The Death of Miriam and the Death of Aaron
In the fortieth year Miriam and Aaron die; the well vanishes, at the rock of Meribah Moses loses the right to enter the Land, and the whole people mourns Aaron.
The fortieth year began with losses. In the first month, at Kadesh, Miriam died—the girl who watched the basket on the Nile, argued with her father for the unborn, and led the women out with timbrels after the sea. The Torah immediately adds: and there was no water for the congregation. The well that travelled in her merit vanished with her. The people gathered against Moses and Aaron, and God said: take the staff, gather the assembly and speak to the rock. Moses said, listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock—and struck it twice. Water came out abundantly, but the verdict fell on both brothers: because you did not trust Me to sanctify Me before Israel, you shall not bring this assembly into the Land. Commentators have argued for centuries over the precise failure. On the first of Av, on Mount Hor, Moses removed Aaron's priestly garments and put them on his son Elazar; Aaron died there at a hundred and twenty-three, mourned for thirty days by the whole house of Israel.
How we know
On the chronology
Here the chronologies differ not by years but by a century. Seder Olam Rabbah places the Exodus in 1313 BCE. The prevailing academic date is the thirteenth century, the time of Ramesses II: its firm anchor is the stele of Pharaoh Merneptah of 1208 BCE, the first mention of Israel outside the Tanakh, where Israel is already in Canaan. A minority of scholars holds to the fifteenth century, reckoning by the plain count of I Kings 6:1 — four hundred and eighty years from the Exodus to Solomon's Temple. The timeline shows the prevailing dating.
Sources
Tanakh
- Bamidbar 20 — the death of Miriam, the waters of Merivah, the decree, and Aharon’s death on Mount Hor
- Bamidbar 33:38–39 — the date and Aharon’s age: the first day of the fifth month, 123 years
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Taanit 9a — three gifts for three leaders: Miriam’s well, Aharon’s clouds, Moshe’s manna
- Moed Katan 28a — Miriam’s death placed beside the law of the red heifer; death “by a kiss”
- Avot 1:12 — “love peace and pursue peace” — why all Israel mourned Aharon
Rishonim
- Rashi on Bamidbar 20:12 — what exactly the sin at the rock consisted of
- Rambam, Shemonah Perakim 4 — the reading of Moshe’s sin as anger — “listen now, you rebels”
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.
People and places
Aaron · Miriam · Kadesh Barnea · Numbers · Eleazar the Priest