Tag Archives: Leviticus 10

Seriously

February 28, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.
Leviticus 10:1-2 (NIV)

Our daughters are very different individuals. When they were young, Taylor was always dutiful, sweet and soft-hearted. If she was caught being naughty, all it took was my “dad look” to reduce her to tears. Madison was entirely a different matter.

One day I was headed out to run an errand and I heard Taylor screaming in the back yard. I investigated and found Madison hitting her big sister in the head with a whiffle-ball bat. With righteous paternal anger, I yelled and scooped Madison up in my arms. I decided to throw her in her car seat and take her with me on my errand so I could have a serious talk with my little one about assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

“Madison?! You NEVER hit people with something like a baseball bat! It’s dangerous and you can seriously hurt people!” I yelled as I looked at her in her car seat from the rear view mirror.

“How do you know?” the she replied casually from her car seat.

“Because it’s happened, Madison! People have been hit with baseball bats and have ended up in the hospital. Some people have even DIED!”

“But, daddy, how do you know?” she asked again, seemingly unfazed by my obvious anger and raised voice.

“Because it was in the NEWS! Someone got hit in the head and died and they reported it in the NEWS!” I screamed, my temper reaching DEFCON FIVE.

There was a long pause. Perhaps I finally got through to her.

“Daddy?” came the sweet voice from the back seat.

“WHAT?!” I yelled.

“Grandma says you can’t always believe what they say on the news.”

Sometimes, it is lost on children just how serious a matter can be.

In yesterday’s chapter, Aaron and his sons began their new lives as priests. Aaron offered God’s prescribed offerings for the firsts time, followed the instructions obediently, and the glory of the LORD appeared.

Today’s chapter tells a very different story. Two of Aaron’s sons fail to make the mental and spiritual transition from dudes to priests. The bros aren’t taking all this priestly stuff seriously. They start screwing around with the fire and incense in God’s tent temple. Fire from God’s presence consumed them and they died.

Sometimes, it is lost on children just how serious a matter can be.

The death of Nadab and Abihu is tragic, as are a lot of deaths that result when people don’t take mortal (and immortal) dangers seriously. For the Hebrews, this event right on the heels of Aaron’s obedience actions provide a sobering lesson. God is not playing games. When He said that He is setting before them life and death, and wants them to choose life, He wasn’t kidding. I imagine that Aarons remaining sons suddenly took their new jobs a little more seriously.

In the quiet this morning, I couldn’t help but think of a similar event in the early days of the Jesus Movement in the book of Acts. A couple named Ananias and Sapphira conspire to lie to Peter and the church about a financial matter for their personal profit. When their greedy deceit is brought to light, the couple fell dead. That incident, along with Nadab and Abihu’s tragic deaths are isolated incidents a thousand years apart from one another, but they both serve as a reminders that perhaps I should take God seriously.

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Chapter-a-Day

The Spiritual Balk Rule

July 26, 2016 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Now Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered unholy fire before the Lord, such as he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.
Leviticus 10:1-2 (NRSV)

The opening of today’s chapter is a pretty harsh “good morning” as I begin my day reading with sleep weary eyes. These two sons of Aaron screwed up on the incense portion of the whole sacrificial system. They broke the balk rule of the Levitical code. The penalty? Immediate death by fire.

Yikes!

I often say that one of the important things about the journey through God’s Message is that, over time, you begin to connect dots throughout the Great Story. In this case, the first dot goes back to the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve commit a balk with the forbidden fruit, it starts a chain reaction. Sin, that penchant for willfully doing what we know we shouldn’t while willfully choosing not to do things we know we should, enters the human equation. And, a holy God can’t abide sin. So it is announced right at the beginning, that the penalty for all spiritual balks is death. Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden. The Great Story is about humanity’s wayfaring journey to get back Home.

Along this journey, there are other scattered dots to be connected. They are like waypoints hearkening back to Adam and Eve’s original balk, and reminding us that God’s spiritual balk rule does not change. Nada and Abihu are actually not the only ones:

Cane’s offering was not pleasing to the Lord. He is cursed and eventually dies.
Hophni and Phineas treated God’s offering with contempt, and died.
A man name Uzzah reached his hand out to steady the Ark of the Covenant. He touched it, and died.
Ananias and Sapphira lied about he and his wife’s offering to the Lord, and died.

These waypoints remind us that God’s spiritual balk rule is foundational to the Great Story. It doesn’t change over time. The penalty of sin is death. Forgiveness and redemption require that the penalty for the spiritual balk rule must be satisfied. In the days of Leviticus the remedy was a labyrinth of sacrifices and offerings. Ultimately, it would be God who would send Jesus to be the sacrificial lamb to pay the ultimate penalty for all of our balks, once for all.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Leviticus 10

May 12, 2011 Tom Vander Well 3 Comments

That same day Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, took their censers, put hot coals and incense in them, and offered “strange” fire to God—something God had not commanded. Fire blazed out from God and consumed them—they died in God’s presence. Leviticus 10:1-2 (MSG)

When I was a young child, I went to my grandparents house with the rest of my family. I have only vague recollections of the exact circumstances, but I know my sister and I were running wild (probably on a sugar high from the candy we consumed from Grandma Golly’s genrously large candy bowl). Somewhere along the line, likely having been told to settle down, I mouthed off to my dad disrespectfully. I was immediately taken behind the Grandpa and Grandma’s garage and received a spanking, which did not hurt me but which I remember to this day. I learned a lesson in that moment that has stuck with me the rest of my life. My father loved me, but he was also my father and deserved my respect. He should not, and would not tolerate me mouthing off to him.

The story of Nadab and Abihu is a hard one to wrap our minds around, but it illustrates an important lesson. If my earthly father, who is every bit a fallible human being, deserves my respect and honor, then how much more honor and respect does my Heavenly Father deserve who is the holy Creator of the universe? At the time of Leviticus, God’s people were like young children in their understanding of who He was. I believe God was trying to teach the entire nation some very basic concepts like a parent teaches their toddler.

I wonder if we sometimes focus so much on God’s grace and forgiveness that we lose respect for God’s holiness and omnipotence. Perhaps it would do me good to, spiritually speaking, be taken out behind the garage once in a while when I forget. It might remind me that God is my Heavenly Father, but He’s not my ol’ man.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and olavide