Eleazar (son of Abinadab)

Biblical Account

Eleazar appears only in 1 Samuel 7:1. The Philistines fought against Israel and captured the ark of the covenant (1 Samuel 4). After suffering plagues, they sent the ark back to Beth-shemesh in Israelite territory (1 Samuel 5–6). At Beth-shemesh, too, men who looked into the ark died. The people of Beth-shemesh then sent messengers to Kiriath-jearim, asking its inhabitants to come and take the ark (1 Samuel 6:19–21).

The men of Kiriath-jearim brought the ark "into the house of Abinadab in the hill," and they "sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD." The next verse, 1 Samuel 7:2, records that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim for twenty years. Scripture records nothing else about Eleazar's life, age, or death.

Significance in Scripture

Eleazar belonged to the household in whose care the ark of the covenant remained after its return from the Philistines and before David brought it to Jerusalem. When David later moved the ark, 2 Samuel 6:3 and 1 Chronicles 13:7 mention "the house of Abinadab" and his sons Uzzah and Ahio. Eleazar's name does not appear in these passages. The New Testament does not mention him.

Interpretations and Questions

• Name: The Hebrew name is understood to mean "God has helped," and it is the same name as that of Aaron's son Eleazar. The Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version distinguish this figure by spelling his name differently in Korean (Eliasal rather than Eleazar). He is also a different person from the Eleazar of Matthew 1:15.
• Status: The text does not say whether Eleazar was a Levite or a priest, and commentators are divided on the question. Some believe Abinadab's household was of Levitical descent, while others think the local inhabitants appointed a temporary custodian at a time when the priesthood was in disarray.
• Relationship to Uzzah and Ahio: Whether Eleazar was a brother of Uzzah and Ahio cannot be determined from the text. Some interpreters read "sons" in 2 Samuel 6:3 broadly, in the sense of descendants.

In the Korean Church

Sermons or Sunday school lessons devoted specifically to Eleazar are reportedly rare. He is usually mentioned in discussions of the ark's movements, the death of Uzzah, and the blessing of the house of Obed-edom (2 Samuel 6).