“... 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. ...”