Strange Fire

Leviticus 10

Day one of the priesthood may have seemed pretty cool. Whatever day happens in Leviticus 10 surely seemed much less so. After all the careful instruction, two of Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, thought they had a better approach to it all. I don't know if they just took a short cut through the proceedings, burned the wrong meat at the wrong time, didn't pay attention to the fat on the sacrifice or what- but the NIV describes the error as "unauthorized fire." It seems from Moses' explanation that whatever it was, God took it as irreverance. He says:

"...in the sight of all the people I will be honored."

The result, that fire that usually consumes the sacrifice- consumed them. Aaron loses half of his priestly staff. Two of his boys go from proud ambassadors of God to shame of the clan of Aaron. Moses instructs a couple of their cousins to carry the charred corpses outside of the camp... and Aaron's family is told to keep a stiff upper-lip. No visible signs of mourning. Keep that hair trimmed. Don't rend your clothing. Others can mourn...but not you- if you show signs of mourning, you will die- and God won't be happy with the community. They are also to stay put in the Tent of Meeting.

I've always heard this passage used to teach the authority of silence. If God didn't decree it, it must be forbidden. Some of this may come from the King James translating "unauthorized" as "strange" although both words can be read that way. Not approved by God. I think though, that there's a rebellion inherent in the actions of these two. And with so much detail spelled out regarding the ceremonial procedures, it seems more likely that God's law was ignored, changed, abbreviated, or rebelled against.

It may be that this wasn't a case where God didn't specify and people were free to interpret. This was specific and deliberate law breaking. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it all. Whichever the case, God wasn't happy and the suffering was great.

God then tells Aaron that they must not drink any wine while in the Tent of Meeting. They need to be able to distinguish between the common and the holy- between the clean and unclean- and they must teach the people God's laws. This makes the context even richer. Why does this decree follow the Nadab and Abihu section? Is it that their sins were violating just this? They treated the holy as common? They treated the unclean as clean? And now God says- look... get it right- you're the priests, if you can't keep it straight, who can?

Moses then tells Aaron that he and his two remaining sons (who must be terrified) should get their share of the food that's left. There's some grain offering that's yours, there's also some breast and thigh that belongs to you all. He specifies what to eat and where to eat it.

When he comes back and discovers that they haven't eaten it, he's a little ticked. In fact they not only don't eat it, they let it burn up. He asks them- what's up? This was supposed to make atonement for the community- what's wrong with you?

Aarons replies. You may have noticed, this hasn't really been a banner day for the priestly profession. Do you think we really earned our share today? You saw how angry God was, right? Do you really think he would have been happy if we'd chowed down as if we'd done something to deserve this sacrifice? Moses hears this and reconsiders.

As good as they must have felt in chapter nine, Aaron is surely doing some heavy soul searching here. Is he wishing he'd never let Moses get him involved in the great Exodus? Is he determined to get it right? Is he growing more and more petrified of his God? More paranoid about getting everything just so? Questioning his own parenting skills?

Or is he slowly realizing the challenge of serving God- the difficulty of denying self and becoming immersed in the will of One greater than you- the frustration of not being in control and the necessity of trusting in the justness of your Creator?

And is that what we should take away? That submission is the key. God isn't interested in sacrifice that makes us happy- our service is catered to His whims, His desires, His decrees. Anything else is strange fire.