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Aaron

The elder brother of Moses and Israel's first high priest, who spoke for Moses before Pharaoh.

Role: First High Priest

Lived: c. 13th century BC

Belonged to: Priests, Tribe of Levi

Tribe/lineage: Levi

Born: Egypt

What we know — and how we know it

Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1 Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 1

Family & lineage

BibleElder brother of Moses and Miriam, and Israel's first high priest.

Exodus 4:14; 28:1

↳ Moses · Miriam

Death & legacy

ScholarlyA shrine on Jebel Harun ('Aaron's Mountain') near Petra has been venerated as his burial place for many centuries.

Jebel Harun tradition; cf. Numbers 20:28

Where in scripture

Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy

Exodus 4:14 Exodus 4:27 Exodus 5:1 Exodus 6:13 Exodus 8:5 Exodus 9:8 Exodus 9:27 Exodus 10:3 Exodus 11:10 Exodus 12:1 Exodus 15:20 Exodus 16:2 Exodus 17:10 Exodus 17:12 Exodus 18:12 Exodus 19:24 Exodus 24:1 Exodus 27:21 Exodus 28:1 Exodus 30:7 Exodus 31:10 Exodus 32:4 Exodus 34:30 Exodus 34:31 …and 38 more mentions

Family

In their own words — 9 recorded sayings

“And after that, Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go so that they may keep a feast to me in the waste land.” — Exodus 5:1

“And they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword.” — Exodus 5:3

“Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you be lifted up in your pride before me? let my people go so that they may give me worship. For if you will not let my people go, tomorrow I will send locusts into your land: And the face of the earth will be covered with them, so that you will not be able to see the earth: and they will be the destruction of everything which up to now has not been damaged, everything which was not crushed by the ice-storm, and every tree still living in your fields. And your houses…” — Exodus 10:3-6

“And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, This evening it will be clear to you that it is the Lord who has taken you out of the land of Egypt: And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord; for your angry words against the Lord have come to his ears: and what are we that you are crying out against us?” — Exodus 16:6-7

“Then Aaron said to them, Take off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters, and give them to me.” — Exodus 32:2

“And when Aaron saw this, he made an altar before it, and made a public statement, saying, Tomorrow there will be a feast to the Lord.” — Exodus 32:5

“And Aaron said, Let not my lord be angry; you have seen how the purposes of this people are evil. For they said to me, Make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has come to him. Then I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let him take it off; so they gave it to me, and I put it in the fire, and this image of an ox came out.” — Exodus 32:22-24

“And Aaron said to Moses, You have seen that today they have made their sin-offering and their burned offering before the Lord, and such things as these have come on me. If I had taken the sin-offering as food today, would it have been pleasing to the Lord?” — Leviticus 10:19

…and 1 more recorded sayings.

Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).