Every once in a while, you meet a character in the Bible that jumps out at you. Often, they live in the background, lurking in the story until it’s their time to shine.
For Eleazar, Numbers 20 is that time.
Unfortunately, the moment comes at the expense of his father. Aaron is told that he will die as a result of his sin at Meribah, so he ascends Mount Hor with Aaron and Moses. At the top, they transfer the High Priestly garments to Eleazar, Aaron passes away, and Eleazar and Moses travel down the mountain together.
The Text is clear that the three men went up the mountain “in the sight of all the congregation” (Numbers 20:27), but when Eleazar returns wearing the garments, those same people know there’s been a transition. Aaron is dead, and Eleazar is the new high priest. It must’ve been a sobering moment for everyone involved.
It’s a moment that almost never happened, though. According to Exodus 6:23, Eleazar is the third of four children. His older two brothers are Nadab and Abihu, and were it not for their irreverence in Numbers 10, would’ve been first in line for the high priesthood. When they died, that role fell to Eleazar.
As the second-in-command, Eleazar was previously given several positions of oversight. He leads the leaders of Levi in their sanctuary duties (Numbers 3:32), helps Moses with the census (Numbers 26:1-3), and divides Canaan alongside Joshua after the conquest (Joshua 14:1).
To be frank, he also does a lot of the grunt work. In Numbers 19:1-8, he’s the one (not Aaron) moving the ashes from the Red Heifer sacrifice. When Korah and his compatriots die, it’s Eleazar (not Aaron) that is asked to gather the censers and turn them into extra plating for the bronze altar (Numbers 16:36-40).
And yet, for all of that movement, there is not a single word of dialogue from Eleazar’s mouth in the entirety of Scripture. He acts, he’s faithful, but he never says a single word. It’s almost as if he preferred to stay invisible all along.
People like this are interesting to me. With the opportunity to be in the spotlight, he chooses to simply go about his business.
In a way, that kind of silence is what we want from people like him. For someone who needs to adhere so rigidly to a set of customs, rules, rituals, and practices, silence can be a mark of faithfulness.
At the same time, it doesn’t reveal much about his personality, which is a huge bummer.
As we go about our lives, it’s worth thinking about the example of Eleazar—someone who was thrust into a position of great leadership, and handled the task with staggering silence.