Leviticus 10:1, commentary and pictures

Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron ministering as priests in holy office, each took his censer and put common unauthorized fire with incense upon it and offered it before the Lord in direct violation of His express command. The fire they should have used was sacred fire kindled by God Himself from heaven and commanded to be kept burning continually and used in all sanctuary service. Fire went out from the Lord and devoured them before the people as swift judgment, showing that God is to be sanctified in those who come near Him and approached with reverence and strict obedience to every word. They had indulged in wine until partly intoxicated, which beclouded their intellects and left them unable to distinguish between holy and common, and their careless self-willed act was without excuse though they meant no harm. The sacred fire represents God Himself and His presence and the mediation opened through Jesus Christ alone and the Holy Spirit, while strange fire is offering to God what He has not commanded and mingling the sacred with the common. Putting a spurious sabbath in place of the seventh day God sanctified, defiling worship with liquor or tobacco, and serving by human wisdom and self instead of by the Holy Spirit, is offering the same strange fire God will not tolerate.

The Offering Described

Nadab and Abihu were the sons of Aaron, priests ministering in holy office, highly honored and brought into close connection with God to be instructed in His will and way. They served in holy office as especially favored witnesses, placed in important positions where they should have been strong. Only those ordained to the sacred office could minister in the sanctuary, and their ministry claimed that priestly authority.

Each took his censer and put fire therein and put incense thereon, offering strange, common, unauthorized fire and incense before the Lord which He commanded them not. It was fire God had not commanded, used in His sacred service in direct violation of His express command and positive requirements. The outward priestly ceremony was performed but had no virtue, because it treated as common what God had appointed as sacred and violated the distinction between the sacred and the common. Their use of unauthorized fire in worship led to their downfall and brought God's judgment for irreverence.

The fire they should have used was sacred fire kindled by God Himself from heaven on the altar, kept burning continually day and night by divine power and never extinguished. It was appointed by God to be kept burning perpetually as a law ever to be observed, and commanded to be put upon the censer and used in all sanctuary service. God gave explicit directions for every part of His service to be in accordance with His holy character.

The act occurred just after God had accepted the appointed sacrifices by sending fire from the Lord to consume the offering on the altar while the people shouted and worshiped. Though they had witnessed God's glory on the mount as especially favored elders, they failed to make the careful self-examination and sanctification required of those who came into the sanctuary where God's presence was manifested. Their guilt was increased by that light, for they fully understood the holy character of the typical service and the awful solemnity and responsibility of presenting themselves before God to minister in sacred service. That history was carefully treasured in Israel and taught to children, often put into song so they would become familiar with the truth.

Causes of Disobedience

Nadab and Abihu had freely indulged in wine until they were partly intoxicated when they ministered in sacred office. The wine benumbed their senses, beclouded their intellects, enervated the brain and weakened nerve power, and left their judgment clouded. In that condition they were disqualified for sacred office and unable to distinguish between the holy and the common and between right and wrong. Because they failed to abstain, they placed themselves where they could not discern the sacred from the common and then acted directly against the express requirement. Their sacred work demanded careful self-examination and sanctification, clear judgment before God, and strict control of appetite and habits of life.

Indulgence of appetite had mastered them and caused their downfall. Depraved appetite and self-indulgence debased their faculties, dulled the soul's finer feelings and weakened the reasoning powers. Holy things came to seem ordinary to them, and disobedience came to appear pleasing rather than sinful. So they treated God's sacred requirements lightly and dishonored Him by disregarding them, bringing defiled bodies and minds before Him and treating holy things as common. Their confused minds did not excuse the act, for they made themselves accountable when they chose to drink, and their indulgence cost them their lives.

