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The Death of Nadab and Abihu
10 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.
And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, “Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the LORD has kindled. And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.
And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying, “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them by Moses.”
Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: “Take the grain offering that is left of the LORD’s food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy. You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, from the LORD’s food offerings, for so I am commanded. But the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons’ due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel. The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the LORD, and it shall be yours and your sons’ with you as a due forever, as the LORD has commanded.”
Now Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying, “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD? Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.” And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would the LORD have approved?” And when Moses heard that, he approved.
(ESV)
Leviticus 10 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
By the end of Leviticus 9, everything seems to be going great… until we turn the page to Leviticus 10.
Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan, put live coals in it, added incense, and presented it to the LORD. But this fire was not holy, because the LORD had not commanded them to present it. [2] Suddenly the LORD sent fire, and it burned them to death there in the presence of the LORD. [3] Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD was speaking about when he said, ‘All who serve me must respect my holiness; I will reveal my glory to my people.’ ” But Aaron remained silent.
Leviticus 10:1-3 GNB
It’s a strange and mysterious story. Why did Aaron’s sons enter the presence of the Lord? Why didn’t they follow His commands? And what is this strange or unholy fire they brought? Let’s consider the facts.
- This incense was regarded as holy for the LORD (Exo 30:35-37). It wasn’t to be used outside of His instruction. It had a specific purpose, and there were boundaries.
- They were to treat this incense as completely holy.
- They were not to use the same formula to make any incense like it for themselves.
- God said that anyone who makes it for use as perfume will no longer be considered one of His people.
- The strange fire (“another,” “estranged,” “a different place”) was a fire not kindled from the altar of the burnt offering and didn’t come from God Himself. In Leviticus 9, the fire of the Lord consumes the sacrifice. Here, it was manufactured by Aaron’s sons in some way (it was estranged from God) and brought into the presence of God on their own terms and in their own way.
- The phrase “from the presence of the Lord” would indicate that these two brothers went past the veil into the Holy of Holies, God’s special dwelling place, once again, without His invitation.
There are a lot of speculative theories in Jewish literature as to the motive of these two brothers. Maybe they were drunk? Maybe they thought they were above the law? Maybe they so desperately wanted to experience the presence of God that they decided to ignore His commands? I have studied and studied and studied this passage and chapter and I don’t know if we will ever understand conclusively what their motive was.
But… I also don’t think it matters.
The primary issue was disobedience. God gave specific commands on how to offer incense, what to wear, the order of the process, but most importantly, God made it crystal clear that the source of the fire came from Him and Him alone. He was the one who would examine the altar. He was the one to burn up the sacrifice. He was the one to provide the covering for sin. In the end, this is what cost Nadab and Abihu their lives. Sadly, their lives were wasted because they came with their own agenda, on their own terms, and with their own materials.
Is it harsh? Maybe… but maybe not. If I tell you how to do something and then give you the consequences should you choose a different way, what should happen? Passages like this should draw us to understand the grace we’ve received at such a deep level. Let’s apply the error of this story to our lives as Christians.
The Gospel
We need God in our lives, but there is only one way to feel the heat of His fiery presence. Jesus said, no one comes to the Father except through me. In Acts, Peter confidently proclaimed, there is salvation in no one else. Just like God provided the foundation for the Israelites to experience the heat of His presence, He has provided Jesus, the foundation of our Salvation. He has asked us to build upon that foundation by the way we live our lives after we are saved! And he has told us what will happen if we do not.
For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 NASB
This isn’t speaking about Salvation which only comes through faith. The “work” here is drawing our focus toward obedience flowing from our love of Christ. Jesus said if you love Him, you will obey Him. We can’t work for Salvation, that’s a done deal. But we can and should work for the reward that Jesus has promised His children.