Leviticus 10:13, commentary and pictures

The verse commands Aaron and his sons to eat their God-appointed due of the offerings made by fire to the Lord in the holy place as part of the consecration and duties of the priests in the sanctuary service. It stands in the chapter where Nadab and Abihu disobeyed clear instruction by offering strange, unauthorized, common fire instead of the holy fire God had commanded, and were consumed and slain before the people. It teaches that worship must follow what God has commanded rather than human invention or substitute, and that what He has made holy cannot be treated as common or interchangeable with what He has not sanctified. That distinction requires His servants to be clear-headed and temperate and to hallow what He has sanctified, keeping the seventh-day Sabbath He appointed instead of any day of custom or apostasy. The slain beasts and dry details of this priestly law take on life as a type fulfilled in the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, whose once-for-all sacrifice and ministry in the heavenly sanctuary the yearly round of Levitical sacrifices and priestly duties foreshadowed, left on record for the admonition of those upon whom the ends of the world are come to obey exactly what God says.

Priestly Setting and Regulation

Leviticus 10:13 belongs to a chapter dealing with sacrifices and offerings and the consecration and duties of the priests. It is part of the regulation of the priesthood and its offerings belonging to the tribe of Levi, standing in connection with the consecration of Aaron and his sons and the instructions concerning the various offerings. It stands in chapters 8-10 which record the consecration of the priests and the death of Nadab and Abihu. It belongs to the priests' code governing the offerings and ritual of the Lord's house, setting forth the services and duties of the priests and Levites in connection with the sanctuary and its worship and the duties of the people in regard to worship, offerings and sacrifices. It shows the suitable and proper approach of a sinful yet chosen people to a holy God dwelling with them in the tent set up for Him, part of laws civil, ceremonial, moral, religious and sanitary that give most attention to the religious and ceremonial and give instruction for the service of the sanctuary.

The verse requires that the priests' due from the sacrifices of the LORD made by fire be eaten in the holy place. That eating was their allotted portion, commanded by God.

The permission covered only a very few offerings — wave offerings, peace offerings, and oblations. Those oblations were not always flesh but sometimes corn, wine, wheat, and other produce. Even of flesh it was only a limited lean portion after all the fat was offered to the Lord and burned, from young healthy creatures without blemish. There was no share in the real burnt offerings nor in any beast whose blood was carried into the sanctuary. So it gives no license to eat swine's flesh swimming in grease or diseased and fat meat that is unwholesome and unfitted for feeble men and women of this age.

When the priests ate the designated sacrificial flesh in the holy place, the priest bore the transgressor's iniquity. So the sin was borne into the sanctuary and awaited final disposition on the day of atonement.

Holiness, Disobedience, and Judgment

Leviticus 10 stands as the immediate context, where Nadab and Abihu disobeyed clear instructions and offered strange, unauthorized, common fire and incense kindled with it instead of the sacred holy fire God had commanded. Though their fire served its purpose, it was not the kind prescribed, and God's own fire consumed and slew them before the people. In doing so they joined and identified themselves with sin by transgressing God's word and breaking His express commandments, and they perished with their sin. Their punishment illustrates that God's wrath is directed against sin when people identify themselves with it.

The account shows that God requires worship to follow His commands rather than human inventions, and that a substitute for what He has commanded is not acceptable. No one can disregard what God has plainly said and do what He has not commanded because it is custom, and still hope to live and be accepted in His sight. Worship cannot honor God by substituting a different practice for what He commanded, even when the substitute appears to serve the purpose. The verse thus teaches the difference between the holy and the common or profane: what God has made holy and sanctified cannot be treated as common or regarded as interchangeable with what He has not sanctified. Nadab and Abihu wrongly regarded strange fire as interchangeable with holy fire and put no difference between what God had sanctified and what He had not, offering incense kindled with common fire when God had commanded sacred fire.

That distinction includes temperance, for God's servants must be clear-headed, temperate men. Aaron's sons broke God's commandments because their minds had become confused by the wine they drank, and the chapter teaches the necessity of temperance on that account. God is as particular and jealous for His word in punishing disobedience now as then. Distinguishing holy from profane therefore requires obeying Him and hallowing His Sabbaths — keeping the Sabbath day He appointed, the seventh day He sanctified and claimed for a wise reason, instead of treating any day as acceptable to offer to the Lord or following custom and the rival sabbath of the apostasy. Those who make no such difference make it a light thing to disobey God and hide their eyes from His Sabbaths, while those who distinguish between holy and profane obey God and hallow His Sabbaths. The record of ancient Israel stands for instruction and admonition to those upon whom the ends of the world are come, to learn its lessons, to take heed lest they fall, and to escape imminent danger by obeying exactly what God says.

Type of Christ's Ministry

Leviticus 10:13 belongs to a chapter dealing with sacrifices and offerings and the consecration and duties of the priests, and its sacrificial details have meaning that is fulfilled in Christ's sacrifice, life, and work. The law for eating the priests' due of the sacrifices made by fire in the holy place is one of the dry details of laws and regulations that takes on life and blessing when seen as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. It stands as one of the mighty object-lessons given in Leviticus to emphasize the exceeding sinfulness of sin, with the slain beasts pointing forward to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

The verse belongs to the Levitical sanctuary service, whose yearly round of sacrifices and priestly duties served as a type of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. That service was repeated each year, while Christ's offering and priestly ministry are once for all. The record of ancient Israel stands for instruction and admonition to those upon whom the ends of the world are come, to learn its lessons, to take heed lest they fall, and to escape imminent danger by obeying exactly what God says. This includes keeping the Sabbath day He appointed instead of the rival sabbath of the apostasy, since no one can disregard what God has plainly said and do what He has not commanded because it is custom, and still hope to live and be accepted in His sight.