Their disobedience had been prepared by years of self-indulgence and by lack of self-control and discipline. They had been allowed to follow their inclinations, had not learned to respect authority or obey God's requirements, and had failed to respect parental authority and God's commands. Aaron's yielding indulgence and neglect to train them in obedience, self-denial, and reverence contributed to their ruin, and his lack of firmness in governing his family bore grave consequences in their deaths. Though especially honored, placed in important positions, and brought into close connection with God to be instructed in His will and way, they were unfaithful where they should have been strong, lacking firmness, principle, courageous resolution, self-control, and strictly temperate habits needed for a continual sense of the sacredness of their work. Repeated putting of the intoxicating draught to their lips had become a controlling habit stronger than the influence of elevation to responsible position, and even the responsibility of sacred office could not break habits formed by indulgent training and failure to understand their own weakness. The reverence they failed to give their father led them to disregard the positive requirements of God, showing that neglect of parents in forming character bears this fruit and that there is not a virtue nor a vice, not an act of body nor of mind, to which a person may not be chained by force of habit.

They acted from carelessness, recklessness, self-will, thoughtlessness, negligence, and forgetfulness without stopping to think of the consequences. Though they meant no harm and nearly everything in that solemn worship had been done as commanded, they used common fire which God had commanded them not to use. Good intentions are no excuse when light has been given, for God exactly marks iniquity, including sins of thoughtlessness, negligence, forgetfulness, and ignorance, and He is not pleased with partial obedience. Their fate warns that people may do many praiseworthy things yet dishonor God by acting from their own feelings instead of His direction, exalting human authority above the divine and using what God has forbidden.

Judgment and Holy Reverence

Fire went out from the Lord and devoured Nadab and Abihu, and they died before the Lord in the sight of the people as swift divine judgment for positive disregard of His directions in offering unauthorized common fire. Their act was unrighteousness that greatly dishonors God, which He will not tolerate, and it brought immediate punishment by death because they mingled the sacred with the common instead of using the sacred fire He commanded for all sanctuary service. A heavenly Watcher constantly beholds the work of those who have to do with sacred things and the spirit brought into it, and they must do nothing that mars the perfection of their work.

The judgment means God will be sanctified in those who come near Him and glorified before all the people, and He and not man is to be praised and honored. God is to be honored and treated as holy by those who approach Him, approached with reverence and awe in His own appointed manner, with His commands about worship followed explicitly and the sacredness of His work preserved now just as fully as in ancient Israel. He demands strict obedience to every word from His mouth, exactly marks iniquity including sins of thoughtlessness, negligence, forgetfulness and ignorance, and is not pleased with partial obedience, so good intentions are no excuse when light has been given. Those who handle truth going to the world must therefore keep God's work distinct from common affairs of life and give pure wheat thoroughly winnowed from chaff rather than common matter.

Their intoxication did not excuse their disobedience, for they became responsible for all acts done under wine when they put the cup to their lips. Though they had drunk wine freely and their gratification of appetite debased their faculties, beclouded their intellect, and took away discernment until they could not distinguish common fire from consecrated fire, indulgence of appetite cost them their lives. God will not work a miracle to keep men from the consequence of a deliberate departure from light, and those who disregard His directions to indulge appetite must bear the result of their course. Those entrusted with sacred duties need clear minds and control of their reason, since drink can blunt moral judgment, harden the conscience, and erase the distinction between the sacred and the common.

Their guilt was increased because they had been especially favored as elders who witnessed God's glory in the mount, knew that most careful self-examination and sanctification were required where God's presence was manifested, and were entrusted with greater light, privileges, and responsibility. God is no respecter of persons and does not excuse disregard for His requirements, and disobedience by the self-willed who do not fear Him brings judgment. Aaron bore this loss without rebelling or murmuring, acknowledging the justice of God's punishments even when His wrath comes very near. Their relatives were forbidden to mourn, which underscored the seriousness of the judgment and protected the people from further wrath, and those who sympathize with a person who deserves reproof and try to lessen the burden of correction oppose God and His servants, sharing guilt with the one at fault.

Their history was carefully treasured in Israel and taught to children, often put into song so they would become familiar with the truth, with the truth handed down by human lips from one generation to another along with Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah. It taught Daniel and his companions that wine could injure their physical and mental powers, confuse their senses, weaken discernment, and become a snare in sacred matters. They therefore resolved to avoid indulgences that might dishonor God and compromise obedience, and the image of God engraved upon the heart guarded them against dishonor to God at the king's table.

