Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 9:22
And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.
22. Aaron now lifts up his hands and blesses the people, exercising another of his priestly functions.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Aaron having completed the offerings, before he came down from the stage surrounding the altar on which the priests used to stand to officiate (see Exo 27:8), turned toward the people, and blessed them; probably using the form which became the established one for the priests Num 6:24-26, and which is still maintained in the synagogues.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them] On lifting up the hands in prayer, see Ex 9:29. The form of the blessing we have in Nu 6:23, c.: “The LORD bless thee and keep thee! The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee! The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace!” See the notes on these passages. See Clarke on Nu 6:23.
And came down from offering of the sin-offering, &c.] A sin-offering, a burnt-offering, a meat-offering, and peace-offerings, were made to God that his glory might appear to the whole congregation. This was the end of all sacrifice and religious service not to confer any obligation on God, but to make an atonement for sin, and to engage him to dwell among and influence his worshippers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Aaron lifted up his right hand, which the Jews say was lifted up highest; or his hands, according to the other reading, which was the usual rite of blessing. See Luk 24:50. By this posture he signified both whence he expected the blessing, and his hearty desire of it for them.
Blessed them, in some such manner as is related Num 6:24, &c., though not in the same form, as some suppose, for it is not probable that he used it before God delivered it. And this blessing was an act of his priestly office no less than sacrificing. See Gen 14:18,19; Num 6:23; Deu 10:8; 21:5; Luk 24:50. Came down, to wit, from the altar; whence he is said to come down, either,
1. Because the altar stood upon raised ground, to which they went up by an insensible ascent. Compare Exo 20:26. Or,
2. Because it was nearer the holy place, and the holy of holies, which was the upper end.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. Aaron lifted up his hand . . .and blessed themThe pronouncing of a benediction on the peopleassembled in the court was a necessary part of the high priest’sduty, and the formula in which it was to be given is described (Nu6:23-27).
came down from offeringThealtar was elevated above the level of the floor, and the ascent wasby a gentle slope (Ex 20:26).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Aaron lifted up his hand towards the people, and blessed them,…. After he had offered the above sacrifices both for himself and them: the manner of the priests lifting up their hands when they blessed is thus described; in the provinces the priests lift up their hands to their shoulders, and in the sanctuary above their heads, excepting the high priest, who did not lift up his hands above the plate of gold: but R. Judah says, the high priest lift up his hands above the plate, as it is said Le 9:22 f; the modern Jews describe it thus g, they lift up their hands to their shoulders, and they lift up the right hand somewhat higher than the left; then they stretch out their hands, and part their fingers, and frame them so as to make five airs; between two fingers and two fingers one air, and between the forefinger and the thumb, and between the two thumbs; they spread out their hands so, that the middle (or palm) of the hand may be towards the earth, and the back part of it towards heaven: Aaron lift his hands upwards, signifying from whence he implored the blessing, and towards the people on whom he desired it might descend; in this was a type of Christ, who, after he had offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of his people, when he was risen from the dead and about to ascend to heaven, blessed his disciples, Lu 24:50 in Christ the saints are blessed with all spiritual blessings; by him they are procured for them, through his blood, sacrifice, and satisfaction; and he ever lives to make intercession for the application of them to them, see Eph 1:3
and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings; from the altar with joy, as the Targum of Jonathan; being glad he had done his service with acceptance; he is said to “come down”, there being a rise or ascent to the altar, which, as Aben Ezra observes, was three cubits high, and therefore it is with propriety said he came down; which he did as soon as he had made an end of offering all the sacrifices.
f Misn. Sotah, c. 7. sect. 6. g Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. Orach Chayim, c. 128. sect. 12.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When the sacrificial ceremony was over, Aaron blessed the people from the altar with uplifted hands (cf. Num 6:22.), and then came down: sc., from the bank surrounding the altar, upon which he had stood while offering the sacrifice (see at Exo 27:4-5).
Lev 9:23-24 After this Moses went with him into the tabernacle, to introduce him into the sanctuary, in which he was henceforth to serve the Lord, and to present him to the Lord: not to offer incense, which would undoubtedly have been mentioned; nor yet for the special purpose of praying for the manifestation of the glory of Jehovah, although there can be no doubt that they offered prayer in the sanctuary, and prayed for the blessing of the Lord for the right discharge of the office entrusted to them in a manner well-pleasing to Him. On coming out again they united in bestowing that blessing upon the people which they had solicited for them in the sanctuary. “ Then the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the face of Jehovah and consumed the burnt-offering and fat portions upon the altar ” (i.e., the sin and peace-offerings, not the thank-offerings merely, as Knobel supposes, according to his mistaken theory). The appearance of the glory of Jehovah is probably to be regarded in this instance, and also in Num 16:19; Num 17:7, and Num 20:6, as the sudden flash of a miraculous light, which proceeded from the cloud that covered the tabernacle, probably also from the cloud in the most holy place, or as a sudden though very momentary change of the cloud, which enveloped the glory of the Lord, into a bright light, from which the fire proceeded in this instance in the form of lightning, and consumed the sacrifices upon the altar. The fire issued “from before the face of Jehovah,” i.e., from the visible manifestation of Jehovah. It did not come down from heaven, like the fire of Jehovah, which consumed the sacrifices of David and Solomon (1Ch 21:26; 2Ch 7:1).
