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.
2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
3 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.
4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.
5 So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said.
6 And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled.
7 And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses.
8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying,
9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;
11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.
12 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it is most holy:
13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy due, and thy sons' due, of the sacrifices of the LORD made by fire: for so I am commanded.
14 And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they be thy due, and thy sons' due, which are given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel.
15 The heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be thine, and thy sons' with thee, by a statute for ever; as the LORD hath commanded.
16 And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left alive, saying,
17 Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?
18 Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place: ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded.
19 And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD; and such things have befallen me: and if I had eaten the sin offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD?
20 And when Moses heard that, he was content.
After the fire, the fire still burns.
- #1: When Aaron's boys burn some incense, the Almighty is, well, incensed.
- #2: YHWH breathed fire that "devoured them."
- #3:
Moses says "The supposedly good and merciful Lord just torched your kids for lighting a little patchouli! What the fuck, seriously what the fuck!? Aaron screams bloody murder at Yahweh and calls him an evil child murderer. Moses tells Aaron that the Lord insists that people "glorify" him (not sure why incense is an affront to a guy who considers flaming animal sacrifice on unleavened toast "a sweet savour"), and Aaron keeps silent. - #4: Moe tells a couple of his nephews to escort their brethren away from the camp. (So, that fancy-ass sanctuary is just at a camp; these people do not travel light.)
- #5: They carried them out "in their coats." (Is it like transporting a murder victim in a rolled up rug?)
- #6: Moses tells Aaron and his remaining unbroiled sons not to uncover their heads or to tear their clothes in response to the Great One's torching of his loved ones, otherwise He'll be wrathful (and will probably kill all the Israelites). Everyone but the father and surviving brothers is allowed to mourn. (My, isn't this the most uplifting story you've ever read?)
- #7: Also, Aaron and his uncharred kids aren't allowed to leave the tabernacle, because the Lord's anointing oil is on them (well, sure, that makes sense.). If they leave, they die (Mario Puzo's got nothing on Mr. Bible Writer Man). They do as Moses advises.
- #8: Now, the Lord speaks directly to Aaron (wow, a brush with greatness, and it only cost him two kids!), saying...
- #9: Don't you, your sons — or anyone in your family tree, ever — drink wine or hard liquor in the tabernacle. Otherwise you'll die. (So, that's why chalices have that warning label, "Aaronids may burst into flames. Consult your genealogist to see if transubstantiation is right for you.")
- #10: And demonstrate "the difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean." (Hint: holy is flash-frying kids that burn sandalwood. And a minor quibble, Mr. BWM — use parallel structure, bubele, so we can tell which goes with which. Are holy and unclean the good ways? Or is unholy and clean?)
- #11: And "teach the children of Israel all the statutes" that God handed down to Moses.
- #12: Moses tells Aaron and his uncooked children to eat the remainder of the holy burnt-offering meat. (Some etiquette tips you can only pick up in the good book. If your boss ever torches your brother's kids, suggest the he and his surviving sons eat leftover meat from a fiery ritual. If that "meat" is actually a baked good, why is he telling Aaron to eat it without leaven? At this traumatic moment, was he really concerned that the bereaved was going to start sprinkling Fleischmann's yeast on his matzo?)
- #13: And they should "eat it in the holy place," because it's their share of God's receipts.
- #14: Also, eat the "wave breast and heave shoulder... in a clean place." Daughters eat, too!
- #15: Your sons (daughters, too?) will alway get that wavy, heave-y food.
- #16: Moses seeks out the sin-offering goat, which was burnt. And he gets mad at Aaron's surviving sons, saying...
- #17: Why haven't you eaten the goat "in the holy place"? God, after all, gave it to them to unburden the congregation of their sins.
- #18: Look, he tells them, the blood wasn't "brought in within the holy place," so you should have eaten it in that blessed place like I told you!
- #19: Aaron says Moses, they did offer their sin and burnt offerings, and look how things turned out for me. If I'd eaten the sin offering, would the Lord have accepted it? (OK, I'm a little confused here. Is he saying that he thinks he'd have had a better day if he'd eaten the offerings, or what?)
- #20: Moses finds contentment in Aaron's response (whereas I'm confused by Aaron's response and generally freaked out by this chapter).
6 comments:
How come Christians don't follow those rituals today? Really, the fact you can't eat pork is just as clear for the Christians as for the Jews and Muslims; why do the Christians not care?
I've seen so many Christians poke fun of Muslims for not eating pork, yet it's in the Bible and it's supposed to be the word of God. And don't give me that Paul's letter crap, it's just hypocrit regardless.
The story about Nadab and Abihu is basically propaganda. Its an attempt at asserting that the rules must be followed exactly to the letter; the "strange fire" is fire that was obtained in some other way than the official rules - it could have been as simple as using fire that wasn't taken from the fire on the altar.
The figures of Nadab and Abihu have been co-opted into the narrative. In reality Nadab and Abihu are a legendary founder and a legendary leader (respectively) of certain religious groups in Israelite society; in the Aaronid view represented by this narrative they were merely other Aaronids, and were destroyed for their religious malpractice.
Nadab is really Jehonadab. "Jeho" is just a theophoric prefix, meaning "Yahweh", and was just an official extension to the name, a bit like people called "elizabeth" just being called "beth" by their friends. In the case of "Yeho" a good example is "Jonathan", which is is "Jeho" + "Nathan".
