Leviticus (Chapter 10)

Leviticus 10 records the death of Nadab and Abihu after they offer unauthorized fire before the Lord. Through this sobering event, God declares His holiness and teaches Israel that He must be approached according to His commands. This chapter highlights the seriousness of worship, the responsibility of the priesthood, and the distinction between what is holy and what is common, clean and unclean.

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Welcome And Leviticus Setup

Phil Porter 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachmethebible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Well, hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. My name is Phil Porter alongside Dr. David Klingler. And uh our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. It's a simple mission, but it is a wonderful mission. In fact, has blessed my life, helped me along the way, and many of you listening, uh you're probably nodding your head now, um, saying uh this is the most incredible resource. And so we we hope this continues to be beneficial to you. And uh today we're gonna actually continue in the book of Leviticus. We're gonna get to chapter 10, where we we finally see a uh a wrong way of doing things and what it cost. Um and uh we've talked about sin offerings, how important that is, uh specific ways now to do it and teaching um uh Aaron and his sons and how to do it. And Moses taught them uh by the word of the Lord, teaching through Moses. And so now we're uh to some of Aaron's sons, and um some interesting things are gonna happen today.

Old Testament Judgment Versus Mercy

Dr. David Klingler 1:32

They are. And and this is a type of passage where the fear of the Lord becomes central. And uh and a theology of God in the Old Testament for many becomes distinct from the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is about judgment and harshness, and the God the God of the New Testament is, you know, everybody, you know, let's all just uh you know, and forgiving and compassionate, and you know, so so we forget the compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving, kindness, and truth part of the Old Testament, Exodus 34, verses 5 and 6. But we um but uh we look at the but by no means leads sin unpunished part in the Old Testament. And then in the New Testament, we just act like sin goes unpunished. And Peter's going to say, well, do not make the mistake, 2 Peter, of thinking that a delay in judgment is no judgment at all. It's coming. Um and um and I and this is, you know, again, we get these dichotomies or these apparent dichotomies, but but it's answered by understanding the Bible in its context. And of course, everybody says that. So let's explain, let me explain what I mean by that. Uh, that that the Bible is 66 books uh written by inspired authors to particular audiences, explaining what God is doing or what God has done, is doing, or will do, and how it's relevant to the recipient of the uh of the writing. Israel receiving the words of Moses or um Israel receiving the words of you know Isaiah or whoever. Um Timothy receiving the words of Paul. Okay. Um but those writings correspond to what God is doing in redemptive history.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Yes.

Dr. David Klingler 3:43

And so he has revealed himself specifically to a people. Uh and what we have been interacting with uh as we move out from the garden is how does a God that is altogether separate, um holy, but you know that that's what separate means, whole, but without

Holiness And The Tabernacle Boundaries

Dr. David Klingler 4:05

sin, he is the sole definition, determiner of good and right and beauty, uh, and there is nothing evil, um, ugly, wrong in him. And he he he has to be, he, he demands to be separate from all of that. That's you know, that's y'all's stuff. That's not that's not the Lord's stuff. So don't bring y'all stuff in here. You know, that's gonna say that to you know, don't y'all bring y'all stuff in my house, you know. Well, that that's kind of the same concept, right? So, so you know, because man has done what he's done in the garden, he's banished from the garden. He's removed from the presence of the Lord, he's removed from the tree of life, and those angels are guarding the way back. And if you try to get back into that garden, you die right there, right? Well, uh the the tabernacle is the uh you know, is the in on earth representation of the presence of the Lord in the Holy of Holies, and then there's a holy place where the the priests have to operate because you know, keep your stuff out there, right? Keep your stuff outside the camp. And as you get closer to the holy of holies, the demands get really like perfect. You are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect, and there is no tolerance for any acceptance. So this is the fear of the Lord. Now, when we go out into this story and you encounter Gentiles, you know, if we we used to say, they don't know, come here from sickum. Right. Or, or, you know, Jonah kind of summarizes uh, you know, the the book of Jonah kind of summarizes this at the at the end of uh of the book when um when the Lord says uh to uh to Jonah, you had complac compassion on the plant, which you didn't work for and you didn't cause to grow, which grew overnight and it perished. Remember, Jonah's sitting there, if you remember the story, he is told to go to uh go to Nineveh to proclaim judgment. He won't go. The Lord judges him. Finally he goes, and he's sitting there stewing because the Lord's going to show these people compassion, mercy, grace, love, you know, all the Exodus 34, uh, you know, five, six, seven uh passage. Um, and he doesn't like it. Uh and uh and so the Lord says, Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who don't do not know the difference between the right hand and the left? They haven't, they don't know the Lord, they haven't been taught his ways. You have, you have no excuse. They don't, right? Uh and so what we're seeing here in Leviticus and in the Old Testament is the Lord's demands, and the demands are um perfection, right? I was teaching a PhD seminar, and we were in Leviticus, and I may have mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating here. And I was asking the students, because they have to come up with what's the point of the book, and what's the you know, kind of walk me through it. And essentially what I was hearing was, well, um, you are to be holy as your father is holy. I said, Okay, and what does that mean? They said, Well, you got to be perfect. I'm going, okay, how do you get there? And they were saying, essentially, well, you got to try harder. I'm going, I don't think that's the point. I think the point is you can't try hard enough. There is no way for you to try hard enough, right? You're not getting in there. No one's getting in to the Holy of Holies, only the high priest, only once a year. And I was talking with one of the students, and they, you know, I said, Well, you better tie a rope around him in case the Lord kills him and you got to drag him out of there because you can't go in there and get him.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Yep.

