Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 10:3
Then Moses said unto Aaron, This [is it] that the LORD spoke, 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.
3. I will be sanctified ] The words seem to be a quotation and are in poetical parallelism:
“In them that come nigh me I will shew myself holy,
And before all the people I will glorify myself.”
The sense is that the priests are those who have the right to approach God, and He shews Himself holy in punishing those who do it improperly.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Rather, I will sanctify myself in them that come near to me (i. e. the priests), and I will glorify myself before all the people. The words used by Moses on this occasion are not found elsewhere in the Pentateuch. But the sense is implied in such passages as Exo 19:22; Exo 28:41; Exo 29:1, Exo 29:44.
Aarons silence (compare Psa 39:9) on this occasion may be compared with his reasonable and natural expostulation with Moses when his surviving sons were rebuked for not having eaten the flesh of the sin-offering Lev 10:19.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Lev 10:3
Aaron held his peace.
Aaron; or, the disturbing and tranquilising influences of life
I. The disturbing influences. Physical sufferings, secular anxieties, social grievances, moral remorse, heart bereavements. To the last of these Aaron was now the victim.
1. He has lost two sons. A double trial.
2. He had lost two sons after they had reached maturity.
3. After they had entered upon the most important and honourable office in life. What a disappointment!
4. In the most sudden way.
5. With no hope for their future blessedness. They were struck down by offended justice, without a moment for repentance.
II. The tranquilising influences of human life. He held his peace.
1. There are three kinds of calming influences that are resorted to by men under trial–the carnal, the stoical, and the Christian.
2. The last of these is the only true tranquilising force. It contains at least four doctrines that tend to pacify the human spirit under the most trying circumstances of life.
(1) That all who have implicit confidence in Christ as the Mediator are reconciled to God and delivered from condemnation.
(2) That every disturbing event takes place under the superintendence of God.
(3) That God has an absolute right to dispose of all things as He thinks fit.
(4) That the most painful events to the good are short, and may be rendered subservient to their highest interest. They deepen the sense of our individuality by detaching us from society and making us in our sufferings feel our loneliness; they impress us with the unsatisfactoriness of all things pertaining to this material life. Southey has, with great poetic beauty, described how the calamities of life afflict the pious soul: they are only as clouds passing over the moon, making the queen of night appear more majestic in her march. (Homilist.)
Silence in affliction
I. Even a child of God may be exercised with sore trials and afflictions, that may lie very heavy upon him. (Psa 38:2; Job 9:17). And what wonder, if the children of God meet with trials upon earth, where they were never promised, nor could rationally expect their rest? What wonder, seeing they so often sin, and procure the evils under which they groan? All this is consistent with the love of a father, and our relation to him.
II. What is implied in being silent under the trials God sees fit at any time to exercise us with?
1. A deep sense of Gods hand in what we suffer. This was the ground of Davids silence: I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it (Psa 39:9). And Hezekiah, mourning, directs his eye to God and heaven. What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it (Isa 38:15).
2. It includes a subscribing to Gods justice in all His dealings with us, and that whatever He takes from us or lays upon us, we dare not to conclude the worse of Him in our thoughts or to open our mouths against Him. Thus being silent is opposed to self-justification, as being convinced that He hath punished us less than our iniquities deserve.
3. It includes a resigning ourselves to God, as having the most unquestionable dominion over us, and right to do with us and ours as seems good in His sight (Job 3:12).
4. It includes resting in His pleasure, as that which is wisest and best; in opposition to murmuring and impatience, inward frets and discomposure of soul.
III. What considerations may help to work the soul of a child of God into so desirable a frame, as to be mute when Gods afflicting hand may be most pressing upon him. The reasonableness of this frame may appear–
1. From Gods unquestionable right to dispose of us and ours as He pleases. When it is His will which is done upon us, His sovereignty should teach His creatures to be silent (Rom 9:21-22).
2. It should teach us to be silent in whatever instance God afflicts; as it is He that continues to us many other mercies, which have been all forfeited, and which might have been as justly removed as those He has taken away.
3. We ought to be silent under what God will have us suffer, as considering we have many ways sinned and offended against Him (Job 40:4-5).
4. We have reason to be silent, as considering that all Gods dispensations, how afflictive soever, are conducted by unerring wisdom to His own glory. And if God be glorified, why should we be dissatisfied?
5. The people of God have reason to be silent under every affliction He brings upon them, considering He hath made with them an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure, which is sufficient to be all their salvation and is all their desire (2Sa 23:5).
Application:
1. To be impatient under affliction is unbecoming a child of God, considered as a new creature.
2. To oppose our wills to the will of God is high presumption, and both provoking to God, and dangerous to ourselves (Isa 45:9).
3. It is contrary to our covenant engagements. When we yielded ourselves to God, did we not expressly agree that He should lead us to heaven, and that we would follow Him through what way He pleased to show us–through seas or wildernesses, or through any, even the roughest paths, so He brought us safe to the promised land.
4. Impatience under affliction is inconsistent with our own prayers. Submission to the will of God is, or ought to be, our daily request, and especially under such trials.
5. It would bring us under the charge of ingratitude to our best benefactor and friend. Has God heard my main prayer, and drawn me to Christ? Yet, if He lays His hand upon me in this or the other instance, shall I by my complaints drown all the remembrance of His former loving-kindness and grace? Moreover, what a slight should we put on the remaining everlasting rest, should we repine at present sufferings, which are so soon to issue in endless joy! (D. Wilcox)
.
Silence under affliction
I. What it is for the afflicted and bereaved to hold their peace under the correcting hand of God.
1. It certainly implies, in the first place, that the afflicted and bereaved should not complain of the Divine conduct towards them. They have no ground to complain, because God takes nothing from them but what He has given them, and inflicts no more upon them than they deserve and He has a right to inflict.
2. For the afflicted to hold their peace implies that they not only cease to complain, but that they cease to think hard of God. It is much easier to suppress their verbal complaints than to suppress all their inward repinings under the correcting hand of God.
3. The only way in which the afflicted and bereaved can get rid of their inward murmuring thoughts is cordially to approve of the conduct of God in causing them to suffer their present afflictions and bereavements. Nothing can remove hatred of God but love to God. Nothing can remove opposition to God but submission to God.
