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Nadab and Abihu

BH

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In Leviticus 10 God smack down two of Aaron's sons for offering strange fire. Does anyone know where the instructions about how to offer fire,ect are? I admit I really can't pinpoint what they seemed to do wrong.

Anyway, it is hinted they may have been drunk but it is not conclusive.
 
A textual dangler. Like many such texts, it provides bible thumpers of all stripes, those pretending to direct access to the thoughts, 'will' and 'mind of god' both the opportunity and excuse to make up their own totally unverifiable shit, and thus by their claimed exclusive divine 'revelations' and 'authoritative' explanations keep the yokels and the credulous under their control.
Nowadays most such are content to present such as merely being their 'theories', but most doing so are not beyond proceeding from their favored theory, to religious assertions founded upon the credulous accepting their theory as being a factual working hypothesis. Cult leaders and cults thrive upon such obscure verses.
 
In Leviticus 10 God smack down two of Aaron's sons for offering strange fire. Does anyone know where the instructions about how to offer fire,ect are? I admit I really can't pinpoint what they seemed to do wrong.

Anyway, it is hinted they may have been drunk but it is not conclusive.
If you read "who wrote the bible" by Richard Elliot Friedman, which is a wonderful book, you may find some insight.
IIRC this incident is thought to have been added by those who favoured the Mosaic priesthood over Aaron's priesthood.

My memory might be playing tricks on me , but I think I'm right.
The story is thought to have been added to make Aaron look bad, so there may not exist an answer to your question.
Maybe someone can confirm?
 
Any cult/preacher can cite this text as a basis of their right of exclusive authorization to performing the cults abracadabra ritual religious rigmarole. The trick, in any dispute of authority is to be the source educated to invoke it first, which automatically places opponent practitioners in the position of being nothing more than overreaching unauthorized losers of the type of Nadab and Abihu.

Running and maintaining tight control of the cult, and to exclusive authority over it, is very much dependent upon maintaining such obscure literary weapons, and in being skillful at only unsheathing and employing them with great discretion in disarming threats to the established order and authority. After all one does NOT want such would-be climbers and 'gainsayers' aware, and thus be first to cite and employ the weapon.

Make no mistake, these texts were composed by the priesthood for the maintaining of control over the priesthood first, and then through maintaining of that established order and authority, over the entire cult. The would be 'Nadab and Abihu's' arising among the priesthood, and attempting assuming of any self-appointed positions or rights, must be countered and put down.
 
How you doin', Barry! :)

In Leviticus 10 God smack down two of Aaron's sons for offering strange fire. Does anyone know where the instructions about how to offer fire,ect are? I admit I really can't pinpoint what they seemed to do wrong.

Anyway, it is hinted they may have been drunk but it is not conclusive.
This is a problem similar to God's condemnation of Cain's offering, isn't it?

d
 
Hello Diana.

It is like Cain's sacrifice.


We aren't directly told just what the offense was but have to imply it. I know in Hebrews it says it was a lack of faith on Cain's part, or to be more precise Abel's was accepted because of faith. I think Nadab and Abihu were probably drunk and their coming before God in that condition was what angered him, assuming it actually happened.
 
We can be certain that this story did not happen as described. God didn't appear, hovering like some magical essence over all the people as described in the closing verses of Leviticus 9, nor did fire emit from this apparition and burn two men to death. It's remotely possible that two priests were engaged in some ceremony during a thunderstorm and got blasted to smithereens and the story developed from there, but that's just one of many possible explanations for the origin of this anecdote.

That leaves us with the story itself and conjecture as to the reason the original writers included it in this book. The text of the story simply states that the men offered "Strange fire which he did not command."

To me the most parsimonious explanation is that this act of worship had not been explicitly authorized in the veritable divine tax code of the first 8 chapters of Leviticus. That's why it's so difficult to find: it's not there.

The message would then be that making any unauthorized change to the worship formula as dictated by Yahweh to Moses subjected the individual to the fullest penalty of Yahweh's wrath. He's like the IRS - he doesn't audit everyone but when he does and finds an irregularity you can be sure it will be a most unpleasant experience for you.
 
In Leviticus 10 God smack down two of Aaron's sons for offering strange fire. Does anyone know where the instructions about how to offer fire,ect are? I admit I really can't pinpoint what they seemed to do wrong.
Read the rest of Leviticus. Much of it describes various sacrifices and offerings in very gory detail.

"Strange fire" seems to be incorrect incense here, meaning that God had gotten displeased at someone burning the wrong sort of incense for him.
 
It appears Nadab and Abihu put something in the censors which had never been used before and set themselves on fire in the process. This was seen as a sign of extreme displeasure by God. There is a clue in later verses, where Moses declares the priests can no longer consume "wine or other fermented drink" before entering the worship tent. So, Nadab and Abihu were drunk, lit the incense with a flammable liquid and probably came close to setting fire to the alter and the tent. In the process, their robes caught fire and they died.
 
Slight derail, possibly on topic.

A few months ago I had to read Bible stories to a kid, as part of my employment. One of the stories involved the priests of the false gods and the true god setting things on fire to prove who was right.

The priests of the true god(TM) soaked the sacrifice in "water" and had no trouble lighting it, after.

Did they have fossil fuels then?
 
Slight derail, possibly on topic.

A few months ago I had to read Bible stories to a kid, as part of my employment. One of the stories involved the priests of the false gods and the true god setting things on fire to prove who was right.

The priests of the true god(TM) soaked the sacrifice in "water" and had no trouble lighting it, after.

Did they have fossil fuels then?

Parts of the Middle East had crude oil just bubbling up out of the ground, but it doesn't look or smell much like water, and I doubt they had the technology to refine it.

Alcoholic proof spirits, on the other hand, can look a lot like water; and it is almost as old as civilisation itself.

Was the 'sacrifice' in question a Christmas pudding by any chance ;)
 
Alcoholic proof spirits, on the other hand, can look a lot like water; and it is almost as old as civilisation itself.
Don't think distillation has been going on quite as long as civilization. Fermentation obviously, but not distillation.

 Distilled_beverage#History_of_distillation


Never seen a beer catch on fire... I do recall that in the "new" Exorcist movie, there was something about scientific reasons for the various things in the bible. They had some kind of Randi style character in the movie, who ended up being convinced of Hell and the whole nine yards, or circles...
 
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