What the Fires Signify

The sacred fire God appointed for sanctuary service represented God Himself and His presence, fire of His own kindling to be kept burning continually day and night and used in all service. That fire was to be kept burning by divine power, never extinguished, and holy fire means kindling from the divine altar where fire is kept burning day and night by the power of God. Fire from the holy altar is clear, true light, while common fire is false light, so that those who should stand in clear light and show others the way become bodies of darkness when they carry false light kindled by selfishness, untruthfulness, and unfair dealing instead of light from the holy altar. Everyone who kindles from that altar holds his lamp firmly, walks in the footsteps of Jesus in surrender to His guidance and service, has golden oil in the vessel with the lamp, is never placed where God has made no provision, and has the lamp of life trimmed by the very hand that lit it. Offering any other fire dishonored God, for He does not tolerate unrighteousness among those responsible for His service and demands strict obedience to every word, to be sanctified in those who come near Him and glorified before all the people.

The fire of God's kindling that burned day and night and was never extinguished was to be put upon the censer as God gave explicit directions for every part of His service to accord with His holy character. The divine fire represented the communication between God and man opened through Jesus Christ alone, and the incense kindled by the holy fire rising before God mingled with the earnest prayers of the people without was an emblem of the mediation of Christ. The appointed fire was kept burning continually, and incense kindled with it rose before God with the people's prayers, so that an offering presenting no divine Saviour was like Cain's and unacceptable to God. Nadab and Abihu performed the outward priestly ceremony but used fire God had not commanded rather than the sacred fire kindled by God, an action with no virtue that treated as common what God had appointed as sacred and failed to honor God's connection with humanity. Their work therefore warned against putting self-serving or self-pleasing purposes into God's work or substituting common things for what God has appointed.

The true altar is Christ, and the true fire is the Holy Spirit, who inspires, leads, and guides into safe counsel, so that only a person led by the Spirit is a safe counselor. To consult lawyers in church matters and put dependence on unsanctified men instead of God is to use common fire in place of sacred fire, which greatly dishonors God and proves loss of spiritual discernment. God's people must therefore stand as a distinct, holy people separate from the world, using only the sacred fire of God's own kindling, which is the Spirit of God and dependence on God. God's own sacred fire is also His love, which makes people tender, kind, and sympathetic, in contrast to sharp, overbearing treatment of people in danger and harsh, self-important handling of sacred things that misrepresents His character. Religious position alone does not make a person acceptable to God, and those who use common fire act as destitute of the Spirit of God and leave the work unguarded.

Strange fire is presenting to God what He has not commanded, using unauthorized, common fire for a sacred offering. It mingles the sacred with the common and violates the distinction between them, so those handling truth for the world must keep God's work distinct from common affairs and give pure wheat thoroughly winnowed from chaff. It is outward ceremony with no virtue, pure doctrine mingled with self-serving motives and an unpurified spirit that misrepresents truth and can turn people from its light. It is serving with human, unholy practices instead of what God provides, including harsh words, self-importance, self-exaltation, self-righteousness, arbitrary authority, domineering, oppression, and restricting God's people with human plans and rules, which are not acknowledged by God and continually misrepresent His character. Such unrighteousness greatly dishonors God, and He will not tolerate it.

Sabbath and True Worship

To ignore the Lord's Sabbath in order to keep holy the first day of the week is to offer strange fire before the Lord. It takes a common working day upon which God has placed no sanctity and clothes it with sacred prerogatives, presenting it to the world as the Christian Sabbath without a Thus saith the Lord for its authority. It puts a spurious sabbath, a strange sabbath which He commanded not, in place of the seventh day which the Lord sanctified and blessed. As Nadab and Abihu were commanded to offer always only the fire of God's own kindling kept burning before God day and night, and dishonored Him by putting the common in place of the sacred, so this act offers the common in place of the sacred and God will not accept it at their hands. Their death when fire went out from the Lord and devoured them proves that God's statutes are to be reverenced and obeyed, and that transgressors who set aside His law and exalt a common working day must surely bear punishment for sin, even though He bears long with them.