Dr. David Klingler 7:59

Right? And uh this was one of the apparent traditions or whatever. So uh, and so what's going on here, right? Um, well, for you to draw near to the Lord, uh the the standard is not to try your best, right? Um, well, you know, they had good intentions, right? Uh Israel's not being judged by their good intentions. They're being judged by whether or not they do what the Lord has said, what is right in the eyes of the Lord. Uh and these uh offerings, these sin offerings, burnt offerings, sacrifice, all these offerings are offered so that Israel is approachable to the Lord, so the Lord will dwell in their midst as they go, so that they can serve him in representing him to the nations. Right. And so we come to this story, and it's in uh, you know, it's in uh chapter 10 of Leviticus.

Nadab And Abihu Offer Strange Fire

Dr. David Klingler 9:01

Now, Nadab and Abihu, and by the way, these guys are gonna be mentioned again. They're gonna be mentioned repeatedly throughout this story, throughout the uh Leviticus Numbers story, and you're gonna hear these names repeatedly because of this passage. Uh the sons of Aaron, they took their respective fire plant pens and uh and uh putting fire in them, they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out of the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Now, you know, they they uh placed incense on it, uh and strange fire on it. So they had their firepans, they, you know, that they they didn't do as the Lord had instructed them. So fire comes out of the presence uh from the presence of the Lord and consume them, they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, It is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near to me, I will be treated as set apart, as holy. And before all people I will be honored. Right? Um you don't get to do it the way you want to do it. Apparently, is the point here. Point, case in point, and Israel needed to hear it. I think of you know a later story where you know the ark is being moved, and there's instruction given in Exodus, and uh, and you know, they they built the ark with the poles, and there was a there was instruction for how this ark was to be moved. Uh, it wasn't to put on a cart and drug behind a you know an animal. Uh well that's what they're doing. And of course the cart hits a rock or something and starts to fall off, and the guy's standing there and he tries to catch it. Good intention, right? And the Lord strikes him dead. Well, why? You don't get to do it the way you want to do it, right? And not knowing is not an excuse. Now, these guys are beyond excuse, they should have, they should have known. Um, and uh and Aaron therefore kept silent. In other words, um, don't complain to the Lord when you do it your way and you get judged for it, right? Uh, I'm I mean, the gosh, the stories here are just myriad. I mean, my my brain is getting flooded with all the Old Testament stories. Um Israel sins, uh, they take stuff that's out uh from under the band, um, they go into battle in the next battle, and they lose. And Joshua's over there lamenting. Oh, poor us, we lost. And, you know, and he goes before the Lord and he says, you know, we should have just stayed back there in Egypt or whatever. And you know, and the Lord says, you know, essentially Joshua, get up, shut your mouth. The problem's not here with the Lord, there's sin in the camp. So anytime that you see that you don't defeat the enemies, the problem isn't with the Lord and his promises. The promise is with your is with your disobedience. And and and this is just happens over and over and over. Uh Israel is going to test the Lord, reject the Lord, rebel against the Lord, and it's just constant, right? Um, and so uh verse 4, so Moses called uh to Mishael and Elzephon, these are the the sons of Aaron's uncle, Uziel, and said to them, Come forward and carry your brothers away, translated, carry your relatives away, carry your brothers away, from in front of the sanctuary to outside the camp. And so they came forward, they carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses said. Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eliezer and Ithamar, uh, do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die. Right? There's, you know, this is what you do when there's been injustice or you know, some wrong, and you're crying out to the Lord. No, no, no. They they brought this on themselves. So don't you cry out to the Lord for injustice and bring wrath upon yourself, so that he will not become wrathful against all the congregation. Why against all the congregation? Because the priest was representing the congregation to the Lord, right? Uh if the priest um doesn't do it right, the people aren't holy before the Lord. They're they're you know, they're not they can't be received before the Lord.

