- Eleazar
Eleazar (or Elazar), (Hebrew Name|אֶלְעָזָר|Elʻazar|Elʻāzār|"God has helped") was a son of
Aaron , aLevite priest and High Priest. His wife, a daughter of Putiel, bore himPhinehas . 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" ( [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%2024:33;&version=31 Joshua 24:33] ). The "Hill of Phinehas" [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0624.htm Joshua 24:33] .] related in the bible is associated with the location of the village of
Awarta in theSamaria n section of the current dayWest Bank . Due to the uncertain security situation, theIsrael Defence Forces limits visits byJew s to one annual night close to the 5th ofShevat (around January-February) on theHebrew calendar .The high-priesthood remained in the family of Eleazar until the time of Eli, into whose family it passed (Eli was a descendant of
Ithamar , Eleazar's brother [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=2359&pageno=168 Josephus] .] ).The high priesthood was restored to the family of Eleazar in the person of Zadok after
Abiathar was cast out bySolomon (prophesied in [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%202:30-36;&version=9 I Sm 2:30–6] ; fulfilled in [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%202:26-27;&version=9; 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 theArmenian Apostolic Church onJuly 30 .(Note: according to the
Documentary Hypothesis , in the Elohist (E) document, "Eleazar" is the name of the son of "Moses " (seeExodus 18:4), who is however more commonly referred to with the name "Eliezer ").References
###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before=Aaron
title=High Priest of Israel
years=Years unknown
after=Phinehas
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