What if Aaron Was Too Busy to Marry Elisheba?

“Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.” Exodus 6:23

“Elisheba was the daughter of Amminadab, and sister of Nashon, captain in Judah’s army. She became the wife of Aaron, the high priest and brother of Moses – and as the wife of Aaron, she became the mother of the priestly tribes in Israel. Her children were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar” (Exodus 6:23)

Isaac Williams writes in his Female Characters of Scripture this interesting comparison—
“It is not only in the New Testament that Elisabeth and the Holy Mary are those associated together: their types in the Old Testament are in like manner combined, for there is a remarkable circumstance which sets forth beforehand what was now taking place, and there we find them brought into a like connection. Elisabeth herself was, it is said by Luke, of the daughter of Aaron, but it is mentioned in the Book of Exodus that Aaron’s own wife was named Elisheba, that is Elisabeth (Exodus 6:23); again, we find in Luke, that the Virgin Mary was the cousin of Elisabeth, so in the former instance the sister of Aaron was named Miriam, that is, Mary, for it is the same name; Miriam or Mary, the virgin prophetess, who took the lead of all the other women in singing the song of thanksgiving for the miraculous deliverance of Israel (Exodus 15:20). Thus even now the Blessed Mary is followed by all other women in singing her Magnificat; the virgin and the prophetess, she leads the sacred company in the Church unto this day.” (biblegateway, All the Women of the Bible, Elisheba)

In other words, in the Gospel of Luke Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary is the daughter of Aaron. Elisheba, a derivative of the name Elizabeth, is the wife of Aaron, the brother of Moses. The sister of Aaron, the brother of Moses, is named Miriam, a derivative of the name Mary. It is Miriam who sings the song of thanksgiving when the people of Israel have been delivered. (Exodus 15:20). It will be Mary who sings her famous Magnificat (Luke 1:46) while in the home of her cousin Elizabeth. It all comes together, the Old Testament and the New Testament – two Elizabeth’s attached to an Aaron – two Mary’s who sing songs of deliverance. Isn’t it great when we can make these connections in the Biblical story.

Pastor Dave