Aaron
The elder brother of Moses and his spokesman before Pharaoh. He made the golden calf at Sinai and was afterwards ordained as Israel’s first high priest; the later priesthood traced its descent from him.
Aaron was three years older than his brother Moses (Exodus 7:7) and was appointed to speak for him to the people and to Pharaoh (Exodus 4:14–16) (Exodus 7:1–2). At Sinai, while Moses was on the mountain, he made the golden calf at the people’s demand (Exodus 32:1–6). He and his sons were nevertheless set apart as priests and ordained when the tabernacle was finished (Exodus 28:1) (Leviticus 8:1–13). He died on Mount Hor in the fortieth year after the exodus, aged 123, and his son Eleazar succeeded him (Numbers 20:22–29) (Numbers 33:38–39).
The priesthood was given to Aaron and his sons “by a perpetual statute” (Exodus 29:9), and Israel’s later priests were reckoned as his descendants. Luke describes the mother of John the Baptist as one “of the daughters of Aaron” (Luke 1:5). The letter to the Hebrews takes Aaron as the model of a priest called by God (Hebrews 5:1–4) and argues that Christ’s priesthood is of a different order from his (Hebrews 7:11).
In the timeline
- c. 1447 or c. 1261 BC, traditional dateThe Call of Moses
In Exodus Moses, born under Pharaoh’s order to kill Hebrew boys and raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, flees to Midian. At Horeb a voice from a burning bush reveals the divine name and sends him back to bring Israel out of Egypt.
- c. 1446 or c. 1260 BC, traditional dateThe Exodus from Egypt
Exodus tells how, after a series of plagues and the first Passover, Israel leaves Egypt under Moses and crosses the sea, in which Pharaoh’s pursuing army is drowned. The rest of the Bible looks back to this event constantly.
- c. 1446 or c. 1260 BC, traditional dateThe Covenant at Sinai
In Exodus Israel hears the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai and accepts a covenant sealed with blood. While Moses is on the mountain the people make a golden calf; after his intercession the tablets of the law are written again.
- c. 1445 or c. 1259 BC, traditional dateThe Tabernacle and the Priesthood
Following instructions given on Sinai, Israel builds a portable sanctuary to house the ark of the covenant. Aaron and his sons are ordained as its priests, and the yearly Day of Atonement is laid down.
- c. 1445–1406 or c. 1259–1220 BC, traditional dateForty Years in the Wilderness
At Kadesh-barnea the Israelites refuse to enter Canaan after their scouts report on it, and are sentenced to wander until that generation has died. Forty years after leaving Egypt their children camp opposite Jericho.