“They traveled from Kadesh, and the children of Israel, the entire congregation, came to Hor Mountain” (Numbers 20:22). “They traveled from Kadesh and…came” – this is what the verse said: “Because you allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has breached your works” (II Chronicles 20:37). Because they drew near to that wicked one to pass through his land, they lost that righteous one. That is why the gathering of Aaron was juxtaposed just after the portion of the king of Edom.
“Israel turned away from him” (Numbers 20:21). “They traveled from Kadesh” – what is “the entire congregation”? It is a complete congregation, the congregation that is entering the land. It is because those who departed from Egypt died, and these are from those in whose regard it is written in the verse: “All of you are alive today” (Deuteronomy 4:4).
What is “Hor Mountain [Hor Hahar]”? It is a mountain atop a mountain, like a small apple atop a large apple. Although the cloud that went before them would lower the elevations and raise the depressions, the Holy One blessed be He left this mountain as a sample, so they would be aware of the miracles that the Holy One blessed be He performed on their behalf, as He did not leave a mountain in the wilderness, so they would not be exerting themselves and ascending and descending.
Moreover, although the cloud would render the entire wilderness a plain, it would leave an elevation for the Tabernacle that would encamp there, and it left three mountains: Mount Sinai for the Divine Presence, Mount Nevo for Moses’s burial, and Hor Mountain for Aaron’s burial.