NOTES by M. C. W.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 22, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 16.

NOTES.

By M. C. W.

THE altar of incense was two cubits, or three feet, high, and one and one-half feet square on the top. It was made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, with a crown of gold round about the top, with horns, which were doubtless projections from the corners. What the shape of these horns was we are not informed. This altar stood in the holy place, opposite the entrance, and just before the vail which formed the door to the most holy place. Upon it was burned the holy incense, compounded by divine command (Ex. 30:34-38), none of which was to be used for any other purpose than that directed by the Lord.

THE altar of incense was really the altar of prayer. As the smoke of the sacrifices was ascending, as the sweet perfume of the cloud of incense arose, having been offered by the priests, the people were praying without that this token of their faith might be accepted in the sight of God, and that their sins might be forgiven through that great Sacrifice, typified by the lambs then offered.

THE incense symbolized that which makes the prayers of the people of God acceptable to him. The incense ascended with the prayers. "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand." Rev. 8:3, 4.

IT doubtless refers to God's grace which through his Holy Spirit perfects the prayers of his people. How can the prayers of poor, weak, foolish men be acceptable to God. Man's greatest eloquence, man's highest praise, are unworthy tributes to the Maker of the heavens and the earth; their petitions are unwise, poor, and imperfect. But if those prayers come from a sincere heart, they are accepted of God through grace. If he who offers them is humble, penitent, sincere, believing, God will not cast him off. God's Spirit will make the prayer effectual. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Rom. 8:26, 27.

THUS to the prayers of the saints is added the grace of God and the supplication of his Spirit, the Lord furnishing that which makes them effectual, and yet graciously accepting all as the prayers of his people. Rev. 5:8. Such prayers are offered in "the spirit of grace and of supplication." They ascend before God as a sweet-smelling savor, well pleasing and acceptable.

ONLY the priests (Aaron and his descendants) were to burn incense upon the altar. Ex. 30:7. Not even royalty could disregard the command of God, as King Uzziah proved by his rash act. 2 Chron. 26:16-21. See also Num. 16:35, 40. And only the incense compounded under the direction of the Lord could be used. "Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat-offering; neither shall ye pour drink-offering thereon." Ex. 30:9.

IT may then be said that Nadab and Abihu did not disobey the Lord, as there is no evidence that they used any other than the sacred incense, and the injunction as to what should be offered on the altar says nothing about fire. It forbids "strange incense," but not "strange fire."

BUT a little consideration will show that these priests not only transgressed the above command-ment, but another also. When the first offerings were made by Aaron and his sons, "there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat." Lev. 9:24. This fire kindled upon the altar by the Lord should ever be kept burning; it should "never go out." Lev. 6:13. From this fire, divinely kindled, were to be taken the coals upon which the compound of sweet spices should be placed. Lev. 16:12; Num. 16:46. This fire was sacred fire.

"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." Lev. 10:1. That is, they took common fire, and, burning upon it the holy compound of spices, they also offered strange incense before the Lord. The perfume of the incense was the product of the mixture of the holy and the profane. It was strange fire with holy incense, and both together made "strange incense," an abomination unto the Lord. The command prescribed just the fire that should be used, and thus it precluded any other.

WHAT led Nadab and Abihu to this indifference regarding the holy and profane, can be learned by the record which follows. In the third verse we read: "Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified." This means that God would have all those who represent him or come near to him regard him as he is, holy, separate, and above all. His commands must be explicitly obeyed. Man is not to sit in judgment upon them, nor to class with his holy institutions those common to man, or originating in man. The sin of these priests was very great. Their actions unrebuked would have caused all Israel to sin. They were especially near to God, and the people would reason that if these priests could carelessly disregard God's command, certainly they (the people) could do so. The swift judgment of God was but a vindication of his holiness, and an act of justice to his people. Aaron must so regard it. Neither he nor his sons were to mourn the fate of the rebellious priests, lest their action should seem to excuse or condone the sin.

THEN follows another commandment from the Lord, which, from its connection with the occasion, indicates that the secret of Nadab and Abihu's sin lay in the transgression of the principle covered by the commandment. "And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." Lev. 10:8-11. Nadab and Abihu were drunken. The finer sensibilities of the mind, the nicer discrimination of the moral faculties, had been blunted, or benumbed by the use of wine.

NOTHING so hardens the heart and stupefies the finer sensibilities of human nature as indulgence of appetite. It feeds the lower passions, but brings leanness to the soul. Ps. 106:14, 15. None are so indifferent to the feelings, wants, and woes of others as are the intemperate, or those given to appetite. And this is not only true as regards alcoholic drinks, but it is true in a greater or less degree as regards opium, tobacco, and other opiates and narcotics, as well as overindulgence in food. Gluttony is classed with drunkenness in the Scriptures (Prov. 23:20, 21): "Be not among wine-bibbers: among riotous eaters of flesh; for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty."

DANIEL and his fellows, whom God blessed greatly, would not partake of the wine and highly-seasoned food of the royal table, but used the simple diet of pulse and water. Dan. 1:8, 12. God blessed them greatly, and their wisdom exceeded that of all the wise men of the east. Verse 20. John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord's Anointed, was to drink neither wine nor strong drink, in order that he might fitly perform his exalted mission, discerning between the clean and the unclean.

GOD gives special warning to his people in the last days upon this very point: "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying." Rom. 13:12, 13. "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." Luke 21:34, 35. That people in whose mouth is "found no guile," who are "without fault before the throne of God" (Rev. 14:5), certainly need to discern above all others the difference between the clean and the unclean, the sacred and the common, in order that they may render to God the glory and worship due to him. Rev. 14:6.

Those who do not heed these warnings, like Nadab and Abihu of old, will put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither will they show "difference between the unclean and the clean," and will hide their eyes from the Sabbath of the Lord, and God will be profaned among them. Eze. 22:26. In doing this, men make the commands of the Lord a matter of expediency and fancy. If they say that it does not matter whether we keep the seventh day or the first, one is as good as another, they make no difference between the holy and common; they say to the thief, It is no harm to steal; they say to the adulterer, God is not particular; and thus they become partakers with thieves and adulterers. Ps. 50:16-22.

NADAB and Abihu were both men who doubtless pleased the people. They evidently were not given to rebuking sin. They probably talked of the love of God, and the people made them idols. But God regards sin, whether it is revealed in all its hideous wickedness, or whether it is cloaked in urbanity, flattery, or careless indifference. Sin is the same. The only safe position is that in which every moral sense is alive and trained to discern between good and evil, holy and profane, clean and unclean, that we may not excuse sin under a generous cloak, or pleasant outward garb. A tender conscience is one of the most blessed of constant companions.