Grief Rules For Priests And Sobriety

Dr. David Klingler 13:38

But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, shall cry the burning which the Lord has brought out. Uh you shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die, for the Lord's anointing oil is upon you. So they did according to the words of Moses. Um the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, uh, when you come into the tent of meetings, so that you will not not die. This is a perpetual statement throughout the generations, and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and the clean. Now, in weeks to come, this is where our discussion is going to head the clean and the unclean. Now, um an example is going to be, let's say that someone dies and you come in contact with someone who dies. That makes you unclean. Uh, it doesn't mean necessarily that there's that you sinned because you came in contact with someone um who dies. In fact, we're gonna get very quickly in this story, the whole generation's gonna die, and all they're gonna be doing is burying people, right? Um but death has no place in the presence of life. Death has no pr place in the presence of God, who is life, who is good, who is perfect, who is right, who is just, who is holy. Uh, and so there's no access here, right? All that stuff stays out there, right? And so the clean and the unclean, everything that has to do with the fall doesn't come into the presence of the Lord. Right? And so that we're gonna talk about the clean and the unclean and all the examples of what uh what that uh that entails, the clean and the unclean. And uh, and so you are to to teach verse uh uh 11, the sons of Israel, all the statutes of the Lord, which he has spoken to them through Moses. And Moses spoke to Aaron and to the surviving sons, Eliezer and Ethemar, uh, and said that to take the grain offering that is left over from the Lord's offering by fire and eat it, and the unleavened uh beside the altar, for it is most holy. You know, so this they're replacing their brothers who are struck dead there. You shall eat it, moreover, the holy place, because it is your due, and uh to you and your sons, uh to do out of the Lord's offering by fire. For this I've commanded you, the breast of the wave offering, however, and the thigh of the of the offering you may eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters who are with you, for they have been given to you as your payment, as your due to your sons, uh due out of the sacrif out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the sons of Israel. The thigh offering by lifting it up, the breast offering by waving it, uh they shall bring along

Case Law On The Sin Offering

Dr. David Klingler 16:36

with the offerings by fire of the portions of fat, to present a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be a thing perpetually done uh due to you and to your sons with you, just as the Lord commanded. But Moses searched carefully for the goat and the sin offering, behold, it had been burned up. And so he became angry with Aaron and other surviving sons of Eliezer and Thamar. What's going on? This is doing a couple things. One, it's showing the perfect standard. And two, um, what we're gonna see here is this is a bit of case law, right? So um what do we mean by case law, right? If this happens, what's acceptable and what's not acceptable response. Okay. And so Moses asks, why didn't you eat the sin offering in the holy place? For it is most holy. And he gave it to you to bear away the guilt of the congregation to make atonement for them before the Lord. Behold, since its blood has not uh been brought inside into the sanctuary, you shall certainly you you uh should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary just as I commanded. But Mar but Aaron spoke to Moses, behold, uh this very day they presented the sin offering and the burnt offering before the Lord. When these uh when when things like these happen to me, if I had eaten the sin offering today, it would not be good in the sight of the Lord. So in other words, they're saying, look, we we did both today, what do we do here? Uh then Moses heard it, and it seemed good in his sight. And so it, you know, going forward, if these things happen, then this is how you'd respond. Now, I was asked yesterday, um, I had a person from church come up and ask about a passage in uh in uh in the Old Testament. It was actually in Deuteronomy 31, and and you know, should what should we learn from this? You know, how does this apply to our lives? I'm saying, well, um, we aren't in Old Testament Israel, and we aren't that you know, not everyone in Old Testament Israel was a son of Aaron and a priest, right? Um, and so why did Israel need to hear this? Well, the sons of Aaron and the priesthood needed to hear Leviticus. The people needed to hear Leviticus to understood, uh, understand what was expected of them in their bringing to the presence of the Lord, whether it be the tabernacle or the temple. The priests needed

