Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 10:1-2

1 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.

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

3 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. And Aaron held his peace.

We have gone for a while without hearing of any rebellion from the Israelites, but sadly that streak comes to an end. Nadab and Abihu offer “strange fire” to the Lord, which clearly seems to mean some sort of idolatrous ritual.

I should note that not all commentators agree on that point. Some suppose that “strange fire” merely means the fire didn’t come from the correct place (the outer altar) or was offered at a wrong time in a ritual. However I see two pieces of evidence that make idolatry more likely. First is that the word used for “strange” is זָרָ֔ה (zarah), the same that is used when referencing “strange gods.” Secondly, is that later in this chapter we will see an actual minor error in ritual observation, and it does not incur any penalty. The severity of God’s punishment suggests a more serious infraction.

And that punishment certainly was severe! It is one thing to be slain by the Lord, to collapse dead in a moment, but Nadab and Abihu were consumed by miraculous fire! This was obviously an unforgettable lesson to the Israelites of the seriousness of their offense. Clearly God was not merely displeased, He was furious, and the dramatic execution calls to mind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

But that is not all. The verses that immediately preceded these described divine fire of the Lord consuming the meat offering, accepting it in miraculous fashion. Well now Nadab and Abihu were the ones being consumed by divine fire, this time out of rejection. It is two sides of the same coin. It is something we have seen a few times already in the books of Moses: God’s glory purifies and God’s glory destroys. God’s judgment exalts the righteous and God’s judgment decimates the wicked. God’s words empower the campaign of the truthful, and God’s words breaks the schemes of the liar. God is great and God is terrible. All of our works, all of our offerings, all of ourselves are offerings to the Most High, consumed in His fire either to joy or to fearful destruction.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 32:19-20

19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

At the start of this chapter I mentioned that Moses up in the mountain with God and the Israelites down in the valley with their idol was an allegory for all mankind. Today, we see those two opposites meeting again. The elevated and transcendent has touched back to the fallen earth.

The first thing that Moses does is break in pieces the Lord’s invitation to Israel to build Him a holy house. The people were not worthy of it. They had not only violated the principles etched upon the tablets, but also the earlier law that was the prerequisite to receiving the latter tablets. Of course, we know that ultimately Israel would build the tabernacle as planned, but only because God would restore that privilege. First the people had to lose everything. They had to be condemned before they could be redeemed.

Next, Moses similarly broke the people’s sin. He took their perverse calf and destroyed it in the most complete way imaginable. First burned, then ground into powder, then poured into water, then drunk. It’s hard to think of a way he could have decimated it any further!

Also, there is an obvious symbolism in Moses having the people drink the very essence of their sin. They were drinking the consequences of their own wrongs. No one can pervert the ways of the Lord and not be soiled within. Many the man has tried to have his secret vice on the side while still maintaining that he is a “good” person, but it never works. The sin does not live outside of the man. It begins external, as the influence of temptation, but by engaging with it the man ingests its evil, and then it churns within him.