Lesson 85 - Senior
Memory Verse
"I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified" (Leviticus 10:3).
Cross References
I The Untimely death of Aaron's Eldest Sons
1. Aaron and his posterity were set apart by God to fill the office of priest in Israel, [NUM:3:1-3]; [EXO:28:1]; [NUM:18:1-7].
2. Nadab and Ahibu's imprudent act of disobedience cause fire to come from the Lord, which killed them, [NUM:3:4]; [LEV:10:1-2]; [1SM:6:19]; [2SM:6:6-7]; [2CH:26:16-23]; [MAT:21:12-13]; [DEU:4:24]; [DEU:9:3]; [HEB:12:29].
3. Moses reminded the surviving father, Aaron, of the Lord's commandment that He must receive honour and glory, [LEV:10:3]; [1SM:2:17]; [EXO:20:2-3]; [EXO:34:14]; [PS:73:28]; [HEB:10:22]; [JAM:4:8].
4. Two Levites of the family of Kohath, distant relatives of the deceased, were given the responsibility of carrying the bodies out of the Tabernacle court, that the officiating priests might not become defiled or otherwise hindered in their ministrations, [LEV:10:4-5]; [LEV:21:1-6], [LEV:21:10-12]; [NUM:3:19], [NUM:3:27-32]; [NUM:18:21-23].
5. Aaron and his remaining sons were reminded by Moses that allegiance to God and faithfulness to the Lord's service were greater than any duty or obligation to man, [LEV:10:6-7]; [MAT:6:33]; [1KG:19:19-21]; [LUK:9:59-62].
6. Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar obediently remained at their posts of duty, [LEV:10:3-7]; [MAK:10:28-30].
7. God Himself commanded Aaron and his sons to separate themselves unto the Lord that they might effectually serve Him, [LEV:10:8-11].
II The Completion of the Worship of the Day
1. The priests were instructed to proceed with the sacrificial worship and eat the portion of the meat offering reserved for them, in the Holy Place, [LEV:10:12-13]; [LEV:9:4].
2. The breast and shoulder of the peace offering were then to be eaten by the priests and their families in a clean place, [LEV:10:14-15]; [LEV:9:4], [LEV:9:18-21]; [NUM:18:8-20].
3. Moses, finding that the people's sin offering had not been eaten by the priests, reproved the sons of Aaron for their failure, [LEV:10:16-18]; [LEV:9:3], [LEV:9:15], [LEV:9:22]; [LEV:4:30]; [LEV:6:30], [LEV:6:26].
4. Aaron's defence of his reprimanded sons seems to indicate fear that they were not ceremonially clean themselves (therefore unworthy of eating the sin offering), no doubt prompted by God's quick judgment on presumptive sin that day, [LEV:10:19-20]; [LEV:9:15-17]; [LEV:6:27]; [DEU:10:12]; [ECC:12:13]; [ISA:8:13]; [ISA:52:11].
Notes
Sudden Judgment in the Midst of Blessing
At our last view of the Tabernacle we saw it glorious with the manifestations of a reconciled God and a delighted, adoring people. We saw the institution of the Aaronic priesthood and the comparisons between it and the Priesthood of Christ, who is now performing His mediation for us ([1JN:2:1]). But someone has said that "light rejected bringeth night"; and we can see that fact demonstrated in this lesson, for around the newly-dedicated Tabernacle the dark clouds of sudden and thorough judgment descended, leaving death and sorrow in their wake.
This instance of vengeance is a standing example of that divine wrath which shall consume all who pretend to serve God but who do not come in the way God has designated, which is through and by the Atonement of Christ. God's anger burns wherever there is sin; but it burns fiercest of all about His holy altar if there are present those who pollute His service and ordained worship with their unholy, disobedient hands.
The fire God wanted to be used for the burning of incense had been miraculously kindled upon the brazen altar and was kept constantly burning by the officiating priest ([LEV:6:12-13]). After it had been extinguished prior to or during the wars of Saul and David it was restored at the dedication of Solomon's Temple, in exactly the same manner as it was originally given. The incense, to be acceptable to God, was that which was compounded according to His directions and used exclusively for His worship. It was acceptable only if its prayer -- typifying smoke arose from coals of holy fire. These men knew that God would honour no devotion but that which he inspired, but they stubbornly paid no attention to His requirements.
