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we'll begin Lord willing we'll be finishing up next week I'll be our last in this session father we do thank you again for this opportunity to be together to be in your word to hear from
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your Holy Spirit teaching us from Leviticus we pray that we would be attentive to his guiding that his leading us into truth keeping us from
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error pray that we would be diligent to be in your word and to let scripture interpret scripture submitting ourselves to the full Council of scripture and not
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just verses here and there so we ask that you would guide our thoughts tonight our conversation again as we turn to Leviticus teach us we pray
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through your Holy Spirit we ask in Jesus name amen so we come to Leviticus chapter 10 one of the more Infamous of the um
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chapters in the Old Testament um because we have what uh one
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crime many have have read The Narrative of naab and abue and their response has really what they do and in fact we're really not
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told what they did at least not the details and so not being told leads to a whole bunch of
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imagination throughout the last 2,000 years and more between Jewish commentators and Christian commentators allegorizing spiritualizing and even Pho of
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Alexandria saying that it wasn't a punishment it was actually a reward uh we'll talk about that a little bit tonight but I don't want to go too much into that because um he was he's way off
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base but I'm going to point out some of these various interpretations of of the crime for which naab and abue were so sum summarily punished and that that has
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been the general opinion is that this was indeed a punishment but what I want to start with is again a hermeneutics study because the naab and
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and abue and abue narrative is not in a vacuum it's part of the overall Narrative of Leviticus in fact even within its own context it is
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framed on all four sides by uh significant markers significant markers that are there to help us understand what what it is that's
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going on now they're they're not so clear as to define the crime for which the punishment was instant and fiery death um and we'll get into that this
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evening but I do want to point out this this kind this kind of um Arrangement that we have in the text this right here being of course the
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The Narrative of naab and abue bringing forward Strange forward Strange Fire or profane fire the word can mean U
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odd or even just foreign fire okay so this passage right here is
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the Strange Fire that's when it actually happens okay but that is framed above or before and within by an almost identical statement
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concerning the fire so in Leviticus 9 verse 24 we read then fire came out from before the Lord and
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have fire from the presence of the Lord and also
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um it consumed the offering on the altar then in verse two of chapter 10 keep in mind chapter divisions were not original nor were verse numbering so this is just the narrative going on um
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and we read and fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them now again th those are those are markers as you're reading through the text the
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intention of Moses's intention in writing this and I know this is uh somewhat of a lit literary angle is for us to to see within just a couple of
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verses that the the main actor here is the fire coming from the presence of the Lord which of course is the glory of the Lord so here we have the fire and then
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again here we have the fire which consumed okay that's a significant hermeneutical
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marker between the two now the other one is not so obvious but in fact the the whole chapter which really ends this first
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section of Leviticus starting in chapter 11 we're going to be getting into the sundry laws about clean and unclean uh about leprosy uh it gets it gets into
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somewhat somewhat of the of the ritual weeds but the Torah of the offering and the building and the dedication of both the Tabernacle and the priesthood that's
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finished now in chapter 10 and as we've seen in the last couple of weeks that we have also witnessed a transition on the religious side of Israel's life from Moses to
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Aaron so this other um bracket between within which we have the The Narrative itself and I'm going to put something in
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the middle uh because I think it'll help us later but of course the first two verses the first opening narrative is narrative is about Aaron's
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it may not seem like it but this passage is about is about Aaron this chapter is actually more about Aaron than his four sons and how he uh
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internalizes the event of naab and abue but then more significantly how he then applies it to his role as the high priest is what the story is all about
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now there's another side of it but from the Tabernacle priesthood which is the context of this whole section that's the essential point and to drive that point home The
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Narrative does not tell us what naab and Abu did wrong except it was strange fire but we that's a that's a very vague
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phrase um and we can see that whatever it was was um deeply offensive to Yahweh again unless we take pho's point of view that this was a reward and he
