I Shall not Want

What does it mean, “I shall not want”? Most of us pass through life longing for success: money, fame or popularity, seemingly never satisfied, continually thinking that we are somehow imperfect because we have not achieved a higher status than someone else we know or perhaps because we have not basked in the applause of the masses. Our self-image is often less than good and we tend to believe that somehow if we can make others love us it will help to bolster us in our own eyes. But is this true? Is this reality? I have noticed that much too frequently, some Hollywood star, rich and famous, ends his or her life when he senses a decline in his achievements or popularity. Why? If money opens doors to anything the heart desires, why fall into despair? People often make money their sole means of success. When we are not satisfied with the things life provides and when we think that somehow the whole ballgame depends on our worthiness in the eyes of humanity, it is easy to see money as the medium through which we can achieve the power or status we crave. When there is no money, there is often no hope. Rich and poor long for money, thinking it is the answer to their gnawing poverty, whether materially or in the world of human acceptance. The rich frequently deem the poor as stupid or lazy. I think we need to understand the phrase: “I shall not want”.

When I cannot do anything about my situation—trapped in some difficulty, painted into a corner from which I cannot move—I can have perfect confidence that my life is worthwhile, that G-d will provide a way to supply my needs and open doors of opportunity. When life binds me about with illness or financial loss, I will perceive that G-d is still there. Can I raise my face to heaven and thank G-d for my situation? Can we allow others to care for us and not despise our situation? Or do we worry that others may look down on us?

I know some of this only too well. Despair is a little demon that raises its ugly head when it seems we are bound with shackles that make it impossible to work to sustain our lives. The economy in our world does not provide adequately for those whom it deems less than useful. It is a common lie that broken people want to be dependent on what others provide. On the contrary, many of the unfortunate feel unworthy to be a part of society because they cannot give in a way that society deems worthwhile. Few among the wealthy have ever considered that the poor are in the world as a test.

Some of us experienced the devastating and corrosive influence of Naziism with its desire to destroy those who were not deemed useful to society. Can we see what it did to our world in the last century? Do we realize that those same evil seeds are deeply planted in almost every human soul? We want a world that presents no obstacles to our personal success and growth. We feel we do not need the poor and that they are, frankly speaking, dangerous to our lives. Maybe we don’t realize that this attitude serves the g-d of mammon and self. These evil seeds and their devastating influence on our world must be eradicated before society will turn its swords into plowshares! I shall not want—I wonder if that is another way of saying “thou shalt not covet?”

Often when things seem dark, we realize that the hand of G-d has brought us into the shadow of death. When it is painfully clear that our suffering is in line with his purpose, we must daily commit our spirits into His hand in order to escape despair. Hashem brings the trouble and he brings the cure. He brings the tempest so that he may be the Rock of our Refuge. It may seem counter-intuitive to most, but suffering, if understood correctly, teaches us to trust G_d and allow ourselves to depend fully upon him.

Does it mean that I have to stop wishing for what I cannot have? –that I will be happy with what my Creator provides through opportunities, inspiration, health, energy, finances, friends hopes and dreams? He is my Shepherd, so where he leads me there WILL be enough pasture to lie down in and provision for my daily needs.

A rooster announces the opening of the  black velvet curtain on the world stage. Birds softly chirp and trill and the stars fade as the horizon lights with iridescent tones of pink and gold. Unseen, the Presence stands in the center of the stage with his baton raised. A hush falls upon the predawn earth. Beads of dew shiver on the blades of grass, trees stand in majesty and the birds take their places on the branches of leafy trees and bare power lines.

Do you feel a desire to have God in your life but are tired of religion? Do you sense that somehow, somebody is lying to you about the very things that tug at your heart strings? You want to know God but somehow nothing out there satisfies you? Has the process of forgiveness somehow seemed too complicated? And being held accountable for inherited guilt seems unfair?

A lot of people are in that situation, my friend, and rightly so. And there is good news! The Bible has the answers, but they are not the answers that the churches are giving you.

Your heart cries out to have God in your life. You may really not remember anything really bad that you have done in your life and yet you have been told you were born a sinner. On the other hand, you may have an emptiness or an addiction or habit that seems to keep you at arm’s distance from God. There is still good news. God forgives sin! And guess what, nobody had to die for you! And no, you do not need another person to save you! And, by the way, the idea that little babies inherit sin is a lie! You are not sinful until you sin and God forgives, period. Can it be that simple? Yes–but, I know, we need to unravel some things. And I don’t expect you to take my word for it. Let the Bible speak for itself!