What Leviticus Teaches Christians Today

Dr. David Klingler 19:05

to know because they need to know what they're supposed to do with it when the people brought it, brought it to them. Um, but what do we do this? Well, uh what we can learn from this is the character of God. Again, the whole plot is getting back into the presence of the Lord, right? Uh is is this directly applicable to us in how we offer sacrifices to the Lord? Um depends on how you parse that sentence. Um certainly we're not bringing you know goats to the Lord on Temple Mount, nor could we, since we're Gentiles. Yes, unless we were circumcised and engage in law keeping in the Old Testament. Um, but does this teach us about the character of the Lord? Sure. Uh does this uh uh you know teach us that he is altogether holy and set apart and separate? And and in what ways is he? Everything about him is life and light and good and justice and righteousness, and everything about you know the world outside of the garden is tainted by sin. Uh and so these are mutually exclusive. There is no access back to the tree of life, back into the garden, into the holy of holies, unless someone in a b uh blood of a bull or goat can't do it. And then we're gonna get to make this absolutely clear in the book of Leviticus. The high priest can't do it. We're looking towards the once-for-all sacrifice for sin, and he's the only one who can do it. Correct. Right? Now, he offers the sacrifice for sin. So so we're talking about big picture story here now. Um but here I am. I placed my faith in the cruci in the perfect sacrifice, crucified, killed unjustly, the the spotless, blameless lamb. Uh if it was spotted and sinful, it it couldn't be an offering. It had to be perfect, it had to be spotless, uh, it had to be without sin, so that it was acceptable. Um and Christ is that one. And he was raised because he was that one. But here we are, still in the world of sin. How do we get there? How do we get to uh the well, all of this stuff has to be done away with, has to be made anew, it has to be Fixed, right? Christ has to rule in the midst of his enemies. But then all this stuff has to be fixed. You know, no more sin, sickness, sorrow, suffering, death, uh, all the tears wiped away, all the wrong made right, uh, new heavens, new earth. Why why do we have to have a new heavens and a new earth, a remade, a perfect heavens and a perfect earth? Uh, because only there can God and man dwell together again. And so all of this is heading towards the end of the story, right? But here we sure can learn some things about the character of God. Um and um and I hear a whole lot of, well, you know, it doesn't matter how you do it. It's, you know, uh apparently it does, right? And uh, and and so we're gonna see this repeatedly throughout Israel's history. Uh, that they want to do it the way they want to do it, they want to rebel, uh, and they're gonna get wiped out for it again and again and again. This is the fear of the Lord, right? Right. So um, you know, when we frame it like this, and let's go back to our PhD students discussion. How hard do you have to try to get back into the garden? Well, can you even do it? No. Why? Because sin isn't what we do, sin is what we are. Our sin nature is inherited from Adam. It's the the the church's teaching of total depravity throughout the ages, right? You are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. So it doesn't matter how hard you try, you can't do it. Or the way I say it to my students, if you could do what only Jesus could do, you wouldn't have needed Jesus to do what only you could do, because you could do it. Okay. Then can then then what are we how do we respond? We respond by faith, in walking in light and in gratitude of his perfect sacrifice.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yes.

Dr. David Klingler 24:13

Right? Um you're you know, the we're you're we are saved by the perfect works of a perfect man. You're not saved by trying hard the imperfect works of a fallen man. If you're relying on your works, stop. Yes, give up. If you are totally dependent upon the works of Christ done on your behalf, well, praise the Lord, right? There, there is what uh that's what this story is looking for. It's what um no old testament priest or angel or prophet or sacrifice could ever accomplish. This is what the writer of Hebrews is saying. Yes. It was all looking forward to Christ, right? And so we need to endure by faith until it's all made right. So, so is there, you know, this this you know, Leviticus chapter 10, this uh this story of Aaron's two sons, uh, and they're gonna show back up. Their story is going to show back up uh again. Um is um uh is this a um is this just uh uh for Israel? No, it's not just for Israel. I just did a quick search here. Um they are mentioned 20, how many times did that say there? Uh 12 times, right? Um all through Exodus, they're they're being mentioned, then in Leviticus, but then in Numbers. Uh Numbers chapter three, they're going to be brought back up. Numbers uh chapter 26, they're going to be brought back up. Uh why do they keep showing back up in the story? Because of what happens in this story. Uh and uh and this becomes a standard or uh a hey Israel, not only do you not offer strange fire, you know, certainly get that out of it. Priests don't offer strange fire. Yeah. Um but you better pay attention to this. Yeah. You, the priests, you Israel, um, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you don't understand that he is altogether wholly separate, and you're not, then you're never going to be able to bridge the theological gap. Okay, well then how do you regain access? And the answer is you can't. You're looking for the one who can, right? So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And so just a really helpful passage uh that not only teaches Israel, but is applicable to us. Yeah. Uh in in a lot of great ways.

