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Eleazar also became the clan leader of the Levites during the forty-year wanderings in the wilderness. ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=3|verses=32}}) He camped with his father and younger brother, and with [[Moses]], on the east side of the [[tabernacle courtyard]]. Whenever the Israelites broke camp, Eleazar helped prepare the furnishings of the Tabernacle for transport. He then personally supervised the [[Kohath]]ites as they came to carry the furnishings away. He also had strict orders not to permit any of the [[Kohath]]ites to try to look at the "most holy objects," even for a moment, because the penalty for that sort of "idle sight-seeing" was death. ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=4|verses=17-20}}) Eleazar also had charge of the four sacerdotal substances: the holy [[incense]], the fuel oil for the [[Lampstand]], the oil of unction for the Tabernacle, and the continual grain offering.<ref name=Hirsch/><ref name=Duffy/> ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=4|verses=16}})

Eleazar also became the clan leader of the Levites during the forty-year wanderings in the wilderness. ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=3|verses=32}}) He camped with his father and younger brother, and with [[Moses]], on the east side of the [[tabernacle courtyard]]. Whenever the Israelites broke camp, Eleazar helped prepare the furnishings of the Tabernacle for transport. He then personally supervised the [[Kohath]]ites as they came to carry the furnishings away. He also had strict orders not to permit any of the [[Kohath]]ites to try to look at the "most holy objects," even for a moment, because the penalty for that sort of "idle sight-seeing" was death. ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=4|verses=17-20}}) Eleazar also had charge of the four sacerdotal substances: the holy [[incense]], the fuel oil for the [[Lampstand]], the oil of unction for the Tabernacle, and the continual grain offering.<ref name=Hirsch/><ref name=Duffy/> ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=4|verses=16}})

Eleazar also was in charge of a curious cleansing ritual involving a red heifer.<ref name=Duffy/><ref name=Blank/> ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=19|verses=1-10}}) The heifer needed to be red, without spot, and never yoked. Following its sacrifice, Eleazar was to sprinkle some of its blood with his finger at the entrance to the Tabernacle tent seven times, and the consider himself ritually unclean until the evening. The heifer would then be burned with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet material, and a clean man would gather the ashes and deposit them in a clean place. The Israelites would mix these ashes with water for use in purification. The man gathering the ashes would wash his clothes and consider himself unclean until the evening.<ref name=note>This red-heifer ritual has gained renewed attention in modern times. Certain Jews, hoping to rebuild the [[Temple of Jerusalem]], have sought to find and isolate an unblemished red heifer and perform this same ritual in order to purify the new Temple.</ref>

Eleazar also was in charge of a curious cleansing ritual involving a red heifer.<ref name=Duffy/><ref name=Blank/> ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=19|verses=1-10}}) The heifer needed to be red, without spot, and never yoked. Following its sacrifice, Eleazar was to sprinkle some of its blood with his finger at the entrance to the Tabernacle tent seven times, and then consider himself ritually unclean until the evening. The heifer would then be burned with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet material, and a clean man would gather the ashes and deposit them in a clean place. The Israelites would mix these ashes with water for use in purification. The man gathering the ashes would wash his clothes and consider himself unclean until the evening.<ref name=note>This red-heifer ritual has gained renewed attention in modern times. Certain Jews, hoping to rebuild the [[Temple of Jerusalem]], have sought to find and isolate an unblemished red heifer and perform this same ritual in order to purify the new Temple.</ref>

When [[Korah]] made his infamous mutiny against Moses and Aaron, Eleazar was ordered to melt down the still-hot censers used by Korah's confederates, beat the metal into thin plates, and nail them to the sides of the [[Brass Altar]], as a reminder to the people of Israel that none but the priests were to offer holy incense to [[God]].<ref name=Duffy/>

When [[Korah]] made his infamous mutiny against Moses and Aaron, Eleazar was ordered to melt down the still-hot censers used by Korah's confederates, beat the metal into thin plates, and nail them to the sides of the [[Brass Altar]], as a reminder to the people of Israel that none but the priests were to offer holy incense to [[God]].<ref name=Duffy/>