Leviticus 10, The Holiness of God

I am the LORD, that is My name;

And My glory I will not give to another,

Nor My praise to carved images.  Isaiah 42:8

In Lev. 8:35 God had warned Aaron and his sons of the fatal consequences associated with their ministry.  This incident, to many people, may appear extreme.  Before you think that way, consider the following thoughts.

·       What did Nadab and Abihu actually do?

o   They may not have lit the censors from the coals on the altar (Lev. 16:12; Num. 16:46).

o   They may have been doing this at the wrong time, adding their own form of worship contrary to God’s specific plan.  In other words, they may have tried to improve on God’s plan.  There was a command concerning “strange incense” in Ex. 30:9. It might be that they were overcome by the display of God’s glory and wanted to do something special.  As noble as that might sound, remember Cain in Gen. 4 who did this to his own demise.  Likewise, King Saul lost the kingdom because he failed to understand that obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22-23).

o   They may have gone beyond the veil (Lev. 16:1-2). 

o   It seems clear that they were drunk when they did this.  That is really the only explanation for God’s instructions about this in 10:8-11. 

·       The fact that God was justified (as if He needed us to defend Him) is seen in Aaron’s response.  He held his peace FOR GOD’S GLORY (10:3).  Even later (10:19) Aaron confesses his heartache, realizing that the heart must be right as well as the ritual commanded by the LORD.

·       This is not necessarily an indictment of the faith of Nadab and Abihu.  Clearly they were disobedient in some fashion.  But note that God Himself tells us the point of the event in 10:8-11: the priests who lead the people in worship must make a clear distinction between the clean and unclean.  We may struggle with such an illustration.  But do we take it seriously?  Are we willing to distinguish between the holy and the unholy?  There are other bold illustrations like this, for the same reason: God’s judgment on Korah and those who followed him (Num. 16), the death of Uzzah (2 Sam. 6:1-7), the leprosy of King Uzziah (2 Chr. 26:16-23), and the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5).  We may struggle simply because we fail to make the distinctions that must be made, given who and what God is in terms of holiness!

·       Lastly, before some begin to think about how terrible the “God of the OT” is compared to the “God of the NT,” note that even in this story God shows mercy to Aaron (10:19).  But the point is not that He is mean.  The point is: He is HOLY (11:44-45).