joseph’s death the Egyptian nobles stole some of his belongings, and, among them, Jethro appropriated the staff. .Jethro planted the staff in his garden, when its marvelous virtue was revealed by the tact that nobody could withdraw it from the ground; even to touch it was fraught wnh danger to life. This was because the Ineffable Name of God was engraved upon it. When !Moses entered Jethro's household he read the Name, and by means of it was able to draw u]) the rod, for which service Zipporah, Jethro’s daughter, was given to him in marriiige. Her father had sworn thiit she should Aaron’s Rod. (From the Sarajevo Haggadali.') become the wife of the man who shmdd be :ible to master the miracuhnis rod and of no other (Pirke R. El. 40; Sefer ha-Yashar; Yalk. Ex. 168. end). It mibst, however, be remarked that the Haggadic iMishiiidi (Ab. v. 9) as yet knew noth- Modi- ing of the miraculous creation of Aii- fication. ron's Rod, whicii is first mentioned by the iMekilta {1. c.) and Sifre on Dent. (Ber. xxxiii. 21; ed. Friedmann, j). J.').’)), This sup- posed fact of the sujiernatural origin of the rod ex- plains the statement in the New Te.stament (Heb. ix. 4) and Tosef., Yoma. iii. 7 (it is to be interju-eted thus according to B. B. 14e), that Aiiron’s Rod, together with its blossoms and fruit, was preserved in the Ark. King Jo.siah, who foresaw the impending na- tional catastrophe, concealed the Ark and its con- tents (Tosef., Sotah, 13n) ; and their whereabouts will remain unknown until, in the iMessianic age, the prophet Elijah shall reveal them (iMek. 1. c.). A later Midrash (Num. R. xviii. end) confuses the legends of the rod that blossomed with tho.se of the rod that worked miracles, thus giving ns contradictory state- ments. There exists a legend that Moses split a tree trunk into twelve portions, and gave one portion to each tribe. When the Rod of Aaron produced blos- soms, the Israelites could not but acknowledge the significance of the token. The account of the blos- soming of Aaron's Rod contained in Clement’s first letter to the Corinthians (cp. 48) is cpiite in hagga- dic-midrashic style, and must probably be ascribed to .Jewish or, more strictly speaking, Jewish-Hel- lenistic sources. According to that account, Moses placed upon each of the twelve staffs the corre- sponding seal of the head of a tribe. The doors of That so wonderful a rod should bear external signs of its importance is easily to be understood. It was made of sapphire, weighed forty seahs (a seal) = 10.70 pounds), and bore the inscription 3''nX3 “IJl I VT, which is composed of the initials of the Hebrew names of the Ten Plagues (Tan., WaSra 8, ed. Buber).