Mishael (son of Uzziel)

Biblical Record

Mishael appears twice in the Bible. The genealogy of the Levites in Exodus 6:22 lists Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri as the sons of Uzziel. According to Exodus 6:18, Uzziel was a son of Kohath and a brother of Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron. Mishael was therefore a cousin of Moses and Aaron.

Leviticus 10 records that Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu offered "strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not," and were killed by fire that went out from the LORD (Leviticus 10:1-2). Moses then called Mishael and Elzaphan and told them, "Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp" (Leviticus 10:4). Here "brethren" refers to kinsmen. The two men "carried them in their coats out of the camp" (Leviticus 10:5). This is the entire record concerning Mishael; nothing else is known of his life.

Significance Within the Bible

The reason Mishael was given this task can be inferred from the flow of the narrative. Aaron and his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, were priests upon whom the anointing oil (the holy oil used for anointing) had been poured. Moses commanded them not to leave the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and not to show signs of mourning (Leviticus 10:6-7). Because touching a corpse caused defilement (a state of religious uncleanness; compare Leviticus 21:1-12), the task is understood to have been carried out in their place by close kinsmen who were Levites but not priests. Mishael thus appears briefly within the legal order that maintained the boundary between holy service and defilement. He is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretive Questions

• Other people of the same name: The Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version mention other individuals named Mishael. The Mishael who was a friend of Daniel and was given the name Meshach in Babylon (Daniel 1:6-7), and the Mishael who stood at Ezra's left hand when he read the Law (Nehemiah 8:4), are different people from the subject of this article. Daniel's friend is discussed in the article Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
• His brother Elzaphan: The Elzaphan of Exodus and Leviticus is generally identified with "Elizaphan the son of Uzziel," who was appointed chief of the Kohathite families in Numbers 3:30.
• "In their coats": Interpreters largely agree that the "coats" in Leviticus 10:5 were those of the dead Nadab and Abihu. Some interpreters take this expression as evidence that the fire did not entirely consume the bodies and garments, although the text does not state this directly.

In the Korean Church

Sermons and Sunday school lessons devoted specifically to Mishael are rare. He is usually mentioned as one of the men who carried the bodies when the account of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 is discussed. Because the Mishael widely known in Sunday school is Daniel's friend Meshach, readers should take care to distinguish between the two figures.