Leviticus 10

I'm going to go Old Testament on you for a minute.

Nadab and Abihu, Leviticus 10.

These guys were priests.

They were the oldest sons of Aaron, and they had access to the very presence of God, which back then was in the tabernacle in the holy place.

Nadab and Abihu had a wrong belief about who God is and how he is to be approached.

We don't know exactly what the strange fire was because scripture doesn't give details.

And some Bible scholars say these two, they were probably drunk because God addresses that a couple sentences later in Leviticus 10, 8 through 9.

But regardless, they didn't follow God's instructions.

There are other shocking acts of what seem like pure cruelty in the Hebrew Bible.

In Leviticus 10, God completely wipes out Aaron's sons when they bring him a, quote, strange fire, which he did not sanction, for instance.

You see the Hebrew there.

And Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his pan, put fire in them, and placed incense upon it.

Stop.

Why is that a big deal? You'll see I wrote off to the side Leviticus 10, 12 through 14.

Because in Leviticus 12, 10 through 14, there was the written word of God.

And these priests had the written word of God.

And in that passage, Leviticus 10, it said what portion belonged to the priests.

The priests were only supposed to take part of the breast and part of the shoulder.

But when we see Eli's sons, they are not really caring what the written word of God says.

But the book of Leviticus quickly shows us that this role was not to be taken lightly.

In Leviticus 10, a tragedy occurs that shakes the entire camp.

Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, took their censers and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord.

The Bible does not give us every detail, but it is clear they disobeyed God's specific instructions.

The scripture identifies the clean and the unclean.

Leviticus 10 seems to go something like this.

One of our aspirations is to go from unclean to clean.

There's another category.

And so very complex recipes are given in the scriptures to create these aromatic smokes that the Elohim, including Yahweh, liked.

But what happens if you get the smell wrong? That's the story of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10.

Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, took their censers, put fire in them, and added incense.

And they offered unauthorized fire before Yahweh, contrary to his command.

But I chose you that I may use you and that he would be glorified through their life.

You know, one of the things Leviticus 10 said, Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me.

And before all the people I will be glorified.

Psalm 22, David said this.

And you have to understand that just like in Daniel 3, if you all remember right, Nebuchadnezzar had all of his subordinates, after he created the golden image, what he did is he had all of his subordinates, once the music played, they would bow down to the golden image that he created.

Well, we see the same thing with strange fire being offered up with Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10.

And then when we look over, we also see in Scripture where it talks about the sounds of war that were heard in the camp.

Exodus 32, 17 through 19.

How do you control the people? through the music that they listen to.

So what we're going to do is we're going to go over to Leviticus 10 real quick.

And I want to read this to you, and I want you to listen carefully because this is the Old Testament.

Again, these were outward observances only to understand inward graces by the Holy Ghost, Titus 3, 5.

And it says in Leviticus 10, 1 through 3, And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, they took either of them, the censer, and put fire therein, and put incense therein, praise and prayer up to God.

Therein and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not to do.

And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.