Some of us may have seen photos on social media of the charred remains of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. We don’t know if these Russian soldiers had any intent other than to follow instructions given to them from Putin and the powers that be. How grief-stricken their parents would be to see them now.
A grief stricken Aaron looked upon the now charred remains of two of his four sons. The tears welled up in his eyes and his heart tremored with grief. He could barely hold the pain within his heart, knowing that if he or his remaining two sons displayed their sudden grief to the people, if they pulled off their turbans in a public display of the utter despair that had suddenly besieged them, to make their hair “wild”, if they tore their clothes in response to the overwhelming impulse within them to do so, they would end up just as these two of Aaron’s sons.
Yet it had been all so different for the preceding seven days. the dessert night sky was resilient with stars and extraordinarily calm in its silence, so different from the clamour of Egypt. It was the clearest backdrop to the heightened sense of excitement that hung over the camp as the people waited for the seven days of ordination and consecration of Aaron and his sons to end. It had been told to them that YHVH would appear to them at the end of these seven days.
Out of the Tent of Meeting, emerged Aaron and his fours sons, all clothed in their beautiful priestly garments that shone brightly in the dessert sun with the newness of their manufacture. Aaron and his sons had been appointed by God and had been anointed with the special anointing oil that was made uniquely for the priesthood.
Emerging from their confinement at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, Aaron, assisted by all four of his sons, sacrificed all the prescribed animal offerings in perfect adherence to the manner prescribed to them by God.
Then, as if to enter into the very heart of the Father, Aaron and Moses entered the Tent of Meeting.
When Moses and Aaron emerged again from the Tent of Meeting to bless the people, the Glory of YHVH appeared and fire came out from the Presence of YHVH to consume the burnt offerings and fat portions that were on the altar. The people sang out with loud voices and fell face down at this remarkable sight.
But the euphoria seemed all too short-lived, because something was about to happen that would change their joy to sorrow. Suddenly, fire came out from the Presence of YHVH to consume two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, whilst they were offering up strange fire from their censors, fire that had been made from incense prescribed only for offering at the altar of incense that stood before the Holy of Holies inside the Tabernacle.
I cannot humanly comprehend the righteous anger of God. Granted, it’s humanly impossible to understand that a God of love could be this same God of wrath. But this does not give us reason to doubt the Scriptures, especially when the Holy Spirit has given His witness to it in our spirits. What I can do is draw lessons from this Parashah. So as I pondered upon the lessons to be drawn, my attention was drawn to the words in Hebrew “asher lo tzivah otam“, which means “which he did not command them” (Leviticus 10:1). It was because God had not commanded these two sons of Aaron to do what they did that the fire of His wrath was poured out upon them.
So then, what equivalent message can we find in the New Testament, a message of fire administered that has the mere appearance of being holy fire, but is nonetheless a fire strange to God, not from God, false fire. Here is one such example to be found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians:
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
(Galatians 1:6-9 NIV)
If you read carefully the ongoing context of these words of Paul to the Galatians, you will see clearly what this false fire is, this false gospel. Paul explains how he was saved from the most radical sect of Judaism, a Jew of Jews, not only practicing Judaism but excelling in it amongst his piers, in addition to this a persecutor of the church. Yet God miraculously saved him out of this, convincing him of what he was once unable to believe: that salvation does not come from observing the law of Moses, but from faith in Jesus the Messiah:
15“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
(Galatians 2:15-16 NIV)
The false gospel (false fire) that Paul was referring to is a gospel that confuses the grace of God, the message of the cross, the message of Christ crucified, the message of faith that opens a way for us into a life in the Holy Spirit, with a doctrine of salvation through works, a doctrine of salvation through the law.
Paul takes this much further and it would be best for you to read through the rest of Galatians to see that, amongst many of the other letters of Paul.
But let us not be one-sided in our interpretation of what or what isn’t “false fire”.
In the very same letter to the Galatians, Paul warns us that freedom from the law does not spell out freedom to sin:
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh (Galatians 5:13 NIV)
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)
You can see then, that false fire, a false gospel, is not just a gospel that deprives one of the message of the cross, a message of God’s grace, kindness, mercy and Holy Spirit obtained through faith in Jesus the Messiah. A false gospel, false fire, is equally a message that deprives one of the message of repentance from sin.
Yet, inasmuch as a false gospel is a gospel that puts people under bondage to the Law of Moses, an equally false gospel is a gospel that diminishes the law, as if to say that the law is invalid and outdated. There is much to be said about this, but I won’t venture into this aspect of false fire, except to give a few examples from Scripture: Mathew 5:17-20; Luke 16:17; Mathew 13:52; Romans 3:31; Romans 8:4.
So then, no matter what aspect of Scripture we tend to make our focus, whether it be grace, repentance, interpretation of Old Testament “treasure” in the light of New Testament revelation, the miraculous and the supernatural, let us be careful to take heed to the instructions of the Holy Spirit, who teaches us all things (John 14:26), giving value to every aspect of the word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
After all, it was of Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron who were consumed by the fire of God, that God said that they offered up strange fire “which he did not command them“. We want to be careful to find out what God has commanded us to do, so as to not be distracted by the things he did not command us to do.
This was a commentary on Parashat haShavua for Shabat 26th of March 2022: Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47