Eleazar: God has helped.1. The third son of Aaron
(Exodus 6:23) His wife, a daughter of Putiel,
bore him Phinehas
(Exodus 6:25) After the death of Nadab and Abihu
(Leviticus 10:12; Numbers 3:4) he was appointed to the charge of the sanctuary
(Numbers 3:32) 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
(Numbers 20:25-29) He took part with
Moses in numbering the people
(Numbers 26:3,4) and assisted at the
inauguration of Joshua. He assisted in the distribution of the
land after the conquest
(Joshua 14:1) 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
Zadok
(1 Samuel 2:35) comp.
(1 Kings 2:27) "And Eleazar the son of Aaron
died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas
his son"
(Joshua 24:33) 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 Kefr Ghuweirah='Awertah, about
7 miles north of Shiloh, and a few miles south-east of
Nablus. "His tomb is still shown there, overshadowed by
venerable terebinths." Others, however, have identified it with
the village of Gaba or Gebena of Eusebius, the modern Khurbet
Jibia, 05 miles north of Guphna towards Nablus.
2. An inhabitant of Kirjath-jearim who was "sanctified" to take
charge of the ark, although not allowed to touch it, while it
remained in the house of his father Abinadab
(1 Samuel 7:1,2) comp.
(Numbers 3:31; 4:15)
3. The son of Dodo the Ahohite, of the tribe of Benjamin, one of
the three most eminent of David's thirty-seven heroes
(1 Chronicles 11:12)
who broke through the Philistine host and brought him water from
the well of Bethlehem
(2 Samuel 23:9,16)
4. A son of Phinehas associated with the priests in taking charge
of the sacred vessels brought back to Jerusalem after the Exile
(Ezra 8:33)
5. A Levite of the family of Merari
(1 Chronicles 23:21,22)
