Leviticus 10:1-9

The Sin of Nadab and Abihu

1 Now ¹Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective ²firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.

2 ³And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who ⁴come near Me I ⁵will be treated as holy, And before * all the people I will ⁶be honored.' " So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

4 Moses called also to ⁷Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside * of the camp."

5 So they came forward and carried them still in their ⁸tunics to the outside * of the camp, as Moses had said.

6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "⁹Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not ¹⁰become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the LORD has brought about.

7 "You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for ¹¹the LORD'S anointing oil is upon you." So they did according to the word of Moses.

8 The LORD then spoke to Aaron, saying,

9 "¹²Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die -it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations -

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Leviticus 10:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 10

This chapter begins with the sin and punishment of two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Le 10:1-5 for whose death Aaron and his sons are commanded not to mourn, nor to depart from the tabernacle, Le 10:6,7 and an order is given, prohibiting the priests from drinking wine when they went into it, Le 10:8-11 the law of eating holy things, both those that were more, and those that were less holy, is enjoined, Le 10:12-15 and the flesh of the sin offering not being eaten, but burnt, Aaron's sons are blamed for it, for which he makes an apology to the satisfaction of Moses, Le 10:16-20.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. Exodus 24:1, 9; Numbers 3:2; Numbers 26:61
2. Leviticus 16:12
3. Numbers 3:4; Numbers 16:35; Numbers 26:61
4. Exodus 19:22; Leviticus 21:6
5. Exodus 30:30; Ezekiel 38:16
6. Exodus 14:4, 17; Isaiah 49:3; Ezekiel 28:22
7. Exodus 6:22
8. Exodus 29:5; Leviticus 8:13
9. Lev 21:1-5, 10-12
10. Numbers 1:53; Numbers 16:22, 46; Numbers 18:5; Joshua 7:1; Joshua 22:18, 20; 2 Samuel 24:1
11. Exodus 28:41; Leviticus 21:12
12. Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 31:5; Isaiah 28:7; Ezekiel 44:21; Hosea 4:11; Luke 1:15; Ephesians 5:18; 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7

Footnotes 5

[a]. Or "will show Myself holy"
[b]. Lit "brothers"
[c]. Lit "unbind"
[d]. Lit "brothers"
[e]. Lit "burned"