Midrash su Salmi 66:5

From the parashah (in Numb. 20:25–27): TAKE AARON <AND HIS SON ELEAZAR> […,] AND STRIP AARON [….: SO MOSES DID AS THE LORD COMMANDED. <This parashah> has come to teach you that, even though he had spoken to him a harsh commandment against his brother, he did not hesitate.³See above, Numb. 6:40. The Holy One said to Moses: Say to your brother Aaron: Your time has arrived to pass away from the world. Immediately Moses stood before the Holy One in prayer and said: Sovereign of the World, how shall I say to my brother: Your time has arrived. The Holy One said to him: I have already decreed a decision over him, that has not been decreed over anyone else, in that I will not deliver him into the hand of the angel of death on the same day that he stopped the plague (in Numb. 17:8–13 [6:43–48]). Now their custom was this: Every day the princes would rise and come early to the doorway of Eleazar; Eleazar and the princes < would go> to the doorway of Aaron; and Aaron, Eleazar, and the princes would go early to the doorway of Moses. On this day, however, Moses changed the custom. He along with Eleazar and the Princes went early to the doorway of Aaron. Aaron said to him: Brother Moses, Why did you change the custom? Moses said to him: This is what the Holy One has commanded me. Now this was the order in which they went: Moses in the middle with Aaron to his right and Eleazar to this left. But when Israel saw that, they said to each other: The Holy Spirit has been taken from Moses and given to Aaron! Also Israel loved Aaron more than Moses, because Moses had said: Let justice take its course, while Aaron had brought peace between a person and his friend, also between a husband and his wife. Moreover, if he heard about anyone in the world who wanted to commit some transgression at night, he would go out on the road; and when he found him, he would say to him: My child, why are you walking on the road? People may suspect you of things that are evil. But you, my child, are a good person; and you stem from a good and distinguished family. Thus he would warn him and bring him back from an the evil way. So all Israel, men and women, loved Aaron. Therefore our masters of blessed memory have said (in Avot 1:12): BE ONE OF THE DISCIPLES OF AARON, LOVING PEACE AND PURSUING PEACE, LOVING MORTALS AND DRAWING THEM NEAR TO THE TORAH. For that reason (in Numb. 20:29): THEN ALL THE CONGREGATION SAW THAT AARON HAD DIED, AND THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, men and women, MOURNED AARON FOR THIRTY DAYS. But in reference to Moses, it is written (in Deut. 34:8): AND THE SONS OF ISRAEL, men only, MOURNED MOSES ON THE PLAINS OF MOAB FOR THIRTY DAYS. Now on that day Aaron said to Moses: Tell me, my brother, what do you need from me? He said to him: Wait until we ascend the mountain. After they had ascended, he said to him: My brother, would it be that the Holy one entrusted a deposit with you, and wants it back from you? Aaron said to him: Brother Moses, a tent of meeting and its utensils were entrusted into my hands. Might I have cut back on their liturgy? Moses said to him: The Holy One delivered to you a menorah with its seven lamps. Still, he did not take to heart that he was speaking about his <life> breath (as in Prov. 20:27): A PERSON's BREATH IS THE LAMP OF GOD.⁴The Masoretic text uses the divine name here. When he was not perceptive about the matter, Moses said to him <plainly>: Brother Aaron, your time has arrived to pass away from the world. When he heard that, he put his hands on his head, as he sobbed and wept. Then he recited this scripture (from Ps. 66:5): COME {LOOK AT} [SEE] THE WORKS OF GOD, WHO IS FEARSOME FOR HIS DEEDS AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ADAM. Moreover, when they wanted to enter the cave, Moses said to him: Brother Aaron, there is where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died; but since you wear the robes of priesthood, you may defile them. You put on Eleazar's clothes, and let Eleazar put on your clothes. Then you and I will enter the cave. And so they did. When they entered, they saw a burning lamp and a made-up bed. Moses said to him: Brother Aaron, get up into this bed, and he got up. He said to him: Extend your arms, and he extended them. Close your eyes, and he closed them. Close your mouth, and he did so. And in that hour his breath left him. When Moses saw that, he longed for his own death. The Holy One said to him: By your life, like this death, even the death of this man, so shall be your own death. Thus it is stated (in Deut. 32:50): AND YOU SHALL DIE THERE ON THE MOUNTAIN THAT YOU ARE ASCENDING AND SHALL BE GATHERED UNTO YOUR KIN, AS YOUR BROTHER AARON DIED ON MOUNT HOR AND WAS GATHERED UNTO HIS KIN.

And Joseph was brought down into Egypt (Gen. 39:1). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: Come and see the works of God; he acts circuitously in His doings toward the children of man (Ps. 66:5). R. Joshua the son of Karha declared: Even the fearful experiences You inflicted upon us, You brought about circuitously. For example, when the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, He fashioned the angel of death on the first day. Whence do we know that? R. Berechiah said: We know it from the verse And darkness was on the face of the deep (Gen. 1:2). Darkness refers to the angel of death, for he darkens the face of man.

Adam was created on the sixth day, and He informed him in a roundabout way that He had brought death into the world, as it is said: For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die (Gen. 2:12). To what may this be compared? It may be compared to a man who wished to divorce his wife. Before he enters his home, he writes out the divorce document and then enters the house with the divorce document in his hand. He then seeks a circuitous way to hand it to her. He says to her: “Give me some water that I may drink.” She does so, and when he takes the glass from her hand, he tells her: “Here is your divorce.” She asks: “What sin have I committed?” “Leave my house,” he retorts, “you have served me a warm drink.” “Apparently you already knew,” she replies, “that I would serve you a warm drink when you prepared the bill of divorce you brought with you.” And that is what Adam told the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, two thousand years before You created the world, You had the Torah as an artisan, as it is written: Then was I by Him, as an artisan; and I was day by day all delight (Prov. 8:30). (The repetition of the word day indicates) that two thousand years⁷A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday (Ps. 90:4). (had passed since He wrote the Torah). Within it is written: This is the law; that a man dieth in his tent (Num. 19:14). If You had not previously decreed death for mankind, You would not have so stated in it (the Torah). The fact is, You introduced the threat of death against me in a roundabout way. Hence He acts circuitously in His doings toward the children of men (Ps. 66:5).