Leviticus 10

Chapter 10 proffers the only real story in Leviticus, and unfortunately, it's not a particularly heartwarming one. Two of Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, offer an "unauthorized fire before the LORD," (verse 1), and in return, God sends out some fire of His own, incinerating the two hapless souls.

This tragedy puts into stark perspective just how dangerous God's holiness can be to mere mortals. The very nature of our sin would cause us to be blown into oblivion in the Lord's presence if it weren't for Christ's sacrifice. Still, this is small consolation (or no consolation, really) to Nadab and Abihu. We can all chortle at the Darwin Awards and the utter dopiness of which mankind (and Darwin Award recipients are overwhelmingly men) is capable. These awards do provide warnings about the perils of doltishness, but no one wants to be this wretch who jumped out of an airplane while throwing the pin of the grenade back into the aircraft. (Guess which part of the grenade he was still holding as he plummeted to the ground.) Nadab and Abihu's mistake was probably just as stupid as those that Darwin Award recipients make, and they paid the price.

But put yourself in Aaron's shoes. Your beloved sons made a boo-boo, sure, but it's still devastating that they had to pay with their lives for that mistake. His reaction after Moses's remonstration is just heart-wrenching: "Aaron remained silent" (verse 3). Furthermore, God tells Aaron and his sons that they cannot mourn for Nadab and Abihu, on pain of death (verse 6). Having just undergone a loss myself, I don't know how I'd react if I learned that I couldn't mourn or shed tears for a loved one. Tumultuous emotions can cloud one's judgment; would my anguish cause me to say, "Screw it, I can't handle this pain anymore. I'm going to mourn this loss, come what may"? Even worse, everyone else is allowed to mourn the death of Aaron's two sons, pounding the nail in even deeper.

However, I know that we aren't getting the entire story here. Maybe Aaron was at fault to some degree for his sons' death. At the end of the chapter, Aaron makes his own mistake, but because he was sincere instead of willfully negligent, he mollifies Moses (and, because he doesn't receive a smiting, God). This addendum suggests that maybe Nadab and Abihu didn't take their duties seriously or had the intention of dissing God when they made their blunder--contrasting with Aaron's honest mistake. I guess this makes me feel a little better, but all I can say is that I'm glad that we have Jesus.

This has been a pretty heavy chapter, so I'll end with a lighter observation: In verse 14, we learn that Aaron's daughters, as well as his sons, may eat the breast and thigh used in the wave offering. Finally, a small win for the women of the Old Testament.