In the older literature outside the Pent., the mission of Moses and Aaron in Egypt is alluded to in Jos 24' E, and 1 S 12*' ' (a passage which has affinities with E). Micah (6*) names as the leaders of the people at the time of the Exodus, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, but Aaron is not mentioned elsewhere in the prophets. H. A. Whitb.
AAROMITES (pTqti 'J? 'sons of Aaron').— This phrase might, according to Sem. idiom, denote either the members of a class or (.niild (comp. sons of Korah, sons of Asaph, sons of the prophets), or members of a family connected by blood kinship. As used in OT it was understood in the latter sense, all the priests, at anyrate from the time of the second temple, tracing their descent from Aaron, as the head and founder of the Israelitish priesthood. The term does not occur earlier than the priestly portions of the Pent., where in certain groups of laws the epithet Aaronites is often given to the priests (see esp. Lv 1-3, and comp. 6' 'Aaron and his sons'), and a sharp distinction is drawn between the Aaronite priests and the LeWtes who wait upon them (see esp. Nu 3'° 16*° 18'''). It is doubtful whether any mention of the Aaronites or seed of Aaron was to be found in the original II (Law of Holiness), the present text of Lv 17' 21'- "•"•»« 22».«.i» being probably due to the R. The Chronicler divides the priests into the houses of Eleazar and Ithamar, assigning sixteen courses to the former and eight to the latter ; and, probably without good authority, he connects the former with the Zadokite priests of Jerus., and the latter with the family of Eli (1 Ch 24), though the name of one of Ell's sons (cf. also 1 S 2"'-) would suggest a connexion between this family and Phinehas the eon of Eleazar (Jos 24"). Throughout his work the priests are frequently termed the Aaronitt-s (sons of Aaron)— viz. 1 Ch 6"-" 15' 23«<-«' 24>- ", 2 Ch 13»- '0 26" 2<)2' 31" 35", Neh 10" 12". In 1 Ch 12" 27" the house or family of Aaron is placed on a level with the other tribes ; and similarly in some late Hsiilms, by the side of the House of Israel and the House of l>evi, the priestly
class is described as the House of Aaron (Ps 1 1 ')'"■" 118' 135"). H. A. White.
AARON'S ROD.— Aaron's rod la the centre of interest in an important incident of the desert wanderings — time and place are both uncertain — as recorded by the priestly narrator (P), Nu 17''" (Heb. text n'"""'). The passage sliould be studied in connexion with the more complex narrative in ch. 16, to the events of which the incident in
?uestion forms the sequel (see Driver, LOT 59{.). n obedience to a divine command, 12 rods, repre- senting the 12 princes of the tribes, each with the name of a prince engraved upon it, together witli a 13th rod (cf. Vulg. fueruntque virga; duodecira absque virga Aaron) to represent the tribe of Levi, but bearing the name of Aaron, were deposited by Moses before ' the testimony,' i.e. before the ark. The following morning it was found that ' the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, ant* bare ripe almonds' (17* RV), by which it was miracu- lously proved that J" had Himself selected the tribe of Levi to be the exclusive possessors of the priestly prerogatives. The standpoint of the narrator is thus different from that of a later stratum in the foregoing section, which represents a party of Levites in revolt against the exclusive priesthood of the sons of Aaron. ' Aaron's rod that Dudded ' was ordered to be put back to its former place ' before the [ark of the] testimony ' (17'") as a token to future generations of the divine choice. A later Jewish tradition, at variance with this command, and with the express statement of 1 K 8", is found in He 9*, and in later Jewisli writers, that the rod, like the pot of manna, had a place with the tables of stone within the ark.
A. R. S. Kennedy. AB.— See Names (Proper), and Time.
ABACDC. — The form in which the name of the prophet Habakkuk appears in 2 Es 1*°.
ABADDON.— This word is found in the OT only in the Wisdom Literature. When it first appears, the old view of Sheol as a place where the family, national, and social distinctions of the world above are reproduced, had been partially displaced ; and in some measure the higher concep- tion had gained acceptance, which held that in Sheol at all events moral distinctions were paramount, and that men were treated there according to tlieir deserts. In Job 31" Abaddon (I";k) bears the general meaning of ' ruin,' ' destruction.' (But see Dillm. and Dav. in loc. ) In the other instances of its occurrence, however, it is specialised, and designates the place of the lost in Sheol. Thus in Job 26', Pr 15" 27** (■■n^K, in Ker6 fi^iV,) it occurs in conjunction with 'Sheol' (^iwe*), and in Pa 88" with 'grave' (■>3p). Again, in Job 28" a further development is to be observed. In this passage it is linked witli death (nm), and personified in the same way as we find K.'P^* in Dn 4" and Hades in Kev 6', and D'OP and Dipo in the Talmud. The word is found once more in the Bible in Rev 9". In this passage it is u.sed as the proper name of a prince of tlie infernal regions, and explained by the word 'AiroX- Xi;ui'= ' Destroyer.' In the LXX in3K is alM;^'^ rendered by diriJX«o, except in Joh 31" where L.X^.X implies a ditrerent text. The first two meiiiiiii;.'a above given are found in the Aram, and later Ihl). Finally, in the latter in the 'Emek Hamraelech, f. 15. 3, Ahaddon becomes the lowest place of (Jehenna.