Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS 05 June 2016
1 Now, Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron’s sons, each took his coal-shuttle and put a live-coal in them and they placed incense on top of it, then they offered before the face of Yahweh foreign fire which Yahweh had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from before the face of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before the face of Yahweh.
· According to Exodus 6, Moses and Aaron were great-grandsons of the man Levi, after whom the Levites were named. Aaron married Elisheba and had 4 sons, the 2 oldest being Nadab & Abihu.
· Unlike their little brothers Eleazar and Ithamar, Nadab and Abihu had personally seen God and eaten and drank with God. They knew the glory of the God in whose service they had been called to lead in worship. They knew how serious this was.
o Exodus 24:9-11 NASB Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.
· Now on the eighth day of their consecration they had helped their dad, Aaron, offer his first sacrifices for the nation and had seen God accept that with fire on the altar.
· It had been a long day and the boys tried to top their Dad’s work before they settled down for the night. That was the mistake of their lives.
· “The lesson is to be aware in times of success that we give God credit and not ourselves. Don't take on a sense of entitlement to reward, rest in the sense of blessing that comes from being used by God for His purposes.” ~Robert Weil
· The root of this word translated “censer” or “firepan” has to do with “removal,” and generally that is what coal-shuttles are for, is shoveling ashes into.
o Such things have to be made of metal because often there are live hot coals insulated within the ash which would burn a hole through a wooden or plastic container.
o They may have even used such things for carrying live coals to the next campsite to re-kindle the fire on the altar in such a way that the fire would never go out, and they may have had multiple firepans so that if Nadab’s ashes got too cold and went out, perhaps Abihu could keep his coals alive and there would be a backup.
o The coal-shuttles for the main altar outdoors were made of bronze (Ex. 27:3, 38:3), whereas the ones for the lampstand in the holy place were made of gold (Ex. 25:38, 37:23). I believe it was these golden ones that Nadab and Abihu abused and that they went in to the holy room of the tabernacle with their unauthorized fire.
· Now, there was an appropriate time and place for the high priest to burn incense on a censer, and that is outlined in Leviticus 16:12 once a year on the Day of Atonement, but not even the high priest could saunter into the presence of the Lord any time he felt like it.
· The incense they burned would be the special fragrant stuff for burning on the altar of incense in the holy place. God had already given specific instructions regarding this incense
o Exodus 30:1-10 NKJV "You shall make an altar to burn incense on... 6 And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you... 8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9 You shall not offer strange incense on it...
· Nadab and Abihu knew it could only be Aaron and it couldn’t be strange fire, and yet they had the audacity to try violating God’s commands concerning these holy things anyway.
· Now it seems likely that God’s prohibition against priests drinking alcohol on the job in verse 9 indicates that Nadab and Abihu had lowered their inhibitions against offending God and increased their carelessness by drinking alcohol, and that this was a big part of the problem.
· However, this was not some kind of accident or some kind of unpredictable flash of anger from a capricious God. This was a punishment for negligent disrespect.
o Numbers 15:30 “But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people.” (NKJV)
o Matthew Henry commented that Aaron was supposed to be the one leading the worship that day and that this was his sons trying to steal the show: “God had indeed required the priests to burn incense, but, at this time, it was what he commanded them not... The priests were to burn incense only when it was their lot (Luke 1:9), and, at this time, it was not theirs.”
o Later, God gave the official role of offering the incense to Eleazar, after his father Aaron’s term ended as high priest (Num. 4:16).
· The strangeness or foreignness of the fire that Nadab and Abihu offered seems to be in that it was not something that God had authorized. It was not familiar to God; it came from a different source, a different set of motives, from the wrong people at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.
o The Bible does not elaborate further on what “strange fire” was, but the word is used of foreigners, so perhaps it was a tradition carried over from the worship practices of one of the Egyptian gods or something.
o John Calvin commented, “If we reflect how holy a thing God’s worship is, the enormity of the punishment will by no means offend us.”
· In the previous chapter, fire had emanated from God’s presence and consumed the animal sacrifices. Here in chapter 10 we see dramatically the alternative scenario.
· “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), so it’s either us or someone else that will have to forfeit life when a sin has been committed. When someone sins, the natural consequence in God’s justice is what happened to Nadab and Abiju. They died before the Lord. That is justice; that is what they deserved, and it is what you deserve.
· Interestingly enough, little brother Eleazar saw this same thing happen a second time in Numbers 16. Another of Moses and Aaron’s cousins, Korah, who was a Levite, along with some guys from the tribe of Reuben who were not Levites, tried to do the same thing that Nadab and Abihu had done, offer incense before the Lord on their own initiative. And Eleazar had to clean up the mess after God destroyed them. I’m sure that left an impression on Eleazar! (Later on King Uzziah would try the same stunt. In God’s mercy he was merely stuck with leprosy for it. 2 Chron. 26:16.)