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brought them their soul their souls directly into his presence I don't think that that hasn't that that's a that's a balloon that hasn't floated um it's it's pretty apparent to
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everybody that this was a Divine punishment and as I said the text is so vague as to what it is they did wrong that that statement up there a
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punishment in search of a crime is actually very valid and commentators both Jewish and Christian have not been lack in providing the alleged crimes that
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resulted in this punishment most uh modern Scholars are are are coming to the point of view that that's a dead end that that that leads to conjecture
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and Imagination which are nothing more than other words for error trying to determine what it is that naab and abue actually did what was the what was the
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ritual uh ritual uh malpractice that that resulted in there being cons consumed by the fire from the presence of the Lord you you all see
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this connection right so we have one that is entirely approvation what color do you use I'll use black
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use black sudden immediate response from is reason seems to be out
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of well it in the in the rinic in the synagogue liturgy this narrative is actually read alongside the death of
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usza who reached out to steady the cart that was carrying the ark into Jerusalem and that was immediate and now the the Jews wouldn't do this but we could read it in our liturgy along with
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The Narrative of of um ananas and saf okay so there are instances in scripture when God acts instantly and he does so summarily
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there's no trial no jury and and then um really no explanation of what he's done it's just done now when those things happen the tenor of the text is always
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something was done wrong this is punishment and the reader is left as David was to figure out what I do now in
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his case it should have been rather obvious usza was not a levite and the Levites were the only ones permitted to transport the AR Les the furniture of
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the Tabernacle so that should have been obvious um but it it the text here though gives and the reason it's part of the rabbi literature it's a central part
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is because in verse three and we might we might put that in the middle that that's where where it belongs but in verse three we have kind of the fundamental principle here by those who
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approach me I will be holy now we looked at last week the when Moses said to Aaron approach the
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altar so there's another play on words here okay you're you're finally the consecration is done uh the the the sacrifices have been made for the
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purification of the priests and now it's time for them to actually approach Yahweh and it's so much so that Yahweh or that Moses takes Aaron into the tent
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of meeting and as I said last week I don't think Aaron went in there ever before we only know of Moses going in not not Aaron so what we have here then
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is um that concept of so um what did they do that was so Unholy
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was strange or some of your English Bibles may say profane did any of yours say profane fire unauthorized okay so um that
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actually is getting to the meaning okay because there's another connection between chapter 8 or chapter nine really 8 and nine and then
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chapter 10 and that is that um throughout chapter 8 and N there is a refrain that the things were done
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according to what the Lord had commanded so for example in in uh 9 verse 6 and Moses said this is the thing which the Lord has commanded you to do that the
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the glory of the Lord may appear to you and then it's repeated um elsewhere down through the chapter that this was done um verse 21 the breasts and the right
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thigh Aaron presented as a wave offering before the Lord just said Moses had commanded but the the whole thing is is based on what the Lord had commanded
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that's a fundamental principle that we read over and over again that what you're doing is what the Lord had commanded what Yahweh had commanded but then in verse one of chapter 10 we read now naab and Abu the sons of Aaron took
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their respective fire pans and after putting fire in them placed incense on it and offered Strange Fire before the Lord which he
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had not commanded them now again that would have been a a marker keeping in mind that that throughout the history of Israel and as exampled by Ezra during
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the or after the Exile most Exile most Israelites would hear the scriptures read to read to them if not not in the temple precincts
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then in the synagogues in their Villages the Levites would read the law and give the sense of it okay that they didn't have printing presses they didn't have
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their own copies of the scripture that would have been read to them so that you know the hermeneutics of an auditory reader versus a a visual um is it's got
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to be even more tuned in to common phrases so that when when you're hearing and fire came out from before the Lord and
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consumed the offering on the Altar and then almost immediately afterward and fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed naab and abue you see
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you would have caught that in in hearing it that you may not catch it in Reading in fact your your read through the bible program might actually stop in chapter 9
