"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. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. 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. So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest you die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled. And you shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die; for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. And the Lord spoke unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that you may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." (Leviticus 10:1-11)
There are two or three points in this portion of Scripture which the student should not fail to notice. The first and most important is that God is very particular, and will not countenance any deviation from directions which He has given. He had specified the kind of fire and incense that should be used in the sanctuary.
"You shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall you pour drink offering thereon." (Exodus 30:9)
He himself had kindled a fire on the altar when the first offering was made upon it, and no other was to be used. It might have seemed to Nadab and Abihu that there was no difference between the sacred fire and ordinary fire; but God had made them different, and it was their duty to recognize that difference.
It may seem to many that death was a severe penalty for so slight a deviation from the commandment of the Lord; such must remember that the fact that the death penalty was inflicted by the Lord himself, is sufficient evidence that the offense was not small. The Judge of all the earth will do right. (Genesis 18:25)
It must also be borne in mind that the heinousness of a sin is not determined so much by the actual quality of the deed itself, as by the spirit in which the deed is committed. Contempt for the Lord may be shown in the willful disobedience of a supposed minor precept, as well as by some act which would be generally recognized as a sin.
But the sin of Nadab and Abihu was not a small one. It was the result of lightly regarding the service of the Lord. They engaged in His service as carelessly as they would in some business of their own; and this showed that they had no real reverence for God.
The same reasoning that Nadab and Abihu may be supposed to have used is indulged in by thousands of people today in regard to the Sabbath. The fourth commandment says: "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work." (Exodus 20:8-10)
And it gives as a reason for this, the fact that is stated in Genesis 2:3, that: "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it [made it holy]: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." (Genesis 2:3)
Yet in the face of this, there are people who say that there is no difference in days, and that one day is just as good as another; that since all days are alike, it makes no difference which day we observe as Sabbath, providing it is one day in seven.
But here is just the same difference that there was in the fire. The two kinds of fire no doubt looked just alike. But one was not holy and the other was. It was holy because God had made it so. So all days look alike; but they are not all alike, for God has made the seventh day holy.
Refusal to obey any commandment of the Lord, is evidence of a lack of respect for Him. In Ezekiel 22 the Lord through the prophet says of the church: "Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbath, and I am profaned among them." (Ezekiel 22:26)
Her hiding the eyes from the Lord's Sabbath is counted as the same sin that Nadab and Abihu committed. Moreover, the Lord says that he is profaned because the people have not put difference between the holy and the profane, but have violated his holy Sabbath. This is because God has magnified His word above all His name; (Psalm 138:2; I will worship toward your holy temple, and praise your name for your lovingkindness and for your truth: for You have magnified your word above all your name.) disregard of His word dishonors him; and for a man to treat the Lord with disrespect is as bad as to speak disrespectfully of Him.
Some may say that the Lord is not so particular now as He used to be, because He does not destroy people for making no difference between the day which He has sanctified, and common days. This illustrates what Solomon said: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." (Ecclesiastes 8:11)
But God says: "I am the Lord, I change not." (Malachi 3:6)
He is just as particular now as He ever was. But at no time in the history of the world has He executed summary punishment upon all transgressors. If He had, there would have been no people left on earth. Occasionally He has suddenly cut off some terribly presumptuous person, but those were only exceptional cases. "He has appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness." (Acts 17:31)
And He has reserved "the unjust unto the day of Judgment to be punished." (2 Peter 2:9)
The instances in which God has summarily cut off transgressors are simply reminders of how He regards disobedience to His plain requirements. Let us therefore not tempt the Lord, but on the contrary, seek earnestly to know what His will is, and then with diligence do all His commandments. Upon all such a blessing is pronounced.
The passage of Scripture upon which we are commenting is also a temperance lesson. After Nadab and Abihu were destroyed, "The Lord spoke unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that you may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean." (Leviticus 10:8-10)
This seems to indicate that Nadab and Abihu had been drinking wine before they went into the sanctuary, and that this was the cause of their sin. From this we learn that God does not regard drunkenness as an excuse for crime. If a man commits a murder when he is crazed with liquor which he voluntarily drank, he is as guilty as though the crime were premeditated; because he, of his own accord, took that which he knew would deprive him of reason.
Whether or not Nadab and Abihu were thoroughly intoxicated, we cannot tell, but we know that their sensibilities were blunted. How many there are who engage in the work of the Lord with their mental faculties all deadened because of intemperance in eating or drinking. Such cannot appreciate the plain word of God.
And it is largely because of gross habits that people cannot sense the importance of sacred things. Both their mental and their moral faculties are blunted, so that they can see no difference between things holy and things common. But people who cannot see the truth, because their own wrong habits have blunted their senses, are just as accountable for their disobedience as though they could see the truth and should willfully disobey it. To all the exhortation comes, "Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18)
Attention is called to just one point taught by Exodus 35:26-29. That is that: "Every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, (Exodus 35:21) brought an offering for the sanctuary. God had told Moses to take an offering only "of every man that gives it willingly with his heart." (Exodus 25:2)
The result of this willing offering is given in Exodus 36:2-7. The people brought unto Moses "free offerings every morning," (Exodus 36:3) until the overseers of the work said to him, "The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the ordering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much." (Exodus 36:5-7)
Such a thing as this is of rare occurrence, but it would not be if the people who profess to be God's would all give willingly and make free offerings. The cause of God would prosper, and all would be blessed.
We cannot help thinking that there were some in the camp of Israel who had not given anything when the proclamation went forth that no more offerings were needed. There are always some who do not intend to give anything. To such it would make no difference whether there was enough or not. Such ones would doubtless congratulate themselves on their prudence, since they had saved their means, and the cause was well supplied besides.
But there are always others who do intend to give, but not now. They cling to their means yet a little longer, but fully design to make a liberal donation at some future time. How disappointed such ones must have felt when they learned that their offerings were not needed.
So it will doubtless be in these last days. God's work will close without having been helped by many who designed to help sometime. Too late they will find that while the work of the Lord could get along without their help, they cannot get along without helping the work.
The lesson that we should learn is never to put off service of any kind for the Lord. Today is the call to everyone.--Signs of the Times, June 9, 1887--Notes on the International Lesson, June 26--Leviticus 10:1-11; Exodus 35:20-29
E.J. Waggoner