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Nadab and Abihu
Who
were Nadab and Abihu?
Nadab and Abihu were
the oldest and second oldest sons of Aaron, the brother
of Moses and first high priest of Israel.
Their relation to Aaron is mentioned in Numbers
3:2-3 as two of Aaron’s four sons: “The names of the sons of Aaron
were Nadab the firstborn and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. Those were the names
of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests.”
Exodus 24 includes
Nadab and Abihu as two of the leaders of Israel who came before the Lord.
They were given the special privilege of seeing a vision of
God: “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of
Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a
pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise
his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate
and drank” (Exodus
24:9–11).
Nadab and Abihu are
best known, however, for offering “unauthorized fire” or “strange
fire,” (KJV) before the Lord in
the tabernacle and dying as a result.
Leviticus 10:1-2 shares this sobering account,
stating, “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in
them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD,
contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and
consumed them, and they died before the LORD.”
Why did God put Nadab
and Abihu to death?
Leviticus 10:3 offers the explanation: “Moses
then said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: ‘“Among those
who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be
honored.”’”
Those who served as
priests before the Lord were required to serve Him honorably. If they did not,
the consequence was death.
In the case of
Aaron’s sons, they dishonored the Lord by disobeying His command to only use
fire from the brazen altar in the tabernacle (see Leviticus
16:12).
The “unauthorized
fire” they offered was taken from another source.
A similar penalty can
be found when David and the Israelites attempted to move the Ark of the
Covenant to Jerusalem from Kiriath Jearim (1
Chronicles 13:1–10).
When the ark started
to fall over, a man reached out and touched the ark to catch it, and he was
immediately struck dead. Why?
He was not one of the
Levites God had authorized to serve in this sacred, reserved role (Deuteronomy
31:25; 1
Chronicles 15:2).
It may be difficult
to understand such strict views regarding ceremony in our time, but these ways
were part of how God revealed Himself as holy to the people of Israel.
With the coming of
Jesus, we find a fulfillment of the Law (Matthew
5:16) and the curtain of
the temple torn in two, offering direct access to God through Jesus Christ (Hebrews
10:20).
God continues to
reign in perfect holiness, and all who come to Him through Christ are made part
of “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9).
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