The Rabbins believe that this divine fire was miraculously sustained upon the altar until the building of Solomon’s temple, at the dedication of which it fell from heaven afresh, and then continued until the restoration of the temple-worship under Manasseh (2Ch 33:16; cf. Buxtorf exercitatt. ad histor. ignis sacri, c. 2); and the majority of them maintain still further, that it continued side by side with the ordinary altar-fire, which was kindled by the priests (Lev 1:7), and, according to Lev 6:6, kept constantly burning by them. The earlier Christian expositors are for the most part of opinion, that the heavenly fire, which proceeded miraculously from God and burned the first sacrifices of Aaron, was afterwards maintained by the priests by natural means (see J. Marckii sylloge diss. philol. theol. ex. vi. ad Lev 6:13). But there is no foundation in the Scriptures for either of these views. There is not a syllable about any miraculous preservation of the heavenly fire by the side of the fire which the priests kept burning by natural means. And even the modified opinion of the Christian theologians, that the heavenly fire was preserved by natural means, rests upon the assumption, which there is nothing to justify, that the sacrifices offered by Aaron were first burned by the fire which issued from Jehovah, and therefore that the statements in the text, with reference to the burning of the fat portions and burnt-offerings, or causing them to ascend in smoke (Lev 9:10, Lev 9:13, Lev 9:17, and Lev 9:20), are to be regarded as anticipations ( per anticipationem accipienda , C. a Lap.), i.e., are to be understood as simply meaning, that when Aaron officiated at the different sacrifices, he merely laid upon the altar the pieces intended for it, but without setting them on fire. The fallacy of this is proved, not only by the verb but by the fact implied in Lev 9:17, that the offering of these sacrifices, with which Aaron entered upon his office, was preceded by the daily morning burnt-offering, and consequently that at the time when Aaron began to carry out the special sacrifices of this day there was fire already burning upon the altar, and in fact a continual fire, that was never to be allowed to go out (Lev 6:6). Even, therefore, if we left out of view the fire of the daily morning and evening sacrifice, which had been offered from the first day on which the tabernacle was erected (Exo 40:29), there were sacrifices presented every day during the seven days of the consecration of the priests (ch. 8); and according to Lev 1:7, Moses must necessarily have prepared the fire for these. If it had been the intention of God, therefore, to originate the altar-fire by supernatural means, this would no doubt have taken place immediately after the erection of the tabernacle, or at least at the consecration of the altar, which was connected with that of the priests, and immediately after it had been anointed (Lev 8:11). But as God did not do this, the burning of the altar-sacrifices by a fire which proceeded from Jehovah, as related in this verse, cannot have been intended to give a sanction to the altar-fire as having proceeded from God Himself, which was to be kept constantly burning, either by miraculous preservation, or by being fed in a natural way. The legends of the heathen, therefore, about altar-fires which had been kindled by the gods themselves present no analogy to the fact before us (cf. Serv. ad Aen. xii. 200; Solin. v. 23; Pausan. v. 27, 3; Bochart, Hieroz. lib. ii. c. 35, pp. 378ff.; Dougtaei analect. ss. pp. 79ff.).
The miracle recorded in this verse did not consist in the fact that the sacrificial offerings placed upon the altar were burned by fire which proceeded from Jehovah, but in the fact that the sacrifices, which were already on fire, were suddenly consumed by it. For although the verb admits of both meanings, setting on fire and burning up (see Jdg 6:21, and 1Ki 18:38), the word literally denotes consuming or burning up, and must be taken in the stricter and more literal sense in the case before us, inasmuch as there was already fire upon the altar when the sacrifices were placed upon it. God caused this miracle, not to generate a supernatural altar-fire, but ut ordinem sacerdotalem legis veteris a se institutum et suas de sacrificio leges hoc miraculo confirmaret et quasi obsignaret ( C. a Lap.), or to express it bore briefly, to give a divine consecration to the altar, or sacrificial service of Aaron and his sons, through which a way was to be opened for the people to His throne of grace, and whereby, moreover, the altar-fire was consecrated eo ipso into a divine, i.e., divinely appointed, means of reconciliation to the community. The whole nation rejoiced at this glorious manifestation of the satisfaction of God with this the first sacrifice of the consecrated priests, and fell down upon their faces to give thanks to the Lord for His mercy.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
22. And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people This was a kind of application of the sacrifice, in order that the people might know that God was reconciled to them through the priest as their mediator and surety. The form of benediction (414) has been already expoundled; at present let this one point suffice, that, when by the lifting up of their hands the priests testified of God’s paternal favor to the people, their commission was ratified and efficacious. Of this the sacred history presents to us a memorable instance, where it records, that
“
the priests and Levites blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling-place, even unto heaven.” (2Ch 30:27.)
