to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
fire
אֵ֛שׁ'esh
H784
fire (literally or figuratively) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
devoured
וַתֹּ֣אכַלva.To.khal
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
died
וַיָּמֻ֖תוּvai.ya.Mu.tu
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
before
מִלִּפְנֵ֥יmi.lif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 26:61 And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the LORD.
Leviticus 9:24 And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, t…
Numbers 16:35 And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
Numbers 3:3-4 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office.
2 Samuel 6:7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.
Leviticus 10:5 So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said.
Leviticus 16:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;
Numbers 16:32-33 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Leviticus 10:1-2
Here is, I. The great sin that Nadab and Abihu were guilty of: and a great sin we must call it, how little soever it appears in our eye, because it is evident by the punishment of it that it was highly provoking to the God of heaven, whose judgment, we are sure, is according to truth. But what was their sin? All the account here given of it is that they offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not (Lev 10:1), and the same Num 3:4. 1. It does not appear the they had any orders to burn incense at all at this time. It is true their consecration was completed the day before, and it was part of their work, as priests, to serve at the altar of incense; but, it should seem, the…
there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them--rather, "killed them"; for it appears (Lev 10:5) that neither their bodies nor their robes were consumed. The expression, "from the Lord," indicates that this fire issued from the most holy place. In the destruction of these two young priests by the infliction of an awful judgment, the wisdom of God observed the same course, in repressing the first instance of contempt for sacred things, as he did at the commencement of the Christian dispensation (Act 5:1-11).
Adam Clarke on Leviticus 10:1
And Nadab and Abihu - took either of them his censer - The manner of burning incense in the temple service was, according to the Jews, as follows: -
"One went and gathered the ashes from off the altar into a golden vessel, a second brought a vessel full of incense, and a third brought a censer with fire, and put coals on the altar, and he whose office it was to burn the incense strewed it on the fire at the command of the governor. At the same time all the people went out of the temple from between the porch and the altar. Each day they burned the weight of a hundred denaries of incense, fifty in the morning, and fifty in the evening. The hundred denaries weighed fifty shekels of the sanctu…
And that He might increase in them this fear, immediately, by the mouth of offence, the rod of His chastisement was revealed, and after the offence the Chastiser gave them no respite, because their servitude was not worthy of His longsuffering. Above their head the rod of justice hung continually, and immediately they committed sin they were chastened, and at the time of their offence they were beaten, and at the entrance of the path of their sins they forthwith received rebuke; for longsuffering teacheth the foolish servant contempt, and in order that that stupid nation, which in the manner of an evil-doing servant, sat in the house of God, might not [learn] contempt, the Chastiser took away longsuffering, especially when they went forth from Egypt. And we must also understand the object of that swift punishment in another way, and that there was not longsuffering as regardeth the correction of their sins; for God the Teacher took the people, like a child, from Egypt their nurse, that He might deliver unto them the doctrine of His knowledge, and might teach them the instruction of His wisdom. But the people, in their ignorance, when instruction had been delivered unto them, forgot it, and they never kept in remembrance the meditation of the commandments of God, and they were frequently punished with severity, so that, if it were only through fear of chastisement, they might lay hold upon the remembrance of instruction. The man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath day was stoned by all the congregation; and the earth opened and swallowed up others who were called by Moses, and who scorned him and came not; and fire went forth suddenly, and burnt up the bodies of others who thought lightly of his priestly office, and who sought honour for themselves; and others, who in the guise of paying honour, brought strange