Leviticus 10

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• Leviticus 10

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Beware of FIRE
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Fire as a Symbol of Gods Presence

• Num 915-16 On the day the tabernacle was set
  up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of
  the covenant and from evening until morning it
  was over the tabernacle, having the appearance of
  fire. It was always so the cloud covered it by
  day and the appearance of fire by night.

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Fire as a Symbol of Gods Presence

• Lev 923-24 Moses and Aaron entered the tent of
  meeting, and then came out and blessed the
  people and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all
  the people. Fire came out from Yahweh and
  consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the
  altar and when all the people saw it, they
  shouted and fell on their faces.

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The Night of Fire

• Fire, Fire, Fire, God of Abraham, God of Isaac,
  God of Jacob, not of philosophers andscholars.
  Certainty, certainty, heartfelt, joy, peace. God
  of Jesus Christ.God of Jesus Christ. My God and
  your God. Thy God shall be my God.The world
  forgotten, and everything except God. He can only
  be foundby the ways taught in the Gospels....
  Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Let menot be cut
  off from him for ever!

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Lev 101-2

• Now Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his
  censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it
  and they offered strange fire before Yahweh,
  which he had not commanded them. And fire came
  out from before Yahweh and consumed them, and
  they died before Yahweh.

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Strange / Foreign Fire

• Inappropriate incense? Exod 30
• Unauthorized coals? Milgrom
• Fire taken from another source? Laughlin Num
  16-17
• Pagan rituals?
• which he had not commanded them

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Lev 103

• Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what Yahweh
  meant when he said,
• Through those who approach to me I will show
  myself holy, and before all the people I will be
  glorified.
• And Aaron was silent.

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Lev 104-7

• Command
• To Mishael and Elzahan Approach and carry your
  relatives away from the front of the sanctuary .
  . . .
• To Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar Mourning rites
  forbidden for the three, but allowed for other
  relatives the congregation. Also they were not
  to leave the Tent precincts.

• Fulfillment
• They approached and carried them out by their
  tunics . . . .
• And they did as Moses commanded.

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Lev 109-10

• To Aaron Do not drink wine or beer, neither
  you nor your sons with you, when you come into
  the tent of meeting, so that you will not die.
  This is a law for all time throughout your
  generations, so you must distinguish between the
  holy and the common, and between the unclean and
  the clean.

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Distinguishing

• Holy or sacred implies a separation to God and
  being set apart from the common.
• The definition of common is technically
  complicated because it is found only here in the
  Torah (See 1 Sam 2110-11 Ezek 2226 4220
  4423 4815)
• Impure and pure are ritual terms that are
  explicated in the chapters to follow.

Holy
Common
Sin
Pure
Impure
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Lev 1011

• and you are to teach the Israelites all the
  statutes which Yahweh spoke to them by the hand
  of Moses.
• The teaching role of the priesthood was clearly
  an ideal that did not always work out.
• Hos 4.4-6
• Ezek 726 4421-23

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Lev 1012-19

• Command
• To Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar instructions are
  given about the priestly right to eat appropriate
  portions of specific sacrifices.
• as Yahweh commanded (1013, 15)
• Moses becomes angered because they had not eaten
  the purification offering as Yahweh had commanded.

• Fulfillment
• No answer
• . . . and yet such things as these have befallen
  me! If I had eaten the purification offering
  today, would it have been good in the eyes of
  Yahweh?

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Lev 1020

• When Moses heard, it was good in his eyes!