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LEVITICUS
CHAPTER 10

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. 2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

This is a sad a sorrowful story; but it is a story of what can happen when consecrated Christians
don't obey the Lord.
There are lots of examples of reasons why these two sons did this. Perhaps they thought themselves
capable. Or perhaps they were arrogant and attempted to enter the Holy of Holies. Or perhaps
they were drunk and didn't pay attention. Some commentators tend to agree with the latter because of
verses 8-11.
But the breal reason is, they offered something that was NOT holy. They offered something that
God had commanded NOT to be offered: "strange fire." Keep in mind that these men were saved and
consecrated by God to priestly service. Yet they did this right in front of the "seat of mercy."
And what that means to us today is that they "mixed" holy with unholy and offered it to God. They
did not offer fire from the altar of burnt sacrifice, but probably they offered fire which came from
AN offering (peace offering, meal offering, etc.)
On this day of the inauguration of the tabernacle, only Aaron was supposed to do anything. He was the
High Priest, and it fell his duty on this day to make all the sacrifices and do all the remainder. These
two were hasting to elevate themselves to a level of service for which they had not been given the
call from God.
Since this was obviously not of God's commandment, then it was not OF His Holy Spirit. Friends,
it is important that we understand the principle here. In Acts, chapter 5, there is a story about
Ananias and his wife Sapphira who "lied" to the Holy Spirit. THEY BOTH DIED ALSO!!
Here at the beginning of the priesthood in the Old Testament people mixed their own ways with God's ways.
In Acts 5, at the beginning of the New Testament church, people mixed their own ways with God's ways.
BOTH restulted in immediate death. No doubt this deterred many from following this wrong way.
Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end therof are the
ways of DEATH."
God's ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).
God KNOWS what is right. Therefore let us hold to the Word of God which is the bases for our faith and
the basis for the practice of our faith. Study so you'll KNOW!
To mix our ideas with God's truth without confirmation from Him is a LIE - and will not go unpunished.

Let us not try to elevate ourselves to service for which we are UNcalled, and UNprepared. For
that is to mix holy with unholy.

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. 4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. 5 So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. 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 people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled. 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.

God did not so much as even allow Aaron a moment of mourning publicly. Moses spoke quickly and
comfortingly to Aaron. What Moses said to this man in obvious shock and grief was "This is it that
the LORD spake..." The best of comforts of grieving Christians comes from GOD'S WORD.
God had indeed said the priests who came before Him must be sanctifie, or He would "break forth upon
them.(Exodus 19:22) God had also said that his glory would be shown to ALL the people (Exodus 29:43).
Now this word from God (via Moses) caused Aaron to "hold his peace" (Leviticus 10:3).
Why? Because Aaron realized that God's judgment was JUST, and that the deaths of his two sons brought
GLORY to God; otherwize, the priesthood would have been glorified and not the LORD.
Notice that Moses called Aaron's cousins to dispose of the bodies so that Aaron and his other two sons
would not be defiled by tending to this duty (verse 4). God was not unmerciful to Aaron and his remaining
two sons.
Some would think that because they were unable to attend the funeral, that God was TOO STRICT. And some
might even think God allowed them no mourning at all. But those need to READ ON!
God allowed no public display of mourning as normally would be shown by Jewish people of that day.
That's because a public display would communicate to the people that Aaron disagreed with God's
judgment. Aaron DID NOT disagree with God, for he believed all God's judgments were just, as his shown
in the following verses. See the discussion in verses 12-20.
As Christians, and priests of God, we must be careful about what we do publicly. For instance,
should a Christian visit a gambling boat? Should a Christian visit the Mardi Gras Parade? Should Christians
participate in gossip?

8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, 9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: 10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; 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.

When we come before the Lord, we should not be filled with wine, but rather we SHOULD be filled with
His Holy Spirit (See Ephesians 5:18).
It is unholy to be drunk (verse 10), and also unclean. There should be a notable difference
between God's chosen people and people of the world. We as Christians should observe that difference
willingly for the glory of God, and we should teach this to our children (verse 11).

12 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it is most holy: 13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy due, and thy sons' due, of the sacrifices of the LORD made by fire: for so I am commanded. 14 And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they be thy due, and thy sons' due, which are given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel. 15 The heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be thine, and thy sons' with thee, by a statute for ever; as the LORD hath commanded. 16 And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left alive, saying, 17 Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD? 18 Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place: ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded. 19 And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD; and such things have befallen me: and if I had eaten the sin offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD? 20 And when Moses heard that, he was content.

Moses told Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar to follow God's command and eat the meat offering and the wave breast
and heave shoulder of the sin offering. Aaron and his sons did NOT eat the sin offering parts, but they
burned them as God had commanded for "left-overs."
At first, this made Moses very angry, thinking that they were soon going to be totally obliterated if they didn't
start following God's commands more literally. But Aaron explained that GRIEF was in their hearts,
and it would have been SIN to eat those offerings when they knew they felt grief.
Friends, when we seek sincerely to do God's will and "miss the mark" (sin), God is MERCIFUL!
He knows that the "spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).
However, if we are insincere in our attitudes towards God, His judgment may be swift and severe.

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