p. 496 | NADAB AND ABIHU

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 10, 1881

NADAB AND ABIHU.

WHAT WAS THE SIN OF NADAB AND ABIHU? 1. They offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not. Here was an act of open and presumptuous disobedience. Every part of the priestly service was instituted and regulated by Divine command. The incense was probably in the custody of Moses, the fire had been kindled by an astonishing miracle upon the altar, and was designed, by being unceasingly replenished, to be always ready for sacred uses, and no other was ever to be allowed; the priests performed their offices each in his own appointed time and order. But disregarding all these regulations, Nadab and Abihu took incense without the knowledge of Moses, set fire to it in their own way, and usurped some other priest's place and authority in venturing to conduct an independent form of worship. Such disobedience sprang from pride. Puffed up with vanity and a sense of their own importance, these eldest sons of Aaron thought themselves superior to their priestly brethren and to the regular ordinances of the sanctuary. In the same spirit King Uzziah, when "he was strong in his heart and lifted up," attempted to burn incense in the temple, and was smitten with leprosy as a consequence. Behold to obey, said Samuel to Saul, is better than sacrifice. The root of all sin lies in the rebellion and antagonism of man's will to the will of God. It was not the fruit of the forbidden tree that caused all our woe, but the act of rebellion in eating it. Sin, says the apostle, is the transgression of the law.

2. Nadab and Abihu showed contempt for the fire that God had proclaimed holy. The miraculous origin and lofty purpose for which this fire was set expressly apart, made it sacred. By substituting other, i. e., strange fire in its place, they were guilty of the sacrilege that could only be the offspring of boldest irreverence and presumption. Here was no sin of ignorance at which God sometimes may wink; it was a deliberate and willful insult to God's majesty. That heavenly gift of fire before which all the people humbly fell on their faces was, in their conceited and self-righteous eyes, of no use nor meaning. And in despising it they despised its Author.

3. The sin of Nadab and Abihu was magnified because committed under the influence of strong drink. That they were intoxicated is inferred from the enactment in this very connection of a perpetual law (v. 9.) that neither Aaron nor any of his sons should ever drink wine or strong drink when intending to officiate in the Tabernacle. They were to keep their minds sober and clear, so as to be able to discriminate between what was holy and unholy, what was clean and what unclean. This fearful example of muddled brains, leading to irreverence, presumption, impiety, and shocking violation of the Divine order in worship, was to be prevented by total abstinence in the future. Never was there a more painful instance of the mockery of wine. No wonder Ezekiel forbade every priest to touch it when about to enter into the inner court of the temple (Eze. 44:21); no wonder God here excludes its use while worshiping, under penalty of death. Inflamed to pride and recklessness by drunken indulgence these priests had dishonored themselves, disgraced the whole nation, and brought unspeakable sorrow upon their family and friends. Nor were they allowed to excuse their transgression under the plea that they did not know what they were about, and so were not quite responsible. They ought to have known, and they were responsible for yielding themselves to a drunken condition in which they could not know, or would not care. Their guilt, therefore, instead of being lessened, was only increased and intensified by their previous love of ardent spirits.

THE PUNISHMENT OF NADAB AND ABIHU. It is noteworthy they were consumed by that very fire which they had dared to despise. Their retribution

was sudden and awful; but it must be remembered that their privileges and position had been exalted. They only of the sons of Aaron had been distinguished with the honor of going up with their father and Moses and the seventy elders to hold communion with God on the Mount. There they saw the God of Israel, under whose "feet was, as it were, a paved work of sapphire-stone, and as it were, the body of heaven in his clearness." They had been elevated to the dignity of the priestly office; they stood before the vast congregation pre-eminent as representatives of Jehovah; and they were moreover, acting for the first time in that official capacity, from which all succeeding generations would take example and instruction. Surely, if ever men had reason to be pure and obedient, these eldest sons of Aaron had; and if ever drunken recklessness deserved to be punished, theirs did. Sin is bad enough in any one, but it is especially heinous in a minister from whom the world justly expects blameless deeds and guileless speech. And again, the Lord had previously said (Comp. Ex. 19:22, and 28:43), "I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified." He is a jealous God, demanding purity and sincerity of worship, and only by such worship can he be sanctified, i. e. revealed as a holy Being. And so when his worship and sanctuary were defiled, supernatural fire leaped from the Shekinah, and "burned their souls," says the Targum of Jonathan, "but not their bodies." While slain, their bodies were not devoured nor their clothes.

HOW THE PUNISHMENT WAS REGARDED. 1. Aaron, though bereaved in this tragic manner of his own eldest sons—held his peace. The considerations urged by Moses, that the priest should glorify his God, swallowed up parental grief, and caused him to recognize the justice of the punishment. And since any bewailing of the slain sinners might be interpreted as sympathy with their sin, or as a complaint against the righteousness of their condemnation, Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, were forbidden to uncover their heads, i. e., to dishevel their hair or to rend their clothes, which were the usual expressions of mourning.

2. They were all forbidden, under the penalty of death, to leave their services in the Tabernacle to attend the funeral of their relatives. They had been publicly anointed and solemnly set apart for the ministry of the Tabernacle. No earthly relation must be allowed to interfere with their Divine duties, nor must they by forsaking these duties show more respect to the dead than to the living God. "Follow me," said Jesus, "and let the dead bury their dead."

3. The remaining relatives and all the camp were to engage in mourning. The sin committed was calculated to fill them with shame and profound sorrow. Drunkenness and disobedience on the part of their leaders were certainly humiliating enough. Nor was this all. The swift and severe judgment that had fallen as a consequence was so striking that they felt like lamenting the Divine displeasure, and praying that all others, themselves included, might be graciously kept from further deserving it. "Aaron and his sons," says another, "were in danger of being too much affected with the providence, and therefore they are forbidden to mourn; the house of Israel were in danger of being too little affected by it, and therefore they are commanded to lament. Thus nature must always be governed by grace, according as it needs to be either constrained or restrained.

Lessons: 1. God ordains his own method of worship and men have no right to intermingle their notions with it.

2. Official stations cannot secure any one from just punishment. Nadab and Abihu, though the eldest sons of Aaron, and though previously so highly favored, and though now in the priesthood, were struck dead when they disobeyed.

3. God demands of his ministers that they should sanctify him, i. e., cause him by their pure and unimpeachable conduct to appear as the author of holiness; and the demand is just.

4. Punishment often bears a strong resemblance to a man's sin. The sin of despising the fire is met with a judgment of fire. Jacob deceives and tricks his father and is himself deceived and tricked by his own children. David's guilt in the matter of Uriah is reflected again in the similar guilt of Absalom his darling son.

5. Truth and obedience are more precious than any human life.

6. Aaron, the stricken father, is comforted by consolations drawn from the Lord's word. And his self-control in this dreadful affliction is an example for us to imitate.

7. The Apostle in the light of this history urges us to seek "grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear; for our God is a consuming fire."

8. Drunkenness is the prolific cause of manifold sins, and in a minister it is absolutely inexcusable. No drunkard shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

9. Crime is not palliated by drunkenness, but aggravated rather. A man is responsible for not keeping sober.

10. God is to be first in our services and affections, all things else—even the rite of burial—must be secondary.—Prof. T. S. Doolittle, in Christian at Work.