How tragic. Leviticus 10 tells the horrible story of how Nadab and Abihu fresh from their ordination to the priesthood presented unauthorized fire before the LORD…. [and the LORD] burned them to death (10: 1 – 2). This is an Old Testament illustration of the New Testament warning of the sin that brings death (1 Jhn. 5: 16) and it is a sin committed by a brother that is a Christian. Sometimes the sin of God’s servant is so grave that God just takes their life as He did with Nadab and Abihu. While acknowledging that we don’t know exactly what their unauthorized fire was the context provides some very suggestive clues.
Did they have a problem with pride? God had given very specific orders about how Tabernacle worship was to be conducted. Apparently these cocky men had a better idea and determined to do it their way.
Did they have a problem with popularity? They were no doubt impressed with how the people were wowed by the fire which came down from God and consumed the offering (9: 23 – 24). Did they think they could redirect the adulation of the masses to themselves with some Tabernacle fire play?
Did they have a problem with propriety? The fact that Moses immediately gave Aaron and his remaining sons a lesson about decorum, dress and dedication argues strongly that the dead priests failed in one or more of these respects (10: 6 – 7). The LORD Himself spoke to Aaron about alcohol which seems to suggest that the guilty sons may have been drunk before the LORD (10: 8 – 9). Whatever else may have been true they obviously failed to distinguish themselves from the unholy and unclean around them (10: 10 – 11).
God’s warning still stands as illustrated by numerous figures in the Word of God who committed this sin (Gen. 38: 7; 1 Sam. 2: 25; 2 Chr. 21: 15; Jer. 28: 16; Acts 5: 1 – 11). There is a sin which brings death and some may be perilously close to ending their life prematurely by their open defiance against God.