II. Why the afflicted and bereaved ought to hold their peace and silently submit to the correcting hand of God. This is their duty–
1. Because they always deserve the bereavements which they are called to suffer. They are under the same obligations to submit silently and unreservedly under the frowns of God as to rejoice under His smiles.
2. The afflicted and bereaved ought to hold their peace and silently submit to the correcting hand of God because He has a right to afflict and bereave them whenever He sees it necessary to do it
3. It becomes the afflicted and bereaved to bow in silence to the sovereign will of God because He always afflicts and bereaves them at the proper time. It is well that God does not allow men to choose when He shall afflict them. He always knows the best time, and when He does afflict them they must know that He sees good reasons to afflict them at that time rather than any other. And since He sees good reasons for afflicting them at such a particular time they have no ground to complain but ought silently to submit to His unerring wisdom, whether they are high or low, or whether they are young or old.
4. That men ought to hold their peace under the afflicting hand of God because He always afflicts them in the best way as well as at the best time.
Improvement:
1. It appears from the nature of silent submission under Divine corrections, that it must be highly pleasing to God. It is the very spirit which He requires them to feel and express while He lays His chastising hand upon them. He says to them, Be still, and know that I am God.
2. It appears from the nature of sincere submission under trials and afflictions that insubmission is extremely criminal. When either saints or sinners complain under Divine corrections they practically say that He who has made them shall not reign over them. Can there be anything more displeasing to God?
3. It appears from the nature of true submission under afflictions that it is something different from stupidity. Stupidity consists in despising the chastenings of the Lord. Mankind are far more apt to be stupid than to be faint under afflictions and bereavements. They try to overlook the hand of God in them, and to consider them as mere accidents, or necessary evils, which could not be avoided and must be borne. Such stupidity under Divine corrections in the sinners in Zion God severely condemned. If afflictions do not remove stupidity they increase it; if they do not soften the heart they harden it; and if they do not produce submission they create obstinacy. But the afflicted are extremely apt to misconstrue the effect of their afflictions and to mistake stupidity for submission, and imagine that they feel resigned when they only feel stupid and insensible.
4. True submission is diametrically opposite to stupidity and is perfectly consistent with the keenest sensibility under the correcting hand of God. It becomes the bereaved to view their bereavements, as far as possible, in all their painful effects and consequences, that they may exercise a deep and unlimited submission to the Divine corrections. Though Aaron held his peace and refrained from speaking, yet he did not refrain from thinking. His mind was undoubtedly awake, and all his powers and faculties in vigorous exercise. There is much more danger of feeling too little than of feeling too much under Divine chastisements.
5. If the afflicted and bereaved ought to hold their peace under the chastising hand of God, then they ought to submit to the heaviest as well as to the lightest chastisements.
6. It appears from the nature of submission that it is easy for the afflicted and bereaved to determine whether they do or do not sincerely submit to the correcting hand of God. There is no medium between approving or disapproving His conduct in afflicting them. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The silence of Aaron
An ancient philosopher has said, Light sorrows speak; great sorrows are silent. The experience of the human heart, and of this life, where affliction has so many degrees and arrays itself in so many different shades, justifies this observation. The sacred poets of Israel, in this thought, had anticipated pagan wisdom (see Isa 47:5; Lam 2:12-13).
1. The impressions and the conduct of Aaron cannot be usefully estimated without a knowledge of the event.
2. It is a test of humility to be silent in the bosom of an irreparable loss, of a profound affliction.
3. In the mute sorrow of Aaron, there is more than this wise humility; we must see there also acquiescence.
4. Lastly, it is just to recognise in the conduct of Aaron lowly and firm resignation. (A, Coquerel.)
Aarons silence in presence of Gods judgment
Doubtless Aaron looked somewhat heavily on this sad spectacle: it could not but appal him to see his two sons dead before him–dead in displeasure, dead suddenly, dead by the immediate hand of God. And now he could repent him of his new honour to see it succeed so ill with the sons of his loins; neither could he choose but see himself stricken in them. But his brother Moses, that had learned not to know either nephews or brother when they stood in his way to God, wisely turned his eyes from the dead carcases of his sons to his respect of the living God. My brother, this event is fearful, but just; these were thy sons, but they sinned; it was not for God, it is not for thee, to look so much who they were, as what they did. If they have profaned God and themselves, can thy natural affection so miscarry thee that thou couldst wish their impunity with the blemish of thy Maker? Show now whether thou more lovest God or thy sons. Showy whether thou be a better father or a son. Aaron, weighing these things, holds his peace, not out of an amazement or sullenness, but out of patient and humble submission; and seeing Gods pleasure, and their desert, is content to forget that he had sons. He might have had a silent tongue, and a clamorous heart. There is no voice louder in the ears of God, than a speechless repining of the soul. There is no greater proof of grace, than to smart patiently, and humbly and contentedly to rest the heart in the justice and wisdom of Gods proceeding. (Bp. Hall.)
Divine judgment and domestic ties
Serious people sometimes wonder how it shall be at the last day–how godly parents shall be able to bear the sight of their Christless children given over to everlasting death; whether the knowledge or sight of near and beloved relatives in perdition will not interrupt and destroy the peace Of heaven. But, if such persons would reason upon the subject from a standpoint higher than the mere sympathies of nature, they would have less trouble concerning it. Aaron looking upon his slain sons, is a picture of how it shall be. When Gods ultimate judgments shall go into effect, their justice shall be so conspicuous, and the goodness and glory of God in them shall be so luminous and manifest, that it will not be in the power of any ransomed soul to think of demurring, or indulging one tearful regret. When we come to see things in the light of heaven, every enemy of God will appear so essentially an enemy to ourselves and our peace, that, however otherwise related to us, we will be glad to see them shut up in the dreadful prison-house for ever and for ever. What are domestic ties and sympathies in comparison with the glorious will of our blessed Lord? Jesus says, He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. Every saint is fully wrapped up in the righteousness, wisdom, and goodness of his Lord. Everything that God does carries the heart of the ransomed ones so completely with it, and so overwhelms and swallows up all other affections, that they are as utter nothing. Nadab and Abihu may die for ever under Aarons very eyes, and yet Gods honour and glory in it leave him not a tear to shed, and not a word of lamentation to utter. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The silence of Aarons sorrow
I. The poignant character of Aarons sorrow. The blow came and smote–
1. His patriotism–he would feel that Israel as a nation was disgraced.
2. His piety–religion was dishonoured and God insulted.
3. His paternity.
(1) It is a great grief for parents to watch their children die when they have seen the end approaching, but in Aarons case tile bereavement was sudden.