fire out of season, were burnt up by a tongue of fire which went forth from the tabernacle, and they perished; and others, because they asked for flesh and rejected the bread of angels, were tortured by the indigestion which came upon them; and others who went astray as concerning the calf, were pierced through by the swords of the Levites; and others, who were the cause of the revolt at the waters of trial were set apart for destruction; and others who murmured against the Lord perished by fiendish snakes; and likewise they all, because they strove…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Aaron — The eldest son of Amram and Jochebed, a daughter of Levi (Ex. 6:20). Some explain the name as meaning mountaineer, others mountain of strength, illuminator. He was born in Egypt three years before…
Abihu — Father of Him; i.e., “worshipper of God”, the second of the sons of Aaron (Ex. 6:23; Num. 3:2; 26:60; 1 Chr. 6:3). Along with his three brothers he was consecrated to the priest’s office (Ex. 28:1).…
Eli — Ascent, the high priest when the ark was at Shiloh (1 Sam. 1:3, 9). He was the first of the line of Ithamar, Aaron’s fourth son (1 Chr. 24:3; comp. 2 Sam. 8:17), who held that office. The office…
Fire — (1.) For sacred purposes. The sacrifices were consumed by fire (Gen. 8:20). The ever-burning fire on the altar was first kindled from heaven (Lev. 6:9, 13; 9:24), and afterwards rekindled at the…
Nadab — Liberal, generous. (1.) The eldest of Aaron’s four sons (Ex. 6:23; Num. 3:2). He with his brothers and their father were consecrated as priests of Jehovah (Ex. 28:1). He afterwards perished with…
Abihu · General references — General references
Altar Of Incense · Punishment for: Offering strange fire on — Punishment for: Offering strange fire on
Anger Of God, The · Exemplified against: Nadab, &c — Exemplified against: Nadab, &c
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Nadab and Abihu destroyed for offering strange fire — Nadab and Abihu destroyed for offering strange fire
Disobedience To God · .Of Nadab and Abihu, in offering strange fire — .Of Nadab and Abihu, in offering strange fire
Fire · Miraculous: Destroyed Nadab and Abihu
John Gill on Leviticus 10:2
And there went out fire from the Lord,.... They sinned by fire, and they were punished by fire, either from heaven, or from the most holy place, where the Lord dwelt between the cherubim; this was of the nature of lightning, as appears by what follows:
and devoured them; not reduced them to ashes, for neither their bodies nor their clothes were burnt with this fire, as is clear from Leviticus 10:4 but their lives were destroyed, they were lifeless, their souls were separated from their bodies by it, and they died; which is often the case by the lightning, that the clothes of those who are killed with it are untouched, and scarce any marks of violence on their bodies; and so the Targum of Jo…
Leviticus 10:1-7, 20-Dec
1. 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.
1. Acceperunt autem filii Aharon:, Nadab et Abihu quisque acerram sham, et posuerunt in ipsis ignem, et supposuerunt suffimentum, obtuleruntque eoram Jebova ignem alienum secus quam praeceperat eis.
2. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them; and they died before the Lord.
2. Tunc egressus est ignis a facie Jehova, et mortui sunt coram Jehova.
3. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nig…
In 9:24, the fire blazed forth to show God’s acceptance. It now indicates his disapproval by bringing death to Nadab and Abihu, who had demonstrated a careless approach toward the worship of God (cp. Acts 5:1-11).
Rashi on Leviticus 10:2
ותצא אש AND THERE WENT OUT FIRE — Rabbi Eleizer said: the sons of Aaron died only because they gave decisions on religious matters in the presence of their teacher, Moses (Sifra, Shemini, Mechilta d'Miluim 2 32; Eruvin 63a). Rabbi Ishmael said: they died because they entered the Sanctuary intoxicated by wine. You may know that this is so, because after their death he admonished those who survived that they should not enter when intoxicated by wine (vv. 8—9). A parable! It may be compared to a king who had a bosom friend, etc., as is to be found in Leviticus Rabbah 12:1, 4 (cf. Biur).
Incense · Offered by Nadab and Abihu in an unauthorized manner — Offered by Nadab and Abihu in an unauthorized manner
Judgments · Nadab and Abihu — Nadab and Abihu
Nadab · .Offers “strange” (unauthorized) fire to God, and is — .Offers “strange” (unauthorized) fire to God, and is
Presumption · .Nadab and Abihu — .Nadab and Abihu
Resignation · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Sacrilege · .Nadab and Abihu offer “strange” (unauthorized) fire — .Nadab and Abihu offer “strange” (unauthorized) fire
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