For close to 2000 years, Christianity has taught that God needed blood to quench his anger over our sinful condition and because really, deep down inside he loves us, so he sent his son down to die so we could have forgiveness. But this story is not unique. Pagan religions throughout the history of this world have taught variations of the same story. I don’t know about you, but that picture of God does not appeal to me as showing love. It sounds like someone that can’t be satisfied without blood as payment for disobedience. I will not be using the New Testament in this study and I hope you can see why. If the New Testament was written after the Old Testament and was based on the same laws and same guidance that God gave to Israel in the Old Testament, then these two testaments cannot differ unless the latter one is wrong about things. So since the Old Testament is older, and since Jesus said he didn’t come to abolish the law and the prophets (Mat 5:17-18); lets try to unravel the simple truth!

Inherited Guilt

Many have learned in rubbing shoulders with the church that when Eve ate the apple something happened to human nature making it impossible to be good without someone coming from Heaven to die for their sins. We were taught that the only way to have eternal life was to believe on this person and his substitution of grace in exchange for our evil hearts. We were taught that this being had to have a divine and human nature in order to satisfy the demands of God’s righteousness. Fear not my friend, we must clear the mud from the path before us! Let’s go to where it all began. The Genesis account of sin should talk about inherited guilt if that was a consequence.

The Real Consequences of Eating the Apple

Genesis speaks of several very difficult consequences that resulted from eating the fruit from the wrong tree in chapters 3 and 4.  Eating from the Tree of Knowledge; 1) brought about mortality to the descendents of Adam and Eve, 2) opened their eyes to perceive good and evil, 3) precluded their eating of the Tree of Life (which would make them live forever), 4) made them realize that they were naked (ashamed), which made them try to cover themselves with leaves, 5) Made Adam and Eve afraid of God which made them hide in the evening when God usually came to them, 6) Involved three curses for the future: involving the snake, the woman and the man:

1. The Snake: Would have to slither on it’s belly, be demoted to the lowest of the beasts, it and its descendents would be hated by the woman and her descendants would kill it by wounding it in the head. It would bite at the heels of humanity.
2. The Woman: (and women-kind) must now have pain in childbirth, become dependent on Adam (men) who would rule over her (sometimes brutally).
3. The Man: (mankind) would be required to live by hard work–the sweat of his brow, toiling the earth which was now to bring forth thistles and thorns to provide food for their sustenance.

Now that does seem like a lot of consequences! But I didn’t see anything about a sinful nature being a result, only about life becoming harder to live and eventually ending in death. In the new setting in which they found themselves there would always be a choice between good and evil and it would be easy to make mistakes. It is interesting about the snake losing its place in the Animal Kingdom. But to fabricate a fallen human nature from that story is a bit sketchy. To say that the snake was an evil being called Satan who fell from Heaven because of a conflict with God,  is just not there and to claim that the offspring of the woman was prophesied at that moment to end the rule of this evil Satan is not there either. Those thoughts are suggested in the story as told by Christianity which redefines the Bible, and by the way, was written later and its meaning superimposed on the simple truth of the Old Testament which is not really the Old Testament but the ONLY Testament.

The Bible mentions righteous people (if all inherited sin guilt, then there would be none righteous).

Noah:

Gen 7:1 “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.”

Job:

Job 1:1, 8 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. … 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that [there is] none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’”

Enoch, Elijah, Daniel, Joseph…

Sin is a choice–Rebellion, disobedience is something you do

Isa 1:2-4 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: [but] Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Righteousness is a choice–something you do:

Isa 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Deu 30:19-20 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is  thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Forgiveness is based on Repentance and a Turn Around:

The prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple:

1Ki 8:35-36 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflict them: 36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

The plea of the prophet Joel when Israel went astray:

Joe 2:12-13 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Last words of Moses about what Israel must do when they stray:

Deu 30:1-6 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. 4 If [any] of thine be driven out unto the outmost [parts] of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 5 And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

The Prophet Isaiah to wayward Israel:

Isa 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Isa 1:11, 18-20: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats … Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”

David’s prayer of repentance after his sin with Bathsheba:

Psa 51:14-19 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: [and] my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give [it]: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

What do we see here? That clearly when confession and repentance are  sought forgiveness is given. God requires neither sacrifice nor burnt offering, but a broken spirit and contrite heart. And notice the word, “then” in verse 19, “then shalt thou be pleased with sacrifices…” When repentance has taken place and forgiveness been given, then the offering of  burnt offerings and bullocks are acceptable. These seem to be offerings of gratitude for the gracious forgiveness already given more than anything.