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and you don't read chapter 10 till the next day next day and by that time face it those little nuances of common words you've pretty much forgotten okay so some I mean
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sometimes it's a good idea just to sit down and read a whole book and not not not do the you know the read through the Bible necessarily um I I'm very much in
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favor of those but but you know all those things do have limitations and one of them is you just you don't catch the Cadence you don't catch the repetitive language now we've had a Cadence of what
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the Lord had commanded what the Lord had commanded through Moses what the Lord had commanded what the Lord had not commanded okay that would have crashed into to your hearing of this text and
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pretty much defined the word unauthorized strange or profane okay what is profane well what the Lord has not commanded
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yes said the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him finger so they were present they knew the I mean they were being Tau and they understood the things to be done properly yes they weren I guess I
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was trying to say they weren't in out amongst the people they were there no no they were they yeah Aon being instructed exactly they were with him the four of them were with Aaron
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when Moses was instructing because as he was instructing Aaron he was instructing the sons one of whom would replace Aaron when Aaron died um and he would wear the the fully Decked Out uniform
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exactly were there he yeah yeah this is like an intense training okay and they they went through that
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seven days they stayed in the tab Tabernacle okay they did not go home and and so this was a very intensive Moses training them this is how you do it and
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then immediately the first two of them are consumed by consumed by fire now in your notes I start out with that little vignette from The Lion and the witch in The Wardrobe I mean one of
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my my favorite fictional accounts but when Mr and Mrs Beaver are introducing the peny children to the to the identity of aan they're thinking he's some mighty
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man and and they're you know is one of them asks um I guess was Susan asks is is he is he safe and Mr Beaver says safe I tell you
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he's a lion he's not safe but he's good okay and that and that really I don't know that CS Lewis was looking at Nate ab and Habu at the time um but one one
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commentator writes this he says but the danger involved in approaching God will always exceed any finite list of precautionary meth measures that's a
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brilliant statement but we've lost that we've completely lost the concept of the danger of approaching God and and the again we've lost it primarily because
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we've lost the Old Testament or we think that somehow we've fallen into that that heresy that our God the god of the father of Jesus Christ is not the same
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God as the god of the Old Testament that that our God is a pleasant old man who loves his adopted grandchildren and Winks at their um
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foibles where take them yeah take right exactly that's what he's there for um and to briide candy and you know gifts on on birthdays and Christmas but um the god of the Old Testament I mean I think
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we all are guilty of thinking that he was arbitrary and retributive and these are the kind of narratives that feed into that false um theology such as it
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is and liberals Feast on these P that that's God I don't I don't want a god like that you don't get to choose what God you have I mean if God were
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arbitrary and fickle then he would be arbitrary and fickle what you going to do about it okay but that is not the god that is presented to us in the Old Testament actually I think it's
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significant too that presenting fire and we talked a little bit last week about the significance of fire and so they should not be coming up with some
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different way yeah yeah the in the broadest sense we can say because of because of this right here that uh they were definitely violating the regulative
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principle but we can also say that they may not have known that they were violating the regulative principle at least we can't actually
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find out from the other texts of scripture that talk about the incense and the fire and find out exactly what they did wrong that just that that ended
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up in them being consumed by the fire of the Lord it does seem though I mean is is they they took their fire pans and
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put fire in them this is what Paul Paul coins a word in um Colossians the word is will worship he kind of puts words together
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and he says it's essentially worshiping God according to your own will and understanding okay so I think we can conclude first of all that the word
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profane in in its in a general biblical definition is that which the Lord has not commanded not commanded okay so profane if we just connect the thoughts that are flowing through these
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chapters profane is that which that which God has not
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commanded now that is probably as basic a fundamental a definition of the regulative principle as you can get and that is if the Lord has not
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commanded Ed us to do something we ought not do it okay no matter how how um attractive it may be how good it may make us feel
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or how inviting it may make unbelievers feel to come to our church or whatever if the Lord has not commanded it we probably ought not do it now I don't I
