"Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, present unauthorized fire before the Lord. God did not command them to do this, so God burned them to death. They disobeyed God, and God killed them. Moses told Aaron that God had said, "I will show My holiness to those who are near me, and I will reveal My glory before all people." Aaron remained silent. Mishael and Elzaphan, Nadab and Abihu's cousins, buried them. Then, the Lord speaks to Aaron and gives him regulations priests are to live by."
http://www.doodlethroughthebible.com/2015/05/leviticus-10.html
Leviticus 10 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The Sin of Nadab and Abihu
https://www.biblegateway.com
10 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective [ceremonial] censers, put fire in them, placed incense on it and offered [a]strange (unauthorized, unacceptable) fire before the Lord, [an act] which He had not commanded them to do. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord said:Leviticus 10 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The Sin of Nadab and Abihu
https://www.biblegateway.com
‘I will be treated as holy by those who approach Me,
And before all the people I will be honored.’”
So Aaron, therefore, said nothing.
4 Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel who was Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, “Come here, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary and take them outside the camp.” 5 So they came forward and carried them, still in their undertunics, outside the camp, as Moses had said. 6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to his [younger] sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not [b]uncover your heads nor let your hair hang loose nor tear your clothes [as expressions of mourning], so that you will not die [also] and so that He will not express His wrath and anger toward all the congregation. But your relatives, the whole house of Israel, may mourn the burning which the Lord has brought about. 7 You shall not even go out of the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, or you will die; for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did [everything] according to the word of Moses.
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “[c]Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the Tent of Meeting, so that you will not die—it is a permanent statute throughout your generations— 10 and to make a distinction and recognize a difference between the holy (sacred) and the common (profane), and between the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean; 11 and you are to teach the Israelites all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them [d]through Moses.”
12 Then Moses said to Aaron, and to his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that is left over from the offerings by fire to the Lord, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy. 13 You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your portion and your sons’ portion, from the offerings by fire to the Lord; for so I have been commanded. 14 But the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering you may eat in a clean place, you and your sons and daughters with you; for the breast and the thigh are your portion and your sons’ portion, given out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the Israelites. 15 They shall bring the thigh presented by lifting up and the breast presented by waving, along with the offerings by fire of the fat, to present as a wave offering before the Lord. This shall be yours and your sons’ with you, as your perpetual portion, just as the Lord has commanded.”
16 But Moses diligently tried to find the goat [that had been offered] as the sin offering, and discovered that it had been burned up [as waste, not eaten]! So he was angry with Aaron’s surviving sons Eleazar and Ithamar, saying, 17 “Why did you not eat the sin offering in the holy place? For it is most holy; and God gave it to you to remove the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord. 18 Behold, its blood was not brought into the Holy Place; you certainly should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary, just as I commanded.” 19 Then Aaron said to Moses, “This very day they have [obediently] presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, but [such terrible things] as these have happened to me [and to them]; if I [and my sons] had eaten a sin offering today would it have been acceptable and pleasing in the sight of the Lord?” 20 When Moses heard that, he was satisfied.
Footnotes: Leviticus 10:1 What made the fire “strange” cannot be determined. They may have taken the fire from an unauthorized source, or used incense that did not meet the divine specifications. In any case, God’s laws and requirements are not subject to modification by man.
Leviticus 10:6 Lit unbind.
Leviticus 10:9 This prohibition may imply that intoxication precipitated the irreverent behavior that resulted in the death of Aaron’s two older sons.
Leviticus 10:11 Lit by the hand of.
- THE COST OF DISOBEDIENCE. After a glorious experience with God, something unexpected or sad happened as Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu have carelessly disobeyed God's commandments.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
It is not God who caused the death, it is the disobedience and unholiness of the people (specifically in Nadab and Abihu's case).. God is truthful and faithful to His words-- He is holy, He is to be honored.
What happened to Nadab and Abihu served an example of what will happen if the people will not obey as God commanded..