· It is only God’s mercy which provides the alternative of another person dying in your place. It is not your legal right to live, and you do not deserve being spared. When Jesus died instead of you, that was God’s mercy (Eph. 2:4-7, Titus 3:5).
· Furthermore, it is God’s mercy which keeps Him from immediately destroying all the Non-Christians from the face of the earth. The Apostle Peter put it this way, “... the Day of the Lord will come... but consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation...” (2 Peter 3:10 & 15a, NKJV). The fact that you are still living and breathing on this earth right now is due entirely to God’s mercy. Let that “humble you before the mighty hand of God” and bring you to gratitude for God’s mercy to you and dedication of your life on this earth to Him!
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what Yahweh meant when He said, ‘I will be treated as holy by the ones who come near me, and in front of all the people I will be honored.’” And Aaron was stunned.
· This quote Moses produces appears nowhere else in the Bible, so Moses is either paraphrasing or quoting something he had heard but not written down.
· I think Moses was saying more than, “Wow. So that’s what it means to be holy.” He had already seen more impressive sights of God’s glory on the Mountain. I suspect this is a rebuke to His brother. “Dear Aaron, did you learn nothing from the incident with the golden calf? Did you take God’s mercy on you so lightly that you did not think it necessary to impress upon your sons how important it is to honor God and what a great wrath you escaped in God’s mercy at the foot of Mt. Sinai? God is not one to be trifled with. Dancing around the edges of what might be offensive to Him is dangerously foolish!”
· The Lord’s Prayer in the New Testament confirms that God’s desire to be treated as holy is His number one concern: Petition #1 “Hallowed be Thy name.”
· Notice that Moses says it is “those who are near” to God who are the ones expected to treat God as holy.
o God doesn’t expect that much of pagans who don’t know any better, Yes, He’ll hold them accountable, but it is those who should know better that He will hold to a higher level of accountability. Sure the pagans will carelessly take His name in vain, but you know far more about God and His holiness, so you, of all people, should hold to a higher standard.
o We should set Him apart as special because we know He is the One True God.
o I was struck by this in a scene from a Christian movie called The Time Changer, where a Christian from the 19th century was time-travelled into a movie theater in 20th Century America. He comes running out of the theater in a panic to alert the ticket-takers that an actor in the movie had just taken the Lord’s name in vain. This 19th Century Christian was shocked, but the ticket-takers were like, “What’s the big deal? This is normal; chill out!”
o Have we become like the frog in the pot, deadened in our ability to uphold God as holy because we have slowly tolerated more and more disrespect of him by the world around us?
· If we act like God is something special, others will take note.
· Furthermore, as my wife and I tell the married couples that we teach, “Praise is multiplied by the number of people who hear it.”
o It’s one thing to kneel in my prayer closet and tell God that He is more to me than life, but it’s another thing to stand up in front of a crowd of Muslims and say Jesus means more to you than life itself. They might just test you out on that and you (or what’s left of you) might be on the news the next day.
o “In front of all the people I will be honored.”
o Conversely, it’s one thing to be disrespectful before God in your prayer closet, but Nadab and Abihu were standing in front of their whole nation – it was the equivalent of being on national TV and insulting God. The insult was magnified in God’s mind by the number of people who witnessed it and the magnitude of the offense was such that God, in His justice, decided that those boys should die on the spot.
·
Did Aaron stop what he was doing and
stand speechless because he was in shock at what had just happened, or was he
waiting in faith in God for God to make the next move? I suspect the former
because the idea behind the Hebrew word dum
is the opposite of being active. It is the cessation of normal activity and
speech. While the high priest is temporarily stunned...
4 So Moses called to Michael and to Elitsaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come near. Carry your relatives away from in front of the holy place to the outside of the camp.” 5 So they came near and carried them away in their tunics to the outside of the camp just as Moses had said.
· The parallelism in Hebrew of the third plural pronoun suffixes (“they carried them in the tunics of them”) indicates that the tunics referenced are the tunics of Nadab and Abihu, not of Michael and Elitsaphan. The fire of the Lord must destroyed Nadab and Abihu from the inside out so that there was still something of the white linen priestly garment still wrapped around what remained of their dead bodies.
· Mishael and Elitsaphan were Levites, and the “german-cousins” of the slain men. They were Moses and Aaron’s cousins, sons of their father’s youngest brother.
· Their adrenaline levels must have been pretty high at that point. “If I step up there, am I going to get torched too? Wait; if I DON’T step up there after cousin Moses told me to, am I doing to get torched? Well, I might as well die trying to obey rather than die playing it safe!”
· It was appropriate for relatives to bury the bodies (Amos 6:10), but if Aaron or his two younger sons had been released to bury the bodies, they would have become unclean and would have had to call a halt to the worship and sacrifices for the day until they could become ritually clean from having touched a dead body.
· God’s call upon Aaron’s life was such that Aaron was not allowed to attend the graveside service of his own two sons!
