Lives of Scripture

Life Story

Aaron was three years older than his brother Moses, a Levite born before Pharaoh's order to kill Hebrew infant sons was in force, and Scripture introduces him at the burning bush not as a leader in his own right but as God's answer to Moses' objection that he could not speak well: God appointed Aaron to serve as Moses' mouthpiece, meeting him in the wilderness and standing beside him before Pharaoh and before Israel to say what God gave Moses to say (Exodus 4:10-16, 27-31). Aaron performed several of the confrontational signs himself, including throwing down the staff that became a serpent and stretching out his hand to bring on the plagues of blood, frogs, and gnats (Exodus 7:8-12, 19-20; Exodus 8:5-6, 16-17). At Sinai, Aaron and his sons were set apart as Israel's first priests, clothed in garments God specified in detail — an ephod, a breastplate bearing twelve stones for the twelve tribes, and a turban inscribed 'Holy to the LORD' — and Aaron alone was consecrated as high priest, the one man permitted to enter the Holy of Holies once a year to make atonement for the whole nation (Exodus 28-29; Leviticus 16). Scripture does not let that office soften what Aaron did next: with Moses forty days on the mountain, the people demanded gods to lead them, and Aaron collected their gold earrings, cast a calf, built an altar before it, and proclaimed a feast to the LORD — a direct violation of the covenant Israel had just sworn, committed by the man who would become its high priest (Exodus 32:1-6). Moses' intercession, not any merit of Aaron's, is what turned aside God's wrath from destroying the nation outright (Exodus 32:9-14, 30-35). Aaron's authority was tested again when he and Miriam challenged Moses' unique standing as the one through whom God spoke, for which Miriam alone was struck with leprosy while Aaron, as priest, pleaded with Moses for her healing (Numbers 12). When Korah and others rose up against Aaron's priesthood itself, God vindicated Aaron by making his staff alone, of twelve gathered from each tribe, sprout, bud, blossom, and bear almonds overnight (Numbers 16-17). Aaron died on Mount Hor at 123, his priestly garments stripped from him and placed on his son Eleazar in a public transfer of office before Israel, and the nation mourned him thirty days (Numbers 20:22-29; Numbers 33:38-39). The New Testament treats the Aaronic priesthood as a real but temporary institution: its priests had to offer sacrifices repeatedly, first for their own sins and then for the people's, and they died and had to be replaced, whereas Christ holds His priesthood permanently, is himself sinless, and offered one sacrifice sufficient for all time — Aaron's office points forward to a greater high priest rather than standing as the final word (Hebrews 5:1-5; Hebrews 7:23-28).

Family

Aaron was the son of Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi, older brother to Moses and to their sister Miriam, both of whom worked alongside him through the Exodus and both of whom also clashed with him at different points — Miriam and Aaron together challenged Moses' authority, and Aaron himself built the golden calf while Moses was on Sinai (Exodus 15:20; Numbers 12; Exodus 32). Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, and their marriage produced four sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar (Exodus 6:23). Nadab and Abihu were struck dead by the LORD after offering 'strange fire' in the tabernacle, incense burned in a way God had not commanded, and Aaron's response to that loss — silence, at Moses' instruction not to observe the customary mourning rites since he was on duty as high priest — is recorded without further comment (Leviticus 10:1-7). Eleazar, the eldest surviving son, succeeded Aaron as high priest at his death on Mount Hor, beginning a priestly line that Scripture traces for generations afterward (Numbers 20:25-28; Numbers 3:32).