Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/18

Aaron. that he ruled his people for a lengthy period. It is only reasonable to judge that the king of such a people as the Lamanites then were, would be a type of the race— brutal, bloodthirsty and merciless.  AARON. One of the royal race of the Jaredites. He was the son of Heth, a descendant of Jared. In the days of his grandfather, Hearthom, who was the reigning monarch, the kingdom was taken away from him and he was kept a prisoner all his days. His son Heth, his grandson Aaron, and Aaron's son Amnigaddah were also kept in captivity all their lives by the triumphant party. In the days of Aaron's great-grandson, Com, the kingdom was reconquered for the dynasty of which Aaron was a member. At a rough guess we should imagine that Aaron lived about a thousand years before Christ.   AARON, CITY OF. When Alma was first cast out of Ammonihah he turned his face toward a city called Aaron (Alma viii: 13). It is natural to suppose that Aaron was not far distant from Ammonihah; at any rate, not on the other side of the continent. Yet the only other time when a city called Aaron is referred to, it is spoken of as joining the land of Moroni, which was the frontier district in the extreme southeast of the lands possessed by the Nephites. Our only way out of this difficulty is to suggest that there were two cities called Aaron; not at all an unlikely thing when we reflect how important a personage Aaron, the son of Mosiah, was among his people. When chosen to be king he declined this great honor and the republic was established. It requires no stretch of the imagination to believe that a free and grateful people would name more than one city in honor of this self-denying prince.

The only mention made of the first of these two cities is that Alma bent his way "towards the city which was called Aaron." (B. C. 82.) Of the 