The fulfilment of this type was at length manifested in Christ, who is not only the source and cause of blessing, but publishes it by the Gospel with effectual results; for He came to “preach peace to them which were afar off, and to them that were nigh,” (Eph 2:17😉 and although He does not appear or speak in a visible form, yet we know what He says, viz., that
“
whatsoever His disciples shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever they shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mat 18:18.)
(414) See ante on Num 6:22, vol. 2, p. 245 et seq.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE BLESSING AND FIRE FROM HEAVEN 9:2224
TEXT 9:2224
22
And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings.
23
And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of Jehovah appeared unto all the people.
24
And there came forth fire from before Jehovah, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat: and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 9:2224
176.
From where did Aaron come down after he had made the offerings? Why lift up his hands in blessing the people?
177.
Why did Moses and Aaron go into the tent of meeting?
178.
Explain what is meant by or the reaction to the glory of the Lord as it appeared to the congregation.
179.
Does Lev. 9:24 suggest that God Himself started the fire on the altar of burnt offering? Discuss.
PARAPHRASE 9:2224
Then, with hands spread out towards the people, Aaron blessed them and came down from the altar. Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came out again they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole assembly. Then fire came from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and fat on the altar; and when the people saw it, they all shouted and fell flat upon the ground before the Lord.
COMMENT 9:2224
Lev. 9:22-24 Some commentators believe all the sacrificesboth for Aaron and the people were made in the morning and that Aaron went into the tabernacles holy place with Moses in the late morning and stayed there until the evening sacrifice. It would seem to the present writer that the time involved in each of the sacrifices would consume most of the day. Be that as it may, before Aaron went into the tabernacle he with uplifted hands blessed the people. This was probably done from the elevated earthen ramp that led up to the altar. It was probably the priestly blessing of Num. 6:24-26. Deu. 10:8; Deu. 21:5 expresses the thought that God separated Levi from the rest of the tribes for the express purpose of blessing the people. This would be accomplished through teaching as well as through sacrifices.
According to tradition the arms were raised above the head and extended toward the peoplethe hands were joined by clasping the thumbs and the two forefingers, separating the other fingers to form a triple division, thus to represent the triune God.
Upon walking down the ramp of the altar Aaron and Moses walked together in the presence of the large assembly and entered the door of the tabernacle. We are sure their first act was to burn incense upon the golden altar, for this was the completion act of the sacrifices. (Cf Exo. 20:7 ff.) Perhaps while in the holy place Moses gave Aaron the specific instructions for the burning of the incense, the trimming of the lamps, the order of the bread on the golden table. The Lord had promised to manifest His glory to the peopledid Moses and Aaron pray about this? If they did it wasnt that God would keep His promise, but that both they and the people would be ready to receive it. The glory that appeared to the people was probably in the form of a more luminous appearance of the cloudy pillar. Ginsburg says, This glorious appearance which, in a lesser degree, always filled the tabernacle, was now visible in greater effulgence to all the people who witnessed the installation. (Cf. Exo. 16:10; Exo. 40:34; 1Ki. 8:10-12) The purpose of this manifestation is more important than the event. God is saying by this brightness that He has accepted the priesthood and all their service to Him and for the people.
The climax of the whole day and ceremonies was the fire from God which consumed the sacrifices already smoldering upon the fire of the altar. God several times attested His acceptance as with the sacrifices of: Gideon, Jdg. 6:20-21; Elijah, 1Ki. 18:28; Solomon, 2Ch. 7:1-2.
We see no sacred perpetual fire connected with this incident. The fire was there before God sent the supernatural flameit was there after this occurrence.
The response of the people is an encouragement; they shouted and fell on their faces. This must have been an expression of awe and gratitude. Cf. 2Ch. 27:3.
FACT QUESTIONS 9:2224
231.
When were the sacrifices of the eighth day made?
232.
What did Aaron say when he blessed the people?
233.
In what direction and in what posture did Aaron lift up his hands? Discuss.
234.
What did Moses and Aaron do in the tabernacle?
235.
What was the glory that appeared to them?
236.
Why did God send fire from heaven?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(22) And Aaron lifted up his hand.Having now completed the rites of the various sacrifices, and whilst still standing on the elevation leading to the altar, Aaron with uplifted hands solemnly pronounces upon the assembled people the priestly benediction prescribed in Num. 6:24-26. As the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bless the people in His name (Deu. 10:8; Deu. 21:5), the descendants of Aaron to this day pronounce this benediction upon the congregation in the synagogue at certain periods of the year. In accordance with the remark in the passage before us, they are obliged to turn their faces to the people. In lifting up their hands above their shoulders, stretching them forward towards the worshippers, each priest joins his hands together by the thumbs and the two forefingers, separating the other two fingers so as to produce a triple division. (See Num. 6:24, &c.)
And came down from offering.That is, from the elevated standing-place by the side of the altar, which was ascended by a gently sloping dam of earth, since no steps were allowed (see Exo. 20:3), and which during the second Temple was three cubits high.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE BENEDICTION, AND THE CONSUMING FIRE FROM JEHOVAH, Lev 9:22-24.
