Nadab and Abihu

Biblical Account

Nadab and Abihu were the first and second of the four sons born to Aaron and Elisheba. Their younger brothers were Eleazar and Ithamar (Exodus 6:23).

In Exodus 24, the two are summoned to come up Mount Sinai with Moses, Aaron, and seventy of the elders of Israel. There "they saw God, and did eat and drink" (Exodus 24:1, 9-11). This scene is the occasion on which the Sinai covenant is ratified. The two brothers are then chosen, along with their father and younger brothers, to serve as priests (Exodus 28:1), and they are ordained in Leviticus 8.

At the end of Leviticus 9, fire comes out from before the LORD and consumes the offering on the altar of burnt offering. Immediately afterward, in Leviticus 10:1-2, Nadab and Abihu each take a censer, put fire and incense in it, and "offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not." Then "there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them," and the two died. Moses conveyed the word of the LORD, "I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me," and Aaron held his peace (Leviticus 10:3). Their bodies were carried out of the camp by Mishael and Elzaphan, Aaron's cousins, and Aaron and his remaining sons were commanded not to mourn publicly (Leviticus 10:4-7).

Numbers 3:4 and 26:61, as well as 1 Chronicles 24:2, record that the two died childless and that Eleazar and Ithamar afterward carried on the priestly office.

Significance Within Scripture

The episode is read as a warning that the nearer priests draw to God, the less they may treat His holiness lightly. The regulations for the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 begin by noting that they were given "after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died" (Leviticus 16:1). The deaths of the two brothers thus form the background for the subsequent rules governing entry into the tabernacle. The New Testament does not mention them by name.

Interpretation and Debate

Because the text does not specify what the "strange fire" was, interpretations differ.

• One view holds that the fire was taken from somewhere other than the altar. This view appeals to Leviticus 16:12, which directs that the coals for the censer be taken from the altar.
• Another view holds that they offered incense at an unappointed time or in an unauthorized manner.
• Still another view holds that they were intoxicated, since a command forbidding priests to drink wine when entering the tabernacle of the congregation (Leviticus 10:8-11) follows immediately after the incident. This explanation is said to be widely discussed in Jewish tradition, although the text itself does not state it directly.

In the Reformed tradition, this passage is frequently cited as one of the grounds for the "regulative principle of worship," which holds that only what God has commanded should be done in worship. Other traditions, by contrast, read the passage primarily as a warning about the reverence and obedience of worshipers, and they tend to be cautious about using it to judge elements of worship that Scripture does not forbid.

In the Korean Church

In Korean preaching, this passage is cited chiefly when addressing the holiness of worship and the responsibility of church officers. The expression "strange fire" is also used figuratively in discussions of worship forms and worship music.