Leviticus 10:9, commentary and pictures

God commanded Aaron and his sons with him to drink no wine nor strong drink when they went into the tabernacle to minister, under penalty of death as a perpetual statute throughout their generations. It was given so they would keep clear, unconfused powers to distinguish between holy and unholy and between clean and unclean, and with unclouded reason to teach Israel all the statutes and do their sacred work with perfection. Nadab and Abihu freely drank before service until their wine-clouded minds could not distinguish God's commanded sacred fire from common fire, so they offered strange unauthorized fire and were devoured by fire from the Lord, and their impaired discernment did not excuse them because accountability begins when the cup is put to the lips. Fermented liquor by itself beclouds the intellect, dethrones reason, weakens mental and physical power, dulls spiritual feeling and moral sense, and levels sacred things with common things until right and wrong is not discerned. The statute reaches from generation to generation to the close of time, requiring strict temperance and clear judgment in all entrusted with sacred responsibility, which Daniel and his companions honored in refusing the king's wine, and Christ honored in creating at Cana only pure unfermented juice and never putting fermented liquor to His own lips or His disciples' lips.

Wording and Setting

The command was spoken to Aaron and his sons with him, forbidding them to drink wine nor strong drink when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation to minister and serve. It bound them whenever they entered to perform sacred service, lest they die. It was laid down as a positive, perpetual statute forever throughout their generations.

Disobedience carried the penalty of death. The prohibition was imposed as a lasting and permanent rule for their generations. It guarded those serving in sacred office so they could act responsibly and do their work with perfection.

The command means total abstinence while in holy office from anything that intoxicates. The wine and strong drink forbidden are understood as fermented liquor. Priests were further guarded by restriction from wine and even grapes in any form when coming before the Lord, so they would not become familiar with fermented wine.

Purpose of Prohibition

The prohibition was given so that priests entering to serve would keep their powers of discrimination clear and unconfused, able to put a difference between holy and unholy and between clean and unclean with correct judgment. Wine confused the senses and left men unable to distinguish sacred from common, so clear discernment was made necessary for sacred duties. Abstinence from anything that impairs sound mental activity was therefore especially required of those serving in holy things, who must be able to instruct the people and set them an example.

It was also given so they would have the full use of unclouded reason to teach Israel all the statutes spoken through Moses. Strong drink enervates the brain and weakens nerve power, making it impossible to distinguish between right and wrong, and anything in eating and drinking that disqualifies the mental powers for healthful and active exercise is an aggravating wrong, especially for those who minister in holy things. Those who have to do with sacred things must do nothing that mars the perfection of their work by indulging appetite, remembering that a heavenly Watcher constantly beholds their work and the spirit brought into it. God will not work a miracle to keep men from the consequence of deliberately disregarding His directions. Those who minister in holy things must at all times be examples to the people and be in condition to instruct them properly.

Clear judgment was needed to judge rightly between right and wrong and to administer justice and mercy wisely. The restriction protected judgment so priests could act justly toward the fatherless and widows and do justice to the widow and the fatherless. It was a solemn safeguard for those serving in holy office to teach God's laws and to avoid accepting bribes. Its principle applies to all who hold positions of responsibility, since temperance preserves clear judgment, sound moral principles, and the ability to administer justice and mercy.

Men honored with sacred, responsible work must therefore keep a continual sense of the sacredness of their work. They must be men of strictly temperate habits, with firmness and principle, self-control and courageous resolution, keeping the highest powers of the mind clear. The command was to garrison their hearts and preserve their reasoning powers clear to discern between right and wrong in their dealings with the people. Unless they are strictly temperate they will not be men of principle, because indulgence of appetite perverts the senses. The need for this restraint on fitness for sacred responsibility applies in every age.

Nadab and Abihu's Violation

Nadab and Abihu drank freely of wine before entering to perform sacred service, being at least partially intoxicated when they acted. Some accounts describe this not as an isolated lapse but as a settled drinking habit formed by repeated gratification until the force of habit controlled them. Their course was rooted in indulgent parenting that had formed characters inclined to self-gratification and irreverence, in treating putting the intoxicating draught to the lips as a trifle, and in failing to understand their own weakness. Elevation to holy office did not break the sinful custom, and the reverence they failed to give their father passed into disregard of the positive divine requirement, with fatal result. They had been brought into close connection with God to be instructed in His will and to have their character tested, with the highest incentive to resist vicious habit.

Their wine-clouded minds, benumbed senses, confused brains, debased faculties, and beclouded intellects left them unable to distinguish the sacred from the common and disqualified them for sacred office. In that condition they lost a realizing sense of the difference between the sacred fire kindled from heaven by God Himself and commanded to be kept burning continually on the altar without ever going out, and the common fire He had forbidden. So with censers and incense they put common, strange, unauthorized fire upon them instead of the fire God had commanded, failing to distinguish God's sacred requirement from common practice. With the full and clear use of their reasoning powers they would have recoiled with horror from transgressing the express command.

