Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 10:2
And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
The fire which had just before sanctified the ministry of Aaron as well pleasing to God, now brought to destruction his two eldest sons because they did not sanctify Yahweh in their hearts, but dared to perform a self-willed act of worship; just as the same Gospel is to one a savor of life unto life, and to another a savor of death unto death 2Co 2:16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
From the Lord; from heaven, or rather from the sanctuary. See Lev 9:24.
Devoured them; destroyed their lives; for their bodies and garments were not consumed, as it appears from Lev 10:4,5. Thus the sword is said to devour, 2Sa 2:26. Thus lightning many times kills persons, without any hurt to their bodies or garments.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. there went out fire from theLord, and devoured themrather, “killed them”; for itappears (Le 10:5) that neithertheir bodies nor their robes were consumed. The expression, “fromthe Lord,” indicates that this fire issued from the most holyplace. In the destruction of these two young priests by theinfliction of an awful judgment, the wisdom of God observed the samecourse, in repressing the first instance of contempt for sacredthings, as he did at the commencement of the Christian dispensation(Ac 5:1-11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And there went out fire from the Lord,…. They sinned by fire, and they were punished by fire, either from heaven, or from the most holy place, where the Lord dwelt between the cherubim; this was of the nature of lightning, as appears by what follows:
and devoured them; not reduced them to ashes, for neither their bodies nor their clothes were burnt with this fire, as is clear from
Le 10:4 but their lives were destroyed, they were lifeless, their souls were separated from their bodies by it, and they died; which is often the case by the lightning, that the clothes of those who are killed with it are untouched, and scarce any marks of violence on their bodies; and so the Targum of Jonathan says of these, their bodies were not burnt:
and they died before the Lord; upon the spot where they were offering incense, in the holy place, over against the most holy place. This was very awful, like the case of Ananias and Sapphira, and may seem severe: it was for the terror of others in the priesthood, or who should come after, to take care that they performed their office according to the divine precepts, and brought in no innovation into their service. And when it is considered that these were the sons of the high priest, newly invested with an high and honourable office, and just had the laws of the priesthood delivered unto them, and yet deviated from them as soon as in their office, and very probably, from what follows, went drunk into their service, their sin will appear aggravated, and the punishment less severe. This shows there is nothing in carnal descent, these were the sons of Aaron the high priest, that acted this part, and came to this end; the proneness of men to transgress the laws of God as soon as given them; thus the people of Israel fell into idolatry as soon as the moral law was given; and here the priests, as soon as the ceremonial laws, relating to the priesthood, were delivered to them; and also that the law made sinful men priests, and that the Levitical priesthood was imperfect; and that no order of men are free from sin, or exempt from punishment: and the whole of the divine conduct in this affair may lead us to observe how jealous God is in matters of worship; how much he dislikes hypocrites, and formal professors; how severe he will be against such who bring in strange doctrines; what will be the fate of the contemners of Gospel doctrines and ordinances; and how much he resents those who trust in themselves, and their works, and bring in anything of their own in the business of salvation, which is strange fire, sparks of their own kindling, a burning incense to their own drag, and sacrificing to their own net.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) And there went out fire from the Lord.By fire they sinned, and by fire they died. The Divine fire which issued forth to consume the sacrifices as a token of acceptance, now descended as the avenger of sin to consume the sacrificers, just as the same gospel is to one a savour of life unto life, and to another a savour of death unto death. (2Co. 2:16.)
And devoured them.That is, slay them, since we are told in Lev. 10:5 that not only were their bodies in a perfect state of preservation, but even their garments were not burnt. The word consume, however, is used here to keep up the connection between this verse and chap 9:24.
They died before the Lord.That is, in the court of the sanctuary (see Lev. 10:1), on the very spot where the sin was committed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Fire from the Lord The sacred fire which these priests had slighted had “come out from before the Lord.” Lev 9:24. “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! The Lord has never been negligent of his own altar.” Joseph Parker. By a species of poetical justice, fire from the same source is the instrument of their punishment. “Our God is a consuming fire.” This fearful exhibition of wrath and power indicates his real presence where his name is. “A saint, when asked, ‘What is the most dangerous doctrine?’ replied, ‘God’s own truth held carnally, and to exalt self.’ For his light may blind, his ark destroy, his sanctuary smite, his table be damnation. And a truth perverted may be the firmest chain to hold and bind and blind us for ever.” Jukes.
