Leviticus 10.
The first seven chapters of Leviticus give the details of the offerings of Jehovah, and chapter 8 gives the consecration of the priests, the closing verse reading, “So Aaron and his sons did all things which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.” Chapter 9 concerns the events of the eighth day, the opening of a new order, and this typifies the introduction of the millennial day that will be introduced for Israel on the ground of the new covenant. Moses is a type of the Lord Jesus as Mediator and King, and Aaron typifies the Lord as Priest, both in entering the presence of God in the tabernacle, and in coming out again. When the Lord comes out of heaven for the blessing of Israel, the glory of the Lord will appear before all the people, and they will then realise that their blessing from God will rest on the offering of Christ on their behalf (Lev. 9:23-24).
Judgment Begins at God’s House
When God instructed Moses in regard to the golden altar, He said, “Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon” (Ex. 30:9), but “Nadab and Abihu…offered strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not” (Lev. 10:1). What they offered is not called incense, but fire. Aaron, on the day of atonement, did have fire from off the altar, on which he put the holy incense beaten small, for the fire spoke of the sacrifice of Christ upon the altar, and the incense of the deep perfections of Christ’s Person. Much of what passes for worship in the great Christian profession today is neither connected with the death of Christ for the glory of God, nor with the divine perfections that God sees in Him.
As a consequence of their rebellion against God, the fire from the Lord devoured the two sons of Aaron. The fire that consumed the burnt offering to manifest God’s delight in the work of His Son (Lev. 9:24), falls upon the sons of Aaron to mark His displeasure in their presumption and disobedience. the divine principle of which the Apostle Peter wrote, “judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17), is demonstrated in Nadab and Abihu. It is also seen when the corrupt sons of Eli are slain (1 Sam. 4:11), when the idolaters at God’s sanctuary are destroyed (Ezek. 9:6), when Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1–10), and when those who ate and drank unworthily at the Supper of the Lord at Corinth came under the government of a righteous and holy God (1 Cor. 11:27–30).
Moses interpreted to Aaron, and for us, the reason of God’s intervention in judgment, “This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace” (Lev. 10:3). Those who are nearest to God have the greatest privilege, and they have a commensurate responsibility to maintain the honour and glory of the Lord in testimony, and wilful disobedience to God’s commandment is visited with severe judgment. Recognising the righteousness of God’s judgment, and with his heart filled with grief on account of the dishonour to God, and of the loss of his sons, Aaron kept silent.
Moses Acts for God
Having been so much in the presence of the Lord, and thus knowing His mind and will, Moses called “Mishael and Elzaphan” to carry their brethren who had died “from before the sanctuary out of the camp” (Lev. 10:4-5). Family relationships were acknowledged in that solemn hour, but, as Levites, the sons of Uzziel could come near the entrance of the sanctuary, not now to carry the vessels of the holy place, but to carry the dead who had defiled the coats of their consecration. Having become defiled and having suffered under God’s judgment, the two sons of Aaron who had known what it was to draw near to God must be removed to the place where all who were defiled must go, outside the camp.
As for Aaron and his two remaining sons, they must not become defiled, nor uncover their heads or rend their clothes, for the anointing oil of the Lord was upon them (Lev. 10:6-7). the whole House of Israel was to bewail the burning of God’s judgment, but not those who were so near to God. God’s presence is the place of worship and service, not of mourning and wailing, and this was not to be set aside even in such a solemn hour. We have to learn when and where we are to mourn, and when and where to commune with God and worship. The sorrows of nature are not to be allowed to interfere with what God claims for Himself, though God allows nature to have its sorrows and its joys in their own place.
The Lord Speaks to Aaron
Jehovah’s words to Aaron would appear to give the reason of the disobedience of the sons of Aaron, “Do not drink wine or strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die…and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean” (Lev. 10:8–10). Alcohol, which excites the flesh, also vitiates the spiritual senses of those who come near to God, so must not be taken when men approach God. A servant of the Lord with a weak stomach may be exhorted to take a little wine, but he would be careful not to take it in such quantity, or at such a time, as to affect his service to the Lord, which is to be undertaken as filled with the Spirit (1 Tim. 5:23; Eph. 5:18–20).