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don't know that um that we can make a I well I don't I I know we can't make a list carved in stone of that which the
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Lord has and has not commanded in the in the matter of worshiping him under the New Covenant especially we do know that
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first of all naab and abue did something that he did not command okay then we come over to elazar and ithamar we found out they did not do
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something that he did command it's it's the flip side and we'll get what we'll get to that this evening as we work through the
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passage but doing something that he has not commanded is commanded is profane not doing something that he has commanded is disobedient rebellious there is a subtle difference
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between the two they're both an aspect of willfulness on the part of the human being who is approaching Yahweh so we
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can make a connection once again then with verse three okay by those who approach me I will be holy and we can say that it it's like a
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two-sided coin on the one hand we do not do what he has not commanded on the other side we do what he has
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he has commanded naab and abue violated the one and I elazar and ithamar seemed to have violated the other
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so why did two of them die and two of them live why did Aaron hold his tongue and then let loose okay the N again it becomes a
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pretty intriguing Dynamic that's going on here and we can almost picture it is is is kind of it's a kind of a family meeting we really don't know what the
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rest of the Israelites are doing during this time I can imagine that when the fire came out well first of all we're told that when the fire came out and consumed the altar sacrifices the people
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fell on their faces and called and called out or cried out okay so that that of itself was enough shocking enough to to elicit a response but then
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almost immediately the same fire comes out and consumes two of the priests how did they feel about that I mean I can imagine that they all collectively took a few steps backwards
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don't you don't you think I think that's what I would do I get my phone out videoe but but from the distance okay um you don't go into the
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Tabernacle observe the Tabernacle from a distance um distance um so that's a lesson that they are learning like they learned at sin when
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they said to Moses you go up and it was said that if you touch the mountain you will die so what kind of hints do we have as to what they did wrong well
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think oh no I think we were all there I I don't there's no indication that they were not still all together because this is all part of of the peace offering and the feast there's there's
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no transition it's not another day um it it it in fact the the incense offering is part of the overall peace offering
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and so what they were doing with their sensors with their fire pans was something that was um prescribed back in Exodus 30 okay so we have we have two uh
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components of this problem that that we need to look at and those two components are the fire and the
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incense because that's what they did they put incense in their fire pans and they put fire and then we told that they offered strange or profane fire so what
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they did was they combined fire and incense now both of those could have been wrong been wrong because the incense that was to be used
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in the worship of Yahweh was of a specific formula that no one was to use for their their you know home um what do they call
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the things that give off a scent you know they they were not allowed to mix this for personal use and whoever did so would be cut off from the people which was essentially a form of
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execution Exile okay so the incense could have been a here but u in in fact there's there's a passage in
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passage in numbers that is often referred to as analogous to this narrative and that is the rebellion of Kora and
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Dayan and the the Lord instructed Moses because they were uh they were opposing the priesthood
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of um Aaron and they were also Levites by the way so they're they're uh they're related but they were saying well what makes you know what makes Moses and
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Aaron so special I'm trying to find the passage I know I have it in here um here it is numbers 18 what makes them so special why can't we also and so the Lord
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responded by saying first of all if Kora dies in a usual way that and I have not spoken through Moses unless he the Earth
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opens up and swallows Kora his family and all his possessions then Moses is just a fraud well of course what happens the Earth but before
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that he instructs Moses to command the rebels to bring their fire pans before the Lord and these were the things with
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which you brought the incense offering and apparently you you I mean you also had it for your house so you weren't having to start a fire every time you stopped you had a a fire pan and I
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personally think that's what the fire of the altar was kept in when the Tabernacle was transferred but you had a fire pan and so they were each to bring their own fire
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pans and Kora dies the Earth swallows him up but for the other 250 of the the rebels the fire comes out from the presence of
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the Lord and consumes them okay so um there's an indic there's an analogy another narrative where the same thing is happening okay but there
