Class 05 Nadab and Abiud and the law of purity

The Study of Leviticus

Class 5

Nadab and Abihu andThe Law of purity

Leviticus – Chapter 10Nadab and Abihu

“Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” (Leviticus 10:1-2).

What a tragic story! Nadab and Abihu served as priests, not because they were personally righteous, but because they were chosen. They were separated by the grace of God.

Leviticus – chap. 10Nadab and Abihu

1. Strange fire and ministry outside ordained authority To offer strange fire means to serve without being sent, or

without obeying authority. These two men saw Aaron making offerings and thought

they could do the same. God rejects everything that done in human strength,

understanding and initiative, because it proceeds from the flesh.

Leviticus – chap. 10Nadab and Abihu

2. Strange fire and presumption Verse one declares that Nadab and Abihu offered fire that

the Lord did not command. Sin can manifest either as disobedience or presumption. Disobedience is when we do not do what God has

commanded, but presumption is when we decide to do what he has not commanded.


3. Strange fire is that which proceeds from human initiative

To offer strange fire is a very serious problem: to serve God and to offer strange fire are seemingly similar activities however there is a world of difference between them.

Strange fire originates in man requiring neither knowledge of God’s will nor obedience to his authority.


4. Strange fire is a mixture of holy and profane things God initiates his own work maintaining it through his

strength and power. Leviticus 10:8 offers wise counsel to the priests to never present themselves before God having drunk strong drink.

The reason for this is so that they would know the difference between what is sacred and what is profane, and what is pure and impure.

Leviticus – Chapters 11-15Laws of purity

1. Clean animals - Leviticus 11 What does it mean to eat? A holy life is related to diet.

After the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, he gave them manna. This was a way to change their interior makeup, since if they continued eating egyptian food they would continue to be Egyptians, but if they ate of the heavenly manna they would become heavenly.


Both naturally as well as spiritually, to eat is to take in or to assimilate, to internalize exterior things that distance us from our inner life. The food that we eat becomes a part of us. Therefore we are what we eat.

Everything that we take for our own pleasure and satisfaction becomes a spiritual food.

We are fed by everything that passes through our senses for our satisfaction and we are also fed through our relationships.


Our spiritual diet depends on our relationships. Acts chapter 10 clearly shows us that in the New

Testament, to eat sybolizes coming into contact with others.

In order for us to live a holy life, first we must take care of our diet, in other words, our contact with others.


a. Land animals The first class of animals are land animals, and the rule

was very simple including animals that chew the cud and had cloven hooves (verses 2-3). The bull, for example, chews the cud and has cloven hooves; therefore it is clean, but the pig has cloven hooves but does not chew the cud, therefore it is unclean.

In spiritual terms this refers to people who possess spiritual discernment in what they do and take the Word of God as nourishment by meditating on it constantly.


We all need to chew the cud. God’s Word says that we are sheep, therefore we are clean animals. We need to learn how to chew the cud of the Word that we receive. We must hear the Word, and later return to it and meditate on it sharing it in our small group until it is completely digested and absorbed into the body of the group.


Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. (1 Timothy 4:15)

Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. (2 Timothy 2:7)

To have cloven hooves speaks of discernment, but it also speaks of the type of footprint that we leave along our journey.


b. Water animals The second class of animals are aquatic animals, and in

order to eat them they must have fins and scales (Leviticus 11:9). We see then that fish without scales were improper to eat.


The fins and scales also speak of spiritual characteristics. The fins permit us to advance through the world around us and the scales prevent the things of the world from penetrating inside of us. We are in the world, we move about the world, mas the world must not enter into us.

Fish with fins and scales are able to swim against currents and even rise above the waterfalls. They are the symbol of those who walk against the current of the world.


c. Birds The third class of animals are birds. The basic rule is that

carnivorous birds were improper for food. Birds who feed upon living things are considered clean.

They represent the people who live above the norms of the world (John 17:16, Col. 3:1-3, 1 Cor. 7:31). They flee from everything that is dead and seek only that which gives spiritual life.


d. Insects The fourth and last class are the insects. The rule was that

every insect that flies and leaps were proper for food but every insect that flies and has four legs but does not leap are unclean.


Certainly these insects that leap speak of those who can live and move in God’s power above the things of the world and can keep themselves from the world by leaping far away.

The Word of God teaches us that when the things of the world seem to seduce and attract us the best thing to do is to flee, to run (2 Timothy 2:22).


2. Uncleanliness of birth - Leviticus 12 The uncleanliness associated with childbirth emphasizes

the fact that man was born with a sinful nature inherited from Adam.

Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. (Romans 5:18)


Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5)

Only after receiving God’s life can we begin to live a holy life. This is the new birth. We need to be born a second time, not by the same seed of sin, but by water and the Spirit, because everything that is born of the Spirit is spirit.


All male children should be circumcised on the eighth day. Why on the eighth day? Simply because the number eight symbolizes resurrection, a new beginning.

Although we have been born in sin we can have a new beginning with God through Christ’s resurrection. In the resurrection of Christ the old creation came to an end and a new creation came into existence.


In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Colossians 2:11-12)

The circumcision of the New Testament is applied to us through water baptism. The baptism represents burial, the end of our old man and also the birth of a new life.


Leviticus 12 shows us that in God’s eyes we are impure since birth. But through the death of Christ on the cross our flesh has been eliminated, we have been circumcised and we enter into a new life of resurrection.

Today we no longer need to live according to our first birth, but we can live in resurrection and thus serve God in purity and holiness.

Spiritual

Class 05 Nadab and Abiud and the law of purity