Aaron was the son of Amram and Jochebed, the brother of Moses and Miriam. He was the first priest of the people of Israel. He was appointed by God to be a spokesman for Moses when Moses went before the Pharaoh of Egypt to demand that Pharaoh would release the people of Israel from slavery. When facing Pharaoh, it was Aaron who threw his rod before Pharaoh, which turned into a snake. He also assisted Moses in declaring various judgments on Pharaoh and the Egyptian people until finally the Pharaoh conceded to the demand.
Aaron was also present at Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments, but he also conceded to the creation of the Golden Calf by the Israelites during the time that Moses was on the mountain receiving the law of God.
Aaron was important for the development of the priesthood in Israel, and had two sons who died, and Eleazar and Ithamar succeeded him as priests. After his death, he was buried on Mt. Hor.
The preceding information is based on Herbert Lockyer, All the Men of the Bible, (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, MI, 1958) and All the Women of the Bible (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, MI, 1967), Who's Who in the Bible (Bonanza Books, New York, 1981), and Biographies of Bible Characters, People and Characters in the Bible.
Biography
| Hershel Wayne House
Aaron was the son of Amram and Jochebed, the brother of Moses and Miriam, and the first priest of Israel. God appointed Aaron to be Moses' spokesman in his audiences with the unnamed Pharaoh of Exodus. As a symbol of his office, Aaron received a magical rod. He turned the rod into a snake - the first in a series of signs, by which he and Moses hoped to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Aaron also used the rod to call down three of the plagues that followed this first sign (polluting the Nile, frogs and gnats). God also caused the rod to blossom and bear ripe almonds, as a sign that Aaron's descendants would inherit the priesthood.
God summoned Aaron to be present when Moses received the Ten Commandments. But Aaron did not stay on Sinai. Instead he agreed to oversee the casting of an idol (a golden calf) for the Israelites who had rebelled against the authority of the absent Moses.
Aaron was generally a supporter of Moses, but took him to task for his marrying a Cushite wife. For this God rebuked Aaron (and Miriam). His role as priest was critical when he made atonement for the Israelites and stayed the plague that had followed the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram. Exodus and Leviticus give a detailed account of the vestments and duties of Aaron and of his sons.
Aaron's elder sons, Nadab and Abihu, died early but the younger pair, Eleazar and Ithamar, succeeded him in the priesthood. When Aaron was a hundred and twenty three, God instructed him to go up onto Mt. Hor, where he died. Aaron figures prominently in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers, and is named in other books of both Old and New Testaments.
1All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. 2He built Eloth and restored it to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers. 3Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. 4He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 5He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God; and as long as he sought Yahweh, God made him prosper.
6He went out and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the country of Ashdod, and among the Philistines. 7God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and the Meunim. 8The Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah. His name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt, for he grew exceedingly strong. 9Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. 10He built towers in the wilderness, and dug out many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains. He had farmers and vineyard keepers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields, for he loved farming. 11Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. 12The whole number of the heads of fathers’ households, even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand six hundred. 13Under their hand was an army, three hundred seven thousand five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 14Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the army, shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging. 15In Jerusalem, he made devices, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the battlements, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. His name spread far abroad, because he was marvelously helped until he was strong.
16But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly and he trespassed against Yahweh his God, for he went into Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of Yahweh, who were valiant men. 18They resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, “It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will not be for your honor from Yahweh God.”
19Then Uzziah was angry. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in Yahweh’s house, beside the altar of incense. 20Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead; and they thrust him out quickly from there. Indeed, he himself also hurried to go out, because Yahweh had struck him. 21Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from Yahweh’s house. Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
22Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote. 23So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” Jotham his son reigned in his place.