Death of Two Sons
Leviticus 10:1-11
The Death of Nadab and Abihu
10 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: “‘Among those who approach me, I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people, I will be honored.’” Aaron remained silent.
4 Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come here; carry your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary.” 5 So they came and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses ordered.6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become unkempt and do not tear your clothes, or you will die and the Lord will be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, all the Israelites, may mourn for those the Lord has destroyed by fire. 7 Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting or you will die, because the Lord’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses said. 8 Then the Lord said to Aaron, 9 “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, 10 so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, 11 and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses.”
Aron's two sons died at the same day, because of their wrong behaviors, but actually they were worshiping God in the tent of the meeting. However, what they did was just taking their censers, putting fire in them, and adding incense, which made God angry and consumed them at the place with fire. How scary and terrible scene this is! How could the generous God do this horrible thing to His own people, esp. to the ones who were anointed by Moses who was chosen.
There's only one reason for this: It was contrary to God's command. They must have tried to do all, except one thing: using different censors from the ones that God had commanded. God explained every detail for making the tent and all stuff in there, and even the clothes of priests and the days of ordination ceremonies, and so on. Why was God acting like tricky and strict to His people? He answers, so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and teach all these decrees the Lord has given them through Moses.”
Distinguishing between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean. This was His intention of killing Aron's sons. In order to teach this lesson, He did even kill the precious anointed priests, and He also wants me to teach my children this lesson. I thought that 'you will die', this sentence as just a spiritual warning, not a real death, but it was not. He was demonstrating what would happen if we disobey His commands, which is serious, not a fun and interesting thing, or warning. It happens in reality.
I am free from all the chains of sins and I do not want to get chained again, but I will have to keep this scene in mind. As God has an intention of teaching His own people through this kind of happening, I try to get any lesson from it. Do not do anything as I think is good to my eyes. My judgment and thought should be based on the commands of God, the Lord, which is the Bible that was given through over 40 prophets, so that I might not do anything I think is good. Whatever I do as a holy and clean Christian, the Word of God should be the standards of my judgment in life. This is the lesson I got from the death of Aron' two sons.
