Poems (Gifford)/The Death of Aaron
THE DEATH OF AARON.
The veteran must die, the great High Priest,The chosen one of God! He whom the LordHad called to such high service now is calledMeekly to lay it down. This is the manWho well nigh forty years before was sentAfar into the lonely wildernessTo meet his banished brother, hithertoSo much debarred from him by circumstanceThat they scarce seemed as brothers. But they metWith true and strong affection, Aaron heardOf Moses' high commission, learnt his ownAppointed share therein, and they henceforthWere bound in closest brotherhood to doJehovah's bidding; so to-day they shineAs lustrous stars amid the galaxyOf noble spirits throughout every age.Unto the younger brother had God givenThe greater honour, and the greater careIn freeing captive Israel from their woesIn alien Egypt, and in leading them,Through difficulties, that to human powerSeemed insurmountable, unto the landLong promised, long desired, so far away.And he should be to Aaron in God's stead,Aaron his eloquent spokesman to the kingAnd to the multitude of Israel.And Aaron should uphold his brother's hands,And share his toils and burdens, and receiveFrom him his own peculiar divine chargeTo be the High Priest of the Most High God,His chosen instrument in developingHis everlasting purposes of loveFor that one nation, and for all mankind. And Aaron's was a character of strength,Though alternate with weakness; his a lifeOf strange and marvellous vicissitudes:Bearing expressed distrust and discontentFrom those whom he was labouring to serve;Sighing for their deep misery and despair;Suffering affliction with them; but the whileBeholding Him Who is invisible,And with his brother acting in His might,—Confronting now the world's most potent kingWith calm, authoritative words, and sternDenunciation of his tyranny;Then, at the king's command for miracle,And at God's word, casting his rod to earthAnd seeing it into a serpent changeAnd swallowing up all other as a signOf his true mission; and (more wondrous still)Calling forth fearful plagues on Israel's foes,Forcing from the proud king repentant wordsAnd meek entreaty (though so brief the mood),Till at the awful climax Pharaoh beggedThe captives to begone. Then, when again,Hardening his heart, he started in pursuit,And terrified afresh th'escaping host,Gaining upon them where they could not flee,Aaron had seen that marvellous displayOf the omnipotence, the love, the wrathOf the great God he served, Who clave a wayThrough the Red Sea for them that they might passIn perfect safety to the farther side;And, as the enemy followed and went downTo the dry deep between those water-walls,He saw their chariots dragging heavily,He saw the waters rush into their place,But never more, save on the seashore, dead,Were their oppressors seen: Israel was free.And, well-nigh gladdest of the multitude,Encouraged, strengthened, Aaron swelled the strainOf that exultant, full thanksgiving song For God's deliverance: and he had sharedIn Marah's bitterness and Elim's rest;And yet again had heard, and quietlyHad borne the murmuring of Israel,The cry for bread, for water, the desireFor a return to their Egyptian life;Had seen the wondrous glory of the LordAppearing in a cloud to comfort them,And all their varied need most fully met.And he had witnessed the discomfitureOf threatening Amalek, as Joshua fought,And Moses prayed, while he sustained his hands.And he had been at Sinai, and heardJehovah's righteous claims, His promisesOf special blessing to that chosen raceIf they would keep His covenant and obey;Had heard their protest of obedience,And, sanctified with them, had looked uponThe awful, visible majesty of God.He had beheld the wondrous fire, the smoke,The blackness, darkness, storm, so terribleThat even Moses quaked. Then had they two,And Aaron's eldest sons, and seventy more—Elders of Israel—at God's command,Gone up into the Mount and seen the LordIn His clear sapphire glory. But when leftTo watch o'er Israel while Moses spentThose forty days upon the mount with God,Most grievously, disastrously he sinned,Yielding unto the clamour of the hostFor man-made gods like to the heathen round,And with their broken gold he made a calf,Calling it their deliverer and thusInvoked fierce wrath upon them, and dire plagues,And threatened overthrow and scattering.And he had witnessed Moses" angry zealAs, coming from his high commune with GodTo see then gross idolatry and shame,He cast the God-writ tables on the ground And brake them, and then took their metal god,Burnt, powdered, watered it, and make them drink,He himself suffering his heavy shareOf Moses' indignation and reproof.But with strong anguish and deep earnestness,And self-renouncing love did Moses standBefore his God in that tremendous breachAnd crave forgiveness for the trespassers;And he was heard,—for gracious is the Lord.
