Numbers 20:29

29 Soothly all the multitude saw that Aaron was dead, and it wept upon him thirty days, by all their families. (And all the multitude saw that Aaron had died, and all the families wept over him for thirty days.)

Numbers 20:29 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 20:29

And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead
Not that they saw his dead body, but they perceived by the relation of Moses, and by various circumstances, as not seeing Aaron come down, whom they saw go up, and seeing Eleazar with Aaron's garments on him, and perhaps by tokens of mourning in Moses and Eleazar; so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem say, they saw them come down from the top of the mountain, with their garments rent, and ashes on their heads, weeping and lamenting:

they mourned for Aaron thirty days;
the whole month out; so long public mourning with the Jews lasted, as Josephus F13 relates:

[even] all the house of Israel;
men and women, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi: no doubt it was for the amiable virtues and abundant grace that were in him, and the many services he had done for them, both before and since he was invested with the priestly office; and oftentimes the memory of such things is revived after the death of a good man, which are not so much taken notice of in his life, nor he be thanked for them, or have honour and respect shown him on account of them; but when dead, he, and what he has done, are spoken well of, and his loss lamented.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 De Bello Jud. l. 3. c. 8. sect. 5.

Numbers 20:29 In-Context

27 And Moses did as the Lord commanded; and they ascended into the hill of Hor, before all the multitude (and they went up onto Mount Hor, in the sight of all the multitude).
28 And when Moses had made naked Aaron of his clothes, he clothed with those Eleazar, his son. Soothly when Aaron was dead in the top of the hill, Moses came down with Eleazar. (And when Moses had stripped Aaron of his priestly clothes, he clothed Aaron's son Eleazar with them. And then, after that Aaron had died there on the mountain-top, Moses came down with Eleazar.)
29 Soothly all the multitude saw that Aaron was dead, and it wept upon him thirty days, by all their families. (And all the multitude saw that Aaron had died, and all the families wept over him for thirty days.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.