Illustrated Stories From The Bible - On Fire for the Lord

Illustrated Bible Stories (that they won't tell you in Sunday School)

On Fire for the Lord

Why this story matters

(commentary on Leviticus 9-10)

(Page 2 of 5)

The glory of the Lord

An apparition manifests among the people, described only as “the glory of the Lord”. Unfortunately we’re not given any details about what the glory of the Lord looked like in this instance. However, passages elsewhere in the Bible give us some clues. Ezekiel, chapter one, describes the glory of the Lord as having a human like form. He sits on a throne of sapphire and has a brightness all round like a rainbow. From the waist up he is like “gleaming metal” and from the waist down it is like fire (Ezekiel 1:26-28). The phrase glory of the Lord is used a few times in the Bible, but Ezekiel is the only book that gives us such detail. At least from Ezekiel’s vision we learn that Yahweh has a waist.

In another appearance, from the book of Exodus, Moses asks to see the glory of the Lord and this time Yahweh has to hide him in the crevice of a rock and only allows Moses to see his “back parts” (Exodus 33: 17-23). Elsewhere, in Exodus 24:17, the glory of the Lord appears simply as a “consuming fire” with no human characteristics. Apparently, then, the glory of the lord can appear in various guises.

Whatever version of the glory of the Lord appeared on this occasion, he had a practical mission. We are told that fire came out from the presence of the Lord and “consumed” all the sacrificed animal parts, even consuming the fat as well. The people are overjoyed to see this and fall on their faces. It’s just when things are going so well, however, that disaster strikes.

First Offense

It seems that, up to this point, Nadab and Abihu have been righteous men, leaders in their community, and now high priests. However, just after the glory of the Lord made its appearance, Nahab and Abihu take their censers (metal vessels suspended by chains, used for burning incense), put fire and incense in them, and offer this to Yahweh. Unfortunately for the two young priests, they offered a fire that was apparently “unauthorized” or “strange” depending on the translation. For this, Yahweh burns them to death:

"Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD (Lev. 10:1 NASB)."

At first glance the punishment seems excessive to say the least. For this reason apologists have assumed there had to be more to the sin than just offering the wrong kind of fire. Rather than focusing on just one mistake, they claim that the boys were guilty of multiple sins compounded together. Like eager prosecutors, apologists build a case against Nadab and Abihu, a very deliberate character assassination. While there is no doubt one of the sins was offering strange fire, other charges include disrespect, drunkenness, unlawful entry into a sacred place, and even exposing themselves. Let's look at each of these claims more closely.