Jacob Chanikuzhy

They were two brand new priests. They were the sons of the High Priest too. The two were more special because they were specially favoured by God. Their ordination ceremony was so solemn and it lasted for a week. On the eighth day, they were all set to start their ministry as priests. To add more glory to their priestly ministry, they were to begin their service on the inaugural day of the newly built magnificent sanctuary. All the people gathered in the sanctuary to witness the first service at the altar of the Lord. Nevertheless, God was so displeased at their first service at his altar that he struck them down with fire. Even their father and their brothers were not allowed to touch their corpses… This fearsome narrative is found in the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 10. This is the story about the Nadab and Abihu, the two elder sons of Aaron, the High Priest of Israel, offering incense in the newly built tabernacle. This is a story that should serve a fitting warning not only to priests but also to everyone who claims to serve God.

What was the sin of Nadab and Abihu? Leviticus 9 stipulates that that Aaron should offer sacrifices for himself and for the people. Here, Nadab and Abihu offered incense without any explicit command from Aaron. Thus, it appeared an encroachment on the duties of Aaron. Again, according to the text, they brought strange fire to the altar. This means that they burned the incense with profane fire, the fire taken from elsewhere. They should have used the fire from the sacred bronze altar. Why did they dare to do something without proper authorization? Why did they presume that they can use any fire to burn the incense? May be they were so excited about the ministry that they neglected the details of its performance. Some think that they were drunk before they offered the incense at the altar. As they were intoxicated, they did not remember the instructions regarding the offering of the incense. The possibility of their drunken state is indicated by the text following this incident. In the passage that follows this incident we find the divine instruction given to the priests to abstain from wine before officiating in the tabernacle.

Rabbinic tradition has it that Nadab and Abihu were very handsome as they were very holy. They were favourites of God, and God had allowed these two to climb up Mount Sinai along with Moses and Aaron. According to Rabbinic tradition they both ate in the presence of God. But none of these were valid excuses to prevent God from punishing them. God punished them because by neglecting the instructions on divine worship, they encroached a divine prerogative and expressed carelessness and disrespect to the divine things. By doing so, they set a bad example to the people. As priests, their sin was more serious and God promptly punished them to show people how important it is to keep the divine ordinances. God did not spare his priests thinking that exposing their sin would be a scandal and a shock to the people.

With the eternal sacrifice of Jesus, which was offered not in conformity with the OT sacrificial rules and rituals, the time of the old ways of worship and sacrifices is over. Ours is a God who is not obsessed with rubrics, but who is looking into the disposition of the hearts. Hence, though the death of Jesus was most ignominious in the sight of the people, the place of his death was most unholy in the sight of the priests, the mode of his death was most accursed in the estimate of the teachers of law, God counted it as the most pleasing sacrifice effecting the perfect reconciliation of his people with himself. Because it was offered in the fire of perfect filial obedience to the Father. While Nadab and Abihu failed to offer a pleasing sacrifice on the day of the opening of the magnificent Tabernacle, the sacrifice of Jesus opened a new temple, the temple of his body, for all those who believe in him – a temple where everyone with a contrite heart is welcome to offer the incense of one’s life, however profane the fire that consumes one’s life is.