Aaron

Aaron (Hebrew אַהֲרֹן) was the older brother of Moses (Exodus 7:7)and the first High Priest of the Israelites. Aaron was the son of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi (Exodus 6:16-20). He was appointed by the Lord to assist Moses in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt and to be his spokesman (Exodus 4:10-16, 27-31; 5:1-12). He was with Moses until the fortieth year of the wanderings. At Sinai, he was one of those who accompanied Moses up the mountain and saw the Lord (Exodus 19:24; 24:1, 9-11). When Moses and Joshua were called up into the mount to commune with God, Aaron and Hur were appointed judges during their absence (Exodus 24:14, 18); it was then that Aaron made the golden calf at the peoples request (Exodus 32:1-6, 21, 24, 35). Aaron had four sons: Eleazar, Ithamar, Nadab and Abihu. On Mount Sinai, Moses received directions about the appointment of Aaron and his sons to a priesthood (Exodus 28:1-4; 29). Aaron's children became the Kohanim, the caste of Israelites responsible for offering sacrifices in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. On the completion of the tabernacle, Moses consecrated them to their office (Leviticus 8:9-13). Nadab and Abihu died after offering incense in a problematic way to God. (Leviticus 10:1-2). Aaron died at Mount Hor at the age of 123 (Numbers 20:22-29; 33:38-39).

In the early 1990s, genetic studies found strong evidence for the tradition that Kohanim are actually descended from Aaron was supported by genetic testing. Since the kohanic status is passed down through the male line and males pass on their common Y chromosome to their male children, testing was done across sectors of the Jewish population to see if there was any commonality between their Y chromosomes. Most of the people who self-identified as Kohanim were found to share a common male ancestor about 3000 years ago, as would be expected if the tradition were true. Christians and Jews have pointed to the so-called "Kohain Gene" as evidence for the truth of the Biblical accounts. Further genetic testing with the relevant haplotype has supported the claims of the Lemba, an African tribe who claim that they were in fact descended from one of the ten lost tribes of Israel.