“But”, you may ask, “what about the other sacrifices that are listed throughout the Old Testament? What was the purpose of the sacrifices? First of all, let’s discover that not all sacrifices were for the purpose atonement.

Sacrifices–Some for Sin, Some Not

The first animal offering listed in the Bible is found in Genesis 4 when Cain brought fruit and Abel brought a firstling of his flock. Nothing is said of it being a sacrifice for sin. Go ahead, look it up. It was an offering brought to the LORD. In Hebrew it is called an Olah עֹלָה which is interpreted, offering, but comes from the root word meaning “to go up.”

Note that the word sacrifice is זְבֵּֽחַ , (zebach) and the word altar is mizbeach מִּזְבֵּֽחַ or place of sacrifice.

Later we see in Genesis 8 that Noah built an altar when he came out of the ark. He offered one of each of the clean animals upon it. But again, no mention of sin or atonement, and these are called “burnt offerings” in some English versions, but the Hebrew again is Olah. The phrase looks like this: וַיַּעַל עֹלֹת בַּמִּזְבֵּֽחַ

Abraham built altars wherever he went. The first one that is mentioned is in Genesis 12:8:

“And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.”

Now, if you look at that verse, you will not see mentioned that an animal was sacrificed on it. Apparently the animals were just assumed as part of the offering, but not particularly mentioned. This altar was about worship and calling on the name YHVH (LORD is the word that the translators substituted for the Holy Name).

During the life of Jacob is the first time the word Zebakh זְבֵּֽחַ (sacrifice) is used for the actual offering in the Bible.

Gen 31:54 Then Jacob offered sacrifice זְבֵּֽחַ upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount.

But we can see from the context that this is clearly not a sin sacrifice.

Sacrifices that dealt with sin were not mentioned until the Torah was given on Sinai. But there were many altars built before that time and many olah offerings. What is this saying to us? Maybe it the customary way for the people of God to worship him!

So now we come to Israel at the end of their oppression in Egypt. Moses tells Pharaoh:

Exo 5:3: “And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.”

It had been many years since the Hebrews had been able to sacrifice and call on the name of their God. We remember that they are in Egypt, not Canaan and their religion was disgusting to the Egyptians as well as their lifestyle. So in Exodus 5:3 are we looking at worship again or are we looking at atonement? It looks to me like the former. It had always been the way the people of God worshiped him. They had not yet learned the rules for atonement.

Now when Pharaoh countered the request of a three day’s journey by telling Moses that they should sacrifice in the land of Egypt, what did Moses reply?

Exo 8:26: “And Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God. If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not stone us?”

Which animals were the abomination of the Egyptians? When Joseph specified the land of Goshen for his brothers, he said that if they were asked by Pharaoh why they wanted to live in Goshen that they were to reply that “every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.” Genesis 46:34

A sheep was considered to be one of the gods of the Egyptians. Thus the livelihood and diet of the brothers of Joseph would have been an object of sacrilege to the Egyptians.

So now after many years in slavery, Moses deals with the same principle. They needed to sacrifice lambs and that would not be favorable to Pharaoh.

But, as the story goes, Pharaoh refuses to let the people go, and we all know about the plagues that came upon Egypt. Now let us roll on down to the last plague. Pharaoh now apparently deserves no respect, for the very abomination of the Egyptians, the lamb was commanded by God to become a public spectacle!

YHVH spoke to Moses and told him to instruct the people of Israel to set apart a lamb for each family on the tenth day of the first month. That lamb was to be protected and tied up until the 14th day of the month when it was to be killed and it’s blood sprinkled and then it was to be roasted and eaten on the evening of that day. This was done publicly. Exodus 12:3 ff.

Now according to Christian tradition, Jesus was prefigured by the Passover Lamb, but this Passover sacrifice was not a sin sacrifice. Passover was about freedom from slavery (Mitzraim-Egypt). The Day of Atonement Yom Kippur was later instituted at Sinai as the day each year that sin was dealt with.

A Human Sacrifice?

