I am very familiar with the story of Nadab and Abihu. In discussions on treating God as holy
through obedience to his specific commands and instructions on how to approach
him, this is often cited as an example. Reading
the text again, I am trying to picture the scene. Fire came from God and consumed the offering made to him and everyone fell flat on their faces with a shout! What a sight that
must have been! Nadab and Abihu seem to
be the only ones who were not on their faces.
Instead, they offered strange fire before the Lord which God did not
command. I don't know if it also
included strange incense, but what ever they did, it was in clear disregard for
the very specific instructions God had given them. Once again, fire comes out from God and consumes them! Aaron and his remaining
sons were then instructed by God not to tear their robes or mourn them. The rest of the people would mourn, but Aaron
and his sons were not to mourn, at least not visibly. As leaders in the sanctuary, they apparently
needed to demonstrate to the people that God's response was appropriate. They needed to keep their
composure and show how important it is to approach the holy God in the way that
he had instructed. They needed to
provide an example in discerning between the holy and unholy, the clean and the
unclean, when it comes to approaching the Lord with and offering.
Here is what is curious.
The latter half of the chapter has an account of how Aaron's remaining
sons did not treat the goat of the sin offering properly according to God's
instructions. The entire offering had
been burned up! They were supposed to
have eaten part of it as God had instructed.
Moses was understandably angry at Aaron's remaining sons, Eleazar and
Ithamar, especially in light of what had just happened with Nadab and
Abihu. Aaron's response was that they
did this in light of what had just happened to Nadab and Abihu. It seemed inappropriate to feast when that
sin had been committed. Aaron asked,
"Would it have been good in the sight of the Lord?" It did not seem to them that this would have
been pleasing to God. This answer seemed
to satisfy Moses.
The curious thing is why was this deviation seemed to be
accepted. Why did God strike down Nadab
and Abihu, but not Eleazar and Ithamar?
Maybe it had something to do with what God desired and had
communicated. "By those who come
before me, I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be
honored." Eleazar and Ithamar surely
understood the gravity of the situation.
Their refraining from feasting does not seem to stem from treating God
flippantly. They attempted to honor God,
but it must have seem less than honorable in light of the sin of Nadab and
Abihu and God's response to be feasting on that day. They apparently chose to fast instead. This was something they had apparently put a
lot of though into. Perhaps they
agonized over it. Their desire was to
honor God and please him. Maybe this is
why God responded to Eleazar and Ithamar differently than he did to Nadab and
Abihu.
If I am correct in understanding this correctly, it says
something about God. He has never been
interested in obedience that amounts to empty compliance. It is not about conformity to arbitrary rules. It is about what is going on inside of me. As a husband would hardly delight in his
wife's heartless and outward acquiescence to his desires, how much less would God delight in me if I do something similar? The greatest command according to Jesus is to
love God. This is to be the root of my relationship
with God. All that I think, say, and do
needs to grow out of this one command.
God only delights in my fruit when all of my devotion grows out of this
command. This is why God is deaf to meaningless repetition and ritual or any other heartless words directed towards God. In fact, words and service without love has the same effect as a clanging gong or cymbal, which indicates that God may find it repugnant and irritating rather than pleasing and beautiful. Motivation is just as important, if not more important than the activity itself. Wrong motivation can cancel out a right action.
Lord, help me to grow in love for you above all else. Help me to understand your presence. Help me to understand what it means to love
and honor you. Water the root so that my
love for you can grow and bear all kinds of fruit that is delightful to
you. I want every branch of my life be
connected to love for you. I cannot do
this on my own. I am often selfish and
clueless. Fill me with your Spirit. Thank you Lord for your patience and mercy.
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