God's exact directions for worship are not to be altered on the assumption that a substitute will do just as well. Just as He commanded what offering they were to bring, He commands which day is holy, and men are not free to treat the seventh-day Sabbath as common and substitute the first day which He did not sanctify. Sabbath transgression is not now punished immediately with temporal death as theirs was, but God regards disobedience no more lightly. Death is the final punishment for those who reject light and persist in transgression.

God remains as particular and exact in His requirements now as in the days of Moses. Worship defiled by liquor or tobacco is no more acceptable than their offering of strange fire with fire He had not commanded. Prayers, songs of praise, preaching of Bible truth and holiness, and bowing to worship with lips stained by tobacco, mouths polluted by tobacco, breaths polluted with liquor fumes, and nerves trembling from narcotics are strange fire, indeed positive defilement. Such mingling of truth and prayer with the stench of tobacco and brandy is an offense and insult to a holy and sin-hating God dwelling in unapproachable light, and is incense most acceptable to Satan. Those who serve in sacred things must approach Him with reverence and cleanliness and honor His holiness, for disregard for His sacred requirements brought fatal judgment upon Nadab and Abihu and would risk the same judgment. Indulgence of appetite and passion in eating and drinking, smoking and chewing tobacco, gluttony and drunkenness blunts the sensibilities as wine blunted theirs, so that professed Christians make no difference between sacred and common and bring holy things down to the level of defiled breaths, benumbed brains, and polluted souls.

The account calls all who handle sacred things and all work done under God's watch to keep appetite and habits of life under strict control. Those engaged in God's work are to practice strict temperance and keep the whole being under God's protection, and never tempt the Spirit of God, since this can lead to the unforgivable sin against the Holy Ghost. Wine benumbed the senses of Aaron's sons, clouded their minds and confused their senses so they could not distinguish sacred things from common things and consecrated fire from common fire, and their disobedience in offering fire God had not commanded cost them their lives. They were held responsible for their actions despite intoxication, because they chose to drink and thereby made themselves accountable for what they did under its influence. Their punishment showed that God is to be honored by those who draw near to Him, and the ban on their relatives' mourning underscored the seriousness of the judgment and protected the people from further wrath. Intemperance even in eating can cloud discernment between sacred and common and reveal disregard for God's warnings, so clear minds and control of reason are required in sacred duties, especially in work requiring clear judgment before God.

Strange Fire in Service

Using common fire is serving by human wisdom, plans, opinions, management, inventions and devisings instead of being worked by the Holy Spirit. It is trusting self and exalting self, taking the place of God to assume unauthorized rule and dominion over fellow workers, and letting one's own spirit, sentiments and ideas prevail without a vital connection with God and without the soul's regeneration. It is pressing decisions by loud voices and human will without humble prayer, keeping the same men in office as presidents and committee advisors year after year until they think themselves a necessity and their wisdom becomes foolishness, and neglecting what is sacred while carrying the work by Pharisaism and pride of opinion. Such human plans substituted for God's holy principles, even when defended as advancing His cause, are contrary to truth and righteousness, lead to oppression, injustice and wickedness, gain His cause no benefit by depriving His family of individuality and rights, and are despised and rejected by Him as an offering He never inspired. The sin was done in the past and is still done when room is given for the enemy to control men and manage the work.

Strange fire includes injustice and deceit treated as acceptable service: oppression, robbery, dishonest dealings, fraudulent transactions, grasping for advantage, defrauding men of rights, diverting dedicated means from its appointed purpose, and warping the message for worldly success. Handling the sacred fire means handling means He moves His people to give for a certain purpose with a sharp sense of justice, equity, benevolence, self-denial and righteous principle, while turning to common fire means working upon a worldly, fraudulent, selfish and covetous policy. Calling a scheme necessary for advancing His cause does not make it righteous when it violates truth and justice, and claiming that injustice makes no difference is abhorrent to Him, profanes worship, and puts interest in Christ's atonement and redemption in peril. He does not accept or bless these practices, His cause cannot advance through them, and those at the head of the work who do this dishonor Him who will be sanctified in all that come near Him and glorified before all the people. Offense against Him is measured by the position of trust occupied, for individual influence is power only with that sacred fire and responsibility for influence is proportionate to trust given, with mind acting upon mind in family, school and church.