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there other than that there's really no connection because we know I mean rabbis will say okay that shows that naab and abu's fundamental
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crime was crime was Rebellion because over here in numbers 18 the crime of these men is clearly Rebellion well it's not so clear in Leviticus in fact it's not clear at all
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that it's Rebellion that's that is where um you you're kind of forcing scripture to interpret scripture by analogy okay and that you you cannot
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well I don't I don't know who said this but analogic is not logic you you can't use analogy to make connections that are not
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actually true connections that they both had fire pan both groups had fire pans and incense in their fire pans does not indicate that the men in numbers 18 were
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doing the same thing that naab and abue or vice versa were doing in Leviticus 10 so the the text is um let's see I want how much do I want
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read no that's actually the Levites okay well I'm not going to go in it's in the notes and you can always read the The Narrative from Lumbers I don't want to waste too much time on that because I think there's a there's a very deep
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significance on the fact that uh in the fact that we are not told what naab and ab abue did wrong
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except that it was what the Lord had not commanded them on page 240 in your notes we have I have a summary um that shows kind of the difference
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between doing what the Lord commanded and naab and abue doing their own thing so chapter 8 verse one the Lord spoke to Moses saying take Aaron and his sons
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with him and on the chapter 9 veres one on 1 and two on the Eighth Day Moses said to Aaron take a bull CAF and then in chapter 10 verse one now Aaron's sons
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naab and abue each took his sensor and then what follows is another comparison between chapter 8:4 chapter 9:5 doing what the Lord commanded doing
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what Moses commanded and then doing what the Lord had not commanded so there's a there's a flow in the command of the Lord take Aaron and then from Moses to
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Aaron take a bull calf so it's the Lord commanding Moses Moses commanding Aaron and and then naab and Abu doing their own thing okay and and that which the Lord
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had not commanded so that's the that's I guess the the genre of their crime was
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crime was willfulness laging a little bit behind but um isn't the main problem with growing a causal connection or some sort of uh interpretive connection
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and his people and isn't it the chronology that's the main problem I mean in a way K and his people are set up afterward to suffer the same fate
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as and and that the correlation should flow that it should flow that way Al although I will say that that you do
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have reflective exeresis or illumination um you do have that in scripture obviously with a cross you know so that there is later events that shed light backwards
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on texts of scripture I don't think that that the rebellion of Kora constitutes one of those things I think yes you you would rather look from what happened to naab and abue forward
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and and really what was happening um the fire had already come out from the altar to confirm Aaron's High priesthood that is more analogous to
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numbers and the fire coming out out and consuming because what that was doing was confirming Aaron's priesthood the other Levites were rebelling and saying they wanted their day in the sun um they
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did they got they got a sunburn uh seriously so but it was what it was basically doing again it was kind of all about Aaron not about Aaron the man but
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about Aaron the high priest that he as Hebrews reminds us no man takes the position unto himself but he is called by God well Aaron has been called by God
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and that's what Kora and Dayan were that that's what they were saying we don't buy that we don't buy this Moses and Aaron thing we think we you know we're Levites too we should have a say in all
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of this and God says no you don't okay so um and again that um that's viewed as incredibly harsh by I mean just the way Justice is rendered in the Old Testament
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leads a lot of people to conclude well if that's the way God is I don't want to any part of him which is a really stupid thing to say and and actually completely opposite from the reaction that you're
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supposed to supposed to have when you are presented with the anger of a holy God again the writer of Hebrews says it is is a terrible thing
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to fall into the hands of the Living God and our God is a consuming fire okay so you know the that that notion is just so um pardon it's just asinine to to say
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Well that's but if they get a judgment to go to The Gallows they can't do anything about it they go to the G exactly yeah right what are you going to do about it uh I I know it's just so stupid like yeah yeah I don't like that
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God I mean he sits in the heaven and just Quakes in fear at your a negative assessment of him I mean that again you just might as well say there is no God which is what again the fools say but
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that's where they end up is they just deny the existence of God completely but and how they cannot see that that is nothing more than arrogant willfulness is is again be befuddling I don't I
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don't get it it's very hard to argue with a person like that because they're so incredibly stupid um you know you're not you're not being logical you're not being sensible you're not being rational how are we going to have a debate over
