2 Chronicles 31 (WEB)

Aaron·1574 BC – 1451 BC

Lived
1574 BC – 1451 BC (approximate)
Gender
Male
Born
Egypt
Died
Mount Hor
Appears in
Father Amram
Mother Jochebed
Spouse Elisheba
Siblings MiriamMoses
Biography | Hershel Wayne House

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.

Person & place data: Theographic Bible Metadata by Robert Rouse (Viz.Bible), CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 Chronicles 31 (WEB)

1Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, also in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

2Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites after their divisions, every man according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of Yahweh’s camp. 3He also appointed the king’s portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in Yahweh’s law. 4Moreover he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to Yahweh’s law. 5As soon as the commandment went out, the children of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the increase of the field; and they brought in the tithe of all things abundantly. 6The children of Israel and Judah, who lived in the cities of Judah, also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated to Yahweh their God, and laid them in heaps.

7In the third month, they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. 8When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed Yahweh and his people Israel. 9Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. 10Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, “Since people began to bring the offerings into Yahweh’s house, we have eaten and had enough, and have plenty left over, for Yahweh has blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.”

11Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in Yahweh’s house, and they prepared them. 12They brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was ruler over them, and Shimei his brother was second. 13Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah the ruler of God’s house. 14Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper at the east gate, was over the free will offerings of God, to distribute Yahweh’s offerings and the most holy things. 15Under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their office of trust, to give to their brothers by divisions, to the great as well as to the small; 16in addition to those who were listed by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even everyone who entered into Yahweh’s house, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their offices according to their divisions; 17and those who were listed by genealogy of the priests by their fathers’ houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their offices by their divisions; 18and those who were listed by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation; for in their office of trust they sanctified themselves in holiness. 19Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the pasture lands of their cities, in every city, there were men who were mentioned by name to give portions to all the males among the priests and to all who were listed by genealogy among the Levites.

20Hezekiah did so throughout all Judah; and he did that which was good, right, and faithful before Yahweh his God. 21In every work that he began in the service of God’s house, in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.

Aaron