22. Aaron lifted up his hand “Hands,” (R.V.) The custom of raising aloft the hands in prayer is found among most nations who pretend to any kind of worship. Virgil gives frequent instances among the Trojans and Greeks. Chrysostom explains it as an oblation to God of the instruments of our necessities. From its almost universal prevalence we would rather understand it as an instinctive propriety of prayer, and especially of blessing, pointing out the object of supplication and the recipients of the divine favours.
And blessed them The form of the threefold priestly benediction is recorded in Num 6:23-27. Some writers discover in it intimations of the trinity of persons in the unity of the Divine Substance.
It was a special prerogative of the priests to bless in the name of Jehovah. See Deu 21:5. There has not been much of this thus far. We have been face to face with law and discipline. Now Aaron blesses Israel, and stern Moses joins him. Feeling begins to enter into the ministry of law.
Came down from offering The standing place of the priest while ministering at the altar is spoken of as above the level of the court of the tabernacle. To reach this standing there must have been an inclined plane, since steps were forbidden, (Exo 20:26,) as a safeguard against an indecorous exposure of the priest’s person.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people, and blessed them, and he came down from offering the purification for sin offering, and the whole burnt offering, and the peace offerings.’
Then having satisfactorily completed the offerings and sacrifices Aaron lifted up his hands and blessed the people. It is probable that he had seen Moses do it time and again, but now it was his responsibility. He was their mediator and representative, and God’s mediator towards them. Then he ‘came down’. This may suggest that in order to bless the people he had mounted some kind of dais so that he might be seen by all.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 9:22. Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them Laying on of hands was the usual sign of blessing; but this being impossible where there was so great a multitude, the elevation of hands was used as a sign of imploring the Divine blessing. See Psa 28:2 and Luk 24:50 where we read, that our great High-Priest lifted up his hands, and blessed his disciples. Blessing has always been a part of the sacerdotal office from the beginning. See Gen 14:19. Deu 10:8. In Num 6:24-26 the reader will find a form of benediction which the Lord, by Moses, gave to Aaron, and which, many think, was used upon the present solemn occasion: and it is not improbable, that immediately after Mores and Aaron coming out of the tabernacle (Lev 9:23.) had pronounced the words, The Lord make his face shine upon thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee; that the glory of the Lord which filled the tabernacle, Exo 40:34-35 appeared without, and shone upon the people with a peculiar brightness. It is imagined that Moses went into the tabernacle with Aaron to instruct him in the duty to be discharged there, respecting the sprinkling of the blood, burning the incense, setting the shew-bread in order, &c. &c.
REFLECTIONS.Aaron here begins his ministrations, and offers the several different kinds of sacrifice according to the commandment of the Lord. Note; In all our ministrations we must make God’s word our rule.The daily burnt-sacrifice was offered, besides these extraordinary ones. Our stated seasons of worship must never be neglected because of any extraordinary services or business. When the whole was finished, he, as high-priest on God’s behalf, gave his benediction to the people. Where God accepts our offerings he will leave a blessing behind him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Who can overlook the LORD JESUS here, or want to be put in mind of the Redeemer’s benediction on the mount, when he had finished redemption work on earth? Luk 24:50-51 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Blessing and Judgment
Lev 9:22
A most happy change! We feel as if we could join the thankful and rapturous host of Israel. There has not been much blessing up to this period in our studies. We have come face to face with law, rule, exaction, discipline, and all the apparatus of profound and life-long education. A tender tone would have helped us now and again. We have not been without such tone. When we have heard it, we have made the most of it; we have magnified the tenderness into a great heaven-filling benediction. We took it as preliminary; we interpreted it typically; we hailed it as an earnest; we said, “The cloud at present is only about the size of a man’s hand, but quickly the sky will be charged with rain, and upon the earth it will plash in gracious benediction.” This is the right way to read gentle providences all light helps by the way; regard them as earnests, pledges, hints, and promises in substance. A great human passage is before us. Up to this time we have been dealing with priests, and ceremonies, and mechanisms; we have been conscious of the want of what may be represented as the universal; on every hand we have been bounded, shut up in stern iron, with a look upward, but no horizon. Now Aaron stretches forth his hands and blesses the people: stern Moses joins him: they enter the tent of meeting and return, and they both bless the people. The ministry is widening; there is a streak of light on the faraway horizon; the two greatest men have at present seen the possibility of millenniums of light and rest and comfort; a new tone is in their voices; feeling begins to enter into the ministry of law. The people may behave better after this. Who can rebel immediately after a benediction? Does not a blessing block us on our rebellious way and make us think a little whether we may not have been wrong, and whether it is not better to turn round and go the other the upward road? What has been wanting in our education, personally, domestically, socially, may be this element of feeling, sympathy, benediction, this utterance of infinite hope, this covering up of wounds and blemishes and shortcomings and life-wanderings by a great and divine benediction. We seem to have sudden summer coming upon us in the winter-time of this law and mechanism.
