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22 Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them, and came down [from the altar of burnt offering] after presenting the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. 23 Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord [the Shekinah cloud] appeared to all the people [as promised].(A) 24 Then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell face downward [in awe and worship].

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

10 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective [ceremonial] censers, put fire in them, placed incense on it and offered [a]strange (unauthorized, unacceptable) fire before the Lord, [an act] which He had not commanded them to do. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord said:

‘I will be treated as holy by those who approach Me,
And before all the people I will be honored.’”

So Aaron, therefore, said nothing.

Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel who was Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, “Come here, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary and take them outside the camp.” So they came forward and carried them, still in their undertunics, outside the camp, as Moses had said. Then Moses said to Aaron and to his [younger] sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not [b]uncover your heads nor let your hair hang loose nor tear your clothes [as expressions of mourning], so that you will not die [also] and so that He will not express His wrath and anger toward all the congregation. But your relatives, the whole house of Israel, may mourn the burning which the Lord has brought about. You shall not even go out of the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, or you will die; for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did [everything] according to the word of Moses.

Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, [c]Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the Tent of Meeting, so that you will not die—it is a permanent statute throughout your generations— 10 and to make a distinction and recognize a difference between the holy (sacred) and the common (profane), and between the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean;(B) 11 and you are to teach the Israelites all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them [d]through Moses.”

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 10:1 What made the fire “strange” cannot be determined. They may have taken the fire from an unauthorized source, or used incense that did not meet the divine specifications. In any case, God’s laws and requirements are not subject to modification by man.
  2. Leviticus 10:6 Lit unbind.
  3. Leviticus 10:9 This prohibition may imply that intoxication precipitated the irreverent behavior that resulted in the death of Aaron’s two older sons.
  4. Leviticus 10:11 Lit by the hand of.

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