· Meanwhile, imagine what was going on in Michael and Elzaphan’s minds as they lugged the charred bodies out into the howling desert, dug holes by hand and buried them, then spent the next day away from the congregation, unable to attend the worship service due to having touched a dead body. What impact did it make on them?
o We do know that 400 years later, it was one of Elzaphan’s descendents (Elzaphan was also called Elitsaphan) – one of his descendents who was one of the eight men of God, hand-picked by David to carry the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem (1Chron. 15:8),
o and we know that 700 years later another one of Elizaphan’s descendents was among those faithful priests restoring the temple and its worship according to the word of God (2 Chron. 29:13). What a legacy!
o Michael’s descendents, on the other hand are never mentioned again.
o How much you want to bet that Elzaphan made a big deal with his children about the importance of God’s holiness? How many times do you suppose he told his grandchildren about the day he carried the smoking corpse of Abihu outside the camp?
o Listen, that sort of story is something our children need to hear if you want to have great-great-great grandchildren that are still faithful to God! Tell them about God’s holiness!
6 Next, Moses said to Aaron - and to Eleazar and to Ithamar his sons, “You may not uncover your heads, and you may not tear up your clothes that you may not die and He become angry at the whole congregation. Your relatives, however (all of the house of Israel), may cry over the burning which Yahweh burned. 7 And y’all may not go away from the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, because Yahweh’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.
· Untying one’s headgear and baring or shaving your head or letting your hair go unkempt and also ripping holes in your robes were ways of showing grief in that culture.
o It was a way of grieving for a dead relative (Job 1:20a [Upon hearing that all his children had been killed in a catastrophe] Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head... NKJV, cf. Lev. 21:10-11),
o and it was also a way to let other people know when you were unclean. (Leviticus 13:45 NKJV "Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!')
o The symbolism in this was to teach God’s people that death and decay and uncleanness are utterly foreign to God; He doesn’t even allow these things in His presence.
§ Prov. 12:28 “In the way of righteousness is life, And in its pathway there is no death.”
§ 1 John 1:5 “...God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
§ Revelation 21:2-4 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." NKJV
· 1 Chron. 24:2 notes that Nadab and Abihu had not had any children at this point, so there were no descendents to mourn for them. The Bible doesn’t tell us if they left widows or not.
· Whatever the case, Moses authorizes the nation to mourn, but discerns that it is important that Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar continue their priestly work and not stop to mourn this tragic death in their family.
o They are priests, and, as such, must keep serving as priests and not interrupt their duty before God.
o This teaches us that while it is good and right to cry when someone dies, there are nevertheless some duties which must not be interrupted even for this. To mourn these deaths would have taught the Israelites to wish that rebels could be tolerated instead of being killed, and it would have left the nation without a priest to intercede with them before God and apply God’s way of holiness to the people.
· This story also reminds me of an incident in Jesus’ ministry, when He said to someone, "Follow Me." But he replied, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:59-62, NKJV)
o In that case, my understanding is that the issue was delay. There is nothing necessarily wrong about burying a family member or saying goodbye to express your love, but the father was apparently not dead yet, and the people they wanted to say goodbye to were people they wanted to hang out with for a while, so in both cases they would have been delaying following Christ for an indefinitely long period of time.
o Jesus’ reply indicated that it’s not o.k. to say, “Someday in the future I’m going to go follow Christ... Someday I’ll obey Him.” No, when He has given you something to do, you need to just get up and do it and don’t string it out with delay tactics.
8 Now Yahweh spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “You may not drink wine and alcohol - you or your sons with you - when you go to the Tent of Meeting so you may not die. [This is] a lasting statute for your generations, 10 and it is in order that y’all may make separations between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and it is in order that y’all may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which Yahweh spoke to them by the agency of Moses.”
· Now, for the first time, instead of speaking through Moses, God speaks directly to Aaron.
o God affirms Aaron as the priest who has been consecrated to priestly service
o and who has made atonement for His people just like God had commanded,
o and now is accepted by God even though there has been this tragic failure on the part of his elder sons.
· When a priest went to the Tent of Meeting, he was going to work, and He was working for God.
· When he was at home or at a friend’s house there was nothing wrong with him drinking alcohol in moderation, but in verses 10-11, two reasons are given for this statute prohibiting the priests from consuming alcohol while on duty.
o First, priests needed to be sharp mentally so they can make fine distinctions in judgment between holy and unholy, clean and unclean. Alcohol slows that thinking power down and makes one careless, so it would stand in the way of serving God well, so it had to go.
o Second, in verse 12, priests need to be able to teach well. Once again, alcohol, while it may loosen the tongue, also makes it lazy, so speech becomes slurred and it’s harder to understand. Alcohol also makes one less careful to teach accurately and less attentive to getting accurate feedback from the listener. So if wine gets in the way of fulfilling God’s calling, it’s got to go; obeying God is more important.
o (cf Ezekiel 22:26 “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.” NKJV)
· I think it is interesting that these two roles of priests highlighted here of judging and teaching are the roles which the New Testament gives to elders in the church.
o It is important that the church has elders who are able to make good distinctions (1 Cor. 5:12, 1 Cor. 6)
o and to teach all that Christ commanded (Matt. 28:19).
o And both passages in the NT which speak of the qualifications of elders mention that he not be addicted to alcohol (1 Timothy 3:2-3 “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine...” NKJV, cf. Titus 1:7ff).