(2) It is a great grief for parents to surrender their children even when they feel sure they die in the Lord, but, in Aarons case, his sons died under the frown of the Lord, and concerning their future he could have no sure and certain hope. To lose two sons under such circumstances was sorrow of the most poignant kind.
II. The patient conduct of Aaron under such sorrow. (F. W. Brown.)
God glorified before the people
If I so hold a mirror that I cause it to reflect on your dazzled vision the brilliant rays of the sun, that mirror adds nothing to the lustre of the grand orb of day; it only directs the light towards you. If I write to you in most glowing and graphic terms concerning my bosom friend, I do not thereby increase his well-known talents and virtues. I simply beget in your mind, or foster, feelings of admiration, respect or love. So when you and I praise God, we do not, we cannot, augment His essential glory. It is impossible for us finite and dependent creatures to add anything to the infinite love, wisdom, and power of the Divine One. But we can elevate Him in our own estimation, increase our own comfort, stimulate our own spiritual life, and intensify the affection which others entertain for Him. (J. H. Hitehen, D. D.)
The stillness of intense emotion
As I have felt a tear drop from a cloudless sky, and wondered whence it could come, so have I seen a fair countenance full of openness, serenity, and majesty, and the large still tear standing in the eye. Yet no single muscle was distorted; it seemed to me like the stillness of intense emotion, like the sorrow of goodness, like a broken heart at peace with its own woe; as though one, whose hopes of earthly bliss had all vanished, were comforted from within by the presence and assurance of Holy Love, saying, It is well, peace be unto thee. (John Pulsford, D. D.)
The broken heart is like a broken harp
The broken heart is like a broken harp. The harp is either absolutely silent, or sends forth discordant sounds. Human grief is so deep that it is either speechless or gives expression to bitter complaints and hard thoughts. Whatever human ministries may accomplish by way of modifying it, they do not heal. Here is the superiority of Christ Jesus in His treatment. He heals the broken-hearted.
Service for God not to be interrupted by adversity
A certain heathen making an oration, as he was sacrificing to his god, in the midst of his devotion, word was brought him that his only son was dead: whereat being nothing at all moved, he made this answer, I did not get him to live for ever; and so went on with his business. Thus when we are entering into the sight of Gods favour, it may so please Him to try us by afflictions; there may news come of a ship wrecked at sea, of a chapman broke in the country, of the death of friends and allies, &c. Yet ought we not for all this to leave off our course in the service of Him, but rather whatsoever comes cross, make it as it were a parenthesis, an ornament, not a hindrance, in our progress to heaven. (J. Spencer.)
Undisturbed service
Valerius Maximus tells a story of a young nobleman, that attended upon Alexander, while he was sacrificing; this nobleman held his censer for incense, and in the holding of it, there fell a coal of fire upon his flesh, and burned it so as the very scent of it was in the nostrils of all that were about him; and because he would not disturb Alexander in his service, he resolutely did not stir to put off the fire from him, but held still the censer. If heathens made such ado, in sacrificing to their idol gods, that they would mind it so as no disturbance must be made, whatsoever they endured: what care should we then have of ourselves, when we come to worship the High God? Oh that we could mind the duties of Gods worship, as matters of high concernment, as things of greatest consequence, that so we might learn to sanctify the name of our God in the performance of duty more than ever we have done. (J. Spencer.)
Over-tenderness to the criminal
Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes. There is such a thing as sinning through over-tenderness of feeling; and unless we are on the watch just here, we shall fail of being both just and merciful in our sympathies and in our conduct. When a great crime is committed, it is not a wise exhibit of tender feelings to dwell upon the peculiar temptations, and the peculiar weaknesses, and the unfortunate early disadvantages of the brutal criminal, to a forgetfulness of the sufferings of his innocent victims, and of the wretchedness which his crime has brought into one home and another. It is not that we are to take vengeance into our own hands; but that we are to refrain from mourning over the execution of justice. It is a sinful as well as a sickly sentimentalism which gives its tears to the criminal class in the community, instead of to those who are wronged through crime. The prevalence of this sentimentalism is one of the stimulating causes of crime. There is need of the re-echoing of the words of God to His people over the displays of His justice, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes [in mourning over the evil-doers] but let . . . the whole house of Israel bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled. Let the crime be mourned over, but not the criminal–as a criminal. (H. C. Trumbull.)
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 I 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 hearts 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. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. And Aaron held his peace.] vaiyiddom Aharon, and Aaron was dumb. How elegantly expressive is this of his parental affection, his deep sense of the presumption of his sons, and his own submission to the justice of God! The flower and hope of his family was nipped in the bud and blasted; and while he exquisitely feels as a father, he submits without murmuring to this awful dispensation of Divine justice. It is an awful thing to introduce innovations either into the rites and ceremonies, or into the truths, of the religion of Christ: he who acts thus cannot stand guiltless before his God.
It has often been remarked that excessive grief stupefies the mind, so that amazement and deep anguish prevent at once both tears and complaints; hence that saying of Seneca, Curae leves loquantur; graviores silent. “Slight sorrows are loquacious; deep anguish has no voice. See Clarke on Le 10:19.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is it that the Lord spake; though the express words be not recorded in Scripture, where only the heads of sermons are contained, yet it is probable they were uttered by Moses in Gods name. Howsoever, the sense and substance of them is in many places. See Exo 19:22; 29:43; Lev 8:35.
I will be sanctified: this may note either,
1. Their duty to sanctify God, i.e. to demean themselves with such care, and reverence, and watchfulness, as becomes the holiness of the God whom they serve, and of the worship in which they are engaged; whence he leaves them to gather the justice of the present judgment for their gross neglect herein. Or,
2. Gods purpose to sanctify himself, i.e. to declare and manifest himself to be a holy and righteous God by his severe and impartial punishment of all transgressors, how near soever they are to him.
