Skip to main content

Nadab and Abihu - Leviticus 10:1-7

How do you want to be remembered? And how is your worship going? Do you want people to recognize you as a hero or a goat? As a winner or a loser? As God's good servant or as toast? 

If you are familiar with the story of Nadab and Abihu, then you know how they ended up. Toast. Now get this, this pair was in a position of great importance. They were in the rare air of priesthood. Their dad was the Big guy. Aaron was the First High Priest of Israel. 

Mind you, the priesthood was just being set up, and the rules were all new. The three knew that they were to walk and act in a set pattern of obedience to God's directions. His instructions had been clearly spoken to Moses and then passed on to Aaron and his sons. There was no stuttering. This was not a game of "telephone" where something was lost in the passing on of information. This was life and death stuff. 

So, what exactly, Strange fire is no one knows. Later in this chapter, God instructed Aaron not to drink strong drink, so his two oldest sons may have been drunk trying to make their offering. Whatever the case, their lack of discipline in this sacred act took their lives in an oh-so-dramatic way. All must have been stunned into silence, and there was to be no mourning by the family members. 

Was this an act of cruel treatment by a loving God? It was not. What it was, was an essential lesson in the sanctity of entering the presence of Holy God. The record had to be set straight from the unveiling of this new position. There were to be no games or sloppy worship like we see these days. 

In fact, if God still did this vaporizing thing today, how many Tostitos would occupy the pews of your average worship service? Or would your pews have to be made of George Foreman grill material? Would you be there to carry out the briquettes? Just wondering. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

If this is the kingdom of God, do I really want it?

If this is Kingdom Living, Do I Want it? Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. In a study of the Sermon on the Mount to this point we might be tempted to say, “I don’t want to be that happy!” If this is Kingdom living then I want to go to Disney World. This place is depressing.  What Jesus describes here seems to highlight all of the ...

What? How?

 27 “But to you who are listening, I say:  Love your enemies,  do good to those who hate you, 28  bless those who curse you,  pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek,  turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat,  do not withhold your shirt from them.  30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.  32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.  33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.  34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.  35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward will be gr...

Don't take him back there!

Abraham has his son Isaac, who was the promised one. He was to be Abraham's heir and the one through whom the blessing would come. Having been a miracle child himself, he had a slight problem. He was now in his early forties and still single. If he didn't find a wife the Abrahamic covenant would never be fulfilled and Jesus would not be born.  It was a crucial moment when Abraham called his servant to swear that he would find a woman for his boy. The oath was binding only if and when the discovered bride came back to Abraham's tent. If she didn't, the deal was off.  We know that she did come back and ended up having twins, Esau and Jacob. However, there is a couple of verses that drew my attention to an important principle for us to think about. Look at 24:6 and 8,  Genesis 24:6 "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take ...