And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
When all the congregation saw. Moses and Eleazar were the sole witnesses of his departure. According to the established law, the new high priest could not have been present at the funeral of his father without contracting ceremonial defilement (Leviticus 21:11). But that law was dispensed with in the extraordinary circumstances: the people learned the event not only from the recital of the two witnesses, but from their visible signs of grief and change; and this event betokened the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 7:12).
Mourned ... thirty days - the usual period of public and solemn mourning (see the note at Deuteronomy 34:8).