Eleazar (High Priest)

Eleazar was the third son of Aaron and father of Phinehas. In the wilderness he was chief over the leaders of the Levites and in charge of the lamp oil, incense and anointing oil (Numbers 3:32, 4:16), and he oversaw the rite of the red heifer (Numbers 19). On Mount Hor, Moses took Aaron's priestly garments and put them on Eleazar just before Aaron died (Numbers 20:25–28). He then helped Moses take the second census, and was the priest before whom Joshua was commissioned and who would consult the Urim for him (Numbers 26–27). With Joshua he divided the land among the tribes by lot at Shiloh (Joshua 14:1, 19:51).

He was buried at Gibeah of Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim (Joshua 24:33), and a tomb attributed to him is still venerated at Awarta near Shechem. Because Nadab and Abihu died childless, the high priesthood passed through Eleazar: Zadok, Solomon's high priest, and later Ezra traced their descent to him (1 Chronicles 5:30–34, Ezra 7:1–5).