In them that come nigh me, i.e. who draw near to me, or to the place where I dwell, and are admitted into the holy place, whence others are shut out. It is a description of the priests. See Exo 19:22; Lev 21:7; Eze 42:13,14.
Before all the people I will be glorified: as they have sinned publicly and scandalously, so I will vindicate my honour in a public and exemplary manner, that all men may learn to give me the glory of my sovereignty and holiness by an exact conformity to my laws.
Aaron held his peace, partly through excessive grief, which is sometimes signified by silence, as Isa 47:5; Lam 2:10, and principally in acknowledgment of Gods justice and submission to it. Compare Psa 39:10; Eze 24:17. He murmured not, nor replied against God, nor against Moses; wisely considering that their sin was directly against God, and in that which is most dear and honourable in Gods account, to wit, in his worship; and that Gods honour ought to be dearer to him than his sons; and that this being the first violation of the law newly given, and committed by those who should have been the strictest observers and assertors of it, did deserve a very severe punishment.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Moses said . . . This is it thatthe Lord spoke . . . I will be sanctified in them that come nighme“They that come nigh me,” points, in this passage,directly to the priests; and they had received repeated and solemnwarnings as to the cautious and reverent manner of their approachinto the divine presence (Exo 19:22;Exo 29:44; Lev 8:35).
Aaron held his peaceTheloss of two sons in so sudden and awful a manner was a calamityoverwhelming to parental feelings. But the pious priest indulged inno vehement ebullition of complaint and gave vent to no murmur ofdiscontent, but submitted in silent resignation to what he saw was”the righteous judgment of God” [Ro2:5].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Moses said unto Aaron,…. Upon this awful occasion, and in order to quiet and humble him under the mighty hand of God:
this [is it] that the Lord spoke, saying; but when he spoke it, and where it is said and recorded, is not so very clear; it might have been said, and yet not recorded, or the substance of it may be recorded, though not in the express words here delivered; it may refer, as some think, to Ex 19:22 or else to Ex 29:43 which seems to come nearest to what follows, so Jarchi:
I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me; in the priests that drew nigh to him, and offered sacrifice and burnt incense to him; by these he expected to be sanctified, not to be made holy, but to be declared to be so, and obeyed and worshipped as such; as he is, when his commands and ordinances are observed, as he would have them be, in faith and fear, which were not done by these sons of Aaron; and therefore the Lord, by the punishment he inflicted, showed himself to be an holy, righteous, and jealous God:
and before all the people I will be glorified; as he is when he is believed and trusted in; when his worship is carried on in his own house, according to his will; when his ordinances are kept as they were delivered, and when he is reverenced in the assembly of his saints; all which were wanting in this case. And this may also have respect to the glory of divine justice, in the public punishment of the sin of those men, that since he was not glorified by them before the people in the way of their duty, he would glorify himself in their punishment:
and Aaron held his peace: was in a stupor, as the Septuagint, quite amazed, thunderstruck, as we say; he was silent, said not one word against what was done; murmured not at the providence, nor complained of any severity, but was patient under the hand of God, and resigned to his will; and since God was sanctified and glorified, he was contented.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Mourning for Nadab and Abihu. | B. C. 1490. |
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.
We may well think that when Nadab and Abihu were struck with death all about them were struck with horror, and every face, as well as theirs, gathered blackness. Great consternation, no doubt, seized them, and they were all full of confusion; but, whatever the rest were, Moses was composed, and knew what he said and did, not being displeased, as David was in a like case, 2 Sam. vi. 8. But though it touched him in a very tender part, and was a dreadful damp to one of the greatest joys he ever knew, yet he kept possession of his own soul, and took care to keep good order and a due decorum in the sanctuary.
I. He endeavours to pacify Aaron, and to keep him in a good frame under this sad dispensation, v. 3. Moses was a brother that was born for adversity, and has taught us, by his example, with seasonable counsels and comforts to support the weak, and strengthen the feeble-minded. Observe here,
1. What it was that Moses suggested to his poor brother upon this occasion: This is it that the Lord spoke. Note, The most quieting considerations under affliction are those that are fetched from the word of God. So and so the Lord hath said, and it is not for us to gainsay it. Note, also, In all God’s providences it is good to observe the fulfilling of scripture, and to compare God’s word and his works together, which if we do we shall find an admirable harmony and agreement between them, and that they mutually explain and illustrate each other. But, (1.) Where did God speak this? We do not find the very words; but to this purport he had said (Exod. xix. 22), Let the priests who come near to the Lord sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. Indeed the whole scope and tenour of his law spoke this, that being a holy God, and a sovereign Lord, he must always be worshipped with holiness and reverence, and exactly according to his own appointment; and, if any jest with him, it is at their peril. Much had been said to this purport, as Exo 29:43; Exo 29:44; Exo 34:14; Lev 8:35. (2.) What was it that God spoke? It was this (the Lord by his grace speak it to all our hearts!) I will be sanctified in those that come nigh me, whoever they are, and before all the people I will be glorified. Note, First, Whenever we worship God, we come nigh unto him, as spiritual priests. This consideration ought to make us very reverent and serious in all acts of devotion, that in them we approach to God, and present ourselves before him. Secondly, It concerns us all, when we come nigh to God, to sanctify him, that is, to give him the praise of his holiness, to perform every religious exercise as those who believe that the God with whom we have to do is a holy God, a God of spotless purity and transcendent perfection, Isa. viii. 13. Thirdly, When we sanctify God we glorify him, for his holiness is his glory; and, when we sanctify him in our solemn assemblies, we glorify him before all the people, confessing our own belief of his glory and desiring that others also may be affected with it. Fourthly, If God be not sanctified and glorified by us, he will be sanctified and glorified upon us. He will take vengeance on those that profane his sacred name by trifling with him. If his rent be not paid, it shall be distrained for. (3.) But what was this to the present case? What was there in this to quiet Aaron? Two things:– [1.] This must silence him, that his sons deserved their death; for they were thus cut off from their people because they did not sanctify and glorify God. The acts of necessary justice, how hard soever they may seem to bear upon the persons concerned, are not to be complained of, but submitted to. [2.] This must satisfy him, that the death of his sons redounded to the honour of God, and his impartial justice would for it be adored throughout all ages.
