Aaron: changing perceptions

Judaism, Spring, 1993 by Henry Bamberger

AS WE STUDY THE VARIOUS CHARACTERS IN the Bible, we tend to feel that we understand them. Each has a personality of his or her own. Some seem to stay the same in the brief stories told about them; others, more extensively portrayed, may develop as they grow. Still, while a Jacob or Joseph may mature as he ages, each retains a basic personality which we can recognize.

However, as we pass from one book to another, especially outside of the Torah, there may be a more profound or extreme personality change. Thus, the gentle Elijah, whom we find portrayed reconciling parents and children in the last verses of Malachi, is very different from the violent prophet in Kings. The change is even more striking when we move out of the Bible into post-Biblical literature. The kindly Elijah who helps the righteous in times of trouble, who brings instruction to favored rabbis and who, ultimately, will usher in the reign of the Messiah, is even farther removed from the wild visionary who challenged royalty and exterminated the prophets of Baal at Mr. Carmel.

In some cases, we can determine the reasons which prompted later commentators to change the pictured personality of familiar Biblical characters. For example, Job, Jethro, and Balaam not only differ from their Biblical presentations, but also evolve in post-Biblical writings. All three became typical figures for Jewish and Christian polemicists. As each of these men was used in ensuing controversies, each developed not one new personality, but two, one as drawn by Jewish commentators, one as drawn by Christians.(1)

However, our study will focus on a different development, one which took place before Christianity had become a factor in Jewish thinking. We will focus on the changes that took place in the picture of Aaron. How does the man who fashioned the Golden Calf, who joined with his sister, Miriam, in slandering Moses, and who, like Moses, was forbidden entry into the Promised Land -- how does this man become the saintly o'hev shalom v'rodef shalom (lover of peace and pursuer of peace), the arch-typical peacemaker whom we find in the Rabbinic writings?

I

The picture of Aaron that is presented in the Torah is, at best, undistinguished and, at worst, unpleasant. True, when we first meet him on Moses' return to Egypt from Midian (Ex 4:27ff.), he welcomes Moses, and works with him to bring the Israelites out of slavery. Despite God's assurance to Moses that Aaron will do whatever speaking is necessary, there is no explicit evidence -- except for one instance in which it is specified that he is repeating what Moses had heard from God (Ibid., v.30) -- that one brother or the other is the speaker at the royal court. Aaron does handle the wonder-working rod to bring on several plagues, but, otherwise, has no independent function until the people are free and reach Mt. Sinai. Then, while Moses is receiving the Torah, Aaron is involved in the making of the Golden Calf!

Before considering how the picture of Aaron changed, we must first examine the major Biblical passages which depict him. We need to know who and what the Biblical Aaron was. Several passages will concern us -- and concerned the Rabbis. The first of these is the story of the Golden Calf:

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that man, Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt -- we cannot tell what has happened to him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. This he took from them and cast in a mold and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you from the land of Egypt!" When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation: "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord!" Early next day, the people offered up burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; they sat down to eat and drink, and then rose to make merry.(2)

Clearly, this text shows Aaron agreeing with, or at least acceding to, the people who want a visible god. If he is not the cause of the idolatry, he is, at least, an accessory before the fact. If he has any hesitancy about the entire procedure, the text hides it from us.

Once Moses has returned and destroyed the calf, Aaron's position seems to change:

Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such great sin upon them?" Aaron said, "Let not my lord be enraged. You know that this people is bent on evil. They said to me, 'Make us a god to lead us; for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt -- we cannot tell what has happened to him.' So I said to them, 'Whoever has gold, take it off!' They gave it to me and I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!" ...

Then the Lord sent a plague upon the people, for what they did with the calf that Aaron made.(3)