Priestly service, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, enables God’s servants to discern what is holy and clean, what is suitable for the presence of God, and in this way they are able to teach the people of God His mind and will as made known in the Holy Scriptures. It is not enough for the servant of the Lord to have gift from the Lord, the gift must be under the control of God’s Spirit, and the servant influenced by God in His sanctuary.
The Food of the Priests
Even in a time of calamity the priests were not to give up their priestly place (Lev. 10:7), nor were they to deprive themselves of their priestly food. Aaron and the priestly remnant were to feed on “the meat offering that remains of the offerings of he Lord made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar…and ye shall eat it in a holy place, because it is thy due” (Lev. 10:12-13). The hearts of those who are near to God are to feed on Christ, the Bread of God, Christ in all the perfections of His heavenly, holy Manhood, for this is to strengthen them for their priestly service and walk, and to engage their hearts with Christ’s perfections even in the midst of calamity and sorrow.
Communion with God, even in the time of deepest natural sorrow, is the portion of those He has brought near to Himself; and this is seen in the priests eating the meat offering “beside the altar.” Leaven, which speaks of the evil in the nature of man, had no place in the meat offering, which tells us of Him in whom there was no sin. The fire of the altar had accepted for God the meat offering in which there was no leaven, and the same fire had come from Him to consume the sinners in whom sin unjudged dared to come before God in self-will and disobedience. Even at the time when sin had been manifest in the priestly family, those who remained in communion with God had to learn afresh that their communion depended on Christ, the sinless One, who was even well-pleasing to God.
Not only in relation to the holy Manhood of Christ are God’s priests to be in communion with Him, but also in relation to the perfections of Christ that were manifested in His death, so Moses instructed Aaron, “the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee” (Lev. 10:14). In God’s goodness, the failure of the sons of Aaron did not deprive those who remained of the divine privileges He had given to Aaron and His house. The sons, who were active in God’s service publicly, and the daughters, who were the weaker vessels, and who wrought behind the scenes, were still privileged to eat the priestly food in communion with the altar, and with the God whose altar it was.
As priests, whether brothers or sisters, we can feed on the affections of Christ, of which the wave breast speaks; and we are to feed on the strength of Christ of which the right shoulder speaks. Our feeding on Christ, in all His love and strength, made known in His death, must be in a clean place, for we cannot have true communion with God in a place that is defiled by the evil of man. How careful the saints of God should be as to the place in which they seek to have fellowship with God in His things. There must be the absence of anything that defiles.
The waving of the breast surely speaks of our bringing before God our appreciation of the love of Christ, which passes knowledge; and the heaving of the shoulder surely indicates our appreciation of the strength of Him who “descended first into the lower parts of the earth,” and then “ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things” (Eph. 5:2, 25; 4:8–10). How blessed the privileges of the saints of God to be thus engaged in the worship of God, presenting Christ in all His love and greatness, and feeding on Him that we offer in worship to God.
The Goat of the Sin Offering
When Moses “diligently sought the goat of the sin offering,” he found that it was burnt (Lev. 10:16). This made Moses angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, for they should normally have eaten it in a holy place “to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord” (verse 7). When the blood of a victim was brought into the holy place, or into the holiest, it was in relation to the standing of the people before God, and the priests did not eat the sin offering, its body was burned outside the camp; but in the ordinary sin offering, the priests ate thereof, as entering into the sin of the people before God, confessing before God sin that was not their own.
Aaron, with divinely given wisdom, answered the anger of Moses, saying, “Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord; and such things have befallen me: and if I had eaten the sin offering today, should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord?” (Lev. 10:19). The judgment and feelings of Aaron were right. How could he confess the sins of Israel as his own, bearing them in his own spirit before God, when such serious failure in his own house filled his heart with grief? It is the same with ourselves. We need to be very near to the Lord, free in our own spirits from anything dishonouring to the Lord in ourselves, or in our own house, before we can eat the sin offering of others, taking their failure on our hearts in the presence of God, confessing it as if it were our own.
As taught of God, Aaron truly asked Moses, if indifference to the failure of his own house would have been right in the sight of God. Having heard the words of Aaron, “Moses…was content” (Lev. 10:20). The godly exercises of Aaron and Moses are full of valuable instruction for us, for both were occupied with what was suitable to God in a time of trouble, and each was content with recognising that the other only sought the will of God.
R. 2.5.70