Fire That Was Not Asked For
In Leviticus 10:1 , the story begins with something that feels sudden and almost confusing. It says, “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. ” These two men were not strangers to God’s work. They were priests. That means they grew up around worship, sacrifices, and the instructions God had given through Moses. They were trained. They were familiar. They were close to the system. And that is part of what makes this story so serious. It is not about people who did not know better. It is about people who did know the instructions, but still chose to do something different. The phrase “ strange fire ” is the Hebrew אֵשׁ זָרָה (’ēsh zārāh). The word זָר (zar) is very important here. It means something foreign, something that does not belong, something that is outside ...