Lev 10.1-20 tells us about the death of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons. What should have been a day of great joy turned to tragedy.
v 1…Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective fire-pans, and after putting fire in them (not from the fire God had started on the alta)r, placed incense on it and offered strange fire (upon the altar of incense; they changed the “tavnit” or blueprint God had given for certain things to be done at certain times by certain people at certain places) before the Lord, which he had not commanded them (it appears God had not commanded either of them to do this; the service of the Lord cannot be changed by any man; they did not consult their teacher Mses on this).
v 2…And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord (in the holy place, right on the spot).
v 3…Then Moses said to Aaron (to help him understand what just happened), “It is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near me I will be treated as holy (or having a kedusha, with limitations and restrictions on what can be done); and before all the people I will be honored (Hebrew “kaved”).’ ” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent (being in shock).
v 4…Moses called also to Mishael and elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel (the brother of Amram), and said to them, “Come forward, carry your relatives away from the from of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp (to bury them; they were not priests but Levites being from Kohath, .so they could touch the bodies).
v 5…So they came forward and carried them still in their tunics (it seems the tunics were not burned) to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said.
v 6…Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes (signs of mourning), so that you may not die (condoning the desecration of the sanctuary), and that he may not become wrathful against all the congregation (for following their example). But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the Lord has brought about.
v 7…You shall not even go outside the doorway of the tent of meeting, lest you die for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.
v 8…The Lord spoke to Aaron, saying,
v 9…”Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting (to officiate in a service) so that you may not die-it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations-
v 10…and so as to make a distinction between the holy (that which has a kedusha) and the profane (or common; that which does not have a kedusha, and between the unclean (“taai” or that which is out of place”) and the clean (“tahor” or that which is in its proper place);
v 11…and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”
v 12…Then Moses spoke to Aaron and to his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that is left over from the Lord’s offerings by fire and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy (kodshai kodeshim and can only be eaten in the sourts).
v 13…You shall eat it, moreover, in a holy place (the courts), because it is your due and your sons’ due out of the Lord’s offerings by fire; for thus I have commanded.
v 14…The breast of the wave offering, however, and the thigh of the offering you may eat in a clean place (in the camp), you and your sons and your daughters with you; for they have been given as your due and your sons’ due out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the sons of Israel.
v 15…The thigh offered by lifting up the breast offered by waving (a tenufah-up and down and in all directions to show his right to them) they shall bring along with the offerings by fire of the portions of fat (upon the entrails, kidneys and liver) to present as a wave offering before the Lord; so it shall be a thing perpetually due you and your sons with you, just as the Lord has commanded.”
v 16…But Moses searched carefully (“darash, darash” or inquired) for the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up (they should have eaten it)! So he was angry with Aaron’s surviving sons Eleazar and Ithamar (Aaron was the one in charge but he did not blame him because he was in shock), saying,
v 17…”Why did you not eat the sin offering in the holy place (they burnt it), seeing it is most holy (kodshai kodeshim) and he (God) gave it to you to bear away the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement (restore a covering) for them before the Lord (Moses reminds them of the law concerning; the eating of it made the sins of the people somewhat their own and they “bore them” in a type; in this they were a type of Yeshua who bore the sins of many-Hos 4.8).
v 18…Behold (see), since its blood had not been brought inside (if it was, it could not be eaten but burnt-Lev 6.30; but this was not the case here, it should have been eaten-Lev 6.26), into the sanctuary, you should have certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary, just as I commanded.”
v 19…But Aaron spoke to Moses (this rebuke was addressed to his sons, but Aaron knew it was intended for him, “Behold, this very day they (Israel) presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord. When things like these happened to me (his sons were removed by death), if I had eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of the Lord (the Torah was clear, it should have been eaten but Aaron was in sorrow and in grief; he had a troubled mind at this point)?”
v 20…And when Moses heard that, it was well-pleasing in his sight (God overlooked this by his grace, being the first time one was offered by them; in some cases the sin offering was to eaten and not burnt, and in other cases it was to be burnt and not eaten; and Moses said no more; he was satisfied with his answer; because of Aaron’s state of mind things got a little confused and Aaron was not wilful in neglecting his duty, but he thought it not to be acceptable to eat because of his current state of mind; Moses did not assign any blame under these circumstances).
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