Jehonadab was a major leader/reformer of the Rechabites, a significant religious sect within early Israelite religion. (The Rechabites don't really turn up much until least 100 chapters later).
And Abihu is really Abihail, one of the major leaders of the Merarites (the Merarites being one of the 4 principle divisions of Levites; in reality of course "Levite" just meant "priest", so the Merarites were just a particular group of priests).
They seem to have been connected together - perhaps representing some sort of political alliance or common theology/practice. Corrupted versions of the two names ("Nabal" and "Abigail"; husband and wife) also occur together in the Books of Samuel and the Books of Chronicles ("Nadab and Abihail"; brothers).
Presumably by the time the priestly source was written, the Rechabites and Merarites suffered some sort of loss of political power/religious influence; the priestly source generally represents the Merarites as the weakest of the Levite groups. This loss of authority seems to be the historic core underlying the Nadab and Abihu story.
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Verse 6 is an attack on traditional Israelite mourning rituals, which originated as the the offering of hair to the dead. This stands in stark contrast to the Book of Amos, a much earlier text, which has the opposite view, that Yahweh himself had imposed hair cutting rituals for mourning.
Verse 7 is about the priest not leaving the sanctuary. This seems to have originated as part of the sacred vs profane taboo; on the assumption that the high priest is intrinsically holy, if he set foot outside the sanctuary he would have caused the sacred to mix with the profane, which would violate the ancient taboo. The assumption that the high priest is intrinsically holy is not as ancient, and seems to be down to Aaronid bias.
Notice how the narrative abruptly stops in verse 8. Its obviously been inserted in at a convenient point. This later writer (who was also an Aaronid) was trying to add an extra restriction (Verse 9) about the sacred vs profane taboo; in this case it makes the extra claim that wine is profane, and therefore the sacred high priest cannot come into contact with it. Its as if some teetotaller came along and wrote an extra bit in biro onto the laws banning certain drugs (like E and Amphetamine) to make them include a ban on alcohol.
Verses 12-15 are about the difference in sacredness between different types of sacrifice IN GENERAL, not just this specific occasion. "Meat offerings" (remember that these are GRAIN OFFERINGS and NOT meat - don't get confused by KJV english, try reading the verse in the New International Version for example) were considered to be taboo (in the traditional sense of "sacred and therefore to be avoided"), as they were actually part of Yahweh's portion, and therefore could not be eaten somewhere profane (-they had to be eaten at the altar); the priest's portion of offerings were merely sacred, and could be eaten anywhere that was ritually pure ("clean"). Originally Yahweh's portion of the Grain offering would have been burnt, but the regulations of Leviticus, which require that only a "representative sample" of the grain offering is burnt, were clearly an attempt by priests to claim more of the offering for themselves.
The remainder of the chapter is a very thinly disguised attempt at case-law by one of the later layers in the priestly source. Chapter 6 clearly states that if the blood is brought into the sanctuary proper (the reason for it being brought into the sanctuary will become clear in chapter 16) then the meat mustn't be eaten, but it doesn't explicitly state that the meat CAN be eaten under other circumstances. The earlier parts of the Priestly Source were also written at a time when there was only ONE altar rather than the extra "altar of incense"; so when the extra altar was added, the instruction in chapter 6 to smear the blood on parts of the altar would be ambiguous - because now it must be asked "which altar". So someone added these verses onto this chapter (chapter 10) to try and get rid of these problems.
Its "Holy Place" not "blessed place"; the phrase "Holy Place" is a very specific reference to a part of the sanctuary building. The building was constructed like a box with a wall in the middle; the bit between the middle wall and the front door was the "Holy Place" while the bit on the other side of the middle wall was the "Holy of Holies".
Unless you are an Aaronid then the view of the priestly source text is that you are NOT permitted to eat sin offerings at all. Many Jews/people with jewish ancestry whose ancestors claimed to be descended from Aaron (therefore being Aaronid) have the surname Kohen/Cohen/Cohn/Kohn/etc.; "Kohen" is the Hebrew word for "priest", and their ancestors took this surname to lay claim to their belief about their descent, and assert their prejudice that only Aaronids could be priests. Similarly the religious rights asserted for the Levites lead a number of Jewish families to take the surname "Levi", which through various languages turns up as Lewis/Levi/Levin/Lewin/Lewinsky/Ludwig. If you have one of these surnames then there may be a link, and with a Kohen surname then the text would permit you to eat the sin offering.
The text is really trying to say that the priests HAVE THE RIGHT to eat the sin offering, and don't have to burn it; its making a political argument against those people who believed the opposite - that the sin offering must be burnt. Basically its the Aaronids claiming that they get to eat the meat, and contesting accusations that they have no right to do so. Verse 19 is just meant to be Aaron's confirmation that he now understands the instructions.
The answer to why Christians can eat pork today is to be found in Acts, many chapters ahead. It could also be speculated that strict adherence to the dietary laws was hindering the spread of the Christian faith among Gentiles.
Dr. S.,
But why ever would the infallible Bible contain mandates that would later be nullified? The Lord's ways are so mysterious.
They are indeed. In-f*cking-deed.
Islam is the solution for your problems. Dont feel offended but if u have a problem in your life and cant find a solution, search in Islam and if you cant find a solution then I am wrong. But ask the appropriate people or read authentic books.
Thanks and Love all my Christian and Jewish Brothers and sisters.
God Bless you all
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