2. What good effects this had upon him: Aaron held his peace, that is, he patiently submitted to the holy will of God in this sad providence, was dumb, and opened not his mouth, because God did it. Something he was ready to say by way of complaint (as losers think they may have leave to speak), but he wisely suppressed it, laid his hand upon his mouth, and said nothing, for fear lest he should offend with his tongue, now that his heart was hot within him. Note, (1.) When God corrects us or ours for sin, it is our duty to be silent under the correction, not to quarrel with God, arraign his justice, or charge him with folly, but to acquiesce in all that God does; not only bearing, but accepting, the punishment of iniquity, and saying, as Eli, in a case not much unlike this, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good, 1 Sam. iii. 18. If our children have sinned against God (as Bildad puts the case, Job viii. 4), and he have cast them away for their transgression, though it must needs be grievous to think that the children of our love should be the children of God’s wrath, yet we must awfully adore the divine justice, and make no exceptions against its processes. (2.) The most effectual arguments to quiet a gracious spirit under afflictions are those that are fetched from God’s glory; this silenced Aaron. It is true he is a loser in his comforts by this severe execution, but Moses has shown him that God is a gainer in his glory, and therefore he has not a word to say against it: if God be sanctified, Aaron is satisfied. Far be it form him that he should honour his sons more than God, or wish that God’s name, or house, or law, should be exposed to reproach or contempt for the preserving of the reputation of his family. No; now, as well as in the matter of the golden calf, Levi does not acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children; and therefore they shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law,Deu 33:9; Deu 33:10. Ministers and their families are sometimes exercised with sore trials that they may be examples to the believers of patience and resignation to God, and they may comfort others with that with which they themselves have been comforted.
II. Moses gives orders about the dead bodies. It was not fit that they should be left to lie where they fell; yet their own father and brethren, the amazed spectators of this dismal tragedy, durst not offer to lift them up, no, not to see whether there was any life left in them; they must neither be diverted from nor unfitted for the great work that was now upon their hands. Let the dead bury their dead, but they must go on with their service; that is, “Rather let the dead be unburied, if there be nobody else to do it, than that work for God should be left undone by those whom he has called to it.” But Moses takes care of this matter, that though they died by the hand of justice in the act of sin, yet they should be decently buried, and they were so, Lev 10:4; Lev 10:5. 1. Some of their nearest relations were employed in it, who were cousins-german to their father, and are here named, who would perform this office with tenderness and respect. They were Levites only, and might not have come into the sanctuary, no, not upon such an occasion as this, if they had not had a special command for it. 2. They carried them out of the camp to be burned, so far were they from burying them in the place of worship, or the court of it, according to our modern usage, though they died there, that they did not bury them, nor any of their dead, within the lines of their camp; as afterwards their burying places were out of their cities. The tabernacle was pitched in the midst of the camp, so that they could not carry these dead priests to their graves without carrying them through one of the squadrons of the camp; and doubtless it was a very awful affecting sight to the people. The names of Nadab and Abihu had become very great and honourable among them; none more talked of, nor more expected to appear abroad after the days of their consecration, to receive the honours and caresses of the crowd, whose manner it is to adore the rising sun; and next to Moses and Aaron, who were old and going off, Nadab and Abihu (who had been in the mount with God, Exod. xxiv. 1) were looked upon as the great favourites of heaven, and the hopes of their people; and now on a sudden, when the tidings of the event had scarcely reached their ears, to see them both carried out dead, with the visible marks of divine vengeance upon them, as sacrifices to the justice of God, they could not choose but cry out, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? 1 Sam. vi. 20. 3. They carried them out (and probably buried them) in their coats, and the garments of their priesthood, which they had lately put on, and perhaps were too proud of. Thus the impartiality of God’s justice was proclaimed, and all the people were made to know that even the priests’ garments would not protect an offender from the wrath of God. And it was easy to argue, “If they escape not when they transgress, can we expect to go unpunished?” And the priests’ clothes being so soon made grave-clothes might intimate both that the law worketh death, and that in the process of time that priesthood itself should be abolished and buried in the grave of the Lord Jesus.
III. He gives directions about the mourning.
1. That the priests must not mourn. Aaron and his two surviving sons, though sad in spirit, must not use any outward expressions of sorrow upon this sad occasion, nor so much as follow the corpse one step from the door of the tabernacle, v. 7. It was afterwards forbidden to the high priest to use the ceremonies of mourning for the death of any friend whatsoever, though it were a father or mother (ch. xxi. 11); yet it was allowed at the same time to the inferior priests to mourn for their near relations, Lev 10:2; Lev 10:3. But here it was forbidden both to Aaron and his sons, because, (1.) They were now actually waiting, doing a great work, which must by no means cease (Neh. vi. 3); and it was very much for the honour of God that their attendance on him should take place of their respects to their nearest relations, and that all services should give way to those of their ministry. By this they must make it to appear that they had a greater value and affection for their God and their work than for the best friend they had in the world; as Christ did, Mat 12:47; Mat 12:48. And we are hereby taught, when we are serving God in holy duties, to keep out minds, as much as may be, intent and engaged, and not to suffer them to be diverted by any worldly thoughts, or cares, or passions. Let us always attend upon the Lord without distraction. (2.) Their brethren were cut off for their transgression by the immediate hand of God, and therefore they must not mourn for them lest they should seem to countenance the sin, or impeach the justice of God in the punishment. Instead of lamenting their own loss, they must be wholly taken up in applauding the sentence, and subscribing to the equity of it. Note, The public concerns of God’s glory ought to lie nearer our hearts than any private affections of our own. Observe, How Moses frightens them into this submission, and holds the rod over them to still their crying (v. 6): “Lest you die likewise, and lest wrath come upon all the people, who may be in danger of suffering for your irreverence, and disobedience, and ungoverned passions;” and again (v. 7), lest you die. See here what use we are to make of the judgments of God upon others; we must double our guard over ourselves, lest we likewise perish. The death, especially the sudden death, of others, instead of moving our passion, should compose us into a holy reverence of God, a cautious separation from all sin, and a serious expectation of our own death. The reason given them is because the anointing oil of your God is upon you, the honour of which must be carefully preserved by your doing the duty of your office with cheerfulness. Note, Those that through grace have received the anointing ought not to disturb themselves with the sorrow of the world, which worketh death. It was very hard, no doubt, for Aaron and his sons to restrain themselves upon such an extraordinary occasion from inordinate grief, but reason and grace mastered the passion, and they bore the affliction with an obedient patience: They did according to the word of Moses, because they knew it to be the word of God. Happy those who thus are themselves under God’s government, and have their passions under their own government.