Who died on the cross? Was Jesus a god or a man? If Jesus was God, then we know that God does not die. If he was a man, then he was a human sacrifice–a thing abhorrent to God and foreign to his kingdom. Human sacrifice was never done in the religion of the Hebrews. But it was done throughout the pagan religions in the nations around Israel. That is one of the reasons that God told Israel to not observe the ways of the heathen. The heathen nations offered their children up as sacrifices to their gods. He commands that we NOT do this. But while he tells us NOT to do it, does he then go ahead and do it himself? Do as I say, not as I do? Think about it.

Deut. 12:31: Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

Basically, what I am seeing is that there was no need for the sacrifice of Jesus as it is portrayed.

You may ask, why then did the sacrifices end when the temple was destroyed? First of all why didn’t they end in the year Jesus died if he was to replace them? And then, do we realize that no sacrifice could be offered without the temple? Do we remember that it was prophesied that Israel would abide many days without a sacrifice?

Hos 3:4-5 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and [without] teraphim: 5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

And this means that sacrifices would return, and for what reason then, did Jesus die if not to replace the sacrifices with himself? Apparently there was no spiritual meaning to his death after all. To my view, he was caught at a time that Rome was nervous about their position. A time when many were put to death.

Other verses point to the Messiah restoring the sacrifices, not doing away with them:

Jer 33:15-18 “In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 17 For thus says the LORD: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 ‘nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.’”

Mal 3:1-4  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he [is] like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3 And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

(We need to look at what this really says. It is usually applied to Jesus by Christians, but verses 3 and 4 show the restoration of the Levites and the offerings. This was not fulfilled by Jesus. Some say these are now spiritual offerings, not literal, but then why does it say “as in the days of old, and as in former years”?

Isa 56:7 “Even them (the sons of the stranger) will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”

The book of Ezekiel speaks of a future temple that is described with precise instructions in every detail. And then it speaks of the restoration of the sacrifices. What else can this mean?

Eze 44:15: “But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD.”

Fine flour and the sin offering

That’s right, God allowed that flour and not only the blood of an animal offering could atone for sin. The offering of fine flour in the amount 1/10th of a hin could be given by the poor for their sin sacrifices. See Lev. 4, 5, 6, 8, and 16.

So why did God require blood sacrifices in the first place? What was their purpose? Were they merely a penalty for making mistakes, but not truly an atonement?

Lev. 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.”

But we saw before that flour could also be used. This seems confusing doesn’t it? What if we looked at it this way: for an animal sacrifice, it is required that the blood be poured out on, or beneath the altar in order to make an atonement. The blood was never to be eaten by the one making the sacrifice. If an animal was not available or too costly, then flour was acceptable.

By now you may be asking a lot of questions and that is my purpose. Why was flour acceptable? I don’t have an answer, but the very use of it shows that the killing of animals was not mandatory for the forgiveness of sin, and with that we can see that we do not need the blood of a messiah or god/man to forgive our sins. God has always forgiven people when they are contrite and want to change with all their hearts.  There is not currently a temple in Jerusalem. The Bible says that when there is no temple there would be no sacrifice (Hos 3:4-5). In that case, Moses instructed us that when we are scattered in the nations as we are, that we are to return to the LORD and obey him with all our hearts. Deut 30:2.

The prayer of Solomon states clearly what we are to do now in the times in which we live and how God will respond:

1Ki 8:46-50 “If they sin against thee,for there is  no man that sinneth not, and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; 47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; 48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: 49 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, 50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee…”

This may seem pretty complicated, but it really is not. What is complicated is the process of unraveling the lies that have been taught to us for 2000 years and passed down as gospel truth. There is a verse that talks about this too:

Jer 16:19-20: “O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. 20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?”

It is time to find God. It is not hard. He can be near to you and lead you directly. He loves you more than you love him. He created you for a purpose. If your heart longs for him then he is right there calling you! Churches claim to be the way to God, but you do not need a church for they are the fabricators of lies. You may want to visit a synagogue. However, I would recommend that you find out what the Bible really says so that you follow God first and not allow others to be your sole guides to truth. It is wonderful to find others who want to worship together, but sometimes we have to walk alone. You may have to wait as I have until God gathers you and sets you with his people.

Nadab and Abihu played with fire and didn’t live to tell about it!  One section of Parsha Shemini in Leviticus tells of strange fire and two zealous priests, sons of Aaron who did something that didn’t turn out as they expected. This is one of those stories that stands up and begs the question, What just happened?

