As painful as Leviticus 10 was for you to read, imagine how hard it must’ve been to witness it as Aaron. Not only did you watch your two oldest sons die by fire from God, but you’re not even allowed to mourn their deaths.
One second, you’re talking with your two oldest sons—the ones that you anticipate picking up the mantle and continuing on after your service is finished.
The next moment, they’re gone.
Aside from the event itself in Leviticus 10, the story of Nadab and Abihu is directly mentioned at least four more times in Scripture (Leviticus 16:1-2; Numbers 3:2-4; 26:60-61; 1 Chronicles 24:1-2). Three of those four times, it’s referenced that they died “before the Lord” (the fourth is Chronicles, which says that they “died before their father.”)
Like the story of Ananias and Sapphira, their demise is a warning to every single person who has designs on altering the worship of God. There are a billion ideas as to why Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire to begin with—laziness, disrespect, convenience, etc—but none of them were acceptable to Him. They defamed God through their actions, and they were punished.
That’s why the Text keeps bringing it up. God wants His people to understand the importance of worship—that it’s not designed to be convenient or glorifying to us, but for Him. We do things His way, or we don’t do them at all. Worship is about God. It’s always been about God.
Think about what this meant for the priests. If you’re dragging on a Monday morning, it would be very easy to cut corners on your religious duties just to make it through the day. But when you remember what happened to Nadab and Abihu, your ears perk up and you remember that you’re in the service of the divine.
The Levites are also the first line of defense in regards to worship. If they start to take it easy, then their apathy will filter down to the rest of the community. Others will pick up on it, slack off in their own duties, and reverence for God will dip.
We are not priests under the Old Law anymore, but we are still priests to Him (1 Peter 2:5-9). As such, we need to hold the same reverence for God that the priests did—not in animal sacrifices and feast day-keeping, but in our formal worship to Him. Just like with Nadab and Abihu, it’s what He says or nothing at all.
Think about our community as well. If our worship reflects an entertainment-first mindset, then what does that say about God? Why will others think we go to worship—for ourselves or for Jehovah?
Nadab and Abihu is a brief, painful story. But it’s repeated so often because of the necessity of maintaining reverence for who God is. The moment that starts to slip, everything else begins to fall apart.
