Eleazar
From BibleEncyclopedia.Net
el-ē̇-ā´zar, ē-lē̇-ā´zar (אלעזר, 'el‛āzār; Ἐλεάζαρ, Eleázar, “God is helper” or "God has helped"):
(1) The third son of Aaron by Elisheba (Exodus 6:23; Numbers 3:2). He married one of the daughters of Putiel, who bore him Phinehas (Exodus 6:25). With his father and 3 brothers he was consecrated to the priest's office (Exodus 28:1). After the destruction of Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:12; Numbers 3:4), he occupied a more important position, and he and Ithamar “ministered in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father” (Leviticus 10:6 f; Numbers 3:4; 1 Chronicles 24:2). He was given the oversight of the Levites and had charge of the tabernacle and all within it (Numbers 3:32; Numbers 4:16). To Eleazar fell the duty of beating out for an altar covering the censers of Korah and his fellow-conspirators who had attempted to seize the priesthood (Numbers 16:37, Numbers 16:39). On the death of Aaron, Eleazar succeeded him (Numbers 20:25). On Mount Hor he was clothed with the sacred vestments, which Moses took from off his brother Aaron and put upon him as successor to his father in the high priest's office, which he held for more than twenty years (Numbers 20:25-29). He took part with Moses in numbering the people (Numbers 26:3, Numbers 26:4), and assisted at the inauguration of Joshua. He assisted Moses with the census after the plague in the plains of Moab (Numbers 26:1), and with Moses and the elders heard the petition of the daughters of Zelophehad who wished to be served as heirs to their father (Numbers 27:1). After the entrance into Canaan, Eleazar and Joshua gave effect to the decision arrived at by giving the daughters of Zelophehad a share in the land of Manasseh (Joshua 17:4). He was priest and adviser to Joshua, the successor of Moses (Numbers 27:19; Numbers 31:12), whom he also assisted in partitioning Canaan among the tribes (Numbers 34:17; Joshua 14:1; Joshua 19:51; Joshua 21:1). The high-priesthood remained in his family till the time of Eli, into whose family it passed, till it was restored to the family of Eleazar in the person of Zadok (1 Samuel 2:35; compare 1 Kings 2:27). He was buried in the hill (the Revised Version, margin “Gibeah”) of Phinehas his son in the hill country of Ephraim (Joshua 24:33). “And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son” (Joshua 24:33). The word here rendered “hill” is Gibeah, the name of several towns in Palestine which were generally on or near a hill. The words may be more suitably rendered, “They buried him in Gibeah of Phinehas”, i.e., in the city of Phinehas, which has been identified, in accordance with Jewish and Samaritan traditions, with Kefr Ghuweirah = 'Awertah, about 7 miles north of Shiloh, and a few miles south-east of Nablus. “His tomb is still shown there, overshadowed by venerable terebinths.” Others, however, have identified it with the village of Gaba or Gebena of Eusebius, the modern Khurbet Jibia, 5 miles north of Guphna towards Nablus.
For some reason unknown the descendants of Ithamar seem to have held the chief position among the priests from Eli till the accession of Solomon, when Abiathar was sent into retirement, and Zadok, the descendant of Eleazar, was appointed in his place (1 Kings 2:26). Ezra was a descendant of Zadok (Ezra 7:1); and the high priest's office was in the family of Zadok till the time of the Maccabees.
(2) The son of Abinadab, sanctified to keep the ark of Yahweh, when it was brought from Beth-shemesh to Kiriath-Jearim after being sent back by the Philistines (1 Samuel 7:1). He was an inhabitant of Kirjath-Jearim who was “sanctified” to take charge of the ark, although not allowed to touch it, while it remained in the house of his father Abinadab (1 Samuel 7:2; compare Numbers 3:31; Numbers 4:15).
(3) The son of Dodai the Ahohite, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was one of the three most eminent of David's thirty-seven heroes or mighty men (1 Chronicles 11:12) who broke through the Philistine host and brought him water from the well of Bethlehem (2 Samuel 23:9, 2 Samuel 23:16). A famous feat of arms with David at Ephes-Dammim is recorded (2 Samuel 23:9 f; 1 Chronicles 11:12 f where he is named the son of Dodo).
(4) A Levite, a son of Mahli, a Merarite. It is recorded that he had no sons, but daughters only, who were married to their cousins (1 Chronicles 23:21, 1 Chronicles 23:22; 1 Chronicles 24:28).
(5) A priest who accompanied Ezra from Babylon (Ezra 8:33); the son of Phinehas associated with the priests in taking charge of the sacred vessels brought back to Jerusalem after the Exile. (5) and (6) may be identical.
(6) A priest who took part in the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:42).
(7) A son of Mattathias and brother of Judas Maccabeus (1 Maccabees 2:5; 1 Maccabees 6:43 f; 2 Maccabees 8:23). See Asmoneans; Maccabees.
(8, 9) Two others are mentioned in 1 Maccabees 8:17; 2 Maccabees 6:18ff.
(10) An ancestor of Jesus, 3 generations before Joseph (Matthew 1:15).
