Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Nadab and Abihu, offering incense with alien fire, are struck and killed by fire from God. God forbids the priests to mourn them. Second, verse 8, God forbids wine and strong drink to priests about to enter the tabernacle. Third, verse 12, He commands the remains of the sacrifice to be eaten by the priests.
Vulgate Text: Leviticus 10:1-20
1. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, taking up their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord alien fire, which had not been commanded them. 2. And fire came forth from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 3. And Moses said to Aaron: This is what the Lord spoke: I will be sanctified in those who approach Me, and in the sight of all the people I will be glorified. Hearing this, Aaron was silent. 4. And Moses called Mishael and Elizaphan, sons of Uzziel, Aaron's uncle, and said to them: Go and take up your brothers from before the Sanctuary, and carry them outside the camp. 5. And going at once, they took them up as they lay, clothed in their linen tunics, and cast them outside, as had been commanded them. 6. And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons: Do not bare your heads, and do not tear your garments, lest perhaps you die, and indignation come upon the whole assembly. Your brothers, and all the house of Israel, let them bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled; 7. but you shall not go out from the doors of the tabernacle, otherwise you will perish: for the oil of holy anointing is upon you. And they did all things according to the command of Moses. 8. The Lord also said to Aaron: 9. Wine, and everything that can intoxicate, you and your sons shall not drink, when you enter the tabernacle of testimony, lest you die; because it is an everlasting precept throughout your generations. 10. And that you may have the knowledge of discerning between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and the clean, 11. and that you may teach the children of Israel all My ordinances, which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses. 12. And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who remained: Take the sacrifice that is left over from the offering of the Lord, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is most holy. 13. And you shall eat it in the holy place, what has been given to you and your sons from the offerings of the Lord, as has been commanded me. 14. The breast also that was offered, and the shoulder that was separated, you shall eat in a most clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you: for they have been set aside for you and your children from the peace offerings of the children of Israel: 15. because the shoulder and the breast, and the fats that are burned on the altar, they have elevated before the Lord, and they belong to you and to your sons, by a perpetual law, as the Lord has commanded. 16. Meanwhile, when Moses sought the he-goat that had been offered for sin, he found it had been burned up; and being angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who had remained, he said: 17. Why did you not eat the sin offering in the holy place, which is most holy, and given to you that you might bear the iniquity of the multitude, and pray for it in the sight of the Lord, 18. especially since none of its blood was brought within the Holy Place, and you ought to have eaten it in the Sanctuary, as was commanded me? 19. Aaron answered: Today the victim for sin has been offered, and the holocaust before the Lord: but what you see has befallen me—how could I have eaten it, or pleased the Lord in the ceremonies with a grieving mind? 20. When Moses had heard this, he accepted the explanation.
Verse 1: And Nadab and Abihu, the Sons of Aaron, Taking Up Their Censers
In Hebrew: and they took censers, namely those which hung at the altar of holocausts, so that filling them with incense they might enter the Sanctuary, and burn it upon the altar of incense, as had been commanded in Exodus 30, verses 8 and 20. It appears that these elder and more distinguished sons of Aaron wished to begin, after their father, their own first acts of ministry, and to burn incense in thanksgiving. Hence these events seem to have occurred on the eighth day, that is, on the same day that Aaron celebrated his first acts of ministry, or certainly shortly after; for just as the first duty of a priest was to sacrifice, which Aaron had already done, so the second was to burn incense, which these men were now planning to do; the third was to light the lamps.
Offering before the Lord Alien Fire
There was in the court of the tabernacle, namely on the altar of holocausts, a sacred fire that had fallen from heaven, which God had commanded to be maintained, so that they would use it alone for sacrifices and incense offerings, as I said in the preceding chapter, verse 24. There was in the same court a profane and common fire, which they used for cooking the flesh of the peace offering and the sin offering, on which partly the priests, partly the lay people making offerings, would feed in the court. Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu had used this same fire for domestic purposes during the seven days of their consecration, during which they continuously remained in the tabernacle. Therefore with this profane fire, which ought to have been kept separate from sacred things, Nadab and Abihu used it in place of the sacred fire in their incensing, "before the Lord," that is, before the altar of holocausts and before the entrance of the tabernacle. Second and more truly, "before the Lord," that is, at the altar of incense (for on this altar incense was to be burned using censers), which was before the Lord dwelling in the propitiatory and the Holy of Holies.
