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.
1He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. It was square. Its length was five cubits, its width was five cubits, and its height was three cubits. 2He made its horns on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze. 3He made all the vessels of the altar: the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its vessels of bronze. 4He made for the altar a grating of a network of bronze, under the ledge around it beneath, reaching halfway up. 5He cast four rings for the four corners of bronze grating, to be places for the poles. 6He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze. 7He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made it hollow with planks.
8He made the basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, out of the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
9He made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, one hundred cubits; 10their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 11For the north side one hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. 12For the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. 13For the east side eastward fifty cubits, 14the hangings for the one side were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three; 15and so for the other side: on this hand and that hand by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen. 17The sockets for the pillars were of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. Their capitals were overlaid with silver. All the pillars of the court had silver bands. 18The screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. Twenty cubits was the length, and the height along the width was five cubits, like the hangings of the court. 19Their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of bronze; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their fillets, of silver. 20All the pins of the tabernacle, and around the court, were of bronze.
21These are the amounts of materials used for the tabernacle, even the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. 22Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Yahweh commanded Moses. 23With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen.
24All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 25The silver of those who were counted of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary: 26a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men. 27The one hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil: one hundred sockets for the one hundred talents, one talent per socket. 28From the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them. 29The bronze of the offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels. 30With this he made the sockets to the door of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, all the vessels of the altar, 31the sockets around the court, the sockets of the gate of the court, all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins around the court.