Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.
Aaron shall be gathered unto his people. In accordance with his recent doom, he, attired in the high priest's costume, was commanded to ascend that mountain and die. But although the time of his death was hastened by the divine displeasure, as punishment for his sins, the manner of his death was arranged in tenderness of love, and to do him honour at the close of his earthly service. His ascent of the mount was to afford him a last look of the camp and a distant prospect of the promised land.
'From the flat roof of the chapel we overlooked his last view-that view which was to him what Pisgah was to his brother. We saw all the main points on which the eyes of Aaron must have rested. He looked over the valley of the Arabah, countersected by its 100 water-courses, and beyond, over the white mountains of the wilderness they had so long traversed, and at the northern edge of it, there must have been visible the heights through which the Israelites had vainly attempted to force their way into the promised land. This was the western view; close around him on the east were the rugged mountains of Edom, and far along the wide downs of mount Seir, through which the passage had been denied by the tribes of Esau, who hunted over their long slopes' (Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 87). The simple narrative of the solemn and impressive scene implies, though it does not describe, the pious resignation, settled faith, and inward peace of the aged pontiff.
Verse 26. Strip Aaron of his garments - i:e., his pontifical robes, in token of his resignation (see Isaiah 22:20-25).
Put them upon ... his son - as the inauguration into his high office. Having been formerly anointed with the sacred oil, that ceremony was not repeated, or, as some think, it was done on his return to the camp.
Verse 28. Aaron died there in the top of the mount - in the 123rd of his age (see the notes at Numbers 33:38-39; Deuteronomy 10:6). A tomb (Wely Haroun) has been erected upon or close by the spot where, according to tradition, he was buried.