· Jesus Himself stated He would not drink wine during His duty as priest: Matthew 26:29 “But I’m telling y’all that from now on, I shall never drink of this produce of the grape-vine until that day whenever it is that I shall be drinking with y’all anew in the kingdom of my father.” (NAW)
o I believe that Jesus is saying that He won’t drink wine again until His second coming and the new order of heaven.
o Jesus went on duty now as a priest to reconcile man and God through offering Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sin,
o but His priestly duty did not end after He offered Himself on the cross; it continues on as He even now stands before God the Father, interceding for us, as it says in Rom. 8:34 “…Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (NASB).
o This is consistent with what the Bible describes for the rest of the time that Jesus was on the earth. If you look at the post-resurrection accounts, although the Gospel writers mention that Jesus ate bread and fish (in Emmaus and Jerusalem and Galilee), they never mention Jesus drinking wine again.
o Now, in the Old Testament, a priest, after his official work was over, could then sit down with the people he served and eat and drink wine with them (Deut. 14:26-27). I believe that in the marriage supper of the lamb described in the book of Revelation, in the new heavens and new earth (2 Pet. 3:13), we will see Jesus finally step down from His duty of priest and really party in communion with His people, once there is no more sin left to deal with. That’s what I believe Jesus meant when He said, “I will drink it anew with you.” What a glorious day to look forward to!
· 1 Cor. 11:20 Therefore when you gathered together in the same [place], it was not to eat the Lord's Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame the have-nots? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you... 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 Now a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself by not distinguishing the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a few too many sleep [in death]. (NAW)
· Church worship is not a game. God is not to be trifled with. Although, in His mercy, God has allowed many offenders to live long lives, He has, at times struck people dead for posing as believers while dishonoring Him. If you are like Nadab and Abihu, I call you to repentence.
· All you parents and grandparents and disciple-makers, take this to heart. Impress the seriousness of God’s holiness on your children, grandchildren, and disciples. May God make you like Eleazar whose descendents were blessed for honoring God’s holiness 500 – 700 years down the line!
When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the
added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is
different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from
the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of
the original Hebrew, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word
which is in the Hebrew text, I insert an X. (Sometimes I will place the X at
the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is
singular.) I have also tried to use colors to help the reader see correlations
between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different
translations of a given word. Hebrew text that is colored purple matches the
Dead Sea Scrolls, and variants between the DSS and the MT are noted in endnotes
with the following exceptions: When a holem
pointing in the MT is represented in the DSS by a vav or a hireq
pointing in the MT is represented in the DSS by a yod (the corresponding consonantal representation of the
same vowel) or when the tetragrammaton is spelled with paleo Hebrew letters, I
did not record it a variant.
|
LXX |
KJV |
NASB |
NIV |
NAW |
MT |
|
1 Καὶ
λαβόντες οἱ [δύο] υἱοὶ
Ααρων Ναδαβ
καὶ Αβιου[δ] ἕκαστος τὸ πυρεῖον
αὐτοῦ
ἐπέθηκαν |
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. |
1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepan[s], and [after] putting fire in them, X placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. |
1
X Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu X took |
1 Now, Nadab[a] and Abihu, two of Aaron’s sons, each took his coal-shuttle[b] and put a live-coal in them and they placed incense[c] on top of it, then they offered before the face of Yahweh foreign fire which Yahweh had not commanded them. |
1 וַיִּקְחוּQI3mp [d]בְנֵי-אַהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא אִישׁ מַחְתָּתוֹ וַיִּתְּנוּQI3mp בָהֵן אֵשׁ וַיָּשִׂימוּ QI3mp עָלֶיהָ[e] קְטֹרֶת וַיַּקְרִבוּ HiI3mp לִפְנֵי יְהוָה [f]אֵשׁ זָרָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא צִוָּהPiP3ms אֹתָם: |
|
2 καὶ ἐξῆλθεν πῦρ παρὰ κυρίου καὶ κατέφαγεν αὐτούς, καὶ ἀπέθανον ἔναντι κυρίου. |
2 And there went out fire from X the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. |
2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. |