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this okay because you're already saying stupid things and and fundamentally the answer is I don't remember God ever asking you how he was supposed to be I
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mean are are you higher than God that you can say this God good that God's bad you know what where did where do you come off with that kind of a thing and I don't think anybody in in um well that
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that's essentially what what Kora and Dayan and the rebels were doing were saying we don't we don't see that God speaks only through Moses and Aaron and God said okay I'll show you and with the
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earth swallowing one family and the fire consuming the rest of them he showed them well that's what was happening here yes he is but but again verse three is
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kind of the central part but it's as Central to The Narrative of eler and ithamar as it is to naab and abue and the central figure of both of them is
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this guy who's wearing holy to the Lord on his on his turban that that's the whole story it's not just naab and Abu the other two brothers also matter but once again we
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do see the difference between yahweh's anger which was um
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summary and Moses's anger which turned about turned out to be premature okay even by Moses's admission at the end of chapter 10 okay so um the story does flow through the whole
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chapter it's not intended to be a standalone vignette of um of of this you know harsh and retributive and arbitrary God who just got up on the wrong side of
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to bed that morning and you know consumed two of the priests now that that is so far from the the interpretation that is most rational the
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most rational interpretation of a holy God is that he has eyes too pure to even look upon evil the only way we justify
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our opinion of God in in the negative way that he shouldn't be so harsh and judgmental and and and retributive is our low view of evil we are willing to
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tolerate it a holy God is not so either God is Not holy in which case there's no foundation for good in the in the whole universe or he is Holy and we need to
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align our thoughts with his and when he doesn't explain doesn't explain himself that is the most challenging point for
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point for Faith but because we want to know the explanation well job was never told why what happened to him happened in fact
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the latter parts of the of the Book of Job are are are God basically mocking job and his great wisdom but he when he talks you know out
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of the heavens he speaks to job's friends and he says who is this who darkens counsil with words without wisdom okay job you're so smart where
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were you when I did this where were you when I did that and job repented right and in in sackcloth and Ashes and he said I'm not going to say
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anymore so um The Silence of God is often as instructive even more so than his
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explanations and there are a number of commentators that just in general New Testament studies are returning we'll talk about this this next week um but they're they're returning to an
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understanding a historical realization that the New Testament did not simply cherry-pick Old Testament verses and build a new religion around
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them but rather it the the minds of the authors of the New Testament were immersed in the Old Testament scriptures and what they wrote down
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under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit FL flowed out of the Old Testament and its Theology and its history that is making a comeback fortunately um because
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I think it it makes a whole lot more sense but let's spend a little bit of time trying to figure out and then you know and I'm doing this just to show what can happen when we go beyond
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that which is written when the scriptures are silent we should mimic the scriptures and yet the silence of scripture does not mean it's not
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teaching us teaching us something it just means that it's somewhat like Jesus says is not for you to know the hour the day or the hour okay it's not for you to know what
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exactly naab and abiud did wrong but there's enough there for us to to piece together some of the broader Strokes of
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what they did wrong obviously they did what Yahweh had not commanded and again as I said that's kind of the the fundamental definition of what we call
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the regulative principle and I I know that there are theologians who really want to get in the weeds with that and try to to to
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pretend that scripture is is specific on everything we're supposed to do and not do I don't think that is possible not not and dealing with the scripture in in
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its own context and words but that also doesn't mean that we just simply throw caution to the wind and do whatever we want I think Luther is wrong when he says that which is not
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prohibited is thereby permitted I think he's completely wrong okay I don't think he's he's he he hasn't spent enough time in Leviticus 9 and10 okay so the criteria for what we
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do in life as our life Romans 12 a Living Sacrifice present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God that flows right out of this by
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the way that's exactly what Leviticus and the Tabernacle that's exactly what Paul has in mind in Romans 12 okay so when we're looking at our lives not just when we come to