2. The people must mourn: Let the whole house of Israel bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled. The congregation must lament, not only the loss of their priests, but especially the displeasure of God which appeared in it. They must bewail the burning that was kindled, that it might not burn further. Aaron and his sons were in danger of being too much affected with the providence, and therefore they are forbidden to mourn: the house of Israel were in danger of being too little affected with it, and therefore they are commanded to lament. Thus nature must always be governed by grace, according as it needs to be either constrained or restrained.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
3. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake Moses restrains his brother from giving way to excessive grief; for this was a very bitter stroke after their recent joy to see himself at once deprived of two sons on the same day, and at the same moment, he might, too, have been disposed to murmur against God for the cause of their death. Lest, therefore, He should give way to such want of self-control, Moses reminds him that he must submit to the just judgment of God. We shall, however, seek in vain for what is here referred to, (416) “I will be glorified in them that come nigh me.” He had often threatened the priests witlt death if they departed in the least degree from the prescribed rule: He had often set before them the sacredness of their office, lest they should defile themselves by any sacrilegious act; in a word, He had chosen them to be His ministers in holy things, on the condition that they should know themselves to be subject to greater guilt and punishment than the rest of the people. By this consolation, then, Aaron’s grief is quieted, that God had not dealt cruelly with his sons, but had shewn forth in them a just and profitable example, in order that their successors might be more attentive in their duties; for thus should the sentence be paraphrased: In order that I may be glorified before the whole people, I must be sanctified by those of the highest degree and consequence; or, When I shall have been sanctified by the priests themselves, whose dignity is the highest, my glory will shine forth before the whole people. And, in point of fact, although God may punish whole bodies of obscure persons, such lessons have but little effect; but the punishment of men of more noble and illustrious condition draws almost all eyes to the judgments of God. For God is said to be sanctified in us in many ways, whether He shews Himself to be a pitiful or a severe Judge. This declaration, then, is an exhortation to those whom he has dignified with peculiar honor, to walk in fear and trembling; for, since “judgment begins at the house of God,” the greater are the gifts and the higher the pre-eminence is with which any one is blessed, the greater is his obligation to God, and his ingratitude worthy of severer punishment.
3. And Aaron held his peace Much is this silence of Aaron to be applauded, whereby he confessed that his sons were slain by the just judgment of God; for Moses indicates that he yielded to his admonition, and was thus restrained from complaining against. God. Thus Paul teaches us that Scripture is given to teach us patience. (Rom 15:4.) Wherefore, whenever our passions are too much excited, let us learn that this is the best remedy for quieting and repressing them, to submit ourselves to God, and to humble ourselves beneath his mighty hand. David invites us to this by his own example when he says,
“
I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.” (Psa 39:9.)
(416) A. V., “I will be sanctified;” and so also C.’s own version; but he embodies the two clauses. Some, as De Lyra, refer this to Exo 19:22; Others to Exo 29:43. “Some think it was spoken, but not written, as many things beside. Oleaster, Lorinus, Caietan; but,” adds Willet, “they are of this mind, that they may have here some show for their unwritten traditions. Therefore,” he concludes, “without any more circumstance, we find this to have been spoken, Lev 8:35, ‘Keep ye the Lord’s charge, that ye die not;’ there they are commanded to observe the Lord’s ordinances, which he gave them, (Junius;) and because Nadab and Abihu did not so, they are punished with death.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Then Moses said . . . This is it that the Lord spake.Here we have another instance of a reference to a well-known Divine communication made through Moses, which has not been previously recorded in the Pentateuch. Moses adduces this declaration to explain to the bereaved father the judgment of God.
I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me.Better. I will sanctify myself in them that come near to me. God had sanctified to himself Aaron and his sons by the holy unction (see Lev. 8:10; Lev. 8:12), that they might sanctify Him in the strict performance of their sacred duties as the mediators between God and man. Having failed to do this, God sanctified himself in them by the awful punishment inflicted upon them for their transgression. (See Eze. 27:22; Eze. 38:16; Eze. 38:23.) The phrase, that come near to God, is a frequent designation for the priest. (Exo. 19:22; Num. 16:5; Eze. 42:13; Eze. 43:19.)
And before all the people I will be glorified.Better, and I will glorify myself before all the people. By this judgment God vindicated His law, showing that it cannot be violated with impunity, and thus glorified Himself as the Holy One of Israel.
And Aaron held his peace.He silently submitted to the righteous judgment which bereft him of his two sons. So the Psalmist, I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it (Psa. 39:9).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. I will be sanctified I will be regarded as high and glorious. There must be a correspondence between my majesty and the obedience and veneration of those who minister at my altars and are conspicuous examples to the whole people.
In them that come nigh me There is no verb in the Hebrew. The literal is in those near to me; that is, in the pious. Disobedience in the holy place is almost equal to the Miltonic story of a rebellion in heaven.
Before all the people I will be glorified This is a key to the apparent severity of this judgment, which fell upon the priesthood like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. Infidelity at the altar will inevitably beget irreligion in the tents. An impious priesthood cannot train up a pious people for the heritage of God. This awful outflashing of his wrath gives a perpetual emphasis to the admonition, “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.”
And Aaron held his peace The father stood dumb over the corpses of his sons. Through divine grace he was enabled to repress the grief of his heart, which sought its natural outlet in wailings and tears. He recognised the hand which had smitten him, and heard the voice of Jehovah within his heart, “Be still, and know that I am God.” The situation of the high priest was critical indeed. As the representative of Jehovah he should calmly approve his judgments; as a father, he loves his sons and is prompted by nature to yield to that perturbation of sorrow which would disqualify him for his official duties. Charles Wesley thus versifies Aaron’s mute sorrow:
“Why should a living man complain
That sinners are struck dead?
