Page 72 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

Only after the seven-day ceremony was over could the priests do their work. Their sins had to be dealt
with before they could help the people. Now they could make atonement for the people (9:3, 7, 15, 18 ).
We might read with a certain degree of boredom. The instructions are lengthy and repeated. The result
is anything but boring. “Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering
and the fat portions on the altar (9:24).” The nation of Israel did not find the requirements too
burdensome. “When all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown (9:24).” Apparently,
their wilderness experiences and the sight of God at a distance gave them a longing for YHWH’s
presence a bit closer. Apparently, they sensed greatly the threat of their sin to their very existence in the
golden calf incident. Apparently, they had learned something of the preciousness of God’s mercy in not
wiping them out. So, this miraculous sign of his presence is much appreciated. All the efforts in
preparation had not been wasted or excessive. Everything is great.

As we read further, God’s miracle is repeated. On the very first day of priestly ministry, “Fire came out
from the presence of the LORD (10:2).” This time it “consumes” two priests, Nadab and Abihu. The
contrast is stunning. We ask immediately, “What went wrong?” These are the sons of Aaron. They had
been washed and dressed (8:6, 13). They had placed their hands on the heads of animals before sacrifice
(8:14, 18, 22). Blood was applied to ears, thumbs, and big toes (8:24). Oil was sprinkled on their clothing
(8:30). They had eaten the sacrificial meal (8:31). The text explicitly says, “So Aaron and his sons did
everything the LORD commanded through Moses (8:36).”

Now these two offer “unauthorized fire” before the LORD in their
censors. Exodus 30:7-8 gave instructions about burning incense.
In 30:34-38 the text goes so far as to detail the ingredients. This
incense was holy, not to be used at home or in any personal
setting. We do not know exactly what “unauthorized fire” means.
Was the formula wrong? Was their attitude wrong? Was their
method wrong? Until this time everything had been done to
exactness. Something must have been done differently. The point
is made. Any deviation from God’s pattern, no matter how small,
invites death from God’s hand. The place of a priest was deeply
important. “The closer a man is to God, the more attention he
must pay to holiness and the glory of God…The slightest
Fig. 49: Nadab and Abiru
79
transgression tends to attract the most startling punishment.”
“Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the
sight of all the people I will be honored (10:3).” Like Aaron we are stunned silent (10:3).

Moses is not finished with us, his readers, as God was not finished with driving home the point of these
two deaths. The bodies are carried outside the camp, treated like the useless parts of the animals
sacrificed earlier (10:4-5). Aaron and his two remaining sons are forbidden to mourn in the customary
ways on pain of death (10:6-7). Aaron and future generations of priests are forbidden wine. They must
be alert at all times to carry out their primary role to “distinguish between the holy and common”
between “the clean and unclean.” These distinctions are at the heart of the priest’s responsibility to
“teach the Israelites all the decrees of the LORD” (10:10-11). (Does this imply that Nadab and Abihu had
been drunk as some commentators suggest?) They are instructed to eat the leftover food offering in the

79 Wenham, Leviticus, p. 156.

71