But holy, just and righteous is the Lord,And for that sin, and for unnumbered sins,And for inherent, universal sin,Atonement must be made by sacrifice.And, even as they sinned, that gracious LordHad been devising honourable meansWhereby to pardon, and to save and bless.So on the mountain Moses had receivedWith the stern law assurances of grace,And most minute instructions of the planWhich God for their salvation had decreed.Central, amid His wondrous purposes,Should be an altar and a sanctuary,A holy, consecrated priest, a manWho should atone for their iniquity;And Aaron, true devoted saint of God,Though with infirmity, should be that man,And all his sons should aid his ministry.They should be separated, washed, and clothed,And be anointed with God's holy oilAccording to His special ordinance.Then must each one be purged by sacrificeTo keep the charges of the sanctuary;By holy ritual to perpetuateThe worship of Jehovah, the One God;To offer many a complex sacrificeWith all exactness as He had enjoined.Once every year must Aaron only goInto the Holiest, with special rites,And make atonement for the sin of all; And every month, and every week, and eachOf various appointed feasts should callFor special service, and continuallyFrom day to day should offerings be made.And, as each individual should bringHis voluntary private offering,That he might be accepted before God,Should Aaron or his sons officiate;And every Levite should be theirs to serve.
But ah! alas! alas! so soon! so soon!Even in this holy service sin appears;For those two eldest consecrated sons—Nadab, Abihu (who on SinaiHad in His brighter glory seen their God)—Lightly regarded His express command,Offered strange fire before Him and transgressed,And in a moment were devoured by fire,Aaron the while forbid to show a signOf the deep grief that stirred within his heartFor their rebellion and his own sad loss.
And then, ere long, Aaron himself had joinedHis sister in rebellious thought and wordOf that long-suffering brother, on whom fellThe heaviest weight of all the sin and woeThat Israel knew in those distressful years.And he had seen the Lord come down in wrathUnto the tabernacle door, and callHimself and Miriam, that they might seeHis vindication of His faithful one.Miriam was smitten there with leprosy,And they must needs bewail their foolishness,And beg of Moses to entreat the LordFor healing,—and again his prayer was heard.
Then, drawing nigh to Canaan, at God's wordThey chose from every tribe a noted manTo search the land they hoped so soon to gain:And these returned with wavering report,Bringing rich token of abundant wealth, Telling of milk and honey flowing there,But of strong giants that aroused their fear.And in their unbelief they spread dismayAmong that people, ever so perverse,Who, guiltily ignoring their great God,Forgetting His past acts, His promises,Cried, wept, and groaned, in impotent despair,And would have found a man to lead them backUnto the land of bondage; spite of those—Caleb and Joshua—who praised the land,And bade them trustfully remember HimWho had for them wrought such deliverance,And Who again would save. They would not hear,And so afresh God's anger was induced;And yet again did Moses intercede,And the Lord pardoned them.
But for this cause,And for their necessary discipline,They must be turned from Canaan, and leftTo wander in the desert forty years;Their promised gift must be so long delayed;And none should enter but the two true spiesWho had believed and wholly followed God,Who faithfully had dealt with Israel,And sought to win them to their own strong faith:That evil generation soon must die.
So in a pathless, solitary way,Homeless, without a city, on and onFor forty years in sad monotonyDid Israel wander in the wilderness;Hungering, thirsting, fainting and distressed:But ever heard when unto God they cried.
Yet one dire incident of grave import,One awful visitation of the Lord,Disturbed the general tedium of those years.There rose presumptuous, envious murmuringAt the exclusiveness of God's decree In singling Moses, Aaron, for their work,And placing them in such exalted sphere.And Korah, 'mid the Levites prominent,And Dathan and Abiram, Reuben's sons,And a great company of princes, stroveAgainst those chosen servants of the Lord;And God replied with retribution swift,For the earth opened, swallowed up the threeWith their appurtenances; and a fireWas kindled, and consumed the princes too.But, by that fierce destruction undeterred,The multitude defied their leaders still,Indicting them as murderers of the slain:And lo! the Lord in glory came againThreatening swift destruction upon all,Save the two brothers called apart to Him.Then fell these on their faces: but, anon,A fearful plague was spreading in the host,And Aaron, urged by Moses, ran with hasteTaking his censer full of holy fire,To offer incense quickly in their midst,And prompt atonement for the people make.So, 'twixt the living and the dead he stood,And the dread plague was stayed; but not beforeDeath had o'ertaken a great multitude,And well-nigh fifteen thousand were destroyed.Then by a sign did the Lord speak again,And show the man He chose for ministry;For of twelve rods, commanded of the LordTo be laid up before the testimony,With names of the twelve tribes thereon inscribed,One—Aaron's only—budded, brought forth flowers,And yielded almonds, as the Lord had said;And it was kept in token of His will,To quell their envying, and confirm His word.