Devoured them Literally, ate them up. But this strong word is used metaphorically for slew, since neither their bodies nor even their garments were consumed. The stroke was like a deadly flash of lightning issuing from the most holy place, the abode of the invisible Jehovah. Here we find another parallel between the opening of the dispensation of shadows and the beginning of the official work of the Holy Ghost. Two persons are struck dead at the inauguration of each dispensation, amid the displays of omnipotent power, and the rejoicings of the people at the tokens of Jehovah’s presence and favor. See Act 5:1-11. In both these passages we have the double action of the same fire, which consumes the burnt offering and baptizes the believer with fire in token of acceptance, and smites the sinning priest and the lying Ananias in token of judgment. “God is love.” “God is a consuming fire.” His anger against sin burns most intensely around his own altars. “Poetical justice might have closed the book of Leviticus with chap. 9. 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.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 10:2. There went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them Rather, and destroyed them; blasting them like lightning: for their cloaths were not consumed; see Lev 10:5. Hence it is, as Grotius and Lamy observe, that the Jews derive their custom of strangling or suffocating those who were condemned to be burnt, without reducing them to ashes. Bishop Hall observes, that “they were the rather punished as being the sons of Aaron: for if the children of religious parents, after all Christian nurture, shame their education, God takes it more heinously, and revenges it more sharply: the more bonds of duty, the more plagues of neglect.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 10:2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
Ver. 2. And there went out fire. ] By fire they sinned, and by fire they perished.
“ Per quod quis peccat, per idem punitur et ipse:
Nestorii lingua vermibus exesa est. ” – Evag.,
So Archbishop Arundel’s tongue rotted in his head. The Archbishop of Tours in France made suit for the erection of a court called Chambre Ardent, wherein to condemn the Protestants to the fire. He was afterwards stricken with a disease called the fire of God, which began at his feet and so ascended upward, that he caused one member after another to be cut off, and so he died miserably. a
a Act. and Mon., fol. 1911.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
from = from before.
devoured them = slew them; for they were not consumed, as is shown in Lev 10:4 and Lev 10:6. Note the three fires here: (1) the fire of true worship (Lev 9:24); (2) the strange fire of false worship (Lev 10:1); (3) the devouring fire of judgment (Lev 10:2).
died before the LORD: i.e. in the court of the sanctuary, where their sin had been committed.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fire: Lev 9:24, Lev 16:1, Num 3:3, Num 3:4, Num 16:35, Num 26:61, 2Sa 6:7, 2Ki 1:10, 2Ki 1:12, 1Ch 24:2
they died: Num 3:3, Num 3:4, Num 16:32, Num 16:33, Num 16:49, Num 26:61, 1Sa 6:19, 1Ch 13:10, 1Ch 15:13, Act 5:5, Act 5:10, 1Co 10:11, This fire, which destroyed the sacrificers, came from the same source with that which had consumed the sacrifices. See note on Lev 9:24.
They died.
The wages of sin is death.
They died suddenly.
They died before the Lord; that is, before the vail that covered the mercy-seat.
They died by fire, as by fire they sinned.
The fire did not burn them to ashes, as it had done the sacrifices, nor so much as singe their coats – Lev 10:5 but struck them dead in an instant. By these different effects of the same fire, we learn that it was no common fire, but kindled by the breath of the Almighty. Isa 30:33
Reciprocal: Exo 6:23 – Nadab Exo 24:1 – Nadab Lev 22:9 – bear sin for it Num 4:18 – General Num 4:20 – they shall Num 11:1 – and the fire 1Ki 13:28 – the lion had 1Ki 18:38 – fire 1Ch 23:13 – to burn incense Job 36:14 – They die Job 38:35 – Canst Psa 18:8 – went Psa 29:7 – flames Psa 50:3 – a fire Psa 141:2 – as incense Psa 148:8 – Fire Eze 24:16 – yet Amo 7:4 – called Heb 2:2 – every Rev 20:9 – and fire
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 10:2. And there went out a fire from the Lord From heaven, or rather, from the sanctuary; and devoured them Not reduced them to ashes, as the word signifies at the end of the former chapter, but struck them dead in a moment, their bodies and garments remaining entire. Thus the sword is said to devour, 2Sa 2:26. Thus lightning often kills persons without injuring their garments. To take off from our surprise at this great severity, let it be considered, that the wisest legislators have always judged it necessary to inflict a heavy punishment upon the first transgressors of a law, especially in cases of great moment, in order to deter others from the like offence, Had this first irregularity been connived at in the inferior priests, it might have imboldened them, and much more the high-priests, to introduce further and more important innovations, to the total subversion of the order God had appointed. Thus Ananias and Sapphira, presuming to lie against the Holy Ghost, were punished in a way very similar, when the gospel law had been confirmed by the descent of a different fire from heaven.