In the Old Testament, Eleazar (אֶלְעָזָר "My God has helped", Standard Hebrew Elʿazar, Tiberian Hebrew ʾElʿāzār) was:
- A son of Aaron, and a Levite priest. His wife, a daughter of Putiel, bore him Phinehas. After the death of Nadab and Abihu, (Lev. 10:12; Num. 3:4) he was appointed to the charge of the sanctuary. 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. (Num. 20:25-29) He took part with Moses in numbering the people, (26:3, 4) and assisted at the inauguration of Joshua. He assisted in the distribution of the land after the conquest. (Josh. 14:1) When he died, "they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son." (Josh. 24:33). 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 Sam. 2:35; comp. 1 Kings 2:27)
- An inhabitant of Kirjath-jearim who was "sanctified" to take charge of the ark, while it remained in the house of his father Abinadab. (1 Sam. 7:1, 2; comp. Num. 3:31; 4:15)
- The son of Dodo the Ahohite, of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the three most eminent of David's thirty-seven heroes, (1 Chr. 11:12) who broke through the Philistine host and brought him water from the well of Bethlehem. (2 Sam. 23:9, 16)
- A Levite of the family of Merari. (1 Chr. 23:21, 22)
See also Lazarus.
- "Eleazar" was also the name of one of the leaders of Jewish resistance against the Roman conquest (see Siege of Jerusalem) in AD 70, as well as the leader of the Jewish resistance at Masada in AD 73. Whether or not these two are the same person is unclear.
