Leviticus 10

Have you ever been placed in a position that had a lot of responsibility? You feel the pressure if you make a mistake and the pressure of not completing your tasks. Have you ever been given a job that required a lot responsibility that you did not take seriously. I remember I was given the responsibility of taking care of someone’s pet while they were gone on vacation. I was pretty good in feeding the pet and giving the pet water, I just forgot to lock everything up. The day they returned home, they were welcomed by their pet not being securely put away. All I can say is that they were not too happy about the surprise. It was not that I did not take the job seriously but I just was really busy and forgot about it.In this chapter we are going to read about something that was not taken seriously and death was the consequence. 

Aaron’s sons

We have been reading that all the commands for the duties of the priests, which included Aaron and his sons. The priests had some very important duties and they needed to be clean before the Lord because if they were not then the sacrifice would not count. We read in this chapter that Nadab and Abihu were told to put fire on the incense, the only thing is that they did not grab the fire from the right source. The result was that fire came out before the Lord and consumed both of them and they died right there. We can look at this and think how cruel was this was that God did such a thing. We need to look at it as this is what God had to do because He is Holy. He could not have anything that was not clean or unholy in his presence because that would go against his nature. That would make it so that he was not a holy God.

Aaron’s response

You could easily feel for Aaron because he lost two of his sons right then and there. In verse 3 Moses talks to Aaron about the event and said, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” Aaron held his peace after hearing these words. He could have been upset, angry, or even confused about the matter. God is a holy God and the boys introduced an unholy fire to a holy place. They did not take seriously the sanctification of God.  Once Aaron realized the fault of his sons, he knew that God is an awesome God who is Holy. Could you imagine if this were the case today? If we did not have the proper attitude during church and we started to fall asleep and all of sudden fire consumed us. There would not be that many people in church after a while. We still need to take it seriously. We need to have our hearts prepared. But am so thankful that God looks at how I am considered righteous and that is because of Jesus Christ. 

Aaron’s other sons

There was almost another incident that Aaron’s other sons did as priests. Eleazar and Ithamar were the next sons in line. They became priests and were told to eat the sin offering but did not. Moses rebuked them but it was all good because they were offering their own sin offering which was ok. This could have been another incident for Aaron but it was ok because they were actually being obedient.

Warning-

Moses warned Aaron and his sons that if any of them disobeys these commands then he will not only suffer punishment but will bring God’s wrath upon the people of the covenant. Our sin does effect others. It not only hinders our relationship with God but also with the people around us. There are those that look up to us and we can cause them to stumble, we can cause them to sin by our sin. May we become conscious of our sin and realize that it effects more than just one.