Phil Porter 27:00

So Yeah, I I sometimes I'm reminded about basically the word that I use is basically God saying, or or us asking God, are you serious? You know, children ask their parents all the time, go do this and do it right. Are you serious? Oh, I'm dead serious. Yeah, deadly. Dead serious. Right. And I was like,

Did God Speak Directly To Aaron

Phil Porter 27:21

oh, that's a good example. He's deadly serious. Um, he's not kidding. Now, one thing in here that I noticed all throughout, it seemed like God was speaking to Moses. Moses then is telling Aaron, and maybe maybe it was before this too, but in verse eight, then it said the Lord spoke not to Moses, but he but he spoke to Aaron. Is is there a shift here where he's now not using Moses to s speak to Aaron through, or is it a both hand? Like is there any significance in that? I just maybe. I mean, that that's a that's a good uh I just saw it and I'm on I I didn't know that Aaron had direct you know, is it is that because he said you now know all these things, Aaron?

Dr. David Klingler 28:03

So now you're gonna see uh okay, so so so uh turn with me uh uh and and this will be uh uh that's a good answer or a good question. Uh when we go to Numbers chapter 12, right? So we're gonna jump forward a little bit. So it's a good question. Uh Miriam uh and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he'd married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, Has the Lord indeed only spoken through Moses? Has he not spoken through us as well? And the Lord heard it. We all remember these stories, right? You say something to your brother or something harsh, and dad heard it. And uh, and yeah, so so you know it it is uh true that that the Lord spoke to Aaron. Um here is an example. Um, but uh does that make Aaron equal with Moses? Apparently not. And that's what's that's the that's the point we're gonna get in in Numbers uh chapter 12. Uh the Lord's gonna say, yeah, let me explain how this works. You're not you're nothing like my servant, Moses. I speak to him face to face, right? Uh and so a good question, yeah. Um but uh but yeah, predominantly the word of the Lord came to comes to and through Moses. Uh and um and and of course Aaron was uh was there. Uh we're gonna be introduced, uh just a side note, we need to close this down, but uh uh but that strong drink, that uh Nazarite vow, uh Natsar, that this being separate, set apart uh vow. It was a vow that the priest did. It was also a vow that uh the Israelite could do, and we're gonna be introduced to that in Numbers chapter six. And that's going to be Samson. Samson's going to take the

Clean And Unclean Preview And Next Steps

Dr. David Klingler 29:56

Nazirite vow. Uh and so we'll be introduced to that as we get into numbers. So we're we're still setting up the book of Numbers and we're going to continue down this storyline. But there's a lot still coming. So hold on to this, and uh, and we'll we'll keep plowing.

Phil Porter 30:08

Yeah, because you we had mentioned before the podcast you said there's like a shift starting in you know from Leviticus 11, where we're kind of shifting. And so is there a summary you want to do that?

Dr. David Klingler 30:19

Yeah, so so what we're gonna turn to is uh clean and unclean, right? Uh so nothing unclean can enter into the presence of the Lord uh or even come near him. Can't even come near the camp. And so clean unclean is going okay. So what do we mean by that? Let's define our terms. Um and and the law does this a lot. Uh you shall not uh murder, okay. Well, what if I swing an uh an axe and the head flies off and kills my brother? Is that murder? No, right? So we're so we're gonna define our terms as we go down through here, but we need to understand, Israel needs to understand, and the priests need to understand what is clean and unclean, and what are the means by which the unclean

Resources Partnering And Closing

Dr. David Klingler 31:06

becomes clean so that they can come back into the presence of the people and the presence of the Lord.

Phil Porter 31:13

Wonderful. Well, thank you for today. And next week we will pick up in Leviticus chapter 11. For more resources, visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store. You can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the Word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.