Still they pursued their weary wandering,Camping and journeying as the cloud removed,Till, when the forty years had nigh expired, Into the wilderness of Zin they came,And Kadesh saw the death of Miriam.There, yet again for water murmuring,Their bitter need abundantly was met;The Lord supplied the people: but provoked,Moses and Aaron there were angered sore,And in impatience with their lips they spakeAll unadvisedly, and it went illWith them because of stubborn Israel.—They, too, must die before their land is gained.
Here, yet again, at Kadesh, were they nearThat land they so much longed for; so they sentAnd earnestly requested right of wayThrough a small intervening strip of land,From Edom, their own kinsfolk; but refused,With threat of warfare, they must lengthen outTheir long, sad journey. To Mount Hor they came,The closing scene of Aaron's wondrous life,For there must he, the first great High Priest, die!Aaron, the great High Priest of God, must die!His had it been so long to mediateBetween the Lord by His appointed means,And His oft erring people, His t'atoneFor their iniquity by sacrifice,And his to give God's blessing; and not oneMight dare usurp that sacred ministry,Under the penalty of certain death.And, spite of weakness, and of sin, that lifeWas eminently holy, given to HimWho wholly claimed it; ay, and it would leaveA blessed and abiding influenceOn each succeeding age.
But he must die!Not his to finish God's atoning work,He is not suffered to continue it;He did but shadow forth a perfect PriestWho one day should appear. Aaron must die!Not his to enter that delightsome land, The goal of all their wanderings, not hisE'en afar off, to see its loveliness,For that his faith had faltered, he had comeShort of perfection, he had sadly failedTo sanctify the Lord before His host.So to his partner brother (who himself,Should soon receive like summons), God makes knownHis unassailable and just decree—Aaron, the great High Priest of God, must die!Their close association now must end.Moses is bidden to ascend with himThat great lone mount, whose bare, precipitous heightsStood like a giant castle in the wild,And there to say farewell and bury him.
And now in calm, serene obedienceTo each detail commanded of the Lord,Aged, but not decrepid, able wellWith strong, firm step to climb, the brothers takeThe toilsome path together up Mount Hor.And, as from the high summit Aaron seesThe multitude of Israel spread below,He muses o'er their past, their future lot,Swiftly he lives again those forty years,He sadly thinks of his two smitten sons.Who should have borne his honour in his stead,But whose twin graves were near Mount Sinai.
Yet Eleazer now is with them thereAt God's command to be anointed Priest,And humbly, hopefully, he takes his trust,As Moses from the aged father stripsThat unique, priestly and symbolic dress,To put it on the son. So Aaron seesThe wondrous ephod by another worn.Above the beautiful, blue, seamless robe,And the embroidered girdle binding them;The two white stones engraved with Israel's namesAre on his shoulders; and upon his heartThe sparkling breastplate with its twelve rich gems, Each indicating one of the twelve tribes;The linen mitre is upon his head,The crown of holiness upon his brow,The music of the golden bells is heard,And Aaron knows that God will work His will,Although His labourers may be removed.
And dimly he foresees a Prophet-Priest,Who was to come, in righteousness arrayed,After the power of an endless life,And offer one sufficient sacrificeFor sin for evermore. So Aaron dies!
Yet not consumed; oh! not destroyed, cut off,But "gathered to his people," to awaitThe second coming of that true High Priest,Separate, undefiled, compassionate,Touched with the feeling of infirmities,Able to save unto the uttermost,Whose priesthood is unchangeable; Who nowHas once appeared, fulfilled the law, and died,Offering Himself, without or spot or stain,A sacrifice for all throughout all time;Who rose to bless, Who lives to intercede,And Who within the veil prepares a place,That where He is there may His servants be,As kings and priests to God eternally.