Nadab’s Strange Fire

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Leviticus includes some things that stand out to me. One in particular is in Leviticus 10. Admittedly, reading through all the details related to the sacrifices, the individual garments and all the other accoutrements Moses said needed to be created can be a bit monotonous. I hate using that word to describe anything in God’s Word, but there is a good amount of repeating and consequential detail.

Of course, if it is understood that since what Moses was creating on earth represented what existed in the heavenly throne room, then it needed to be 100% accurate. I’m amazed at just how much Moses was able to remember and in such detail, but that also is due to the fact that the LORD embedded/imprinted all of that information on Moses’ internal memory.

One of the things that is good to do is to research the individual sacrifices ordered by the Lord. Whether they were the burnt offering, the sin offering, the wave, the heave or something else, every Christian should have some sense of the meaning of each sacrifice. GotQuestions.org has produced a relatively short article on the subject, dealing with the five main sacrifices used in the Old Testament priesthood and I would encourage readers to read that through that article.[1]

But getting to where the rubber meets the road and the actual sacrificial system started under Aaron and his sons, the immensity of the system can be overwhelming. Consider that there was a wave offering, a heave offering, the sprinkling of blood, not only on the altar, but on the four horns of the altar, on the right ear tip of Aaron and each priest, his right hand and his right big toe. Their priestly garments were also sprinkled with blood from sacrificed animals. In essence, the priests were “covered” from head to toe with blood, purifying them and setting them apart.

Imagine remembering everything that they had to do with respect to which animal was being sacrificed and which part of specific animals could not be used in the sacrifice, but had to be burned outside the camp. Some parts needed to be washed with water then offered on the altar. To me, it is simply overwhelming and for any priest that took his job seriously, I’m not sure how they didn’t have a constant sense of fear and trepidation, worrying about what might happen if they did something wrong.

Well, that fear became reality for several of Aaron’s sons, who for one reason or another, offered “strange fire” to the Lord.

1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying:

‘By those who come near Me
I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people
I must be glorified.’ ”
So Aaron held his peace. (Leviticus 10:1-3 NKJV)

That’s horrendous. Imagine being Aaron and watching two of your sons killed by fire that came from the LORD! Would that not take your breath away? Would you not feel so many different emotions at the same time like, sorrow, depression, deep sadness, anger, helplessness and more?

So exactly what happened here that brought about the LORD’s quick judgment, resulting in the deaths of two of Aaron’s sons? The text tells us they each took a censer and “put fire in it, put incense on it” and then ended up offering this profane mixture to the LORD. This is clearly a concoction He did not authorize. Had He let this go, it would have created even more problems, so He had to deal with it as an example of what not to do as a priest.

Ultimately, as Dr. Constable notes (see image above), this was a strange form of worship from Nadab and Abihu. It was not authorized by God. Now, while their intentions may have been good (we don’t know), still the problem was that they went well beyond what God Himself had prescribed to Moses. Note in this “new” form of worship that had not been authorized, both sons totally blew it and they may have done it because they felt like it was a good idea.

Constable notes that we Christians today need to be very careful in the way we worship. Years ago, I played drums in churches that essentially used the Maranatha choruses. Remember those? They were fairly straightforward, the lyrics were usually very biblically based and the songs themselves were not too “rocky.” However, over time, churches started adopting new songs that made the worship service look much more reminiscent of a rock show with bright lights (or even spotlights), several guitars (lead and rhythm), bass, keyboards and usually three or more singers that often took center stage. Words were projected onto a large screen and often the interior lights of the worship center were dimmed. Some churches even went with using dry ice or “smoke” to help the mood.

You have to wonder if this was all an attempt to get people into the feel of things or actual worshipping of the Lord? I’ve seen too many examples of the musicians and singers on stage acting just like rock stars, which makes me think it’s all about them and not God. Their antics detract from God and magnify themselves.

So, is worship today designed, as Constable wonders, to produce “effects in worshipers rather than honoring God“? I think it’s a good possibility and again, I don’t necessarily believe that all churches who have this type of musical presentation are doing it for notice or to be in the spotlight. I think they may want to help people in the congregation feel good about worshiping the Lord and the addition of “a beat” to music can certainly get more people involved. But what is the actual outcome?

Maybe Nadab and Abihu thought the same thing. Maybe they thought that by adding in some unauthorized incense that it might kick things up a notch and get people’s attention. Well, it certainly got everyone’s attention because God’s reaction to it was instantaneous and ended in their deaths. My heart goes out to Aaron, who lost two sons in one day!

It’s also possible Nadab and Abihu had been drinking and because of that, their thinking was impaired. Is this the reason why God commanded that the priests should not be drinking before they go into the Tent of Meeting?

Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons must not drink wine or beer when you go into the Meeting Tent. If you do, you will die. This law will continue from now on. You must keep what is holy separate from what is not holy; you must keep what is clean separate from what is unclean. You must teach the people all the laws that the LORD gave to them through Moses.” (Leviticus 10:8-11)

It’s possible but we do not know for certain. In any case and whatever the motivation was, both young men made a dumb mistake, one that cost them their lives.

Sometimes, I find that I am too familiar with God in my prayers. I don’t take the time to consider who He is before I talk with Him. Sometimes, I just blurt things out without thinking. After realizing it, I normally apologize sincerely for my insensitivity. When Paul says we should come boldly before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), he doesn’t mean we should be cavalier and rude. That speaks to our arrogance and that is deplorable to God. Why would we think we would receive any answer to our prayers with that attitude.

There’s only one thing that sets us today apart from Nadab and Abihu. That is grace, grace, grace. By the way, this does not mean that God did not extend His grace to the Israelites, because He did. Even in killing Nadab and Abihu, God was still very gracious, because there is nothing in the text that says God sent them to hell. They made a fatal mistake that God needed to address and did so.

For Christians today, we are all fully under the blood of Jesus. Without it, we have zero protection from God’s wrath. With it, we are fully protected from it. However, the same temptation exists today for all Christians that existed for Nadab and Abihu. That is, the tendency to take God for granted or to allow our arrogance to move us away from how God expects us to live in this life.

It is a constant battle for the Christian, isn’t it? Thank God He does not deal with us as He dealt with the Israelites under the Law!

[1] Got Questions on Sacrifices

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2025/02/06/nadabs-strange-fire/