Era 4 · Covenant and WildernessLeviticus
The Ordination of Aaron
"And there came a fire out from before the LORD"
Moses gathers the congregation at the door of the tent. He washes Aaron and his sons with water, dresses Aaron in the tunic, sash, robe and ephod, the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim, and the turban with its gold plate, "the holy crown." He anoints the tabernacle and everything in it, and pours the anointing oil on Aaron's head.
A bull is offered as a purification offering for the altar, a ram as a burnt offering. Then the ram of ordination: Moses puts its blood on Aaron's right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe, and on his sons'. Ear, hand and foot, all are consecrated to God's service.
For seven days Aaron and his sons stay at the door of the tent, day and night, "that ye die not." On the eighth day Aaron offers for himself and for the people. He lifts his hands and blesses them. Moses and Aaron go into the tent, come out, and bless the people again, "and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people."
"And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces."
Priests in the ancient world
Every ancient temple had priests. Egyptian priests shaved their bodies, washed several times a day, wore linen, and served in rotating groups. Mesopotamian priests were consecrated in elaborate rites. A Hittite text, the Instructions for Temple Officials (14th–13th century BC), commands priests to be ritually pure, to guard the temple at night, and warns that negligence will bring death for them and their families. Israel's priesthood belonged to this world.
Anointing
Anointing with oil set apart priests, kings and sacred objects. "Messiah" (mashiach) means "anointed one"; in Leviticus the high priest is "the anointed priest" (4:3). Later kings were anointed (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13), and the title passed to the hoped-for king of the future: in Greek, Christos.
A blessing with lifted hands
Aaron "lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them" (9:22). Numbers 6:24–26 gives the words of the priestly blessing. Jews of priestly descent (kohanim) still lift their hands to bless the congregation in synagogue, and the blessing is engraved on the oldest surviving biblical texts, the silver scrolls of Ketef Hinnom.
The Case for the Biblical Account
Scripture's account
Moses ordains Aaron and his sons in a seven-day rite; on the eighth day fire from God consumes the first offering (Leviticus 8–9).
What evidence would we expect?
Priestly consecration rites and purity rules in neighboring cultures; hereditary priesthoods; evidence of Israelite priests.
The discoveries
Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Hittite priestly regulations; the Emar installation of the high priestess of the storm god (a multi-day anointing rite, 13th century BC); priestly families on Arad ostraca; priestly seals from Jerusalem.
Testing the discoveries
Consecration rites were common; the Emar ritual is especially close in structure. Aaron himself is known only from the Bible.
The strongest reconstruction
The ordination follows a recognizable ancient pattern of washing, clothing, anointing and sacrifice over several days.
What remains possible
That Aaron's family was the original priestly line, as the Bible says, or that priestly genealogies developed over time, as many scholars argue.
What the evidence shows
- Hittite instructions required temple personnel to be ritually pure and threatened death for negligence.Source: "Instructions for Priests and Temple Officials" (CTH 264), Hittite, 14th–13th century BC; tr. G. McMahon in The Context of Scripture I.83
- At Emar, the installation of a high priestess involved anointing and a multi-day ritual. Emar 369; D. E. Fleming, The Installation of Baal's High Priestess at Emar (1992).
- Aaron's descendants were the hereditary priests of Israel. Strongly held in later tradition; individual descent cannot be verified.
- Fire came from the LORD and consumed the offering.
Continue the journey
Connected elsewhere in ScriptureMeribah and the Road Around EdomNumbers 20:25–28: Aaron's garments passed to Eleazar on Mount Hor.More from this lesson
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- Aaron's garments passed to Eleazar on Mount Hor.
- The ordination commanded.
- The priestly blessing.
- Fire falls on Elijah's sacrifice on Carmel.
- Fire falls at the Temple's dedication.
- Every high priest "taken from among men"; Christ called like Aaron.
- "Kings and priests unto God."