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.
1“You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide. The altar shall be square. Its height shall be three cubits. 2You shall make its horns on its four corners. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with bronze. 3You shall make its pots to take away its ashes; and its shovels, its basins, its meat hooks, and its fire pans. You shall make all its vessels of bronze. 4You shall make a grating for it of network of bronze. On the net you shall make four bronze rings in its four corners. 5You shall put it under the ledge around the altar beneath, that the net may reach halfway up the altar. 6You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7Its poles shall be put into the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when carrying it. 8You shall make it hollow with planks. They shall make it as it has been shown you on the mountain.
9“You shall make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen one hundred cubits long for one side. 10Its pillars shall be twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 11Likewise for the length of the north side, there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and its pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. 12For the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. 13The width of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. 14The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. 15For the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16For the gate of the court shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their sockets four. 17All the pillars of the court around shall be filleted with silver; their hooks of silver, and their sockets of bronze. 18The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits, of fine twined linen, and their sockets of bronze. 19All the instruments of the tabernacle in all its service, and all its pins, and all the pins of the court, shall be of bronze.
20“You shall command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. 21In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil which is before the covenant, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh: it shall be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.