When Did Aaron Become High Priest of Israel?

 Here's a question I was asked recently on social media:

Greetings brother Jay. I have been hashing over this high priest thing for a while now. I have yet to find chapter and verse saying Aaron was ever ordained as 'high priest' any where in Scripture. Your thoughts? Shalom!

At the beginning I don't think that "high priest" was a title so much as it was a relative position, much like saying "highest priest" or "senior priest".

In Exodus 40, God told Moses to bring Aaron and his sons and anoint them for the priesthood, but in v13, he separated out Aaron to be the first priest. Once Aaron was anointed and consecrated as priest, then Moses was to anoint his sons, thus ensuring that Aaron would have seniority, both in the family and in the priesthood. In fact, for a short period of time, Aaron was the only priest. Additionally, the high priest's uniform (begedi hakadosh) was given to Aaron, while his sons received tunics (ketunot).

Of course, after that second generation had passed away, seniority would become a cloudier issue. Scripture doesn't say how the high priest is to be determined after that. (I say "determined" rather than "selected" because the authority of precedence and seniority is inherent and not something that can be bestowed after-the-fact.)

The tl;dr version: I agree that Aaron isn't explicitly titled high priest at his ordination, but I think it's safe to assume by the order of events and the uniforms that were issued.

Exodus 40:12-15  Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall wash them with water  13  and put on Aaron the holy garments. And you shall anoint him and consecrate him, that he may serve me as priest.  14  You shall bring his sons also and put coats on them,  15  and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.

Aaron was the high priest by virtue of precedence and familial authority. He was the patriarch of the tribe of Levi and the father of all other Levitical priests.

Moses & Yeshua, leading the way to God

In the traditional Torah reading schedule, 1 Kings 7:27-8:21 is read together with Exodus 38:21-40:38 (aka Pekudei).

Exodus 40:34-38

Even Moses, the man who spent 80 days talking to God on Sinai, could not go into the Holy Place when God’s presence was too strong. How much less are we able approach God directly? Moses (and the High Priest) was a type of the Messiah, Yeshua. Only they could approach God here on Earth, and even then not whenever they felt like it.

Since there is no Temple or Tabernacle here on earth now, Yeshua is our only High Priest in the Tabernacle in Heaven. He is the cover over the tabernacle of our hearts and our mediator before the Father, and, being infinitely greater than Moses, Yeshua is able to take us where the Law could not.

1 Kings 8:8-9

When the priests placed the Ark into the Temple for the first time, they pulled the staves part way out so they extended through the veil into the main sanctuary. This either indicates that the staves were not parallel with the veil as in most depictions, but perpendicular. When the Ark was carried in the wilderness and into battle, God’s throne could face either forward or back towards the people.

It was probably very dark behind the veil, and the priest might have used the staves to feel his way to the Ark. Alternatively, their position could represent how God reaches through the veil to us, because we cannot reach through it to him. I prefer the latter explanation, but I don’t know what is correct.

Another interesting thing is that Kings says only the two tablets of the Law were in the Ark at this time. It could be that the Philistines removed the rod and the pot of manna when the Ark was in their possession, or it could be that those things were never in the Ark at all. Some believe that they were placed before the Ark instead of inside of it. In a way that makes much more sense, since the Ark was quite short compared to a walking or shepherd’s staff as Aaron’s must have been. The idea that the rod represents God’s authority and guidance, while the manna represents God’s providence is not harmed either way. They are in our hearts with God’s Law or they are before our hearts, while the interior is reserved as a special place for the Law. Either way works for me.

A Giant Chiasm in Exodus 25-40 Centered on the Golden Calf

This chiasm tells us three things at the very least:

1. There is a right way and a wrong way to approach God. We cannot bring God down to us through the use of statues, icons, amulets, etc. He comes to us only in the time and place of His choosing and we have to meet Him there or not at all.
2. God's instructions (aka Torah) protect us from error. The Israelites made the calf because their hearts were unable to receive Torah directly. The stone tablets are an interim measure until we are able to receive the full Word of God as He intends. If we keep Torah faithfully, we will not resort to idolatry.
3. Shabbat, quite apart from the rest of Torah, also protects us. If we keep Shabbat in the way that God intends, we will be drawn closer to Him. Shabbat is as near God's presence is time as the Mishkan was in space.

Update: This chiasm is actually a little bit bigger than the image shows and spans six parshot.

• Exodus 24:15-25:2 (Mishpatim) - Glory of God, Moses, Sinai, fire, 40 days and nights on the mountain, in the sight of all the people
•  Exodus 25-30 (Terumah-Tetsaveh) – Mishkan (right way)
•  Exodus 31:12-17 (Ki Tisa) – Shabbat
• Exodus 31:18 (Ki Tisa) – Stone tablets
•  Exodus 32 (Ki Tisa) – Golden calf (wrong way)
• Exodus 34 (Ki Tisa) – Stone tablets
• Exodus 35:1-3 (Vayakhel) – Shabbat
• Exodus 35:4-40:33 (Vayakhel-Pekudei) – Mishkan (right way)
• Exodus 40:34-38 (Pekudei) – Glory of God, cloud, Moses, Mishkan, fire, day and night in the wilderness journeys, in the sight of all the people

And here is a 4th lesson from this additional point: The close presence of God isn't cozy. Even Moses couldn't approach God in all His glory without being destroyed by it.