Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, qhe is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 rYou shall speak to him and sput the words in his mouth, and pI will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16 tHe shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and uyou shall be as God to him.
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| (from left to right: Tzippora, Aaron, Moses, and Miriam as portrayed in Prince of Egypt animated movie) |
"Contrary to popular belief, it was Aaron, not Moses, who cast down the staff that became a snake before Pharaoh (Ex. 7:10-12). It was Aaron, not Moses, who held out his staff to trigger the first three plagues against Egypt (Ex. 7:19-20; Ex. 8:1-2 or 8:5-6; Ex. 8:12-13 or 8:16-17). According to Jewish tradition, it was also Aaron who performed the signs for the elders before they went to Pharaoh."
(http://www.jewfaq.org/m/moshe.htm)
Moses is said to have uncircumcised lips. Many interpret that as being a stutterer. He says that he is slow to speech and of tongue, so God ordains Aaron to be Moses's spokesperson. The verse also says that Moses will be like God to Aaron. Now as we know, Moses was actually a very humble person. "Of course, Moses was not really God, but in the teamwork aspect of their working relationship, God is clearly pointing out that Moses was the leader, even though Aaron would be doing the bulk of the speaking—at least until Moses' confidence, his faith, increased to the point that he no longer worried about being slow of speech. Moses would be in the position of issuing the orders. Aaron would be in the position of submitting to what Moses said.
Moses was in the position of God to Aaron, even as God was to Moses. Moses was God's prophet, but Aaron was Moses' prophet. A prophet is one who speaks for another, who speaks the words that the other put into his mouth—a simple arrangement, easy to understand."
(http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/9218/Moses-Aarons-Relationship.htm)
To fully understand Aaron's role in the story of Moses, we kind of have to back track to the beginning. When Moses was born, the king of Egypt told his people to go out and throw every male child into the Nile not just the first born, which would have been Aaron. Which begs the question why wasn't Aaron killed? was it because he was older or was it because his mother hid him or was it simply because God protected him? when the Bible says Pharaoh ordered all the Hebrew children killed, we assume that that means just babies, but was that really the case, or did it also apply to older children as well? Because Aaron would have been about 3 when Moses was born. (http://www.jewfaq.org/m/moshe.htm)
A side note: theres an Exodus movie coming out soon currently in post-production. Im interested to see how it will portray our characters.
Although Aaron doesnt seem to get much credit for his role in delivering the Israelites out of Egypt, Aaron was still honored before God when God ordained Aaron and his descendants as the first priests and were charged with keeping the tabernacle and holy traditions. Even after Aaron conceded to allow the Israelites to make a golden calf when they grew restless of waiting for Moses to come back down off the mountain. I think in this way, Aaron was blessed in his own way. He may not have been the leader that Moses was, but Moses certainly couldnt have done without him. This is the conclusion I've reached in regards to the research that I've done. Aaron's place in God's plan was just different than Moses's, and both Moses and Aaron seem to be ok with that. Aaron was not diminished in the sight of God.
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