Leviticus 10:1

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,.... His two eldest sons, as seems from Exodus 6:23: took either of them his censer; a vessel in which coals of fire were put, and incense upon them, and burnt

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.

CHAPTER 10 Nadab and Abihu offering strange fire, are devoured by fire from heaven, ,2; for God will be sanctified by them that draw near unto him, . Their dead bodies carried without the camp, ,5. Aaron and his two other sons forbad to mourn, ; also to drink wine or any strong drink, ,9. Their duty to distinguish between holy and unholy; and to teach the people all the statutes of the Lord, ,11. Moses declares to them what of the burnt-offerings they might eat, ; is angry that the sin-offering was not eat, nor the blood carried into the holy place, . He is appeased by Aaron, ,20. Strange fire; so called, as not appointed for, nor belonging to, the present work; fire not taken from the altar, as it ought, but from some common fire. Before the Lord; upon the altar of incense. Which he commanded them not; for seeing Moses himself neither did nor might do any thing in God’ s worship without God’ s command, which is oft noted of him, for these to do it was a more unpardonable and inexcusable presumption. Besides, not commanding may be here put for forbidding, as it is . Now as this was forbidden implicitly, , especially when God himself made a comment upon that text, and by sending fire from heaven declared of what fire he there spake; so it is more than probable it was forbidden expressly, though that be not here mentioned, nor was it necessary it should be.

Leviticus 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.Ver. 1. And Nadab and Abihu.] These jolly young priests, overjoyed haply of their new employment and overwarmed with wine, as some gather out of Lev 10:9, over did themselves the very day of their service, and are suddenly surprised by a doleful death. So was that inconsiderate priest of Naples, Anno Dom. 1457, of whom Wolphius reports, that when the hill Vesuvius had sent huge flames, and done great spoil, he, to make proof of his piety, read a mass, and would needs go up the hill to find out the cause of such a calamity. But for a reward of his foolhardiness, he perished in the flames, and was never heard of any more. Wolph., Memorab. Lect., cent. 15.

X.(1) And Nadab and Abihu.—Immediately after the Divine manifestation of God’s acceptance of the services connected with the institution of the priesthood, and whilst the congregation are still giving utterance to their profound expressions of thankfulness and joy, the assembled people see a most daring act of sacrilege committed by two of the five newly-installed priests, and have to witness the most awful punishment which befals the offenders. The offenders are the two eldest sons of Aaron, who had received the high distinction to be invited to accompany their father and Moses to the summit of the hallowed mount (Exodus 24:1); the lesson to the Israelites being that the priests, though mediators between God and the people, are beset with the same infirmities as the laity, and must not presume upon their office. Took either of them his censer.—The sin of Nadab and Abihu was of a complicated nature, and involved and consisted of several transgressions:—(1) They each took his own censer, and not the sacred utensil of the sanctuary. (2) They both offered it together, whereas the incense was only to be offered by one. (3) They presumptuously encroached upon the functions of the high priest; for according to the Law the high priest alone burnt incense in a censer. (Sec Leviticus 16:12-13; Numbers 17:11.) The ordinary priests only burnt it on the golden altar in the holy place (Exodus 30:7-8), or on the brazen altar as a part of the memorial. (See Leviticus 2:2-3; Leviticus 2:16, &c.) The case of Korah and his company was an exception, since it was ordered by Moses for an especial purpose (Numbers 16:6-25). (4) They offered the incense at an unauthorised time, since it was apart from the morning and evening sacrifice. And offered strange fire.—They filled their vessels with common fire instead of taking it from the holy fire of the altar, which was always to be used in burning incense. (See Leviticus 9:24; Leviticus 16:12.) It is with reference to this practice that we are told—“And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire off the altar” (Revelation 8:5). Ancient tradition says that Nadab and Abihu had partaken too freely of the drink offering, and performed their service in a state of intoxication, when they were incapacitated to distinguish between what was legal and illegal. So general was this tradition that it is actually embodied in the Palestinian Chaldee Version of Lev 10:9, which contains the solemn warning against wine to those engaged in the service of the sanctuary, and which is regarded as a sequel to this awful catastrophe. Others, however, suppose that the phrase “strange fire” denotes not offered according to the prescribed law, just as “strange incense” is used in the sense of incense not prepared in the manner ordered by the Law (Exodus 30:9). Before the Lord.—This may mean before the door of the sanctuary (see Leviticus 1:5), or in front of the holy of holies.

