Eleazar

Eleazar (or Elazar), (Hebrew: אֶלְעָזָר, Standard Elʻazar Tiberian Elʻāzār ; "God has helped") was a son of Aaron, a Levite priest and High Priest. His wife, a daughter of Putiel, bore him Phinehas. After the death of Nadab and Abihu, he was appointed to the charge of the sanctuary. He fulfilled a number of functions over the course of the Wilderness wanderings, from creating the plating to the altar out of the firepans of Korah's assembly to performing the ritual of the red heifer. On Mount Hor he was clothed with the sacred vestments, which Moses took from off his father Aaron and put upon him as successor to his father in the high priest's office, which he held for more than twenty years. He took part with Moses in numbering the people, and assisted at the inauguration of Joshua. He assisted in the distribution of the land after the conquest. When he died, he "was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim" (Joshua 24:33). The high-priesthood remained in the family of Eleazer until the time of Eli, into whose family it passed (Eli was a descendant of Ithamar, Eleazers's brother^[1]). The high priesthood was restored to the family of Eleazar in the person of Zadok after Abiathar was cast out by Solomon (prophesied in I Sm 2:30–6; fulfilled in I Kg 2:26–7). He is commemorated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church on September 2, and as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30. According to the Documentary Hypothesis, in the Elohist (E) document, Eleazar is the son of Moses not Aaron (Ex 18:4).

References

1. ^ Josephus.