Deuteronomy 10:6,7

The Establishment of a New Priest for Israel, of the Levites, And The Renewal of the Journey With The People Mainly Still Alive (Deuteronomy 10:6).

This summary section covers the replacement of Aaron, on his dying respectably, death by Eliezer, his son, which is shown to be a new and refreshing new start for Israel, the appointment of the Levites to bear the Ark of the covenant, the priestly Levites to bless in His name and of both to serve before Yahweh in their different ways, the final confirmation that they will not be destroyed, and their going forth on their journey towards the promised land.

Analysis in the words of Moses:

a And the children of Israel journeyed from Beeroth (the wells of) Bene-jaakan to Moserah (chastisement) (Deuteronomy 10:6).

b There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead. From there they journeyed to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water (Deuteronomy 10:7).

c At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister to Him, and to bless in His name, to this day (Deuteronomy 10:8).

c For that reason Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers. Yahweh is his inheritance, just as Yahweh your God spoke to him (Deuteronomy 10:9).

b And I stayed in the mount, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and Yahweh listened to me that time also. Yahweh would not destroy you (Deuteronomy 10:10).

a And Yahweh said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people, and they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them (Deuteronomy 10:11).

Note that in ‘a' the journey that might not have taken place (because of the destruction of the Israelites) begins, and in the parallel they are commanded by Yahweh to journey on towards the land (the journey is not in doubt). In ‘b' one of the supreme duo dies (but respectably and in the favour of Yahweh) because of his failures, he had needed to be interceded for, and in the parallel the other more senior member of the duo goes into the Mount to carry out his intercession. In ‘c' the Levites (the whole tribe of Levi including the priests) are set apart for Yahweh's service, and in the parallel it is pointed out that Yahweh is their inheritance.

Deuteronomy 10:6

‘ And the children of Israel journeyed from Beeroth (the wells of) Bene-jaakan to Moserah (chastisement). There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead. From there they journeyed to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water.'

With the renewal of the covenant came the requirement for a new representative for Israel before Yahweh. Chronologically it did not happen immediately. One importance of these verses lies in their indication that Aaron still continued in the Priest's office until he died, and that his son then carried on as Priest. It was an indication that Moses' prayer for Aaron had been heard. He was probably quoting from a historical source so that he himself was not seen as justifying Aaron. But they also suggest that his replacement was seen as inevitable in preparing for entry into the land (Deuteronomy 10:11).

It is indeed probable that the progress from ‘the wells of the sons of Jaakan', through Moserah (chastisement) to the ‘land of brooks of water' is intended to be seen as an indication of the extra blessing that would follow on the consecration of Eleazar. Wells are replaced by rivers. We can compare this with Numbers where the death of Aaron (Numbers 20:22) also leads on to abundance of water (Deuteronomy 21:13). The point was that while Aaron had been a well to the people, even though he had needed to be chastised, Eliezer would be a flowing water source. This would further explain why this itinerary is mentioned here. Along with the renewed covenant it was a new beginning. Aaron's death had been a punishment for his failures as all well knew. But Eleazar was unblemished in any serious way.

There is here an apparent difference with the list of places visited on their journeys by Numbers. Numbers 33:31 reads, ‘And they journeyed from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan, and they journeyed from Bene-jaakan and pitched in Hor-haggidgad, and they journeyed from Hor-haggidgad and pitched in Jotbathah.' Hor-haggidgad is possibly the same as Gudgodah. (Look at the final consonants - ‘gidgad' with ‘gudgod'. It has been suggested that it means ‘the cave (hor) of the crickets'). But it should be noted that the journey in Numbers was a different journey on the way to Ezion-geber on the Reed Sea. In Numbers 33:37 Aaron is said to have died in Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom, which they reached after leaving Kadesh. There is no problem with that. It was presumably near Moserah.

In this regard we must recognise that this was a time of wandering, and that some places would be visited twice, especially if they were sources of water. And movement was not always in a straight line. This was a wilderness, not a motorway. It may be that Moserah (‘chastisement') was visited twice. They may have arrived at Moseroth (plural of Moserah), experienced chastisements by extreme shortage of water, and thus have been driven off-track to find water, which they did at the wells of the sons of Jaakan. Later they may have returned to Moserah (singular of Moseroth; the chastisement having now lessened) and gone on to Hor-haggidgad. On the other hand it could well be that Moseroth and Moserah were different places of chastisement given similar names with the former being more severe chastisement for all (plural) connected with severe shortage of water, which caused the seeking out of the wells, and the latter indicating the later place of Aaron's chastisement (singular) where he died, a name suggested by the previous place that they had visited. The ancients loved playing with names.

In some cases they gave the places names as they went along and were clearly not above giving the same name to different places in similar circumstances (e.g. Meribah in Exodus 17:7 and Numbers 20:13). Certainly the death of Aaron was to be seen as a further chastisement, but not as a judgment. The suggestion would also seem to be that this Moserah was near Mount Hor. This could well be. After the visit to Kadesh they may well have come back on their tracks. Despite brave attempts we can neither identify these sites specifically nor be dogmatic about their names or whereabouts with relation to each other. The Numbers itinerary probably makes simple a journey that was quite complicated. The search for water would be almost continual, and would cause deviations, for they were a sizeable group.