Eleazar

"God has helped." The third son of Aaron and Elisheba.¹ His wife, a daughter of Putiel, bore him Phinehas.² After the death of Nadab and Abihu³ he was appointed to the charge of the sanctuary.⁴ 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.⁵ He took part with Moses in numbering the people,⁶ and assisted at the inauguration of Joshua. He assisted in the distribution of the land after the conquest.⁷ 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 Zadok⁸

After his death he was buried in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son."⁹ 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 Awarta, about 7 miles north of Shiloh, and a few miles south-east of Nablus.

❧