Successors to Aaron

The ordination of Aaron and his sons as the first priests of ancient Israel was to take place according to the procedures outlined in Exodus 29. We have read about the dressing of Aaron and his sons with the priestly garments, sacrifices associated with their installation into office, and their anointing with blood and oil (Ex. 29:1–28). Yet the directions raise a question about the priesthood in general: How would it continue after Aaron and his immediate progeny died?

Today’s passage tells us that the priesthood would continue in Aaron’s family and would be held by his later descendants once Aaron and his sons passed from the scene. We saw this hinted at in verse 28, which says that certain portions from the sacrifices of Israel were a “perpetual due” to Aaron and his sons. Verses 29–30 indicate further that when Aaron died, one of his sons would succeed him as high priest, and we are to gather from this that when his son died, his grandson would continue on as the high priest, and so on. This text makes it plain that when Exodus 29:9 announced that the priesthood would be through Aaron and his sons forever, it meant that the family of Aaron would be the priestly line in Israel as long as the old covenant administration endured.

With the priesthood being passed from father to son, the new high priest would be reminded of his responsibility to carry on the sacred heritage given by the Lord to Israel. To help the Israelites become accustomed to the new high priest, the newly installed high priest had to wear the priestly garments all day for seven days (Ex. 29:30). By seeing the new priest in those garments full time, the Israelites would be assured that the man was appointed to serve the people in worship, and they would also be reminded of God’s institution of the priesthood as something that would be passed down through Aaron’s line.

We noted that the promise of Israel’s priesthood to Aaron forever meant that his family would be priests as long as the old covenant order endured (Ex. 29:9). Sometimes the Hebrew word translated as “forever” means “for a very long time” or “for as long as a particular era lasts.” The very nature of the Aaronic priesthood, as good as it was, meant that it could not last forever in the sense of all time. The high priest would die and need to be replaced, and the sacrifices had to be repeated. This indicates that the priesthood of Aaron could not effect permanent atonement, which would take place only with the coming of Jesus, whose perfect priesthood lasts for all time (Heb. 7).