Numbers 20:26 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

And strip Aaron of his garments. — Thus the same hands which had invested Aaron with the sacred garments were employed in divesting him of them, and, in both cases, in obedience to the express command of God. The removal of the priestly robes from Aaron may be regarded as typical of the future disannulling of his priesthood when a priest after the order of Melchizedek should arise. “The succession of the priesthood,” says Dean Stanley (who refers to Ewald’s Geschichte, 5:13), “was made through that singular usage, preserved even to the latest days of the Jewish hierarchy, by the transference of the vestments and drapery of the dead High Priest to the living successor.” (Lectures on Jewish History, 1:182.)