2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. |
2 So fire went out from before the face of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before the face of Yahweh[g]. |
2 וַתֵּצֵאQI3fs אֵשׁ מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה וַתֹּאכַלQI3fs אוֹתָם וַיָּמֻתוּ QI3mp לִפְנֵי יְהוָה: |
|
3 καὶ εἶπεν
Μωυσῆς πρὸς
Ααρων Τοῦτό
ἐστιν, ὃ εἶπεν κύριος
λέγων Ἐν
τοῖς ἐγγίζουσίν μοι ἁγιασθήσομαι
καὶ |
3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. |
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And X before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, [therefore,] kept silent. |
3
Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke of when he said:
"'Among those
who approach me I will show
myself holy; in |
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what Yahweh meant when He said, ‘I will be treated as holy by the ones who come near me[h], and in front of all the people I will be honored.’” And Aaron was stunned[i]. |
3 וַיֹּאמֶרQI3ms מֹשֶׁה אֶל-אַהֲרֹן הוּא אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּרPiP3ms יְהוָה לֵאמֹרQN בִּקְרֹבַי אֶקָּדֵשׁNiI1cs וְעַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָעָם אֶכָּבֵדNiI1cs וַיִּדֹּםQI3ms אַהֲרֹן: |
|
4 καὶ
ἐκάλεσεν
Μωυσῆς τὸν
Μισα[δαι] καὶ τὸν Ελ[ι]σαφαν
υἱοὺς Οζιηλ |
4 And Moses called X Mishael and X Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary X out of the camp. |
4 Moses called also to Mishael and X Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp." |
4 X Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come here; carry your cousins X outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary." |
4 So Moses called to Michael and to Elitsaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come near. Carry your relatives away from in front of the holy place to the outside of the camp.”[j] |
4 וַיִּקְרָאQI3ms מֹשֶׁה אֶל-מִישָׁאֵל וְאֶל אֶלְצָפָן[k] בְּנֵי עֻזִּיאֵל דֹּד אַהֲרֹן וַיֹּאמֶר QI3ms אֲלֵהֶם קִרְבוּQMmp שְׂאוּ QMmp אֶת-אֲחֵיכֶם מֵאֵת פְּנֵי-הַקֹּדֶשׁ אֶל-מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה: |
|
5 καὶ
προσῆλθον καὶ
ἦραν X ἐν
τοῖς χιτῶσιν
αὐτῶν X ἔξω
τῆς παρεμβολῆς,
|
5 So they went near, and carried them in their coats X out of the camp; as Moses had said. |
5 So they came forward and carried them [still] in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said. |
5
So they came X and carried them, [still] in their tunics, X outside the camp,
as Moses |
5 So they came near and carried them away in their tunics[l] to the outside of the camp just as Moses had said. |
5 וַיִּקְרְבוּQI3mp וַיִּשָּׂאֻם QI3mp בְּכֻתֳּנֹתָם אֶל-מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּרPiP3ms מֹשֶׁה: |
|
LXX |
KJV |
NASB |
NIV |
NAW |
MT |
|
6 καὶ εἶπεν
Μωυσῆς πρὸς
Ααρων καὶ
Ελεαζαρ καὶ
Ιθαμαρ
τοὺς υἱοὺς
αὐτοῦ [τοὺς
καταλελειμμένους][m]
Τὴν κεφαλὴν
ὑμῶν οὐκ
ἀποκιδαρώσετε καὶ τὰ
ἱμάτια ὑμῶν
οὐ διαρρήξετε, ἵνα
μὴ ἀποθάνητε
καὶ ἐπὶ
πᾶσαν τὴν συναγωγὴν
ἔσται
θυμός· οἱ
ἀδελφοὶ ὑμῶν
πᾶς ὁ οἶκος
Ισραηλ κλαύσονται τὸν ἐμπυρισμόν,
ὃν ἐνεπυρίσ |
6
And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons,
Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and [lest] wrath come upon all the |
6
Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and X Ithamar, "Do not
uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and [that] He will [not] become wrathful against all the congregation. But
your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the LORD has |
6
Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons X Eleazar and X Ithamar, "Do not
let your hair become unkempt, and do not tear your clothes, |
6 Next, Moses said to Aaron - and to Eleazar and to Ithamar his sons, “You may not uncover your heads, and you may not tear up your clothes[n] that you may not die and He become angry at the whole congregation. Your relatives, however (all of the house of Israel), may cry over the burning which Yahweh burned.[o] |
6 וַיֹּאמֶרQI3ms מֹשֶׁה אֶל-אַהֲרֹן וּלְאֶלְעָזָר[p] וּלְאִיתָמָר בָּנָיו רָאשֵׁיכֶם אַל[q]-תִּפְרָעוּ J2mp וּבִגְדֵיכֶם לֹא-תִפְרֹמוּ QI2mp וְלֹא תָמֻתוּ QI2mp וְעַל כָּל-הָעֵדָה יִקְצֹף QI3ms וַאֲחֵיכֶם כָּל-בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל יִבְכּוּQI3mp אֶת-הַשְּׂרֵפָה אֲשֶׁר שָׂרַףQP3ms יְהוָה: |
|
7καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου οὐκ ἐξελεύσεσθε, ἵνα μὴ ἀποθάνητε· τὸ γὰρ ἔλαιον τῆς χρίσεως [τὸ παρὰ] κυρίου ἐφ᾿ ὑμῖν. καὶ ἐποίησαν κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα Μωυσῆ. |
7 And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. |
7 "You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for the LORD'S anointing oil is upon you." So they did according to the word of Moses. |
7 X Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting or you will die, because the LORD's anointing oil is on you." So they did as Moses said. |
7 And y’all may not go away from the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, because Yahweh’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses. |
