Leviticus 10:1-3
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, 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.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): “And Aaron held his peace.” Nothing can be more emphatic and beautiful than these words. The venerable father, without murmuring or complaint, bows his head, and adores the Divine Providence in this awful dispensation.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Much is this silence of Aaron to be applauded, whereby he confessed that his sons were slain by the just judgment of God.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): And in what did their failure consist? Were they spurious priests? Were they mere pretenders? By no means. They were genuine sons of Aaron, true members of the priestly family—duly appointed priests…Their sin was this: “They offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not.” Here was their sin. They departed in their worship from the plain word of Jehovah, who had fully and plainly instructed them as to the mode of their worship.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): It is an awful thing to introduce innovations either into the rites and ceremonies, or into the truths of the religion of Christ: he who acts thus cannot stand guiltless before his God.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): God had given repeated warning that he would punish with awful severity any willful deviations from his law, Exodus 19:22; Leviticus 8:35; Leviticus 22:9. What would have been the effect if such a flagrant violation of them, in those who were to be examples to the whole nation, were overlooked? Would not a general contempt of the divine ordinances be likely to ensue? For prevention then as well as punishment, this judgment was necessary. And the consequence of it would be, that God would henceforth be honoured as a great and terrible God, and that the whole assembly of the people would learn to tremble at His word, and to obey it without reserve.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): We may well think that when Nadab and Abihu were struck with death all about them were struck with horror. Great consternation, no doubt, seized them, and they were all full of confusion; but, whatever the rest were, Moses was composed, and knew what he said and did, not being displeased, as David was in a like case, 2 Samuel 6:8. But though it touched him in a very tender part, yet he kept possession of his own soul, and took care to keep good order and a due decorum in the sanctuary.* He endeavoured to pacify Aaron, and to keep him in a good frame under this sad dispensation. Moses was a brother that was born for adversity, and has taught us, by his example, with seasonable counsels and comforts to support the weak, and strengthen the feeble-minded.
JOHN CALVIN: Lest, therefore, Aaron should give way to such want of self-control, Moses reminds him that he must submit to the just judgment of God.
CHARLES SIMEON: The consideration suggested by Moses composed Aaron’s troubled breast. These were his own sons, just consecrated to the high office they sustained. In them he had promised himself much comfort; and had hoped, that the whole nation would receive permanent advantage from their ministrations. But in a moment he beholds all his hopes and expectations blasted. He sees his sons struck dead by the immediate hand of God, and that too in the very act of sin, as a warning to all future generations. If they had died in any other way, his grief must have been pungent beyond expression: but to see them cut off in this way, and with all their guilt upon their heads, must have been a trial almost too great for human nature to sustain.
JOHN CALVIN: Moses indicates that Aaron yielded to his admonition, and was thus restrained from complaining against God.
MATTHEW HENRY: The most effectual arguments to quiet a gracious spirit under afflictions are those that are fetched from God’s glory; this silenced Aaron. It is true he is a loser in his comforts by this severe execution, but Moses has shown him that God is a gainer in His glory, and therefore he has not a word to say against it: if God be sanctified, Aaron is satisfied. Far be it from him that he should honour his sons more than God, or wish that God’s name, or house, or law, should be exposed to reproach or contempt for the preserving of the reputation of his family. No; now, as well as in the matter of the golden calf, Levi does not “acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children;” and therefore “they shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law,” Deuteronomy 33:9,10.
CHARLES SIMEON: Thus, however painful the stroke was to him, Aaron submitted humbly to it, because it was necessary for the public good, and conducive to the honour of his offended God. It is not improbable too that he would recollect the forbearance exercised towards him in the matter of the golden calf; and that, while he deplored the fate of his children, he magnified the mercy that had spared him.
ADAM CLARKE: Aaron was dumb [according to the original Greek]. How elegantly expressive is this of his parental affection, his deep sense of the presumption of his sons, and his submission to the justice of God! The flower and hope of his family was nipped in the bud and blasted; and while he exquisitely feels as a father, he submits without murmuring to this awful dispensation of Divine justice.
JOHN CALVIN: Wherefore, whenever our passions are too much excited, let us learn that this is the best remedy for quieting and repressing them, to submit ourselves to God, and to humble ourselves beneath his mighty hand. David invites us to this by his own example when he says, “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it,” Psalm 39:9.
MATTHEW HENRY: When God corrects us or ours for sin, it is our duty to be silent under the correction, not to quarrel with God, arraign His justice, or charge Him with folly, but to acquiesce in all that God does; not only bearing, but accepting, the punishment of iniquity, and saying, as Eli, in a case not much unlike this, “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good,” 1 Samuel 3:18. “If our children have sinned against God,” as Bildad puts the case in Job 8:4, “and he have cast them away for their transgression,” though it must needs be grievous to think that the children of our love should be the children of God’s wrath, yet we must awfully adore the divine justice, and make no exceptions against its processes.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: The answer is this: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” If the creature is to be allowed to judge the Creator, there is an end of all government in the vast universe of God. Hence, when we hear men daring to pronounce judgment upon the ways of God, and undertaking to decide what is, or what is not, fit for God to do, this grand preliminary question invariably suggests itself —“Who is to be judge?” Is man to judge God? or is God to judge man? If the former, there is no God at all; and if the latter, then man has to bow his head in reverent silence.
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*Editor’s Note: Remember that Moses was Nadab and Abihu’s uncle, and he also must have felt this judgment in a very personal way. Thus it argues very well for his own presence of mind in such a sudden and severe tragedy.
**This post marks the 700th post on the Bible Truth Chatroom Website. All previous posts are listed by category and accessible through the links on the Sitemap page.