Nadab and Abihu were no inconsiderable personages. They were the sons of Israel's high priest, the nephews of Israel's leader, and heads of Israel's princely elders. They had been with Moses and Aaron on the Mount of God; they had looked upon the glorious vision of God as He appeared on Sinai; they had been chosen and consecrated to the priesthood; and they had stood by and assisted Aaron in the first operation of the sacrificial law. But in spite of all this they committed a rash act of sacrilege, and one vengeful flash from the Lord struck them dead. They fell from the mount of vision to the pit of destruction.
Nadab and Abihu were accepted priests at the beginning of the day and disgraced victims of God's holy indignation at its close. The world had not made one of its 24-hour revolutions from the morning when the people drew near Nadab and Abihu as the sanctified of the Lord until they shrank from them in horror as the accursed of God. In the morning they had the prospects of a bright destiny before them, but in the evening they were in the hands of death and all their hopes were quenched. The head and fount of the sin of these men was the presumptuous substitution of a will-worship of their own, in defiance of what God had appointed. They had disregarded the "Thus saith the LORD."
A certain saint, when asked the question: "What is the most dangerous thing in which a person can indulge?" replied, "To hold God's truth carnally, and to exalt self." God has here given us full proof that He will not suffer human institutions to take the place of His own prescribed worship. He who makes such substitutions is exalting himself above God, and he certainly will not stand guiltless before God. God's light can blind such a one; God's ark can destroy him; God's sanctuary can smite him; and the Lord's table be damnation to him. A wilfully perverted truth can be, to the apostate, a chain that will hold, bind, and blind him forever.
God can carry on His work with a pure ministry, few in number, but not with a multitude of unholy men in priestly robes serving their own lusts. It has been said: "Infidelity at the altar will inevitably beget irreligion in the tents. An impious priesthood cannot train up a pious people for the heritage of God." This out-flashing of divine wrath upon the sons of Aaron gives a perpetual emphasis to the admonition, "Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD" (Isaiah 52:11).
The Faithfulness of Aaron
The third verse of the tenth chapter of Leviticus contains a sentence of only a few words but an eloquent depth of meaning: "And Aaron held his peace." This man stood and gazed upon the bodies of his eldest sons, lying dead before the sanctuary, where they had been smitten by an angry God. He had not one lingering ray of hope to comfort him in the hour of bereavement, except the knowledge that it was the Lord's doings, done in the just vindication of divine holiness and glory. He knew it was a deserved punishment, but still he must have keenly felt the sting of bereavement that any loving father would feel. However, in spite of his grief and sorrow he "held his peace."
The mute sorrow of Israel's high priest is express in a hymn stanza by Charles Wesley:
"Why should a living man complain
That sinners are struck dead?
Reprieved myself, I still remain,
If punished in my seed.
Howe'er thou deal'st with mine or me,
O stop the murmuring groan,
Or let my only answer be,
'Father, Thy will be done!'"
The Law Regarding the Dead
It was fitting that leading members of the Levite family of Kohath, soon to be charged with the transportation of the sacred vessels and furniture of the Tabernacle, be chosen to remove the bodies of these judged and condemned men. Elzaphan was a chief of the Kohathites and Mishael was his brother and no doubt also held a prominent place in the service of the Levites.
We read that later when it was near the time for Aaron to die, the Lord gave instructions that the priestly garments were to be taken from him while he was still alive and were to be given to his successor. For him to die in these consecrated robes would mean that they would be rendered unfit for further use in the sanctuary ([NUM:20:26]). But God's judgment upon these unfaithful priests was so sudden and so complete that there was no time for divesting them of their priestly apparel. They died in their robes, and because of the defilement thus brought upon those garments Nadab and Abihu were buried in them. Jude seemed to allude to this incident in his Epistle when he wrote: "And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh" (Jude 23).
Moses also reminded the remaining priests of the further prohibitions of the Law. They were to exhibit no outward evidence of mourning, because they were engaged in the service of the sanctuary. Those who are thus engaged must be sure to avoid anything that might incapacitate them for that service ([JHN:4:31-36]). Also, because of the fact that the crime was so highly provocative to God, mourning or grief could be interpreted by God or man, as an insinuation that God was deemed guilty of undue severity.
God's Service Resumed
It probably takes a longer time to relate the happenings of this tragic hour than was taken by the whole proceedings. The transgressors came into the holy precincts of God and were smitten. The remaining priests stood in awe before the manifestation of judgment while the leader, Moses, gave the detailed instructions for the disposal of the bodies and his warning to those who were left. Following this, the order to resume the worship of God was given and the priests took up where they had left off in the sacrificial ceremony.