7 וּמִ[r]פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֹא תֵצְאוּQI2mp פֶּן-תָּמֻתוּQI2mp כִּי-שֶׁמֶן מִשְׁחַת יְהוָה עֲלֵיכֶם וַיַּעֲשׂוּQI3mp כִּדְבַר מֹשֶׁה: פ |
|
8 Καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος τῷ Ααρων λέγων |
8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, |
8 The LORD then spoke to Aaron, saying, |
8 Then the LORD said to Aaron, |
8 Now Yahweh spoke to Aaron[s], saying, |
8 וַיְדַבֵּרQI3ms יְהוָה אֶל-אַהֲרֹן לֵאמֹרQN: |
|
9 Οἶνον καὶ σικερα οὐ πίεσθε, σὺ καὶ οἱ υἱοί σου μετὰ σοῦ, ἡνίκα [ἂν] εἰσπορεύησθε εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ μαρτυρίου, [ἢ προσπορευομένων ὑμῶν πρὸς τὸ θυσιαστήριον], καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνητε (νόμιμον αἰώνιον εἰς τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν) |
9
Do not drink wine |
9
"Do not drink wine |
9
"You and your sons X X are not to drink wine |
9 “You may not drink wine and alcohol - you or your sons with you - when you go to the Tent of Meeting so you may not die. [This is] a lasting statute[u] for your generations, |
9 יַיִן וְשֵׁכָר אַל-תֵּשְׁתְּQJ2ms אַתָּה וּבָנֶיךָ אִתָּךְ בְּבֹאֲכֶםQN אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וְלֹא תָמֻתוּ QI2mp חֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם: |
|
10 X διαστεῖλαι ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ἁγίων καὶ τῶν βεβήλων καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ἀκαθάρτων καὶ τῶν καθαρῶν. |
10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; |
10 and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, |
10 X X You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, |
10 and it is in order that y’all may make separations between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, |
10 וּלֲהַבְדִּילHiN בֵּין הַקֹּדֶשׁ וּבֵין הַחֹל וּבֵין הַטָּמֵא[v] וּבֵין הַטָּהוֹר: |
|
11 καὶ συμβιβάσεις τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ πάντα τὰ νόμιμα, ἃ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς αὐτοὺς διὰ χειρὸς Μωυςῆ. |
11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. |
11 and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them through X Moses." |
11 and X you must teach the Israelites all the decrees X the LORD has given them through X Moses." |
11 and it is in order that y’all may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which Yahweh spoke to them by the agency of Moses.” |
11 וּלְהוֹרֹתHiN אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵת כָּל-הַחֻקִּים[w] אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּרPiP3ms יְהוָה אֲלֵיהֶם בְּיַד-מֹשֶׁה: פ |
[a] According to Exodus 6, Moses and Aaron were great-grandsons of the man Levi after whom the Levites were named. Aaron married Elisheba and had four sons, the two oldest being Nadab and Abihu. Unlike their little brothers Eleazar and Ithamar, Nadab and Abihu had personally seen God and eaten and drank with God. They knew the glory of the God in whose service they had been called to lead in worship. They knew how serious this was. (Exodus 24:9-11) Now on the eighth day of their consecration they had helped their dad offer his first sacrifices for the nation and had seen God accept that with fire on the altar. The lesson is to be aware in times of success that we give God credit and not ourselves. Don't take on a sense of entitlement to reward, rest in the sense of blessing that comes from being used by God for His purposes. ~Robert Weil Eleazar saw this same thing happen a second time in Numbers 16. (Later on King Uzziah would try the same stunt. In God’s mercy he was merely stuck with leprosy for it. 2Chron. 26:16.) God gave the official role of offering the incense after his father Aaron’s tern as high priest (Num. 4:16).
[b] The root of this word has to do with “removal” and generally that is what coal-shuttles are for, is shoveling ashes into. Such things have to be made of metal because often there are live hot coals insulated within the ash which would burn a hole through a wooden or plastic container. They may have even used such things for carrying live coals to the next campsite to re-kindle the fire on the altar in such a way that the fire would never go out, and they may have had multiple firepans so that if Nadab’s ashes got too cold and went out, perhaps Abihu could keep his coals alive and there would be a backup. The coal-shuttles for the main altar outdoors were made of bronze (Ex. 27:3, 38:3), whereas the ones for the lampstand in the holy place were made of gold (Ex. 25:38, 37:23). I believe it was these golden ones that Nadab and Abihu abused and that they went in to the holy room of the tabernacle with their unauthorized fire. Now, there was an appropriate time and place for the high priest to burn incense on a censer, and that is outlined in Leviticus 16:12 once a year on the Day of Atonement, but not even the high priest could saunter into the presence of the Lord any time he felt like it.
