Who is aron in the bible

Aaron, the first High Priest, was the founder and ancestor of the Israelite priesthood. His mother, Jochebed, the Egyptian-born daughter of Levi, married her nephew Amram son of Kohath, and gave birth to three children: Miriam, the eldest; Aaron; and Moses, the youngest, who was born when Aaron was three years old.

It states that he married Elisheba daughter of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, with whom he had four sons: Nadav, Avihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. His brother-in-law, Nahshon, was a direct ancestor of King David. Also, by stretching out his walking stick at the request of Moses, he brought on the first three plagues: blood, frogs, and lice; and, in cooperation with Moses, he produced the sixth plague, boils, and the eighth plague, locusts.

It is significant that when he performed his wonders, it was not by virtue of any innate ability or individual initiative but only by divine command, mediated through Moses. The two brothers were already old men—Aaron was 83 years old, and Moses was 80—when Pharaoh finally yielded to their request, and let the Israelites go.

He reappeared later in connection with the incident of the manna. Later, again with Hur, Aaron acted as deputy for Moses when his brother climbed Mount Sinai to receive the two stone tablets of the Law. Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel. New York: Meridian Books, Wellhausen sees the priesthood as developing over time, culminating in the role of the high priest associated with Aaron in the postexilic period. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page.

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Username Please enter your Username. Password Please enter your Password. Forgot password? Don't have an account? Sign in via your Institution. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Their father, Amram, was the firstborn of Levi's second son. This all suggests that God's election of Moses and Aaron was not based on any sense of inheritance or privilege. Rather God chose them out of His grace and will.

The first mention of Aaron occurs at Ex. Moses was resisting God's directive to bring His people out of Egypt. God offered to send Aaron to help him because Aaron could "speak well.

Aaron was already on his way to meet Moses in Midian when God chose him to be Moses' helper. Perhaps Aaron intended to tell him that Pharaoh had died and that it was safe for him to return to Egypt. Aaron was very happy when he saw Moses in Midian, and he kissed him.

Aaron performed the signs before the elders once they had returned to Egypt. Moses and Aaron were quite the team -- Moses was like a god to Pharaoh speaking with authority ; Aaron was like a prophet addressing the people with the words he was told to speak Both Moses and Aaron went to the first meeting with Pharaoh. It did not go well and resulted in the loss of straw for making bricks. The Israelites were furious with Moses and Aaron when they found out the reason for Pharaoh's order.

Scholars really aren't sure how to explain the story whereby Aaron's rod became a serpent. When Pharaoh's magicians repeated the act, Aaron's serpent swallowed up the other serpents. Moses and Aaron stood shoulder to shoulder against Pharaoh throughout all the plagues, the Passover instructions, and the march out of Egypt. After the exodus, Aaron's next big job was to call all the people together and help Moses explain about the manna and quail.

Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hands during the battle with the Amalekites. When Moses' hands were up, the Israelites were winning; when the hands came down, the Amalekites started winning.

They held up Moses' hands until sunset. Joshua overcame the Amalekites. Aaron was one of the elders who ate bread with Jethro Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God. Aaron is not mentioned again for many chapters, but does this mean that he was there the whole time?

See Ex After the covenant had been ratified, Moses, Aaron, his two sons, and seventy elders were invited up the mountain to worship God. They were allowed to "see" God, without harm to themselves. Then Moses and Joshua went farther up -- Moses to go into the cloud for 40 days and nights , Joshua to wait patiently. While on the mountaintop, Moses was given his first instructions regarding the Aaronic priesthood, including duties keep the lamps burning from morning till night and garments to wear.

This is followed by detailed instructions regarding their ordination ceremony. The idea behind the detailed clothing requirements emphasized the office, not the person. Aaron was to be the high priest; his sons were to be the ministering priests. They were to be consecrated and pure, so the ceremony included actual washing.

They also sacrificed bulls for any sins they might have committed. See Ex. Furthermore when Aaron had fashioned the golden calf from their jewelry and gold, he proclaimed to them, "These are your gods, O Israel Aaron's next step was to build an altar and offer sacrifices upon it.

Some think he might have had a guilty conscience. The ribald behaviour soon commenced. When Moses put an abrupt end to the festivities by breaking the tablets and grinding up the golden calf, he asked Aaron what the people had done to cause him to commit such a great sin. Travellers, possibly Hebrews, from an Egyptian mural at Beni-Hasan.

The waters of the Nile seemed to turn into blood. Aaron took part in a contest with the magicians of Pharaoh, and turned his staff into a snake. The nomadic Hebrew tribesmen with Aaron, Miriam and Moses may have looked like this.

From a tomb mural at Beni-Hassan in Egypt. In fact, the names of his family have a distinctly Egyptian sound: Phinehas, Putiel, and Hofni — but this would make sense, since they had been slaves in Egypt for many years.

These stones, excavated at the ancient city of Megiddo, were probably part of an ancient sanctuary. Keep in mind that these ancient stories were first composed before Jerusalem and its Temple became the focus of the Israelites. At that time there were dozens, maybe hundreds of sanctuaries at different places in the country. In fact however, the organization of the priesthood came at a much later period when there was a capital city, Jerusalem, and a Temple familiar to everyone.