Blessings of this kind do not come alone; other comforts attend and consummate them. We read in the twenty-fourth verse of the ninth chapter:
“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, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” ( Lev 9:24 )
It was a rare time in Israel a time of rapture, of melting tenderness, of that sacred emotion which lifts up the level of the whole life by enlarging and ennobling all the best sentiments of the heart. This is what is now granted to men. All true service is glorified by a consciousness of the Divine presence. Again and again we say, “Did not our heart burn within us?” We knew hardly why; we had seen a Stranger: he had conversed with our inmost spirit: he had delivered messages straight to the hearing ear of the soul, every tone of which was heard, every tone of which was new; and the fire began to burn, and the heart became a new heart soft, tender, filled with a sense of mystery: love rose above the region of words and shaped itself before the inner vision in apocalypses of symbol and type and wizardry such as might have been inspired by the Holy Spirit: and the air danced with new images, and the sun burned with new light, and all time seemed too short for the expression of the rapture which thrilled the spirit. Then we were charged with fanaticism; some did not hesitate to say: “These men are drunken; they have had new wine, and they are under the influence of intoxicants,” not knowing that we were not drunken with wine wherein is excess, but were filled with the Spirit of God; and the only word in all the daily language of mortals which touched our experience at all, and gave it articulation, was the word fire, because it seems to hold all other words that mean earnestness, purity, elevation, beauty, suggestiveness. The fire in the humblest grate outshines the king’s diamonds. The fire, read by open and discerning eyes, is a continual history, battle, unfoldment, revelation.
There have been grand days in the Church days when the mechanical priest has shaken off his mechanism and blessed the people; days when great legislators have dropped the baton of statesmanship, and with free hands stretched out over a wondering people have blessed the common human heart. One may come in the ages who will sit down upon a mountain, and when he opens his mouth he will say, “Blessed, blessed, blessed!” he will begin his sermon by putting the crown upon all the best history of the heart; he will begin, where other men close, with congratulation and beatitude.
The history pauses a moment. It ought here to be punctuated by a whole century. Some time should elapse before the next sentence is read. Yet we had better not lengthen the pause, or we may sacrifice reality for poetical completeness. Our own life to-day is just as hurried, rugged, and contradictory as is this piece of ancient story. So we may come into the next chapter with an awful familiarity. Men can go from the altar to forbidden places; men can unclasp their hands from God’s grip and put those hands into other keeping. Poetical justice might have closed the book of Leviticus with the ninth chapter. It would have been a glorious close, Aaron moved to feeling: Moses giving way to emotion: the Lord’s fire consuming the offering upon the altar: the people singing, shouting, and falling down in adoration. Why did not the history close there? That would have been Canaan enough for any nation, paradise enough for any people. But there is another chapter. The tenth chapter opens with a sketch of character which appears from day to day:
“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.” ( Lev 10:1 )
What a set-back in the grand advance! How often have we been within one step of heaven, and have turned suddenly round and fallen right back to the earth that has every reason to be ashamed of us! They were priests too; they were the sons of the pontiff. The evil began in the upper places. The scepticism is in the Church to-day. It pleases us to organise missions to those who are supposed to be unbelievers; but the unbelief of the day is in the Church. There is (as we have said again and again) no possible un belief outside the Church. There may be ignorance, only partial knowledge, prejudice, perverted judgment; but, as we have again and again averred and growing time becomes growing conviction, the enemies of the Church are not outside the Church. The pulpit may be leprous; the ministry may be filled with scepticism. They were in the sacerdotal line, who blasphemously took their own censers, a thing forbidden in the law. These men were not at liberty to take each his own censer; there was a utensil provided for that action, and for any man to bring his own ironmongery to serve in such a cause was to insult the Spirit of the universe. This is how we stand to-day: every man bringing his censer his own censer, which means the prostitution of personality, the loss of the commonwealth-spirit and of the recognition of the unity and completeness of the Church. There are men who spend their time in amending Providence: Nadab and Abihu represent two such men to-day. There are men who are always trying to naturalise the supernatural: this is what Nadab and Abihu did. They said in effect, “This evil fire will do quite as well; build your life on reason; order all the ministry of your life by coherent and cumulative argument; drop the ancient words, and choose and set new words of your own; there is no supernatural: let us banish superstition and inaugurate the reign of reason.” Nadab and Abihu had a kind of church, but a church without the true God, an uninhabited shell, a mockery, a base irony the baser because it was in a sense religious. There are men who substitute invention for commandment. This is what Nadab and Abihu did: they invented a new use of the common censer; they brought into new service common fire; they ventured to put incense thereon when only the pontiff of Israel was allowed to use such incense; they invented new bibles, new laws, new churches, new methods; they were cursed with the spirit of extra independence and individuality, with the audacity of self-trust not with its religious worship and adoration. This all occurs every day, and it occurs quite as rudely and violently in the current and flow of our own history. All this invention and all this deposition of God and of law comes just as swiftly after our conscious realisations of the divine presence as this instance came swiftly upon the conscious benediction of God. “There is but a step between me and death.” It would seem as if a universe might intervene between true prayer and the spirit of distrust and cursing yet not a hair’s-breadth intervenes. A man on his knees is next to the worst self, namely, a man with clenched fists defying the heavens. It is possible to lay down the Bible and take up the unholy book and read the corruptest pages with conscious interest if not positive sympathy. Thin is the veil which keeps the right action from the wrong deed. The place of devils is next door to the sanctuary always. For some men it is never so easy to rebel as after a great Amen spoken in the ear of Heaven.
