Nadab & Abihu – Part 3
August 18, 2002
Dear Friends,
As we have seen, perhaps the greatest of all Old Covenant holy days, the Day of Atonement, was created in response to the sin of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu. They casually approached God by offering “strange fire” and were more than likely intoxicated when they did so. This fire was apparently from some other source than the brazen altar. Leviticus 16, the chapter responding to this sin, is very specific with how the incense should be presented. “And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil.” (Lev. 16:12). This was not the first time this was mentioned being that Lev. 16 was written after Nadab and Abihu were dead. They were told in Exodus 30 “And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon… And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee…Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. (Ex. 30:1,6,9)
Nadab and Abihu should have known better. This response did not come “out of the blue” in the figurative sense even if the punishment did come “out of the blue” in the literal sense. It is interesting to note that God had just accepted Aaron’s sacrifice by sending fire out of the sky to consume his offering. Just like the consumed sacrifice, fire swooped down to consume the two errant brothers.
In contrast then, we have Aaron and Moses in Lev. 9 offering a sacrifice that is consumed as a show of acceptance by God. “And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” Immediately following, we have the incident with Nadab and Abihu. Is there are connection?
We have two men, Moses and Aaron, who make an offering to God which is accepted and acknowledged by God by fire descending from heaven and consuming their offering. Immediately afterward, we have two men who make an offering to God which is not accepted and this lack of acceptance is acknowledged by fire descending from heaven and consuming the offerers. Perhaps the lesson of the two groups of men is a lesson for us in approaching God with reverence and awe. The writer to the Hebrews sums this up by saying “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” This can be taken in two ways. Our God is a consuming fire Who accepts our gratitude and acceptable service with reverence and awe by consuming our offering or He consumes us because we do not show our gratitude with acceptable service. In either case, there is an acknowledgment of the offerer — a consuming fire — one of Divine pleasure and the other of Divine displeasure.
The average Israelite probably could not tell the difference between the actions of Moses and Aaron and the actions of Nadab and Abihu. They both seemed to be serving God. However, to the One who “knoweth the secrets of the heart” (Ps. 44:21), there was a very significant difference. In the end, their was a important significance to the offerers — a matter of life and death. We should each take care to make sure to “show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.”
Have a great week!
