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The Arabs still show with veneration the traditionary site of Aaron’s grave on one of the two summits of Mount Hor, which is marked by a Mohammedan chapel. His name is mentioned in the Koran, and there are found in the writings of the rabbins many fabulous stories regarding him.
He was the first anointed priest. His descendants, “the house of Aaron,” constituted the priesthood in general. In the time of David they were very numerous (1 Chronicles 12:27). The other branches of the tribe of Levi held subordinate positions in connection with the sacred office. Aaron was a type of Christ in his official character as the high priest. His priesthood was a “shadow of heavenly things,” and was intended to lead the people of Israel to look forward to the time when “another priest” would arise “after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:20). (See MOSES.)
•AARONITES the descendants of Aaron, and therefore priests. Jehoiada, the father of Benaiah, led 3,700 Aaronites as “fighting men” to the support of David at Hebron (1 Chronicles 12:27). Eleazar (Numbers 3:32), and at a later period Zadok (1 Chronicles 27:17), was their chief.
•ABADDON destruction, the Hebrew name (equivalent to the Greek Apollyon, i.e., destroyer) of “the angel of the bottomless pit” (Revelation 9:11). It is rendered “destruction” in Job 28:22; 31:12; 26:6; Proverbs 15:11; 27:20. In the last three of these passages the Revised Version retains the word “Abaddon.” We may regard this word as a personification of the idea of destruction, or as sheol, the realm of the dead.
•ABAGTHA one of the seven eunuchs in Ahasuerus’s court (Esther 1:10; 2:21).
•ABANA stony (Hebrews marg. “Amanah,” perennial), the chief river of Damascus (2 Kings 5:12). Its modern name is Barada, the Chrysorrhoas, or “golden stream,” of the Greeks. It rises in a cleft of the Anti-Lebanon