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church that that is a complete misunderstanding of our life as Believers and it's a complete misunderstanding of the meaning of the Tabernacle which again Lord willing will
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we'll get into next week the Tabernacle is no longer this building and we're not approaching Yahweh on Sunday mornings when we come together at church the Tabernacle is now the body of
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Christ because he tabernacled Among Us so the the intersection of God and man is now the man Jesus Christ who is
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eternal God so that that universalizes the the Tabernacle Ministry into all of our lives and I I think that as we look
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at our lives in the koram Deo in the presence of God the question is is this something that the Lord has not
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commanded we may not be sure of what the Lord is commanding in individual decisions and things that we have in life but there are certain guidelines in
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scripture as to what the Lord has either commanded not to do or commanded to do or has simply not commanded at all and
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we're doing it because we want to do it and that is as offensive to God now as it was when naab and Abu did it so many
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thousands of years ago that that hasn't changed he hasn't he has not been domesticated by the cross if anything he has been Vindicated by the cross all
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right so the fire well um well let's deal with the incense first because that one's a little bit easier in in that there are some specific texts um Exodus
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formulation I'm going to read from verses uh the earlier in the chapter there's two sections there Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning this is the incense altar in the in in the outer tent the tent of meeting he
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shall burn incense on it and when Aaron lights the lamps at Twilight he shall burn incense on it a Perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your Generations you shall not offer strange
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incense on it that's the same word as the Strange Fire of Leviticus 10 or or a birth offering or a grain offering nor shall you pour a drink offering on it
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and Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your Generations it is most holy to the
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Lord now later in the chapter same chapter the Lord gives Moses the Moses the recipe for the
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incense now what's interesting again and this this is very significant to um uh to dispensationalists who teach teach that
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all of this is going to be um reenacted revivified in the millenia M Millennium that that all of the but
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when you read through the recipe you cannot go home and make this even if you knew what stati and
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Onika and galbanum were which I imagine there's there's a trail of of the you know we could find those words or take it back to the Hebrew there are no
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amounts these were measured in specific amounts by a perfumer who probably was filled with the Holy Spirit as were the other Artisans of the of the Tabernacle
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but something they were Guided by the Lord to make this incense and it was forbidden for anyone else whoever makes any like it to even to to
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smell it he shall be cut off from his people so there's the incense and it's called strange incense in Exodus 30 and it's forbidden but the problem is this
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passage deals with the incense altar which is within the tent of meeting and as far as we can tell that's not where naab and abue were
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we have no we have no indication Leviticus 10 that they have entered into the fir beyond the first Veil they're not talking about the altar of incense he's talking about the incense that
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they're carrying in their fire pans and it doesn't sound like strange incense rather it sounds like Strange
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Fire now um back in number 16 the rebellion of rebellion of Kora we do read that they were to take the
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um number 16 ver verses 46-48 so Moses said to Aaron take a sensor and put fire in it from the altar put incense on it and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for
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them for wrath has gone out from the Lord the plague has begun even after the Lord consumed the rebels from there Ian the God's anger continued
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to burn against Israel and it was followed by a plague Moses tells Aaron quickly get your fire pan go to the Altar and get the
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fire all right so maybe and this is what most figure naab and abue brought their little Zippo lighters and lit it
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themselves or they lit it in their home tent or something or there was a a cook fire burning nearby and they simply put coals from that into their fire pan and
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brought it before the Lord um it does seem although it's it's not um specifically prescribed in the levitical ritual
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practices but it does seem that the fire should have come from the altar but we're not told in Leviticus 10 that it did not so something something's odd in
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Leviticus 10 that we just can't uh parse through so was it the strong was it the wrong incense um okay so we do know that
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formulation did naab and abue use their own a lot of people think that's what it was strange blend of incense we do know
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it seems that the fire was to be from the altar now that would make sense because the fire of the presence
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of the Lord has come out and and essentially inaugurated the altar fire that was now to be Perpetual so it seemed to make sense that the fires of
