Priestly Errors Are a Serious Matter and Deadly

Leviticus 10:1-11

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. ² And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

‘By those who come near Me Iwill be treated as holy,
And before all the people I will be honored.’”

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

⁴ Moses called also to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.” ⁵ So they came forward and carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said. ⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the Lord has brought about. ⁷ You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” So, they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ The Lord then spoke to Aaron, saying, ⁹ “Do not drink wine or strong 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 perpetual statute throughout your generations— ¹⁰ and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”

Thoughts on the Passage

Here we have two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, who decide to do something just a little different or special or extra as part of their offering to the Lord – something that He did not ask or command of them.  God was not impressed, and His presence produced a fire that consumed them, and they died.

Chuck Smith suggests they may have been doing something that was intended to draw attention to themselves and away from God.  He then asks us to consider what some pastors do, especially on television, in that regard.

David Guzik on the other hand, suggests it may all have had to do with their motivation to do something different, wondering if it was their pride, ambition, jealousy, or impatience that motivated them – anything but holiness towards God.

And notice what God says about their death: “If you’re going to approach Me (including in worship), be careful how you treat me – you need to treat Me as Holy. So that I will be honored before the people.”  Wow.

Forget the offerings in case you say those are rites the Old Testament priests had to follow, and instead focus on what God is saying here.  If you are going to be My servant, you need to treat Me as Holy.” In other words, God is saying that means you need to obey His instructions. Don’t add to them; don’t subtract from them. Follow them. How is your priest or pastor doing in that regard? If you are a pastor or a priest, how are you doing?

Also, of interest here, is the response of Aaron, the father, as he observed what happened to his sons. The text says, he “kept silent”. Of course, what else can we do when God clearly is the One that takes certain actions. There are no ifs, buts, or whys to be stated. We can only keep silent.

Some people say that when something bad happens in a church, we can never blame ourselves for it or anyone else. Things just happen. I would take issue with that approach. Sometimes, the Scripture teaches us, things happened because someone disobeyed, someone didn’t follow God commands, or someone just failed to be accountable in their responsibilities.

Anyway, Moses (notice not Aaron) calls for some cousins of the two dead men to come and remove the bodies from the sanctuary to the outside of the camp. And Moses warns Aaron and his other two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, not to mourn their loss in case God decided to deal with you in the same way as apparent sympathizers of the wrong-doers. Worse still, God may take His wrath out against the whole congregation of the people. Moses knew more about God than any man alive at that time as He had met with God if you’ll remember. Fortunately, they listened to Moses.

In the last part of this passage, God now speaks to Aaron and warns him that neither he nor his sons must ever be under the influence of wine or strong drink when they go about their duties in the tent of meeting, lest they die. And he warns that this order, this statute would remain as a perpetual one, that is, forever.  It is possible, Smith suggests, that this part of the passage gives us a hint as to what God disliked about what Nadab and Abihu had done to get Him angry – they may have been under the influence of wine or strong drink. God wants His servants to be distinguishable as holy against those that are profane, and He wants His servants to be clean versus those that are unclean.  How are we doing?

Does God, or will God, strike a pastor dead today if he/she is not obeying God’s every commandment?  He might. But again, He may not. I can, however, be sure of one thing as I observed the clergy – be it in the Catholic church, the Greek Orthodox church, or the Protestant arm of the Christian world – God will not be mocked and He is no fool; He will bring judgment one way or another against those who have sinned against Him while carrying out their duties.

If one wants to go into greater detail on each part of this whole passage, I strongly recommend Matthew Henry’s commentary. He takes a close look at God’s possible thinking with respect to the strong action He took here. And he carefully points us to how serious a sin disobedience to God in His service really is.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.