Reprieved myself, I still remain,
If punished in my seed.
Howe’er thou deal’st with mine or me,
O stop the murmuring groan,
Or let my only answer be,
Father, thy will be done!”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 10:3. Then Moses said unto Aaron, &c. Aaron, no doubt, must have been pierced with severe anguish upon receiving this dreadful stroke. To alleviate which, Moses desires him to recollect, that this event was agreeable to the divine declaration, (Exo 19:22; Exo 29:43-44. Lev 8:35.) as well as to the peculiar sanctity of God; tending to shew, in the most awful manner, that God would be sanctified or had in reverence by all those who came nigh him, but more especially by his priests, who, in a peculiar manner, draw nigh to God, and who, as Dr. Shuckford observes, then only sanctified and glorified God when they dispensed to his people, as parts of his religion, what he had commanded: but when they varied from it, and performed what he commanded not, then they assumed to themselves a power which belonged not to them, then they acted of themselves; and so, instead of glorifying God, sought their own glory. See 1Sa 6:20. Eze 28:22. Bishop Hall supposes Aaron to have been addressed by Moses in the following pathetic words: “My brother, this event is fearful, but just: these were thy sons, but they sinned; it was not for GOD, it is not for thee, to look so much who they were as what they did. It was their honour and thine that they were chosen to minister before the Lord; he who called them justly required their sanctification and obedience: if they have profaned God and themselves, can thy natural affection so bias thee that thou couldst wish their impunity with the blemish of thy master? Our sons are not ours, if they disobey our Father: if thou repinest at their judgment, take heed lest the same fire of God come forth upon this strange fire of nature. Shew now, whether thou more lovest God or thy sons; shew whether thou be a better father or a son.”
I will be sanctified i.e. says an eminent writer, “I expect to be worshipped most reverently, with a decorum and rite bearing some resemblance of my separate and eminent Nature. It is not suitable to the majesty and peculiar eminence of God, that his worship should be performed by common culinary fire.”
And Aaron held his peace Nothing can be more emphatic and beautiful than these words. The venerable father, without murmuring or complaint, bows his head, and adores the Divine Providence in this awful dispensation. A passage like this in profane writers, would have been quoted with the highest applause. Something similar to it, is recorded of the famous Xenophon. While he was employed in offering a public sacrifice, a messenger brought him the melancholy news, that his eldest son Gryllus was killed in the battle of Mantinea; upon which he put off his mitre, till he should learn in what manner his son fell; but as soon as he was told, that the brave youth died victorious, he put it on again; and continuing the sacrifice, with hands lifted up to heaven, called the gods to witness, that the grief he felt for the loss of so dear a son, was far from equalling the joy he received from the heroic manner of his death.
REFLECTIONS.God, who prescribes his own worship, will see it observed, or execute exemplary judgment on the disobedient; of which we have an awful instance in this punishment of Nadab and Abihu.
1. They seem to have been proud of their new office, and in haste to run before God called them; not without suspicion that they had drank too freely in their feasts, and thus rushed, in their iniquity, into the presence of the Lord. A drunken priest is a monster indeed!
2. Their punishment was immediate death in the very act of rebellion. So God sometimes stops the mouth of the profane with the lie and the oath half uttered, and lets the drunkard fall into eternal death. Fire from the Lord destroyed them; not burnt up their bodies, but slew them, like lightning, without singeing even their garments. Thus damned sinners, tormented with fire from the presence of the Lord, continue tormented, yet unconsumed, in everlasting burnings.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Reader! observe what effect grace had upon the mind of Moses. No doubt the awful event struck terror and dismay in every beholder, but while some trembled Moses adored. It is sweet in our afflictions to eye the LORD’S appointment, and depend upon it, as long as we are enabled to keep in view divine wisdom, we shall never despond by human sufferings. Observe also the pious frame of Aaron’s mind. No doubt his soul was convulsed with agony. It must have been visible in his very looks: yet Aaron held his peace. Dear LORD! grant both to him that writes, and to him that reads, grace, in all our lesser sorrows, to bend in holy submission to thy will. Psa 39:9 . Observe also, how GOD enjoins a sanctification of soul in all that approach him. Exo 19:22
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 10:3 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.
Ver. 3. This is it that the Lord spake. ] Where? and when? Lev 8:35 Exo 19:22 . Or perhaps nowhere written, but at some other time spoken by God. Moses might but set down the short notes of his discourses, as the prophets used to do.
I will be sanctified.
And Aaron held his peace.
a Dr Hakw., on Psalm ci
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
This is it, &c., in contrast with Lev 10:1. The positive opposed to the negative. Note the emphasis on “This” = this and nothing else: this very thing. Disobedience here is vital; this is why “judgment must begin at the house of God”: 1Pe 4:17, yea “the time is come”.
I will. Note this double “I will”: and compare it with the “must” of Joh 4:24. Compare Joh 3:7, Joh 3:14. All worship which has not Christ for its object, the glory of Jehovah for its end, and the Holy Spirit for its power, will be rejected and judged.
