Why did God kill Aaron’s sons? - Leviticus 10:1-3

Why did God kill Aaron’s Sons?

In this episode I share three thoughts from Leviticus 10:1-3.

1. They used strange fire.

2. They lacked sanctification.

3. They were disobedient.

These thoughts come from today’s assigned reading - Leviticus 10-12. If you would like to read through the Bible with me you can do so by joining the Facebook group Through the Bible.

Music provided by texasradiofish.

All Readings are from the ESV unless otherwise noted.

Read this episode’s chapters here.

Join Through the Bible here.

#ThreeThoughts #ShortBibleLesson #DailyDevotional

[richardc]

Let us worship God only as we have his word and authority to direct us. Let us not presume to add anything to our worship on our own initiative. Do not forget Nadab and Abihu. The wrath of God is upon all who presume to worship him in a manner he has not commanded. This makes me appreciate Jesus' sacrifice even more.

[davidplatt]

Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for merely forgiving my sin today. My eternal loyal to God!

[WinJennings]

Thanks God for Jesus! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
Now I can come boldly and not fear for my life but instead obtain mercy.

Great Job for your take on this.

[jessierodriguez]

Shouldn’t we also remember that those two were set aside for a higher purpose. They were given access to Gods dwelling where others were not and were therefore held to a higher standard. The congregation only needed to bring the offerings. It was the responsibility of the priests to present the offerings properly. Where there is room for error outside of Gods dwelling, there is none within it. It is a place so Holy that the moment something unholy is present or takes place it leads to death. This is why God commanded all people and animals, besides Moses and those with him, to be at a distance from Mount Sinai when He descended on it. Their unholiness would have defiled the place.

[richardc]

Thank you for posting this video! I love the content and the conversation it creates!

[jakeofalltradesmusic]

I struggle with this passage, and I don't think this video really helped. God is patient, merciful, and and slow to anger, as is described throughout Scripture. Yet here, God is not patient, not merciful, and very quick to anger. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is not slow, but rather He is patient because He doesn't want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance. But here, God instantly causes Aaron's sons to perish. He didn't rebuke them and remind them what to do. He didn't warn them. He instantly kills them then tells Aaron that if Aaron mourns for his dead children, Aaron will be burned too.

Now, my Dad always told me growing up, "You'll never know how much your parents love you until you have kids of your own." I can only imagine the amount of anguish Aaron must have felt upon seeing his sons burned up. So, that seems pretty cruel to tell a father who lost his sons that he's not allowed to feel bad.

My other thought is like this: It's my birthday. I ordered an Oreo Ice Cream cake from DQ. I love cookies and cream, and I hate durian. Now, the delivery guy from DQ comes with a Durian Cake instead of an Oreo cake. What should I do? I should show the delivery guy the receipt and tell him to go back and get me the Oreo cake. Rebuke, correct, and do it in kindness. But if I acted the way that God did in this passage, I would have killed the delivery guy and burned the DQ to the ground. Is that good? No. Completely horrific response.

So, I'm struggling here to see the unchanging character of God in light of this passage (and the one with Annanias and Sapphire in Acts 5). God is patient, merciful, loving, yet in this passage, He is the exact opposite of that. So that either refutes the idea that God is unchanging, or if we have to throw this passage out because it's not consistent with the character of God, it means that there are parts of the Scripture that are unreliable, but to be a _real_ Christian, you have to believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God.

I say this as a Christian, not as an atheist trying to attack the faith. I was saved 15 years ago, and was taught that God was loving, patient, merciful, and just, and that the Bible is the Word of God... yet this passage throws my faith and my mind into such dissonance that I'm struggling. I looked up this video for an answer, and it's not satisfying.

[frankduran]

Thanks for the beautiful word brother! God bless you🙏

[patmelton]

I find that this is a frightening reminder that we must worship God in spirit and truth. The New Testament offers another example in Acts: the example of Annanias and Sapphira. They were lying about their gift to the church. The church had just begun and it was a judgment from God because they were lying to Holy Spirit.

[daviddurr]

Ok so what about the other two sons in that same passage who were disobedient and God was merciful? What about king Hezekiah, when they celebrated the Passover completely contrary to the “approved pattern” and Hezekiah prayed that God would accept their praises anyways.. and God did exactly that.. it ended up being the greatest worship experience of all time up until that point.. it even went a week longer than commanded.. do we serve some kind of schizophrenic God, that we don’t know when He will accept our praise and when He will burn us up for not following an exact pattern that isn’t even laid out word for word?!? Why do so many people ignore the multitudes of passages about God being merciful to focus on the minority of passages about judgement? It’s almost as if man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart position and intent of the heart

[edwahjoshua]

And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.”

[JadeGonzalezJadesalonofatlanta]

If God is likened to an burning bush, all consuming fire, a burning in the heart, then strange fire is different Gods. They worshipped a different God.

[mv]

Amen let's worship God when things are going good and bad . All praise God to God he deserves them

[Quisqueya]

Does God feel the same way with believers who celebrate Christmas. Jesus was in the observance of Hanukkah in the book of John 10:22. Why do Christians celebrate a non biblical holiday?

[urdpsev]

Are we guilty of this these days and because this dispensation, we're spared us.

[dugproductions]

God bless you and praise Yahawashi ✝️🙏🏾📖🙏✝️

[johnmartin]

Amen to that brother! I was thinking it was an offering maybe done out of order too because God needs things done a certain way with His timing! Hearts must be right.

Reading the bible in order too and plan to continue to read all books of Holy scriptures.

Blessings!

[rhondarockhound]

Any chance God didn’t kill them? Maybe God is like the sun, if you get too close you die. They killed themselves by getting too close.They had been warned. Yes they lacked sanctification. Jesus our mediator gives us that. God is pure love, eternal fire. We can only come to him through his son.God does not wish anyone to perish. What do you all think?

[machintelligence]

You should never let your kids play with fire -- especially holy fire.

[Skibbityboo]

Why didn't the lord warn them about the strange fire??

[controversial]

Because they were drunk and sacrificed a strange fire disrespectfully to the Lord. They knew the rules but chose to disobey. They knew the consequences and did it anyway. The lord did mention he forbids them to drink wine if any serves him. We know what happened to Noa and his wife when they got drunk. Especially his wife. Noa would never curse a son unless he did something of an abomination. Remember a son was born out of this debacle. An illegitimate son. A wife is the man's nakedness.
If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.Leviticus 20:11