CHAPTER X Nadab and Abihu offer strange fire before the Lord, and are destroyed, 1-5. Aaron and his family forbidden to mourn for them, 6, 7. He and his family are forbidden the use of wine, 8-11. Directions to Aaron and his sons concerning the eating of the meat-offerings, c., 12-15. Moses chides Aaron for not having eaten the sin-offering, 16-18. Aaron excuses himself, and Moses is satisfied, 19, 20. NOTES ON CHAP. X Verse 1. And Nadab and Abihu - took either of them his censer] The manner of burning incense in the temple service was, according to the Jews, as follows: - "One went and gathered the ashes from off the altar into a golden vessel, a second brought a vessel full of incense, and a third brought a censer with fire, and put coals on the altar, and he whose office it was to burn the incense strewed it on the fire at the command of the governor. At the same time all the people went out of the temple from between the porch and the altar. Each day they burned the weight of a hundred denaries of incense, fifty in the morning, and fifty in the evening. The hundred denaries weighed fifty shekels of the sanctuary, each shekel weighing three hundred and twenty barleycorns and when the priest had burned the incense, he bowed himself down and went his way out. See Maimonides' Treatise of the Daily Service, chap. iii. So when Zacharias, as his lot fell, burned incense in the temple, the whole multitude of the people were without at prayer while the incense was burning, Lu 1:9-10. By this service God taught them that the prayers of his faithful people are pleasing to him, whilst our High Priest, Christ Jesus, by his mediation puts incense to their prayers; (see Psalms 141:2; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 8:1-2; Hebrews 9:24; Revelation 8:3-4;) for the priests under the law served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things; Hebrews 8:5." See Ainsworth in loco. In the preceding chapter we have seen how God intended that every part of his service should be conducted; and that every sacrifice might be acceptable to him, he sent his own fire as the emblem of his presence, and the means of consuming the sacrifice. - Here we find Aaron's sons neglecting the Divine ordinance, and offering incense with strange, that is, common fire, - fire not of a celestial origin; and therefore the fire of God consumed them. So that very fire which, if properly applied, would have sanctified and consumed their gift, became now the very instrument of their destruction! How true is the saying, The Lord is a consuming fire! He will either hallow or destroy us: he will purify our souls by the influence of his Spirit, or consume them with the breath of his mouth!

(3) The first priestly transgression and its punishment (1–7) 1. Nadab and Abihu were specially chosen to ‘come up unto the Lord’ with Moses, Aaron and the 70 elders (Exodus 24:1; Exodus 24:9-11, the only reference to these sons of Aaron outside P). his censer] The Heb. word is used in this sense here, in ch. Leviticus 16:12 (of Aaron on the Day of Atonement), and in Numbers 16 (the censers of Korah and his company, and of Aaron). A dish or pan for carrying live coal is meant. offered strange fire] This is sometimes explained as fire not taken from the altar of Burnt-Offering (cp. Leviticus 16:12; Numbers 16:46); but then the adjective ‘strange’ would have been used with fire when first mentioned—‘and put [strange] fire therein.’ If the offence consisted in bringing ‘strange incense’ (Exodus 30:9), i.e. incense not prepared according to the prescription in Exodus 30:34-36, then the next clause would have been—‘and laid [strange] incense thereon.’ The whole action is here described as ‘offering strange fire before the Lord,’ an expression found only here and in passages referring to this event (Numbers 3:4; Numbers 26:61). It was an irregular fire-offering, and the sin of Nadab and Abihu consisted in offering that which the Lord had not commanded them. At the commencement of priestly ministrations both priests and people are taught by this visitation to observe scrupulously the Divine commands in all that concerns the ministration of the sanctuary. From Leviticus 16:1 it may be conjectured that the regulations for entering into the Holy place were at one time more closely connected with this narrative. there came forth fire from before the Lord] As in Leviticus 9:24; see note there. devoured them] They were not wholly consumed (cp. Leviticus 10:5). For similar punishment cp. Numbers 11:1; Numbers 16:35; 2 Kings 1:10.

Nadab and Abihu - The two elder sons of Aaron Exodus 6:23; Numbers 3:2, who were among those invited to accompany Moses when he was going up Mount Sinai, but who were “to worship afar off,” and not

NADAB AND ABIHU SLAIN BY JEHOVAH, Leviticus 10:1-7. 1. Offered strange fire — “These men were not at liberty to take each his own censer; there was a utensil provided for that action, and for any man