Lives of Scripture

Eleazar was the son of Abinadab of Kiriath-jearim. After the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant in battle and then, plagued by disaster wherever they kept it, sent it back to Israel on a cart, it came to rest at Kiriath-jearim (1 Samuel 6:1-7:1). The men of that town brought the ark into Abinadab's house on the hill and "consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD" (7:1). The ark remained there under Eleazar's watch for about twenty years, the span of time noted before Samuel called Israel back to the LORD (7:2). Scripture records no further individual action of Eleazar's -- his role was custodial, not narrated as a series of events, but the text singles him out by name as the one specifically set apart for this responsibility over Israel's most sacred object during a long, formative stretch of Israel's history between the judges and the monarchy. It was not until years later, under King David, that the ark was finally moved from that region toward Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6), at which point Eleazar's brothers Uzzah and Ahio, not Eleazar himself, are named as the ones who drove the cart. Eleazar's contribution was simply faithful, sustained guardianship of what God's people held holy, without complaint or incident recorded across two decades.