When certain offerings were brought to the Lord, portions of them were to be eaten by the priests. It has been pointed out that when the portions allotted to them were eaten, more was included in that act than merely the nourishment of their bodies. As the offering was consumed by the priests they prefigured the time when the priest and sacrifice would be one person: Jesus Christ, the Messiah. This eating, then, was a part of the sacrificial worship and was not to be casually, or carelessly, or irreverently done. (Read [1CO:11:23-30]).
Some offerings were to be eaten in the Holy Place by the priests only, while others were for the families of the priests and could be eaten outside the sanctuary in a clean place. However, no sin offering when the blood was taken into the Holy Place and sprinkled upon the golden altar and before the vail, could be eaten. Those bodies must be burned without the camp in a clean place.
The Sin Offering Uneaten
Moses was alert to the possibility of error again being committed; and with the zeal of a true leader he observed every detail of the priests' conduct, to see that they did all things according to the Word of the Lord ([HEB:13:17]). He detailed the procedure for each sacrifice.
But when Moses looked for the flesh of the people's sin offering, that he might instruct the priests to eat it, he could not find it. (Read [LEV:6:24-30].) Moses sternly reprimanded the two remaining sons of Aaron because he found that the flesh had been burned instead of eaten. Aaron interceded for his sons with an apology that was accepted by Moses because of the trouble of the day. The import of the apology seems to be that all the duty pertaining to the presentation of this sacrifice had been duly and sacredly performed, except that which might have been called the festive portion of it. He said, "Such things have befallen me: and if I had eaten the sin offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD?" This indicates that the tragic events of judgment, which had bereaved Aaron had made him eager to examine his own heart to make sure there would be no further disobedience of the law of God.
Perhaps the other priests also had not eaten of the offering because of a sense of unworthiness, as well as a fear of committing an impropriety which might call down still more judgments. The anointing oil of the Lord was upon them but they might have felt that they were, in a certain sense, unclean and undone, having seen the terrible manifestation of God's power in a way that left no doubt about His omnipotence ([ISA:6:1-5]). They probably felt that they could eat the meat offerings of praise, which was their due, in perfect confidence; but when it came to partaking of that offering which was brought to take away the inward depravity and inbred sin of the people it was a more serious matter, and they were not desirous of being careless about the handling of that matter.
What This Incident Teaches Us
We find in this tragic chapter of Israel's history a staggering lesson to us all. To a good man, sudden death is only a sudden deliverance from the infirmities of life. It is merely a sudden entrance into Glory for him. It saves him many an anxiety and pain. It transforms his mortal body into that which is immortal and eternal. It removes him from this valley of tears and sorrow, and plants his feet in the land of eternal bliss and happiness. It settles forever the state of the individual, because there is no possibility of sin in Heaven and no tempter to entice him.
But when a thoughtless and impenitent sinner is cut off and hurried to judgment without a moment's notice or warning it is exceedingly terrible. There is no opportunity then to retrace his steps or to repent of his sins. As the tree falls, so shall it lie. (Read [ECC:11:3].) No matter how devout a person's life may have been, the spiritual condition at the moment of death will determine its eternal existence. There is no chance after death to repent of one' sins or to be purged from their stain. As we live, so shall we die " and in that manner stand before God.
Nadab and Abihu had been zealous servants of God and had enjoyed great privileges not given to many in Israel. But they transgressed, and while in the very act of their transgression a bolt of flame darted out and laid them instantaneously with the dead. They will not stand before God at the judgment as devout men who saw God's glory on Mt. Sinai, but as rebellious, self-willed, proud sinners who substituted their own ways for the plan of God and who in their disobedience were called to stand before God, judged and condemned for their wilful sin ([PRO:14:12]).
Questions
1. Name the four sons of Aaron according to their ages.
2. What great distinction was placed upon the eldest son of Aaron?
3. What relationship did these sons have to Moses?
4. Tell about the self-willed act of the two that brought about their death.
5. Why was God so particular about His service?
6. Why could not Aaron mourn for them as a father would normally mourn the death of his sons?
7. What great lesson does Aaron's conduct teach us?
8. Why is God so particular that His ministry be clean and holy?
9. Why were they buried in their coats?
10. What particular sin offerings were to be eaten by the priests in the Holy Place and not burned without the camp?