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Leviticus

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Chapter 10

1 Then Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan and put fire in it, set incense on it, and presented strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do.⁠ 2 So fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them so that they died before the Lord.⁠ 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke: ‘Among the ones close to me I will show myself holy, and in the presence of all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron kept silent. 4 Moses then called to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, “Come near, carry your brothers from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.” 5 So they came near and carried them away in their tunics to a place outside the camp just as Moses had spoken. 6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, “Do not dishevel the hair of your heads and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning that the Lord has caused, 7 but you must not go out from the entrance of the Meeting Tent lest you die, for the Lord’s anointing oil is on you.” So they acted according to the word of Moses. 8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, 9 “Do not drink wine or strong drink,⁠ you and your sons with you, when you enter into the Meeting Tent, so that you do not die.⁠ This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations,⁠ 10 as well as to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean,⁠ 11 and to teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.” 12 Then Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his remaining sons, “Take the grain offering which remains from the gifts of the Lord and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy. 13 You must eat it in a holy place because it is your allotted portion and the allotted portion of your sons from the gifts of the Lord, for this is what I have been commanded. 14 Also, the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution offering you must eat in a ceremonially clean place, you and your sons and daughters with you, for the foods have been given as your allotted portion and the allotted portion of your sons from the peace-offering sacrifices of the Israelites. 15 The thigh of the contribution offering and the breast of the wave offering they must bring in addition to the gifts of the fat parts to wave them as a wave offering before the Lord, and it will belong to you and your sons with you for a perpetual statute just as the Lord has commanded.” 16 Later Moses sought diligently for the sin-offering male goat, but it had actually been burnt. So he became angry at Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, saying, 17 “Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sanctuary? For it is most holy, and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord. 18 See here! Its blood was not brought into the Holy Place⁠ within! You should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary just as I commanded!” 19 But Aaron spoke to Moses, “See here! Just today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten a sin offering today, would the Lord have been pleased?” 20 When Moses heard this explanation, he was satisfied.

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Compare Instructions for Temple Officials and Leviticus 10:1

Ancient Near East, Hittite · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The Hittite Instructions for Temple Officials prescribe that anyone negligent with fire in the temple will perish with his descendants. Leviticus similarly describes Nadab and Abihu dying after presenting unauthorized fire in the sanctuary.

Passages

Instructions for Temple Officials

Ancient Near East, Hittite
12 Further: O priests, “anointed,” mothers-of-god and temple officials! Some troublemaker may rise in the temple or another sacred building. If he rises in the temple and causes a quarrel and thereby interferes with a festival, they shall interfere with him. 13 Further: Be very careful with the matter of fire. If there is a festival in the temple, guard the fire carefully. When night falls, quench well with water whatever fire remains on the hearth. But if there is any flame in isolated spots and also dry wood, if he who is to quench it becomes criminally negligent in the temple—even if only the temple is destroyed, but Hattusa and the king’s property is not destroyed—he who commits the crime will perish together with his descendants. Of those who are in the temple not one is to be spared; together with their descendants they shall perish. So for your own good be very careful in the matter of fire.
1300–1201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Instructions for Temple Officials

Leviticus 10:1

Hebrew Bible
1 Then Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan and put fire in it, set incense on it, and presented strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. 2 So fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them so that they died before the Lord. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke: ‘Among the ones close to me I will show myself holy, and in the presence of all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron kept silent. 4 Moses then called to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, “Come near, carry your brothers from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

References

“... Their crime: they offered incense on coals not taken from the altar but on ʾēš zārâ ‘unauthorized coals’. Thus this story invalidates by a single stroke all incense offerings outside the sanctuary, for perforce the coals cannot possibly be taken from the altar. Moreover, the Priests resort to a case in point to score illicit incense offerings. They tell how King Uzziah was struck with leprosy for usurping the role of the priesthood by offering incense in the Temple (2 Chronicles 26:16–21). Similarly, by citing the case of Nadab and Abihu, they also championed their own interests, not against royalty, as in the case of Uzziah, but against the populace at large, who were wont to offer incense freely, either on their rooftops in brazen worship of astral deities or, in most instances, in pious worship of the God of Israel. The death of Nadab and Abihu—legitimate priests, offering legitimate incense, in the legitimate sanctuary but using ʾēš zārâ, illegitimate coals, not from the altar—was held up as a perpetual reminder and threat to anyone else who would use ʾēš zārâ, all the more so because he or she would not be a priest, not with the proper incense, and not in the sanctuary. ...”
Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 631.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Instructions for Temple Officials and Leviticus 10:1

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