held his peace: in solemn submission to God’s judgment on his two sons, just struck dead so soon after their anointing, installation, and investiture. Compare Lev 8:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I will be: Lev 8:35, Lev 21:6, Lev 21:8, Lev 21:15, Lev 21:17, Lev 21:21, Lev 22:9, Exo 14:4, Exo 19:22, Exo 29:43, Exo 29:44, Num 20:12, Deu 32:51, 1Sa 6:20, 1Ch 15:12, 1Ch 15:13, Psa 89:7, Psa 119:120, Isa 52:11, Eze 20:41, Eze 42:13, Heb 12:28, Heb 12:29
before: 1Sa 2:30, Isa 49:3, Eze 28:22, Joh 12:28, Joh 13:31, Joh 13:32, Joh 14:13, Act 5:11-13, 2Th 1:10, 1Pe 4:17
Aaron: Gen 18:25, 1Sa 3:18, Job 1:20, Job 1:21, Job 2:10, Psa 39:9, Psa 46:10, Isa 39:8, Mat 10:37
Reciprocal: Gen 34:5 – held Exo 3:5 – Draw not Exo 4:24 – sought Exo 20:26 – thy nakedness Exo 28:36 – HOLINESS Lev 8:30 – and sanctified Lev 11:44 – ye shall Lev 19:30 – reverence Lev 22:32 – I will Num 16:5 – will cause Jos 3:5 – Sanctify Jos 24:19 – holy 1Sa 4:18 – his neck 1Ki 13:21 – thou hast disobeyed 1Ki 13:26 – the man 2Ki 4:26 – It is well 2Ki 20:19 – Good 1Ch 15:14 – sanctified Psa 24:3 – stand Psa 93:5 – holiness Ecc 5:1 – thy foot Isa 5:16 – sanctified Isa 8:13 – Sanctify Isa 29:23 – sanctify Jer 8:14 – be silent Eze 2:8 – Be Eze 24:16 – yet Eze 39:27 – and am Eze 40:46 – which come Amo 8:3 – with silence Jon 4:8 – and wished Zec 3:7 – if thou wilt keep Mat 6:9 – Hallowed Luk 11:2 – Hallowed Act 5:5 – great Act 19:17 – and fear Col 4:17 – Take Jam 3:1 – knowing Rev 20:9 – and fire
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HOLY REVERENCE AND GODLY FEAR
I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me.
Lev 10:3
Spectacular shows do not change hearts. The Israelites are worshipping a calf, and debauched in lust, in less than forty days after Sinai. And notwithstanding three thousand had died there, Nadab and Abihu, who went into the pavilion of God on the mount, and saw the sapphire pavement under Jehovahs feet, and heard the commands of authority, disregarded them in a few months. They cannot even observe the order of their daily service. God is a consuming fire to all dross, and if a man be nothing else, all goes. What were their heedless lives compared to the lessons taught by their deaths?
The reason of their recklessness seems to be that they were inebriated. Gods minister is to be filled with the Spirit, not with wine, wherein is excess. Hence Gods prohibitory law (v. 9). It is the statute forever throughout your generations, and is certainly applicable now. A twofold moral may be emphasised.
I. Good intentions do not excuse disobedience.Probably Nadab and Abihu did not mean any harm; apparently they imagined that the fragrance of their incense, and its appropriateness as a symbol of adoration and prayer were sufficient to excuse neglect of strict obedience to the revealed will of God. Their sin was not unlike that of Saul in a latter day, who thought to excuse disobedience by the offering of enormous sacrifices, and was sharply reminded that to obey is better than sacrifice. So on this occasion the priesthood were terribly taught that obedience is better than incense, even the incense of the sanctuary. One of the most abused maxims is the saying that a mans first duty is to obey his conscience; often that is not his first duty: it may be a prior duty to enlighten his conscience. Good motives are not enough; some of the worst crimes that stain the page of history have been wrought with the best intentions in obedience to the dictates of unenlightened consciences. So we need to seek light upon the way, while we make it our supreme endeavour to keep in the path marked out by the Divine will, turning aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. Neither our ignorance nor our good motives will excuse our disobedience to commands which we might and ought to have known.
II. Things which are lawful are not always expedient.The priests were to abstain from wine and strong drinknot because the use of wine was in itself sinful, but because it involved a certain riskwhich those who held that sacred office ought to be specially careful to avoid. The same principle underlay the exhortation of King Lemuels mother: It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to say, Where is strong drink? Lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any that is afflicted. The duties of the kingly office made drunkenness a more terrible thing in a king than in a peasant, because a drunken king was likely to do so much more harm. So to-day some say that there are special reasons why all preachers and politicians ought to be abstainers, because the nature of their work makes drunkenness a more terrible sin in them than in private persons, while the use of strong drink to brace oneself for public functions is, perhaps, the most dangerous use of all.
Illustration
(1) What a sad chapter is this! How soon does Gods fair design become overcast! This offering of strange fire is a warning to us to-day, lest we should neglect the Divine prohibitions, and offer the fire of our own passion, or emulation, or self-will. How much of the worship and service we render is in danger of being charged with the accusation of strange fire. Nothing will avail before God which originates in natures energy or in the fervour of natures devotion.
(2) How often have we been guilty of the same sin? There is but one firethat of the baptism of the Holy Spiritthat should burn upon the altar of our heart, and spread from us to others. Yet how often we have made use of the strange fire of human excitement, of fervid manner, of vehement gesticulation, of mere emotional address! Strange fire has been kindled in our censers and communicated to our people. We cannot be too careful to separate ourselves from all known sin.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Lev 10:3. Moses said unto Aaron This awful stroke having wounded Aaron with deep anguish, Moses endeavours to allay his sorrows, by representing to him how very faulty his two sons had been, and how agreeable their punishment was to the wisdom of the divine government, and what good ends it might answer. This is it that the Lord spake Though the words be not recorded in Scripture, where only the heads of discourses are contained, yet it is probable they were uttered by Moses in Gods name. Howsoever, the sense of them is in many places. I will be sanctified This may denote, either, 1st, Their duty to sanctify God, to demean themselves with such care, and reverence, and watchfulness, as became the holiness of the God whom they served; whence he leaves them to gather the justice of the present judgment. Or, 2d, Gods purpose to sanctify himself, to manifest himself to be a holy and righteous God by his severe and impartial punishment of all transgressors, how near soever they were to him. That come nigh me Who draw near to me, or to the place where I dwell, and are admitted into the holy place, whence others are shut out. It is a description of the priests. I will be glorified As they have sinned publicly and scandalously, so I will vindicate my honour in a public and exemplary manner, that all men may learn to give me the glory of my holiness by an exact conformity to my laws. And Aaron held his peace
In acknowledgment of Gods justice, and submission to it. He murmured not, nor replied against God, nor against Moses, wisely considering that their sin was directly against God, and in that which is most dear and honourable in Gods account, his worship; and that Gods honour ought to be dearer to him than his sons. The words are most beautiful and emphatical.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This [is it] that the LORD spake, saying, I will be {b} sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
(b) I will punish them that serve me in other ways than I have commanded, not sparing the chief, that the people may fear and praise my judgments.