SERIES D --- YHVH’S TABERNACLE --- LESSON 19

HOLY OR UNHOLY?

THE DEATH OF NADAB AND ABIHU

From Leviticus 10

One day two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, offered to Adonai a strange fire which was against His Commandments. When they presented this strange fire with incense to Him, flames poured forth from Adonai and burned them until they died. This is what Adonai meant when He said, ‘I will show My Holiness to those who are near Me and My glory to all the people,’ Moses told Aaron. Aaron had nothing to say in return. Then Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, Aaron’s cousins, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel. Carry the bodies of your relatives from the tabernacle and take them outside the camp, he commanded. They went to the tabernacle and carried them in their coats as Moses had instructed them to do. You must not mourn by letting your hair hang loose or tearing your clothing, Moses warned Aaron and his other sons, Eleazar and Ithamar. If you do, Adonai may also punish you with death and send His wrath upon the people of Israel. However, the other people of Israel may mourn the death of Nadab and Abihu because of the awesome fire Adonai sent. Also, you must not leave the tabernacle yet, for Adonai’s anointing oil is upon you. Aaron and his other two sons did what Moses commanded. You and your sons must never drink wine or strong drink when you go to the tabernacle to minister to Me, Adonai told Aaron. If you do, I will punish you with death. This will be a continuous Law for you and your descendants. In your work you must help the people distinguish between holy and common, between clean and unclean. You must teach the people of Israel all the Commandments which I gave to you through Moses. Moses said to Aaron and his two surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar. After you have burned the handful of grain to Adonai in the cereal offering, take what is left and eat it beside the altar. But be sure that it has no leaven in it. This is a most holy offering, so you must eat it in a holy place, for this belongs to you and your sons, given to you from Adonai’s burnt offerings. You may eat the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered in any clean place. This is food provided for you and your sons and daughters. It is yours, given to you from the peace offerings of the people of Israel. The people must bring the thigh for the heave offering and the breast for the wave offering, as well as the fat to be burned in the fire and these must he waved before Adonai. After this ceremony, the meat belongs to you and your sons, for this are what Adonai has Commanded. When Moses searched diligently for the goat to be used for a sin offering, he could not find it. He discovered that it had been burned and was very angry with Aaron’s two surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar. Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the tabernacle? Moses demanded. It is most holy and YHVH gave it to you to take away the sins of the people, to atone for them in Adonai’s presence. Its blood has not been taken into the tabernacle. You should have eaten it there as I told you to. Then Aaron talked to Moses about this. My sons have offered their sin offering and burnt offering to Adonai, he said. But would Adonai really have been pleased if I had eaten the sin offering on such a day as this; a day terrible tragedy has happened to me? When Moses heard this, he was content.

COMMENTARY

WAVE AND HEAVE OFFERING

The Israelites sacrificed offerings to YHVH in many different ways. In some, the priest made special movements after the animal was slain. One ritual was called the wave offering, the other the heave offering. In the wave offering, the owner of the sacrificed animal held certain parts of it up to YHVH. The priest put his own hands beneath the person’s hands and both of them moved the sacrifice rhythmically up and down and from side to side. This {waving} of the sacrifice before YHVH was done right after the required prayer of repentance or of praise. After the fat of the animal was burned on the altar, the priest removed certain other parts and waved them before YHVH. Some of them were then given back to the owner and his family. The sacrificer had to cook and eat his returned portion with his family, guests, the poor and the Levites within two days of the sacrifice. After that, the uneaten portion was to be burned as unclean. The priest kept parts of the sacrificed animal for himself, like the breast and right thigh. During the ceremony, he would {heave} or lift up, his pieces into the air to show that he was offering them to YHVH and that YHVH was returning them to him. The priest too, had to eat his parts of the animal in a certain period of time. But he needed to share them only with his family in any ritually clean place. Other kinds of sacrifices given to him had to be consumed in the sanctuary of the tabernacle. Sometimes cake and flour mixed with oil and sprinkled with frankincense were also waved before Adonai. The priest received some part of these offerings as well.