Strange Fire
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, who ministered in the holy
office of priesthood, partook freely of wine and, as was their usual
custom, went in to minister before the Lord. The priests who burned
incense before the Lord were required to use the fire of God’s kindling,
which burned day and night and was never extinguished. God gave
explicit directions how every part of His service should be conducted,
that all connected with His sacred worship might be in accordance
with His holy character. And any deviation from the express directions
of God in connection with His holy service was punishable with death.
No sacrifice would be acceptable to God which was not salted or
seasoned with divine fire, which represented the communication be-
tween God and man that was opened through Jesus Christ alone. The
holy fire which was to be put upon the censer was kept burning perpet-
ually. And while the people of God were without, earnestly praying,
the incense kindled by the holy fire was to arise before God mingled
[81]
with their prayers. This incense was an emblem of the mediation of
Christ.
Aaron’s sons took the common fire, which God did not accept, and
they offered insult to the infinite God by presenting this strange fire
before Him. God consumed them by fire for their positive disregard
of His express directions. All their works were as the offering of
Cain. There was no divine Saviour represented. Had these sons of
Aaron been in full command of their reasoning faculties they would
have discerned the difference between the common and sacred fire.
The gratification of appetite debased their faculties and so beclouded
their intellect that their power of discernment was gone. They fully
understood the holy character of the typical service, and the awful
solemnity and responsibility assumed of presenting themselves before
God to minister in sacred service.
Some may inquire, How could the sons of Aaron have been ac-
countable when their intellects were so far paralyzed by intoxication
that they were not able to discern the difference between sacred and
71