Numbers 20:29

Num 20:29. Saw — Understood by the relation of Moses and Eleazar, and by other signs. Thirty days — The time of public and solemn mourning for great persons.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, mourned.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead--Moses and Eleazar were the sole witnesses of his departure (Num 20:28). According to the established law, the new high priest could not have been present at the funeral of his father without contracting ceremonial defilement (Lev 21:11). But that law was dispensed with in the extraordinary circumstances. The people learned the event not only from the recital of the two witnesses, but from their visible signs of grief and change; and this event betokened the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood (Heb 7:12).

they mourned for Aaron thirty days--the usual period of public and solemn mourning. (See on Deu 34:8).

Next: Numbers Chapter 21

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Dead, in the 123d year of his age. (Menochius) --- Neither Moses, Aaron, nor Mary, representing the Law, the priests, and the prophets of the Old Testament, could introduce the people into the promised land. This honour was reserved for Josue, the illustrious figure of Jesus Christ, and of his Church. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e.

When the congregation understood by the relation of Moses and Eleazar, and by other signs. So seeing is used Gen 42:1; Act 7:12.

Thirty days; the time of public and solemn mourning for great persons. See Deu 34:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

29. They mourned — Literally, wept. The same verb is thus translated in Deu_34:8. The Hebrew tongue is exceedingly copious in words expressing the various actions characteristic of mourning, such as beating the breast, weeping, screaming loudly, wearing sad-coloured garments, singing dirges, funeral feasting, rending the clothes, sprinkling ashes or earth on the person, removal of ornaments, neglect of the body, fasting, shaving the head, plucking out the beard or hair, laying bare some part of the person, covering the upper lip, cutting the flesh, and sitting or lying in silence. One marked feature of Oriental mourning is what may be called its studied publicity, and the careful observance of the prescribed ceremonies. Gen_23:2; 1Sa_11:4; 1Sa_30:4; 2Sa_15:30; Job_1:20; Job_2:8-13; Isa_15:3; Jer_3:21.

Thirty days — The customary period of mourning varied. In the case of Jacob it was seventy days in Egypt and seven in Canaan, (Gen_50:3; Gen_50:10, notes;) of Moses thirty, and of Saul seven, days.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They mourned for Aaron thirty days. The Egyptians prolonged their mourning for seventy days, (Gen_1:3) but thirty days seems to have been the longest period allowed among the Israelites. (cf. Deu_34:8)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Saw - Understood by the relation of Moses and Eleazar, and by other signs. Thirty days - The time of publick and solemn mourning for great persons.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ויראו כל העדה AND ALL THE CONGREGATION SAW [THAT AARON HAD DIED] — When they saw Moses and Eleazar descending and that Aaron was not descending with them, they said, “Where, then, is Aaron?” — He replied to them, “He is dead!” They thereupon said, “Is it possible that a man who stood up against the Angel and stayed the plague, — that over him the Angel of Death should have power?!” — Moses at once offered prayer and the ministering angels showed him (Aaron) to them lying upon the bier. They saw and believed (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 17).

כל בית ישראל [THEY WEPT FOR AARON …] EVEN ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL — all: both men and women, because Aaron used to pursue peace and promoted love between contending parties, and between man and wife (cf. The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan 12).

כי גוע THAT (or because) HE HAD DIED — I say that he who translates these words in the Targum (i.e., anyone who holds that this is the correct rendering) by דהא מית, “because he had died”, is in error unless he also translates in the Targum the word ויראו by ואתחזיאו “they were seen (exposed)”, for our Rabbis stated that this word כי is used here in the sense of “because” only in accordance with a Midrash which relates that the clouds of glory which hitherto enveloped Israel disappeared at Aaron's death, (so that all the congregation were now exposed to the sight of their enemies), and in accordance with what R. Abuhu said (Rosh Hashanah 3a), “Read here not וַיִּרְאוּ but וַיֵּרָאוּ, “they were seen”. It is to this sense of the verb that the meaning of “because” is applicable to the word כי, since that gives the reason for what precedes it: Why were they seen? Because, behold, Aaron had died, and the clouds disappeared. But to the translation in the Targum, וחזו כל כנשתא (“and all the congregation saw”), the meaning of “because” (for the word כי) is not applicable, but only the meaning אשר, “that”, which is one of the usages of the word אי (the Aramaic equivalent of אם, which itself is one of the four classifications of the usage of כי; see ibid). For we find אם used in the sense of אשר “that”, as e.g., (Job 21:4) “so that (ואם) why should I not be impatient?” And many passages where אם occurs may be explained in this sense, as (Job 14:5), “that (אם) his days are determined”.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.