| Numbers 20:26
| And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar, his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.
| Vesture, or pontifical attire. Eleazar had been anointed already, so that perhaps he stood in need of no other ceremony to be acknowledged high priest. He was dispensed with on this occasion to attend his dying father. The spirit of God gives great encomiums to Aaron, Malachias 2:4-7., and Ecclesiasticus 45:7, 27. He, at the same time, prefigured Christ, the gospel, and the old law. He spoke plainly, and was allowed to enter the holy of holies; while Moses was excluded, spoke with difficulty, and had a veil on his face. See St. Jerome, ep. ad Fab. man. 33. But on the other hand, he represented the law with all its defects. He falls into several great faults, and dies despoiled of his glorious vestments, to shew the abrogation of his priesthood. The pagans have, perhaps, introduced some parts of his history into that of Mercury, the god of thieves and of travellers, the messenger of the other gods, whom they adorn with a wand, etc., in imitation of the rod of Aaron, who was the interpreter of Moses, and the head of that people, which wandered for 40 years, after plundering Egypt. (Calmet)
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