Killed for offering "strange fire"

Number 3:1-4 Now these are the records of the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests.

But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Can someone help me understand what “strange fire” is? The NIV uses “unauthorized fire.”

God will send wild animals to kill your children

Leviticus 26:18-26 ” ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

” ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.

” ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

This reading is the second installment of a previous reading “God will bring sudden terror and diseases on you.”

God continues to list out judgments for not obeying his commands including:

1. Your soil will not yield its crop nor your trees yield its fruits
2. He will multiply affliction seven times over
3. God will send wild animals to kill your children, cattle, and to make you few in number
4. God himself will be hostile towards you and afflict you
5. God will bring the sword against you
6. God will send a plague against you
7. God will give you into your enemies hand
8. God will cut off your supply of bread
9. You will eat and not be satisfied.

more to come….

Exiled for incorrect use of fragrances

Exodus 30:30-38 “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. Do not pour it on men’s bodies and do not make any oil with the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from his people.’ “

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the LORD. Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from his people.”

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

This is one of those issues that you say “surely, God is bigger than this.” Why the constant threat of exile?

God will bring sudden terror and diseases on you

Leviticus 26:14-17 " 'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

If you do not obey God's commands, here's what will happen to you:

1. God will bring upon you sudden terror
2. God will bring upon you wasting diseases and fever
3. The diseases and fever will destroy your sight and drain away your life
4. Your enemies to eat your crop
5. God will set his face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies
6. Those who hate you to rule over you
7. You will flee even when no one is pursuing you

Priests must wash or die

Exodus 30:17-21 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base of bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.

Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it; When they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the LORD. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations."

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

.... so that they will not die.