Another action of fire is found in this incident:
“And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord” ( Lev 10:2 ).
The same fire! Is it not said that the Gospel is a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death? Fire had just consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar in token of divine complacency and sacred nearness and the acceptance of human worship and that same fire went out from the Lord and devoured the audacious priests the sacerdotal blasphemers, ate them up as if they had been common bones! It is an awful flame! “Our God is a consuming fire.” Priests, officers, leaders, men of position, men of wealth, play not your little fantastic tricks on God’s altar! Your vanity and pomp and fashion and base wealth will be no protection against the anger and righteous judgment of God. The pulpit must obey; the foremost men must obey as the hindmost. The law must have obedience simple, complete, honest, unquestioning obedience; ours not to ask the reason, or make objection, or start new difficulty, or invent new methods; but to be found in loving and holy obedience evermore.
This is what has always happened in the history of such men as Nadab and Abihu. History is full of the white ashes of burned heretics. Leave the Lord to handle the infidel whether he be priest or outside sceptic. The Lord has never been negligent of his own altar. Men have arisen from century to century proposing the use of new censers, granting to every man the use of his own censer and thus paying a subtle tribute to the vanity of the human heart; in many ages men have arisen to write down the Bible, to tear down the altar, to supersede the sanctuary. For a time they succeeded; but because there was “no deepness of earth” they soon withered away that is to say, they were not rooted in the Heart of the Universe, which is a living Heart, an eternal Heart; they were planted on the surface of things, and were in very deed quite green and gave promise of blossom and of fruit; but we looked for them; and, lo, they were not; yea, we sought them, but they could not be found. The Lord will burn every Nadab and Abihu, and burn them the more quickly that they were priests. If they had been sound heretics really out-and-out enemies and assailants he might have conferred with Moses and Aaron about them as he conferred with an elder man about Sodom and Gomorrah; but he has no parleying when priests do wrong, for the evil is at the altar: there is nothing between the deed and the judgment. It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for preachers, teachers, professors, who have played the fool, and have substituted the traditions of elders for the commandments of God. It is a sad time in the Church when the altar is forgotten. The Lord said “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified…. And Moses called” two of the family” and said… Carry out these men and bury them outside the camp”; and Moses would have no mourning by Aaron or Eleazar and Ithamar:
“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” ( Lev 10:6 ).
“Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar… Ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (the tent of meeting), “lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you”; if you go out you will reflect upon God’s ministry in the world. Aaron must not mourn along the track of the divine judgment; he must remain at the altar; what may occur in his own heart none can tell, for God will not be hard upon him; but he must not be found going after burned men as one might go after those who had died complacently with Heaven and in the discharge of duty.
The reason is given in the words “For the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” That oil must separate between you and the appearance of unbelief; that oil is a restraint as well as an inspiration. Is it not so now, varying the terms and the relations of things? If we could enter into the spirit of that restriction, what different men we should be! The name of your country is upon you: dishonour it not. A venerable name, never associated with meanness, cowardice, corruption, or fear of man. Rise to the dignity of the signature which is upon you. When you flee, the enemy will say your country has fled; when you play the coward, the enemy will say the throne has tottered and the sovereign has succumbed. The holy vow is upon you. You said you would be better and do better. You punctuated the vow with hot tears; your emphasis was quite an unfamiliar tone, so much so that we wondered at the poignancy of your utterance, and felt in very deed that you were speaking the heart’s truth. Remember that vow. The vow of the Lord is upon you. If you stoop, it will not be condescension, it will be base prostration; if you palter with the reality of language, it will not be ability in the use of words, it will be the profanation of the medium which God has established for the conveyance and the interchange of truth. The exalted position is yours. You are the head of a family: if you go wrong, the whole family will suffer to the second and third and fourth generations. You are known and trusted in business: if you be found mean, untrustworthy, faithless, deceitful, the whole city will feel the anguish of a pang, for you were regarded as a trustee of its honour and its reputation. The anointing oil is upon you in some form or in some way. The name of Christ is upon us all. We cannot get rid of it. In this way or in that we have all to do with Christ, with his name, his honour, his cross, his crown. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of Philistia rejoice. Who can tell what savage joy there is when Lucifer, son of the morning, trembles in his orbit staggers falls? The anointing oil of the Lord is upon you, and when the Christian professor speaks the base word, does the base deed, bends at the forbidden altar, withholds the sacrifice, forbears to speak the word of faithful testimony and allegiance, the enemy laughs, and hell says: “Art thou also become as one of us?”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Lev 9:22 And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.