[c] This incense would be the special fragrant stuff for burning on the altar of incense in the holy place. God had already given specific instructions regarding this incense in Exodus 30:1-10 Nadab and Abihu knew it could only be Aaron and it couldn’t be strange fire and yet they had the audacity to try violating God’s commands concerning these holy things anyway. Now it seems likely that God’s prohibition against priests drinking alcohol on the job in verse 9 indicates that Nadab and Abihu had lowered their inhibitions against offending God and increased their carelessness by drinking alcohol, and that this was a big part of the problem. However, this was not some kind of accident or some kind of unpredictable flash of anger from a capricious God. This was a punishment for negligent disrespect. Numbers 15:30 Matthew Henry commented, “God had indeed required the priests to burn incense, but, at this time, it was what he commanded them not... The priests were to burn incense only when it was their lot (Luke 1:9), and, at this time, it was not theirs.” The strangeness or foreignness of the fire seems to be in that it was not something that God had authorized. It was not familiar to God; it came from a different set of motives, from the wrong people at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. The Bible does not elaborate further on what “strange fire” was, but the word is used of foreigners, so perhaps it was a tradition carried over from the worship practices of one of the Egyptian gods or something. John Calvin commented, “If we reflect how holy a thing God’s worship is, the enormity of the punishment will by no means offend us.”
[d] DSS Scroll 11Q2 Leviticusb inserts the word sny (“both of”) here and inserts the LORD’s name before the last word in the verse. This matches the Septuagint, so with two witnesses a thousand years older than the Masoretic text, it does raise the question of whether the original might have contained these words. However, in neither case does it change the meaning.
[e] The Samaritan Pentateuch and Syriac make the pronoun plural (“They put incense on them” [the censers] matching the object of the pronoun of the previous phrase, “They put fire in them.”) The singular feminine ending could refer to the fire, however, as in: “They put fire IN the censers and put incense ON the fire.” The LXX puts both pronouns in the singular, so I see support for the Masoretic text in that. Unfortunately, the only Dead Sea Scroll containing this verse is damaged at this place in the manuscript, so we don’t know which pronoun was in it. There is no practical difference, however. Either way there were two guys using two censers to burn incense with fire.
[f] The Cairo Geniza manuscript omits the phrase “strange fire,” but it’s in the LXX and S.P. so I think the M.T. is right to include the phrase.
[g] In the previous chapter, fire had emanated from God’s presence and consumed the animal sacrifices. Here in chapter 10 we see dramatically the alternative scenario. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), so it’s either us or someone else that will have to forfeit life when a sin has been committed. When someone sins, the natural consequence in God’s justice is what happened to Nadab and Abiju. They died before the Lord. That is justice; that is what they deserved, and it is what you deserve. It is only God’s mercy which provides the alternative of another person dying in your place. It is not your legal right to live, and you do not deserve being spared. When Jesus died instead of you, that was God’s mercy (Eph. 2:4-7, Titus 3:5). Furthermore, it is God’s mercy which keeps Him from immediately destroying all the Non-Christians from the face of the earth. The Apostle Peter put it this way, “... the Day of the Lord will come... but consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation...” (2 Peter 3:10 & 15a, NKJV). The fact that you are still living and breathing on this earth right now is due entirely to God’s mercy. Let that “humble you before the mighty hand of God” and bring you to gratitude for God’s mercy to you and dedication of your life on this earth to Him!
[h] This quote appears nowhere else in the Bible, so Moses is either paraphrasing or quoting something he had heard but not written down. I think Moses was saying more than, “Wow. So that’s what it means to be holy.” He had already seen more impressive sights of God’s glory on the Mountain. I suspect this is a rebuke to His brother. The Lord’s Prayer in the New Testament confirms that God’s desire to be treated as holy is His number one concern. Notice that Moses says it is “those who are near” to God who are the ones expected to treat God as holy. It is those who should know better that He will hold to a higher level of accountability. If we act like God is something special, others will take note. Furthermore, as my wife and I tell the married couples that we teach, “Praise or criticism is multiplied by the number of people who hear it.” Nadab and Abihu were standing in front of their whole nation – it was the equivalent of being on national TV and insulting God. The magnitude of the offense was such that God, in His justice, decided that those boys should die on the spot.
