Chapter 10
Leviticus 10:1 - What was their sin? They offered the right incense with "strange" fire or fire that was kindled outside the sanctuary. The Lord specifically said, "You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar" (Exodus 30:9, NASB). But I cannot find where the Lord commanded against using strange fire. In Leviticus 6:13 the Lord commands, "Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out" (NASB). Perhaps the intention was that the fire from the altar was to always be kindled because it was the source of fire for all other activities. Later there is a specific commandment that reads, "He shall take a fire pan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the LORD" (Leviticus 16:12, NASB). Only later are specific instructions given as to the source of the fire. Perhaps the problem was the brothers treated the fire lightly. Indeed in verse 3 the Lord says, "By those who come near me, I will be treated as holy" (NASB). I imagine that the brothers were gathering their things for the sacrifice and grabbed fire from their camp. They might have said, "Oh, we're supposed to use fire from the altar. Ah, fire is fire. Let's just use this." Their sin was not in using strange fire but in treating God lightly. That might give us pause as we go through our Christian lives not to treat lightly the things of God.
Leviticus 10:2 - What a picture! The presence of the Lord over the mercy seat shoots fire out and consumes these two brothers. Verse 5 has a very interesting observation:
Leviticus 10:5 - It is a little unclear from the English and Hebrew who was still in their coats. Was it the carriers or was it the dead? John Gill's commentary cites Jewish sources that state the dead were still in their tunics. So the reference in this verse to those in their coats was with reference to the dead and not the carriers. What is the significance of that observation? Verse 2 says that fire came from the altar and consumed them. Fire burns fairly indiscriminately. But this fire consumed the bodies of these brothers without harming their tunics! Talk about strange fire! This fire only burned their flesh, which was under the tunics, without burning their outer garments. What an impression that would leave on the Israelites as word went round the camp!
Leviticus 10:7 - The anointing of the Lord makes things different for a person. Aaron and his descendants were not allowed to mourn the two deaths. They were not allowed to even leave their temple duties. You are not your own. You have been bought with a price. If the Lord has something for you to do, you cannot let earthly concerns get in the way. Jesus speaks of it this way, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:60, NASB).
Leviticus 10:8 - It is significant that the Lord speaks directly to Aaron. There are only three instances of this that I can find. The first was when the Lord told Aaron to meet Moses in the desert (Exodus 4:27). Then this verse. The last time was in Numbers 18. This must have been precious consolation, because if you look at the verbiage, it was either that "The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron" or "The Lord spoke to Moses," and Moses relayed the message to Aaron. The instructions the Lord gives Aaron here are telling about the circumstances surrounding the brothers' deaths. He gives Aaron a prohibition about drinking alcohol when on duty and teaches him to make a distinction between that which is holy and profane.
Leviticus 10:16-20 - GENERAL REMARKS - Here we have a situation where on the day Aaron's sons are killed by God, his remaining two sons make a big mistake: They burn the sin offering instead of eat it. John Gill parallels the priest eating the sin offering with Jesus bearing our sin. By eating the sin offering, the priests are identifying with the sin the same way Jesus identified with our sins on the cross. For the priests not to eat the sin offering was grievous!
Leviticus 10:16 - The grammar of this verse in the Hebrew is significant. (1) When it describes Moses searching for the offering, there is intensification on that action (adjectival intensifier). The NASB translates this as "searched carefully." But in English, this does not carry the full weight of the action. More accurate would be the rendering, "searched intently" or "eagerly."
This is quite a dramatic sentence because directly following this intense action is the statement "It had been burned!" This again has great force in Hebrew. It is set apart from the previous sentence, unlike the rendering in NASB, as it's own phrase. The word "behold" is an attention getting phrase. It is like saying to the reader, "Listen up! It was burned." The word for burned has the most significant accent of the sentence on it. The grammar and accenting indicates that the reader should pause slightly after reading, "It was burned!", as a type of dramatic pause to let the reality settle in to the listener.
The Scripture is telling us that not only was Moses angry at Aaron's sons, but when he addresses them in the next verse, he is actually "chewing them out."
One thing to notice is how careful Moses is with the details. The person receiving the revelation is always more careful than the followers. Just like the owner of the thing is more careful with it than the borrower. Church members thus have two duties: (1) Live with their pastors and church leaders in understanding. They feel responsible for how things are run. It is very serious to them. (2) Own the revelation yourself. Don't just go along with what the pastors and teachers say. Study it. Learn it. Make these truths your own. It will be easier to live up to God's standards of righteousness if you own the revelation yourself.
Leviticus 10:17 - The first word right off in the Hebrew is "Why?" There is an accent mark over this word (a Rebia) that indicates emphasis, "WHY did you not eat...?" It was not enough that they just make the sacrifice, they had to eat it too. Eating it was part of the expiation (= means by which sins are forgiven) process. The ritual was not complete without them eating the meat. Moses says it was given to them to (1) Bear the iniquity of the congregation and (2) make atonement on their behalf before the Lord. That is an important meal!
Leviticus 10:19 - Then Aaron replies. Jewish commentators have added that Aaron and his remaining sons had no appetite after the tragedy of the day. Instead of leaving the meat to rot or to be stolen, they burned it.
By way of application: The work of the Lord can be extremely rewarding, but when we fail in our duties, the feelings can be overwhelming and overpowering. Surely Aaron was feeling not just grief but failure. We must be aware that our failure in one point does not lead to a neglect of our known duty in another point. The Lord was merciful with them that day, as was Moses. However, they clearly broke yet another ordinance. It shows how the Lord considers many factors in deciding punishments: (1) Circumstances that might lead to the offense, (2) Our conscience surrounding the offense, i.e., Did we go against our conscience to break the Law? (3) Did we do it by faith with an aim to please the Lord? Things are not all cut and dry with the Lord, and neither are they in human courts - hence we have courts and justices.