Ver. 22. Lifted up his hand. ] He put the blessing upon them. A type of Christ. Luk 24:50 Act 3:26 Eph 1:3
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
blessed them: i.e. according to the precept in Num 6:24-26. Compare Deu 10:8; Deu 21:5.
came down. Does not imply “steps”, which were forbidden (Exo 20:26). Probably = the margin or edge. See note on Exo 27:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a Deed that Turned Joy into Grief
Lev 9:22-24; Lev 10:1-11
There was a double blessing. First, Aaron blessed the people when he stood against the altar, Lev 9:22, and afterward, when he came out of the Tabernacle, Lev 9:23. We find here the analogue of the double blessing which our Lord gives His own. When He came from offering His supreme sacrifice on Calvary, which was burned-offering, peace-offering, sin- and trespass-offerings combined, He blessed His own. We are told that as He blessed them He was borne upward to heaven, Luk 24:51; but we expect another blessing from Him, when He shall come forth out of the heavenly Temple and extend His hands in benediction, using perhaps the very words of the ancient benediction. But take care lest you ever introduce strange fire into your worship-i.e., the fire of your own emotions, enthusiasm and excitement. Ponder those mighty words in Lev 10:3. We must not rush carelessly into the divine presence, though by the blood of Jesus we have been made nigh, Eph 2:13.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
his hand: or, as the Greek has it, “his hands”, Menachem gives reason why it is written hand, to signify the right hand, because that was lifted up higher than the left. The lifting up of the hand was a gesture used in speaking, and signifying any weighty thing, Isa 49:22, and particularly in swearing, Gen 14:22, praying, Psa 28:2, and blessing, either of God, Psa 134:2, or of men, as in this place. Paul, speaking of prayer, uses the phrase, “lifting up holy hands;” as also David: “Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice.” Gen 14:18-20, Num 6:23-27, Deu 10:8, Deu 21:5, 1Ki 8:55, 1Ch 23:13, 2Ch 6:3, Psa 72:17, Mar 10:16, Luk 24:50, Act 3:26, 2Co 13:14, Heb 7:6, Heb 7:7, 1Pe 3:9
Reciprocal: Gen 27:4 – that my Exo 10:25 – sacrifices Exo 39:43 – blessed them 2Sa 6:18 – he blessed Luk 2:34 – blessed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 9:22. Aaron lifted up his hand Which was the usual rite of blessing. By this posture he signified both whence he expected the blessing, and his hearty desire of it for them. And blessed them In some such manner as is related Num 6:24, &c., though not in the same form, for it is not probable that he used it before God delivered it. And this was an act of his priestly office, no less than sacrificing. And herein he was a type of Christ, who came into the world to bless us, and when he was parting from his disciples, lifted up his hands and blessed them; yea, and in them his whole church, of which they were the elders and representatives. And came down From the altar; whence he is said to come down, either, 1st, Because the altar stood upon raised ground; or, 2d, Because it was nearer the holy place, which was the upper end.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:22 And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and {h} came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.
(h) Because the altar was near the sanctuary, which was the upper end, therefore he is said to come down.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fire from the Lord 9:22-24
After offering these sacrifices, Aaron blessed the people (Lev 9:22). He "stepped down" perhaps from a platform near the altar of burnt offerings on which he may have been standing to address the people. Probably Moses took Aaron into the holy place to present him to the Lord and to pray for God’s blessing with him (Lev 9:23).
"The appearance of the glory of Jehovah is probably to be regarded in this instance, and also in Num 16:19; Num 17:7 [sic 8]; and Lev 20:6, as the sudden flash of a miraculous light, which proceeded from the cloud that covered the tabernacle, probably also from the cloud in the most holy place, or as a sudden though very momentary change of the cloud, which enveloped the glory of the Lord, into a bright light, from which the fire proceeded in this instance in the form of lightening, and consumed the sacrifices on the altar [cf. Jdg 6:20-24; Jdg 13:15-23; 1Ki 18:38-39; 1Ch 21:26; 2Ch 7:1-3]." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 2:348.]
The miracle that caused the strong reaction of the people (Lev 9:24) was not that fire fell on the sacrifices and ignited them. They were already burning. It was that the fire that fell consumed the sacrifices suddenly. In this way God manifested His satisfaction with this first sacrifice that the newly consecrated priests offered. The Hebrew word ranan, translated "shouted," means to shout for joy. This is the first occurrence of a word for "joy" in the Bible.
"This chapter brings out very clearly the purpose and character of OT worship. All the pomp and ceremony served one end: the appearance of the glory of God." [Note: Wenham, The Book . . ., p. 151.]
Essentially worship is communion with God. [Note: See Walter C. Kaiser Jr., "Leviticus," in The Interpreter’s Bible, 1:1067.]
"The pattern was hereby established: by means of the priests’ proper entry into the tabernacle, the nation was blessed. The next chapter (Leviticus 10) gives a negative lesson of the same truth in the example of Nadab and Abihu: the blessing of God’s people will come only through obedience to the divine pattern." [Note: Sailhamer, p. 330.]
"The high priest’s sacrificial atonement and effectual intercession assure the worshiper of a blessing in God’s presence, now by faith, but in the future in glory by sight." [Note: Ross, p. 227.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE DOUBLE BENEDICTION
Lev 9:22-24
“And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and came out and blessed the people and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”
The sacrifices having now been made, and the offerings presented in this divinely-appointed order, by the ordained and consecrated priesthood, two things followed: a double benediction was pronounced upon the people, and Jehovah manifested to them His glory. We read (Lev 9:22), “And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.”