[i] The idea behind the Hebrew word dum is the opposite of being active. It is the cessation of normal activity and speech. Did Aaron stop what he was doing and stand speechless because he was in shock at what had just happened, or was he waiting in faith in God for God to make the next move? I suspect the former, although the latter is a Biblical procedure (Psalm 37:7).
[j] Mishael and Elitsaphan were Levites, and the “german-cousins” of the slain men. They were Moses and Aaron’s cousins, sons of their father’s youngest brother. It was appropriate for relatives to bury the bodies (Amos 6:10), but if Aaron or his two younger sons had been released to bury the bodies, they would have become unclean and would have had to call a halt to the worship and sacrifices for the day until they could become ritually clean from having touched a dead body. God’s call upon Aaron’s life was such that Aaron was not allowed to attend the graveside service of his own two sons! 400 years later, it was one of Elzaphan’s descendents (Elzaphan was also called Elitsaphan) – one of his descendents who was one of the eight men of God, hand-picked by David to carry the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem (1Chron. 15:8), and we know that 700 years later another one of Elizaphan’s descendents was among those faithful priests restoring the temple and its worship according to the word of God (2 Chron. 29:13). What a legacy! Michael’s descendents, on the other hand are never mentioned again. I bet that Elzaphan made a big deal with his children about the importance of God’s holiness?
[k] The MT spells this name as “Eltsaphan” here and in Ex. 6:22, but “Elizaphan” in Numbers 3:30, 1 Chron. 15:8, and 2 Chron 29:13, whereas the SP, LXX, and Syriac all spell it consistently אליצפן in all 4 references, so that seems more accurate as his full name, but abbreviated forms of names are common (viz. the Cairo Geniza’s shortening of Uzziel’s name by removing the yod), so this can’t be considered an inaccuracy.
[l] The parallelism in Hebrew of the third plural pronoun suffixes (“they carried them in the tunics of them”) indicates that the tunics referenced are the tunics of Nadab and Abihu, not of Michael and Elitsaphan. The fire of the Lord must destroyed them from the inside out so that there was still something of the white linen priestly garment still wrapped around what remained of the dead bodies.
[m] Syriac also adds this
[n] Untying one’s headgear and baring or shaving your head or letting your hair go unkempt and also ripping holes in your robes were ways of showing grief in that culture. It was a way of grieving for a dead relative (Job 1:20a, cf. Lev. 21:10-11), and it was also a way to let other people know when you were unclean. (Leviticus 13:45) The symbolism in this was to teach God’s people that death and decay and uncleanness are utterly foreign to God; He doesn’t even allow these things in His presence. (Proverbs 12:28, 1 John 1:5, Revelation 21:2-4)
[o] 1 Chron. 24:2 notes that Nadab and Abihu had not had any children. Moses authorizes the nation to mourn, but discerns that it is important that Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar continue their priestly work and not stop to mourn this tragic death in their family. (cf. Luke 9:59-62)
[p] The Samaritan Pentateuch writes out the full preposition אל instead of using the more abbreviated lamed prefix employed the Masoretic text, but it means the same thing.
[q] SP לא - synonym
[r] 11Q1 Paleo-Leviticus A, the only known Dead Sea Scroll containing this verse, omits the mem prefix.
[s] Now, for the first time, instead of speaking through Moses, God speaks directly to Aaron. God affirms Aaron as the priest.
[t] NIV is following the LXX here, however they rightly did not follow the LXX in its addition of a second temporal phrase “or when y’all make offerings on the altar.”
[u] When a priest went to the Tent of Meeting, he was going to work, and He was working for God. When he was at home or at a friend’s house there was nothing wrong with him drinking alcohol in moderation, but in verses 10-11, two reasons are given for this statute prohibiting the priests from consuming alcohol while on duty. First, priests need to be sharp mentally so they can make fine distinctions in judgment between holy and unholy, clean and unclean. Second, in verse 12, priests need to be able to teach well. So if wine gets in the way of fulfilling God’s calling, it’s got to go; obeying God is more important. (cf Ezekiel 22:26) Judging and teaching are the roles which the New Testament gives to elders in the church. (1 Cor. 5:12, 1 Cor. 6, Matt. 28:19). And both passages in the NT which speak of the qualifications of elders mention that he not be addicted to alcohol (1 Timothy 3:2-3, cf. Titus 1:7ff). Jesus Himself stated He would not drink wine during His duty as priest. Matthew 26:29. A priest, after his official work was over, could then sit down with the people he served and eat and drink wine with them (Deut. 14:26-27). I believe that in the marriage supper of the lamb described in the book of Revelation, in the new heavens and new earth (2 Pet. 3:13), we will see Jesus finally step down from His duty of priest and really party in communion with His people, once there is no more sin left to deal with.
[v] The Cairo Geniza, dated over a century earlier than the Leningradensis on which the MT is based, omits “and the unholy;” it certainly seems to be an abbreviated edition.
[w] The Cairo Geniza uses a synonym with a more general meaning: “words.” I’m not inclined to take it very seriously.