Amram
A Levite living under the yoke of Egyptian slavery, Amram married Jochebed and fathered the three children who would shape Israel's future leadership. As the head of this household he stood at the headwaters of the priestly line through Aaron and the prophetic voice through Moses and Miriam, all born into a time when God was preparing to redeem his people. The record of his lineage among the Levites highlights the quiet faithfulness that preserved the covenant promises across generations of oppression until the moment of deliverance arrived.
Biography
- Age
- 137
- Occupation
- Levite
- Tribe
- Levi
- Father
- Kohath
- Spouse
- Jochebed
- Children
- Aaron, Moses, and Miriam
- Era
- Exodus
- Nationality
- Israelite
Family
Did You Know?
Amram married his paternal aunt Jochebed, a union later forbidden by Leviticus 18:12-14 after the Torah was given, illustrating how pre-Sinai Levite customs differed from later Mosaic regulations.
Exodus 6:20 specifies that Amram lived 137 years, a precise lifespan detail that situates him among the generations of Israelites who endured prolonged oppression in Egypt before the Exodus.
As a Kohathite Levite and grandson of Levi, Amram's lineage through Aaron established the hereditary high priesthood, while his son Moses transmitted divine law, making him the sole biblical figure whose immediate children founded both Israel's priestly and prophetic institutions.
Biblical genealogies in Numbers 3 and 1 Chronicles 6 list Amram as head of one of the main Kohathite clans responsible for transporting the ark and sacred vessels, though he died before those duties began in the wilderness.
Unlike most patriarchs, Amram receives no recorded deeds, speeches, or divine encounters, appearing solely in census and ancestry passages that underscore his quiet role in preserving Levite identity during Egyptian slavery.
Key Passages
Amram's marriage and children
Exodus 6:20
Records Amram's marriage to Jochebed and names their sons Aaron and Moses.
20nd Amram took him Jochebed his fatherโs sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.
Genealogy of the Levites
Numbers 26:59
Confirms Jochebed as Amram's wife and mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam.
59nd the name of Amramโs wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
Children of Amram
1 Chronicles 6:3
Lists Aaron, Moses, and Miriam as the children of Amram.
3nd the children of Amram; Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam. The sons also of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Birth of Moses
Exodus 2:1-2
Introduces the Levite man (Amram) and his wife who bore Moses.
1nd there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.