Aaronic Priesthood

The Aaronic Priesthood is the hereditary priestly order established through Aaron and his sons, entrusted with sanctuary service and the protection of sacred boundaries. Its authority is paired with strict limits: the Levites assist the priests, but unauthorized approach to the sanctuary is punishable by death.

Identity and Succession

The priestly line comprises Aaron’s sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, whom the LORD anointed and consecrated for priestly ministry. Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD after offering strange fire in the wilderness of Sinai; they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar continued to serve in the priesthood in the presence of their father Aaron, leaving the order’s continuation with the surviving brothers.

Authority and Sanctuary Service

The LORD assigns the Tribe of Levi to Aaron and his sons as attendants. The Levites must keep the priests’ charge and the charge of the whole congregation at the tent of meeting, maintain its furnishings, and perform its service. They are wholly given to the priestly household, while Aaron and his sons are appointed to keep the priesthood. The boundary is explicit: a common person who draws near is to be put to death.

The division of labor is especially precise when the camp moves. Aaron and his sons first take down and cover the sacred furnishings, including the Ark of the Testimony, the table of showbread, the lampstand, and the golden altar. Only after the holy objects have been covered may the sons of Kohath carry them; they must not touch the sacred things or look upon them while they are being covered, lest they die. Eleazar, Aaron’s son, is responsible for the light’s oil, the incense, the continual meal-offering, and the anointing oil, as well as oversight of the Tabernacle and its contents.

Consecration and Communal Role

The Levites’ substitution for Israel’s firstborn gives the priesthood its institutional support. Because the firstborn were sanctified to the LORD at the time of the Egyptian firstborn’s death, the Levites are taken in their place and given to Aaron and his sons. Their service at the tent of meeting is for the Israelites, including making atonement for them and preventing a plague that could follow from unauthorized approach to the sanctuary.

Their formal cleansing and presentation enact this status: the Levites are sprinkled with purification water, shaved, washed, and brought before the tent of meeting in the presence of the whole congregation. The Israelites lay hands on them, and Aaron presents them as a wave-offering; the Levites in turn lay hands on the bulls offered for a sin-offering and a burnt-offering. After Aaron makes atonement for them, they enter service before him and his sons. The ritual thus marks both their dedication to the LORD and their placement under priestly direction.

Covenant, Law, and Continuity

The priestly order also preserves the written law and transmits covenant obligations. Moses gives the law to the priests, the sons of Levi who bear the Ark of the Covenant, and to Israel’s elders. At the end of every seven years, during the Feast of Tabernacles, the law is to be read before the assembled people—men, women, children, and resident strangers—so that they may hear, learn, and observe it. The law is then placed beside the Ark as a witness. In this role, the priestly institution links sanctuary service with the public memory and teaching of the covenant.