Lives of Scripture

Ithamar was the youngest of Aaron's four sons (Exodus 6:23), set apart with his brothers to serve as priest when God established the tabernacle worship (Exodus 28:1). After his elder brothers Nadab and Abihu were struck dead for offering "strange fire" before the LORD, Ithamar and Eleazar were the only sons left to carry on the priesthood, and Moses instructed them not to mourn publicly, on pain of death, so the anointing on them would not be profaned (Leviticus 10:1-7). Soon after, Moses grew angry with Eleazar and Ithamar over how a sin offering had been handled -- they had burned it rather than eaten it as instructed -- and confronted them directly; Aaron answered on their behalf, and Moses accepted the explanation (10:16-20). Ithamar was given real administrative responsibility: he was appointed to direct the accounting of materials for the tabernacle's construction (Exodus 38:21) and to oversee the Gershonite and Merarite Levites in their assigned service of the tent of meeting (Numbers 4:28, 33). Generations later, David organized the priesthood by lot into twenty-four divisions, drawn from the two surviving lines of Aaron -- Eleazar's, which had grown larger, and Ithamar's (1 Chronicles 24:1-6). Ithamar's line endured for centuries; a priest "of the sons of Ithamar" is still named returning with Ezra from Babylon (Ezra 8:2).