Fire went out from the Lord and devoured and slew them before Him for disregard of express directions, disobedience to His directions about the fire offered with incense, and breach of trust. Their death by God's fire illustrates the fatal consequence of intemperance and shows that intoxication brought deadly consequences in sacred service. Their punishment taught Israel to approach God with reverence and to follow His appointed manner of worship. It shows that partial obedience is not enough, even when nearly everything else is done as commanded.

By choosing to drink they made themselves accountable and responsible for their actions while intoxicated. Accountability begins when the cup is put to the lips, and a man is responsible for all acts committed while under the influence of wine even when intoxication has paralyzed discernment. Impairment of judgment, clouded discernment, dulled sense of sacred things, and confusion caused by drinking did not remove that responsibility or excuse the sin of treating common fire as sacred and dishonoring God. Their indulgence of appetite cost them their lives.

Power of Intoxicants

Fermented liquor confuses the senses, beclouds the intellect, bewilders the brain, dethrones reason and perverts the powers given by God. It enervates the brain and weakens nerve power with physical and mental power, so that right and wrong cannot be distinguished. Wine benumbs the senses of those who drink it before sacred service, leaving judgment impaired for holy work. By itself wine is a snare that creates love for itself until it becomes pleasant and is preferred before water.

Indulging appetite dulls spiritual feeling and reason and dulls the soul's moral sense. It debases the faculties and morals, benumbs the sensibilities and the perceptions, and produces physical, mental, and moral feebleness so that right and wrong is not discerned. In that clouded state eternal things are leveled with common things, sacred things seem ordinary, and disobedience seems pleasing rather than sinful. Intoxicating drink thus obscures the difference between truth and error and between sacred and common, leaving those in holy office unable to discern sacred things.

Appetite is the persevering avenue by which Satan works to ruin men, as he caused the fall in Eden, leading priests and heads of families to intemperance. Indulgence of liquor and other narcotics narcotizes the force of reason so that wrong is not discerned and brings its slaves completely under the dominion of their master until evil habits conquer and destroy. In beclouding reason it gives the destroyer opportunity to enter. Intensified appetite and passion are transmitted to children unto the third and fourth generation. Fermented wine is not a natural production and was never made by the Lord, so its use in sacred service dishonors God and breaks strict temperance.

Lasting Application and Connections

The prohibition was made a statute forever throughout generations, reaching from generation to generation to the close of time because the need for restraint to keep men fit for sacred responsibility applies in every age. It is therefore to be regarded in this dispensation, with total abstinence from anything that intoxicates required of those who minister in holy office so that powers of discrimination stay clear and unconfused to put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean, and so that unclouded reason remains for teaching all the statutes spoken by Moses. Anything in eating and drinking that disqualifies the mental powers for healthful and active exercise is an aggravating sin, especially for those with high responsibilities whose judgment must not be clouded by liquor. Like the positive prohibition about the tree of knowledge given to the first parents to impress strictly temperate habits for preserving all powers in full force for constant action, this positive perpetual command was given on pain of death, and those who through selfish gratification think God does not mean what He says and venture to disobey as Adam did find the result is death.

Those who minister in holy things must at all times be examples to the people and be in condition to instruct them properly, with soul, body, and spirit in conformity to natural law to preserve the right balance of mental powers. The same principle of clear judgment, sound moral principle, and strict temperance fits all who hold positions of trust and instruct the people, including jurors, legislators, and executors of law who decide the liberty, life, and destiny of fellow men and must administer justice and mercy wisely. The warning applies to physicians, whose appetite and habits must be kept under strict control as they care for patients under God's watch, since wine benumbs the senses. It bears on parents' need for clear minds and self-control to preserve physical and mental powers to serve God and guide children, on teachers who lead others into falsehood and thereby offend God and face punishment for both their own sins and those they cause, and on workers handling religious publications who must be discerning about what is fit for sacred work and not allow deceptive material to compromise it.

The same principle condemns tobacco because it dulls the brain, clouds the mind, benumbs the faculties, and defiles the user, especially endangering those with high responsibilities. The history of Nadab and Abihu, whose senses were confused by wine so they could not distinguish the sacred from the common, warned Daniel and his companions that wine could become a snare and impair clear judgment, so they refused the wine offered at the king's table.

Fermented liquor confuses the senses, perverts God-given powers, bewilders the brain and dethrones reason, giving the destroyer opportunity to enter, and its use in sacred service dishonors God by breaking strict temperance, for it is not a natural production and was never made by the Lord. Those connected with sacred service were therefore prohibited from touching wine or using grapes in any way when coming before the Lord, to avoid becoming familiar with fermented wine. Christ at Cana created only the best pure unfermented juice of the grape, a safe drink for all humanity, and never made, endorsed, or put fermented liquor to His own lips or His disciples' lips. Paul's counsel to Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach and infirmities meant only unfermented grape juice, never what the Lord had prohibited. Avoiding drink and other indulgences that impair discernment and dishonor God supports clear judgment for sacred duties, as shown when disobedience in sacred service led to death.