BIBLE BITS: Leviticus 10

Immediately after Aaron and his sons are anointed to serve as the Lord's priests, tragedy strikes.  Leviticus records, "Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.  And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord" (Leviticus 10:1-2). 

Our reaction is that this is an extreme response to what appears to be a minor infraction.  To us, it may seem minor.  Clearly, God did not consider this a minor issue.  The Lord (note: this is the covenant name; the God of grace and mercy, the God who saves!) responded with fire, instant judgment, and death for two of Aaron's sons.

The next verse helps us to understand the issue: Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified’” (Leviticus 10:3).  The Lord had given specific instructions about how the priests were to approach him.  They did not have the liberty to be lazy or careless about it.  God made his point in an extreme fashion in this violation at the very beginning of the worship at the tabernacle.  The message for Aaron and any future priests was clear: Do not mess with the Lord or take his word lightly.  You do not get to approach God according to your own designs.  God is very clear on this that he be regarded as holy.  If the priests don't revere God as holy, why would the people?  This was a First Commandment issue, and God underscored it in violent, definitive action.

We also ought to be careful about our worship.  While we might think that approaching God is no big deal, God clearly thinks otherwise.  When God came to dwell with mankind, he took steps to hide his glory under frail, human flesh so that we would not be struck down as Nadab and Abihu were.  So also, when we come to church, we ought to recognize that we are standing on holy ground.  This is not Target or Starbucks where they will bend over backwards to satisfy the customer.  This is the Lord's house.  We stand in the Lord's presence.  We should consider how the Lord wants us to approach him (although the odds of getting struck down are probably low; there were no similar judgments recorded in the Old Testament even though worship became corrupt as the years went by).  

As God's comments addressed the priests first of all, so today the pastor stands under God's watch first of all.  If the pastor is not reverent in his conduct at the altar, why should the people think God is worthy of reverence?  It is still a First Commandment issue.  The glory of God should be confessed by our actions as well as our words.