And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments
His priestly garments, which, very probably, were put on at the foot of the mountain, on purpose for the transaction of this affair, since they were not in common worn, but only when in service; the same hands that clothed Aaron with them at first, stripped him of them, and both were done at the command of God; as the stripping of those garments was a divesting Aaron of his office, so it was a figure of the disannulling of his priesthood, when the Messiah should come, a priest after another order:
and put them upon Eleazar his son;
which was an investing him with the office of high priest in his father's room; and which, as it must give Aaron pleasure and satisfaction to see his son put into his office before he died, so it signified the continuance of it in succession in his posterity, and was a confirmation of it; and it must be pleasing to Moses and the people of Israel to observe the care and faithfulness of God in providing for the succession of the priesthood:
and Aaron died there in the top of the mount;
quietly, comfortably, and contentedly, without the least murmuring or repining: this was on the first day of the fifth month, as appears from ( Numbers 33:38 ) , that is, of the month Ab, as the Targum of Jonathan here says; and in this the Jewish writers F11 agree in general, which month answers to part of July and part of August; and in this same place where he died he was buried, as is evident from ( Deuteronomy 10:6 ) , wherefore no credit is to be given to the Arabs, who show a stone not far from Mount Sinai, about two feet high from the ground, on which are seen some unknown characters, which, they say, were engraven by Jeremiah the prophet, in honour of Moses and Aaron, who were buried there F12:
and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount;
after Aaron was dead and buried.