Common fire is common, cheap, harsh and unsanctified speech. It is quick severe words and sharp overbearing treatment of people in danger, combative responses to opposition, self-importance, self-exaltation, self-righteousness, arbitrary authority, domineering and oppression, and restricting His people with human plans and rules. It is trifling words and amusing stories in sermons in place of the word, theatrical preaching, outward display, startling notices and expensive methods, which are human inventions that do not glorify Him or advance His work. Such forbidden words dishonor Him and the cause of truth, misrepresent His character, destroy hope, courage and faith, multiply evil, and require months or years to undo. Without continual reliance on His grace and wisdom through Christ and without Christ abiding in the heart through faith working by love, people fail to distinguish the sacred from the common and their words become common and harmful, while His own sacred fire is His love which makes people tender, kind and sympathetic. His work is to be carried forward with humility and Christlike methods, allowing truth to make progress without being hindered by display.

Mixing human ideas with sacred things is strange fire. It is mingling the sacred work in a careless, reckless manner with common ideas, cheapening truth by bringing human opinions to the front and acting upon unsanctified propositions born wholly of self, and offering human explanation and supposed science in place of divine principles and providence. It is using worldly ideas, theories, maxims and methods, political subjects in preaching, commercial work in sacred institutions, and common matter and pictures in publications instead of solid spiritual food. It is ministry performed weary and unprepared without seeking Him for the Holy Spirit, elevating and cherishing what is merely human, and leaving His guardianship for the enemy's, which confuses ability to distinguish sacred from common and brings confusion, displeasure and judgment. All who handle sacred things must not defile His sacred work by mingling common fire with service in business lines, but must bring the pure holy principles of heaven permanently into their work, follow His direction and use what comes from Him, consecrate themselves wholly to Him rather than serve with divided loyalty, and then His great power will be their wisdom.

Service becomes strange fire when self is mingled with His work. It is selfishness, pride, passion, an unrenewed heart, and weaving self and a common spirit into His solemn work in place of the sacred. It is handling sacred responsibilities in strange self-chosen ways, trusting in self instead of making Him the trust, planning and devising methods to carry out projects of one's own mind in order to make a show, working in self and for display without daily conversion, prayer, consecration and hiding in Jesus Christ to be worked by the Holy Spirit. Zealous efforts and good purpose cannot make unjust or selfish methods acceptable to Him, not even a spark of human methods and principles belongs in worship, and those who handle sacred responsibilities may be blind to the harm their actions cause. Those doing His work are to uphold its holiness and truth and present Christlike character, for departures from the sacred character of Christ are more offensive when made by people with greater responsibility, and right performance of His work for this time and salvation of souls connected with them depend in great degree on their own spiritual condition. Workers who bring self into the work incur His displeasure, lose discernment by leaving Christ out so the work is tainted and will not endure, let in Satan's artful deceptive working with resolutions never thought of in the councils of heaven, feel little sacredness of the work or earnest desire for Him to lead and inspire their hearts and give wisdom, and unless they can distinguish sacred fire from common should remove their hands from the work.

Loud boisterous talking and unsanctified zeal in council meetings, bold propositions and loud-voiced speeches, combativeness in carrying forward business, partiality, favoritism, hypocrisy, and acting by man's wisdom instead of being inspired by Him is selfish un-Christlike strange fire He has positively forbidden. It is divorcing religion and business, failing to be fervent in spirit in serving Him, grasping to gather in what has not been earned, confederating together with mutual promises of support, and leading others into false paths that work injury to fellow men.

Treating sacred truths, warnings, appeals and light as common, and walking in self-kindled human sparks while feeling rich in talent, is kindling strange fire that bears fruit unto death. Deceptive spiritualistic teachings are common fire, not holy fire, because they do not come from Him. He accepts only sacred fire of His own kindling to consume selfishness, commonness, cheapness and other unChristlike traits in those serving Him, and His representatives must hide self in Christ, show heaven's principles in every action, and let His Spirit consume unholy traits.