Aaron: Brother of Moses, Priest of the Tent of Meeting

Who Aaron Was

Aaron (אַהֲרֹן) belongs to the tribe of Levi, son of Amram and Jochebed, brother of Moses and Miriam, husband of Elisheba, father of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. His life falls in the era of Egypt and the wilderness. Ussher, in Annals of the World (1650), places him born 1574 BC, died 1452 BC (122 years). He is not a minor figure: his name runs through 333 verses in about 100 passages, first at Exodus 4:14 and last in Hebrews, with the heaviest weight in Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus, and echoes in 1 Chronicles, Psalms, Joshua, 2 Chronicles, Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel, Nehemiah, Judges, Ezra and Micah.

The Brother Sent Into the Wilderness

Aaron's first scene is an errand of God's own giving. "Yahweh said to Aaron, 'Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.' He went, and met him on God's mountain, and kissed him" (Exodus 4:27). What follows is a handing over of words: "Moses told Aaron all Yahweh's words with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him. Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people" (Exodus 4:28-30). From the start Aaron is the mouth and the hand for a message that is not his own.

Before Pharaoh

The obedience is stated flatly and the ages given: "Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did. Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh" (Exodus 7:6-7). Then the instruction: "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Perform a miracle!' then you shall tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent'" (Exodus 7:9). And the doing of it: "Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent" (Exodus 7:10). Aaron appears again in the confrontation with Egypt at Exodus 7:1-2, 7:19-20, 8:5-6 and 8:16-17, and with Moses before the congregation at Exodus 16:9-10 and 16:33-34.

Clothed for the Priest's Office

The second half of Aaron's story is not speech but service. "Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest's office: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty" (Exodus 28:1-2). The pieces are named: "a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash" (Exodus 28:4). The office outlives the man who first wears it: "The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them" (Exodus 29:29).

The consecration and its portions are set out at Exodus 29:4-5, 29:9-10, 29:19-21, 29:26-29, 28:29-30, 28:40-41, 30:7-8 and 40:12-13, and carried through at Leviticus 7:33-35, 8:12-14, 8:22-24, 8:30-31, 9:1-2, 9:7-9, 9:21-23, 10:3-4 and 16:1-3. Numbers 8 shows what the office is for: "I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near to the sanctuary" (Numbers 8:19). Aaron himself performs it: "Aaron offered them for a wave offering before Yahweh and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them" (Numbers 8:21).

Two Sons Dead Before Yahweh

The register of his house does not tidy itself. "These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar" (Numbers 3:2). Then: "Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they offered strange fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father" (Numbers 3:4). The priest who made atonement for others buried two sons who came wrongly to the same altar.

Where the Record Is Not Open to Us Here

Aaron's name also stands in Exodus 32:1-3 and 32:21-22, and in Numbers 16:16-18, 16:40-43 and 20:23-26, and further at Exodus 34:30-31, Numbers 4:15-17, 1 Chronicles 6:49-50 and 2 Chronicles 13:9-10. The text of those passages is not quoted in this dossier, and so nothing of what happens in them is retold here. Read them yourself; do not take my summary in place of them. The dossier records no other open questions about him, and I will not manufacture any. What Scripture withholds about Aaron's inner life, his thoughts at Sinai, his grief over Nadab and Abihu, it withholds.

The Line to Christ

Aaron's name does not die with him in the wilderness. The New Testament names him in Luke 1:5, Acts 7:40, Hebrews 5:4, Hebrews 7:11 and Hebrews 9:4. Three of those five fall in Hebrews, and Hebrews is where his mentions end. Set Exodus 28:1-4 and Numbers 8:19 beside Hebrews 5:4, 7:11 and 9:4, and read them together: the garments, the calling, the atonement made for a people who could not come near, all of it is taken up and weighed there against Christ. Aaron was clothed for glory and beauty by another's command, and it was another's word he spoke.