We can find a lot of  commentary on this story but let’s look at what the words of  Torah say before anything else.

The setting is the joyous occasion of the consecration of the new Mishkan (Tabernacle) designed by the inspiration of young Bezaleel, built according to his instructions and provided for by the generous offerings of Israel while encamped in the desert. The family of Aaron has been locked up in the holy place for 7 days in a ceremony of ritual cleansing which was to set them apart forever as the chosen priests of the Most High G-d.

On the eighth day Aaron and his sons begin officially serve as priests in the now dedicated Mishkan. They prepare several offerings. Israel witnesses the Shechina glory manifested and fire from HaSHEM consumes the burnt offering and the fat pieces prepared by Moses and Aaron. At this manifestation there is great rejoicing and all the people fall on their faces in worship.

Lev. 10:1-2: “Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before the L-RD alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from the L-RD and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of the L-RD.”

Verse 3: “Then Moses said to Aaron, “this is what YHVH meant when He said: Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all the people.” And Aaron was silent.”

I don’t know about you but this has always bothered me. And why should it? Well first of all it seems to say that no matter how you do things you may not get it right and may suffer from the wrath of G_d. After thinking very hard about this Shabbat afternoon, I started to unravel some things. What happened and why Moses explanation and why did Aaron fall silent?

First of all the story seems to have a tie to the story of Cain and Abel. One sacrifice was accepted, the other was not. HaShem did not destroy Cain in the first story but he didn’t approve of his sacrifice either. It was a teaching moment, perhaps. We could follow down in history to other examples, for example when king Saul spared Agag clearly against the expressed will of HaShem.

What happened: There is the element that Nadab and Abihu went beyond what was required. Was there a token of “I’ll do it my way” in this? Verse 1 says clearly “…which He had not enjoined upon them.” Or simpler, which G-d had not commanded them. So is this an instance of reinterpretation of what G-d commands? Do we not see this in almost every religion in the world. When something is not to our liking, do we reconstruct it to make sense to us? Simply put, they did not do what was commanded by HaShem.

Why they did it:
It is not specified in the narrative but afterwards it seems to be hinted at in verse 10 where G_d speaks to Moses: “Drink no wine or other intoxicant, you or your sons, when you enter the Tent of Meeting, that you may not die. This is a law for all time throughout the ages, for you must distinguish between the sacred and the profane and between the unclean and the clean: and you must teach the Israelites all the laws which the L-ORD has imparted to them through Moses.””

So Nadab and Abihu had been drinking and because of that were not thinking clearly to obey the express command of YHVH. They were drunk enough to impair their reasoning. No, I don’t say that it was a sin to drink. Drinking was always a part of sacred festivities (cf: Deut 14:26), however when dealing with holy things, the priests were not to have impaired judgment and to them it was forbidden when they were to enter into the sacred service. Clearly they missed the mark in the purpose of G-d for the occasion and marred the meaning of what was meant to be glory to G-d alone. I want to emphasize that they were not killed for being drunk but for reconstructing the clear command of HaShem.

Moses explanation:

“Then Moses said to Aaron, “this is what YHVH meant when He said: Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all the people.”

Aaron was clearly grieving over the sudden death of his sons and confused about what had angered HaShem. To help him with his grief, Moses explained. What I see in his words is that those who are closest to G-d are required stricter observance to the Holy things. They are in direct relationship to G-d and must not deviate in even a small way from his direct commands. Nadab and Abihu acted wrongly and since they were in a very holy position therefore much was required of them.

At that point Aaron fell silent and did not show his grief to preserve the joy in the camp at this glorious occasion. He did not contaminate himself by burying his sons, nor did their brothers, but rather some of his distant relatives took the bodies out of the camp.

Moses further commanded:
Vs 6-7: “do not bare your heads and do not rend your clothes, lest you die and anger strike the whole community. But your kinsmen all the house of Israel, shall bewail the burning that the L-rd has wrought. And so do not go outside the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, for the L-RD’s anointing oil is upon you.

Moses was trying to protect both Israel and the family of Aaron from any further disaster. Aaron was commanded not to do the things that normally accompany grief. Rather this grieving was to be carried out by Israel. Aaron had to steel himself to do what most people would claim is humanly impossible. But the passage says: “And Aaron was silent.”