Presumably, the form of benediction which Aaron used was that which, according to Num 6:24-27, the priests were commanded by the Lord to use: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” It was not an empty form; for the Lord at that time also promised Himself to make this blessing efficient, saying thereafter, “So shall they put My Name”-Jehovah, the name of God in covenant, -“upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”
So also the Lord Jesus, just before withdrawing from the bodily sight of His disciples after the completion of His great sacrifice, “lifted up His hands, and blessed them”; and thereupon disappeared from their sight, ascending into heaven. Even so was it in the typical service of this day; for when Aaron had thus lifted up his hands and blessed the people (Lev 9:23), “Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting.”
The work of Aaron in the outer court had been finished, and now he disappears from Israels sight; for he must, in like manner, be inducted into the priestly work within the Holy Place. He must there be shown all those things to which, in his priestly ministrations, the blood must be applied; and, especially, must also offer the sweet incense at the golden altar which was before the veil which enshrined the immediate presence of Jehovah. But this offering of incense, as all have agreed, typifies the precious and most effective intercession of the great Antitype; so that thus it was shown in a figure, how the Christ of God, having finished His sacrificial work in the sight of men, and having ascended into heaven, should there for a season abide, hidden from human sight, making intercession for His waiting people.
After an interval-we are not told how long-Moses and Aaron again (Lev 9:23-24), “came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”
This second blessing, by Moses and Aaron conjointly, followed Aarons reappearance to Israel, and marked the completion of these inauguration services, the intercession within the veil, as well as the sacrifices. And the revelation in a visible way of the glory of the Lord added what now was alone required, the manifest attestation by the Lord of the tabernacle of His approval of all that had been done in these memorable eight days. This appearance of the Shekinah glory was followed by a flash of fire which, in token of the Divine appropriation of the sacrifices, consumed in an instant the burnt offering on the altar with the fat of the sin offering and the peace offering, which had been laid upon it. We cannot follow here the Jewish tradition, which has it that with this act the sacrificial fire which was never to go out upon the altar, was originated. On the contrary, as we have seen, the offerings had before this been made by Moses, and even on this day the fire had been kindled before (Lev 9:10, et seq.). Nor is there any necessary inconsistency here; for we have but to suppose that the burning of the sacrifices which had been kindled by Aaron was not yet complete, when the flash from the cloud of glory in an instant consummated the burning, teaching in a most august and impressive manner the symbolic meaning of the burning of the sacrifices on the altar, as signifying the acceptance and appropriation of that which was offered, by the Lord who had commanded all, and thereby endorsing all that had been done, as according to His mind and will.
And even so, according to the sure Word of prophecy, our heavenly High Priest has yet in reserve for His people a second benediction. His first blessing upon leaving the world was followed by Pentecost; the second, on His reappearing, shall bring in resurrection and full salvation. And in that day, when He “shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him unto salvation,” {Heb 9:28} therewith shall appear the glory which on that day, long ago, appeared to Israel; for He “shall come in the glory of His Father,” and thus shall God, the Most High and the Most Holy, testify before the universe His gracious acceptance of the service of the true Aaron and His “many sons,” the priestly people of God, through all the Christian ages. Thus, the services and events of that day of induction, in their order from beginning to end, were not only a parable of the order of grace, but also, as it were, a typical epitome of the whole work of redemption. They are thus a prophecy that the work which began when Christ made His soul an offering for sin, and to perfect which He is now withdrawn from our sight for a season, shall be consummated at last by His reappearing in glory for the final blessing of His waiting people.
And if we look at other and subordinate aspects of this inauguration service, we shall still find this sequel of all, no less richly suggestive. Expiation, righteousness, fellowship in peace with God, shall bring with it the blessing of the Lord, and finally issue in the revelation of His glory in the sight of all who accept this great redemption through sacrifice. And so also in the personal life. As the trustful acceptance and use of the appointed Sin offering leads to the consecration of the person and the life, and as by this consecration we come into conscious fellowship with God in joy and peace, as we feed on the flesh of the slain Lamb, so, as the blessed result, unto every true believer, according to the measure of his faith, this is followed by the double benediction of the Lord; one for this life, and a larger, for the life which is to come. The Lord blesses him, and keeps him: the Lord makes His face to shine upon” him, and is gracious unto him: the Lord lifts up His countenance upon him, and gives him peace, according to that word of the great High Priest: “Peace I leave with you: My peace I give unto you”. {Joh 14:27} And then, after the present peace, is yet to follow, as the final issue of the expiated sin, and the consecrated life, and fellowship in peace with the God of life and love, the beholding of the glory of the Lord; according to, that high priestly prayer of our Redeemer, That which Thou hast given Me, I will that, where I am, they also may be with Me: that they may behold My glory”. {Joh 17:24} Even here some know a little of this, and find that expiated sin and full consecration are followed here and now by bright glimpses of the Glory of the Lord. But what is now seen thus in part shall then be seen fully and face to face. Who would not make sure of that beatific vision of the glory of the Lord?