- DO NOT BE INTOXICATED. To be intoxicated means to 'cause (someone) to lose control of their faculties or behavior'; or "A state in which a person's normal capacity to act or reason is inhibited by alcohol or drugs. Generally, an intoxicated person is incapable of acting as an ordinary prudent and cautious person would act under similar conditions." (https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Intoxication) As a called and anointed priest for God and the Israelites, they have a great responsibility to keep themselves sober or abstaining from any intoxicating drink.
“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” 1 Peter 1:13
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18
After reading, I always check out the Study Guide Commentary from David Guzik (very helpful!):
a. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it: In the afterglow of the consecration experience (which Nadab and Abihu were part of), these two sons of Aaron sought out their own relationship with God, apart from the revelation granted through Moses.
i. We don't know what their motivation was. Perhaps it was pride, perhaps it was ambition, perhaps it was jealousy, perhaps it was impatience that motivated them. Whatever their exact motivation, it wasn't holiness unto the LORD.
ii. Nadab and Abihu had a legacy of great spiritual experiences. They saw first-hand:
- All the miracles God did in bringing the nation out of Egypt.
- The voice of God and saw the fire, lightning, smoke, and felt the thunder and the earthquake with the rest of the nation at Mount Sinai.
- They went up with Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders for a special meeting with God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:1-2), where they saw the God of Israel … so they say God, and they ate and drank (Exodus 24:9-11).
iii. This shows that even a legacy of great spiritual experiences can't keep us right with God - only an abiding relationship grounded in the truth of God's word can.
b. Which He had not commanded them: They came in an unauthorized way, coming to God, but demanding to come their own way. Therefore God considered this a profane fire before the LORD.
i. This was a misuse of special incense. This incense was regarded as holy for the LORD (Exodus 30:35-37). It wasn't to be used in someone's experiment with God.
ii. Profane fire was a fire not kindled from the altar of burnt offering; it was fire not associated with the atoning and redeeming work of sacrifice.
a. So Aaron held his peace: Aaron just saw two of his sons struck down before the LORD. It was natural for him to question or even to lament - but God would not allow it. More important than Aaron's right to grieve was the respect of God's holiness.
b. By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy: Many think they can come their own way before God and do their own thing in His presence. But God demands to be regarded as holy by all those who come near to Him.
i. Make no mistake: We can come to God just as we are, but we may not come to Him our own way. We must come the way He has provided, the way made in Jesus Christ.
c. And before all the people I must be glorified: This reminds us that God must be glorified in the meetings of His people. The focus must not be on man, on his cleverness, on his insight, or on his ingenuity. Those who fail to glorify God will not be rewarded.
a. Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people: This perhaps was the hardest day of Aaron's life. Two of his sons were dead before him, and he could not mourn them. To mourn might have implied - even in the slightest way - that God was wrong in bringing this fire upon Nadab and Abihu, and Aaron or Moses could not communicate this.
b. You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die: Aaron must also have thought, "I did worse than this at the golden calf incident; why did God take them?" But Aaron did that before his consecration as a priest. After his consecration, he and his sons had a greater accountability (for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you).
a. Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die: This commandment to the priests of Israel came right after the judgment of Nadab and Abihu. This causes us to believe they may have been drunk when they were so foolish as to offer their profane fire before the LORD.
b. That you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean: God did not want the hearts and minds of his servants clouded with alcohol when they came to serve Him. Since alcohol is a depressant, it takes away the ability to completely give one's self to God.
ii. Jesus had this kind of heart, even though He had no sin! He still identified with His people in his humble birth, simple life, baptism, and death. Moses said the sin offering was given to bear the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD. That's why he was upset when Aaron didn't eat it. But Jesus did "eat" the sin offering when He stood as a sinner in our place and received the judgment we deserved.
Reference and credits to https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-Lev/Lev-10.cfm © 2004 David Guzik
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