What Does Numbers 20:26 Mean?
And strip Aaron of his garments, and clothe Eleazar his son with them; and Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and shall die there.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.THE KEY
Aaron’s garments become the visible bridge between the priest who dies and the son who follows him.
THE MEANING
The verse holds succession and death together: Aaron’s garments pass to Eleazar, while Aaron is gathered to his people and dies there. The sign of his office rests on his son as Aaron’s own life reaches its end.
THE ROOT
יֵאָסֵף
ye'asef
GROWS FROM
אסף
ʾ-s-p
gather, collect, bring in
The English keeps the action, but “unto his people” makes death sound like being gathered into a people rather than simply disappearing. The verse still says plainly that Aaron dies there; the root does not soften that ending or specify more than it says.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāsîp: ingathering, harvest
אָסִיף
The same root names the harvest’s gathering-in, giving the death phrase an image of being brought in.
ʾespāh: I will gather
אֶסְפָה
This form gathers people into a group; Aaron’s phrase uses the same action and names his people as those to whom he is gathered.
וְהִלְבַּשְׁתָּם
wehilbashtam
GROWS FROM
לבש
l-b-sh
clothe, wear
“clothe with them” in this verse is wehilbashtam. The clothing root makes the handoff physical: garments taken from Aaron are put onto Eleazar. Its branches hold both the act of clothing and the state of being clothed, so the visible sign of the office moves from one body to another.
ALSO GROWS
lāvaš: wear, be clothed
לָבַשׁ
The same root describes the one who wears the garments, completing the transfer expressed in the verse.
levush: garment, attire
לְבוּשׁ
This noun names what is worn, linking Aaron’s removed garments to Eleazar’s new clothing.
אֶלְעָזָר
ʾElʿāzār
GROWS FROM
עזר
ʿ-z-r
help, aid
Eleazar’s name combines El, “God,” with azar, “help”: “God has helped.” The successor’s name carries help as part of its nature, an echo in the handoff without the verse explaining why he receives the garments.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāzar: help, aid
עָזַר
This verb is the help-bearing root within Eleazar’s name.
ʿēzer: help, aid
עֵזֶר
This noun makes the same root’s sense of help explicit, echoing the name of the one who receives the garments.
THE PATTERN
A role’s visible garments can pass to a successor while the former bearer reaches death.
The set-apart garments of Aaron are his sons' after him, to be anointed in them, and to fill their hands in them.He lifted also the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and turned back, and stood at the lip of the Jordan.And they truly were many priests, for death held them back from remaining.THE THREAD
Then Abraham breathed out, and died in good gray hair, an old man, full of days, and was gathered to his people.Genesis uses the same root אסף (ʾ-s-p, gather) for Abraham being gathered to his people. The shared verb frames death with an image of belonging, while both verses still say plainly that the person dies.
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