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the Tabernacle would originate from that fire but for example we're not told where the fire comes from to light the candlesticks okay but that's also a fire
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within the within the Tabernacle I think it would it would almost stand a reason for and and there's a lot of this that's implied and especially at the end of Le Leviticus 10
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Aaron is now charged with interpreting the Torah of the offering and of the Tabernacle itself okay it's it's not given to us so
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explicitly that anybody could take up where Aaron left
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was in the wrong place it was out in the court which means it's not that's why I say this is not analogous to Exodus 30 because whatever is going on this this is this is not this is an
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incense offering I would say as part of the peace and thank offering and that there you know that the people would bring incense they would bring wine for a for a u um a libation offering so
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there were other types of offerings this this does not seem to have anything to do with the incense altar I that's the point I'm make is that Aaron was supposed to offer that
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special incense in front of the curtain on that Altar and here you have his sons putting incense in their and lighting it right and that
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seems to cut against what is command priest unless the presentation of incense in your fire pan has nothing to do with the incense Altar and and I
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would say from from uh what I've read that the general interpretation is that the incense altar brought in a in a firan was simply part of the peace
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offering not the incense off the incense altar so that it it was part of another offering like the Grain and the and the wine offerings were part of the peace offering so again that seems to be a
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road we can go down but doesn't lead to any conclusive or definitive answer as to what they did wrong um did they enter the holy of
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holies did they go beyond the inner Veil and what I'm putting up here are are actual
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are actual interpretations of significant groups within rinic and Christian interpretive history okay so I'm not just coming up with well let's
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let's look at some of these possibilities and letting my imagination run um these are actual views did
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they enter the holy of holies well we we certainly know that that would have resulted in both the wrath of God and their immediate
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destruction um Leviticus 16 which is a bit later than than we are now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire
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before the Lord and died and the Lord said to Moses tell Aaron your brother not to come just at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the
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mercy seat which is on the ark lest he die for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat all right so some interpreters put the they make the
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connection there that because Aaron is told not to go in now this would be the second Veil where the ark is kept that's how we know which
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Veil he's talking about okay The Mercy Seat above the ark that was behind that was in the inner tent the holy of holies don't just come in there whenever you feel like it but he connects that with
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the time and this is the Lord speaking through Moses to Aaron on the occasion of naab and Hab who's death so some have said okay that means they probably went
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they took their sensors and they actually went in to the holy of holies well by that time through the instructions of Exodus they should have known that you don't enter the holy of
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holies with incense you enter it with blood so there's a whole conglomeration of errors that would Compound on such an act um of the first of all they're not
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even authorized to do that they are not they are not bearing the iniquity of Israel on their shoulders because they're not wearing the breastplate they do not have the Ure and the thumim they
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do not have the turban that says holy to the Lord they have no business being in there if that's where they were problem is that's not what the text
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says okay the text says they brought profane fire before the Lord and the uh incense before the Lord and the fire of the Lord came out from his presence and
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consumed them uh another option um coming from number 16 were they
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Uncle okay so um references here Leviticus 16 Leviticus 16 verses one and two uh numbers um also 16 um pasim that whole chapter of the
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rebellion of Kora um were they rebelling was this a was this a again I think Aaron is correct that's kind of an acronis um you you're reading backward instead of forward I don't think that
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there's there's really no indication that naab and Abu were of a rebellious nature rebellious nature was it a dynastic
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struggle did naab and abue asked garon that they that that they may sit on upon his right hand and upon his left hand and in hearing that Eleazar and ithamar were angry and jealous is this entire narrative simply
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a post facto justification of the priesthood of priesthood of Eleazar showing that what may have been his older brothers were displeasing to
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the Lord and the Lord consumed them by fire that's pretty imaginative it it would also it probably make a good novel um you know it's a lot more exciting I
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guess to have a nice little family dynastic struggle going on right here at the beginning and it is actually a major interpretive theme of Leviticus 10 now