The Cause of Nadab and Abihu's Fall
You may ask, whence came this fall of Nadab and Abihu, that they used profane fire for burning incense?
The Hebrews think they did this from drunkenness, because being drunk they did not know what they were doing. So Rabbi Simeon, Rabbi Moses, Rabbi Solomon. This opinion is supported by the fact that the Lord, after the death of Nadab and Abihu, immediately in verse 8, forbids wine and everything that can intoxicate to Aaron and the priests about to enter the tabernacle. For this precaution and law raises the suspicion that they were tipsy, though not entirely drunk: for Scripture would not have been silent about this, and if they had been plainly drunk, they would have been incapable and unfit for preparing and burning incense.
Second, it could be said that they did this from thoughtlessness and confusion: for thus we see new and inexperienced priests, timid and flustered, committing many errors in their first acts of ministry.
Third and most probably, it can be said that when they beheld the victims devoured by the force of the sudden fire falling from heaven (preceding chapter, verse 24), partly exulting at the novelty of the miracle, partly struck and confused, they did not dare to approach the altar to take sacred fire from it, but snatching fire hastily from elsewhere, they offered incense to the Lord in thanksgiving: for joy at the fire given from heaven urged them on, but fear terrified them so that they did not dare to touch it; this is what the word arreptisque ("having seized") signifies, which connects this story with the story of the divine fire in the preceding chapter. Hence these sons of Aaron were indeed not free from the guilt of disobedience, but they displayed rather than committed a damnable crime, says Radulphus. For youth, being fervent, is also rash and thoughtless, so that Socrates, rightly asked what the virtue of the young might be, replied: "Nothing in excess."
Tropological Sense: Alien Fire as Heresy and Cupidity
Tropologically, the alien fire signifies heresies and the doctrines of innovators foreign to the faith. So Hesychius, Bede, and St. Cyprian, in his book On the Unity of the Church.
Hence Nadab, meaning in Hebrew "spontaneous," and Abihu, meaning "his father," denote those who, without God's call, thrust themselves into sacred offices of their own accord; or who, under the pretext of carnal lineage, or by the recommendation of powerful relatives, usurp the priestly office. So Radulphus.
Second, the alien fire is any desire that is contrary to sacred fire, that is, to charity; for charity is fire sent from heaven and placed in the soul by God; but alien fire exists when the soul burns with anger, avarice, or lust, says Radulphus: for these things are not suggested and implanted in the soul by God, but by the flesh or the devil.
Which Had Not Been Commanded Them
That is, which had been forbidden them: for otherwise they would not have sinned, nor would they have been punished with death. It is a litotes: see Canon 26. From this it is clear that the law against using alien fire in sacred rites had been given by God, even though until now Scripture had nowhere expressed it. Yet it sufficiently implies it in chapter 6, verse 9, when it says: "The fire shall be on the same altar," as I said there. For although that law speaks explicitly only of victims, nevertheless by parity of reasoning, or rather by the greater argument, it seems it should be extended to frankincense and incense. For this is called "most holy" in Exodus 30:36. Hence victims were burned in the court before the Holy Place, but incense was burned in the Holy Place before the Holy of Holies.
Verse 2: And Fire Came Forth from the Lord
As if to say: from the Lord, fire was sent against them from the altar of holocausts, when they were heading toward the Sanctuary and toward the altar of incense: for before they arrived there and burned incense, they were killed before the tabernacle, that is the Holy Place, in its court; for this is what "they died before the Lord" means, that is, before the entrance of the tabernacle.
Second and more truly, Abulensis and Villalpando say: "From the Lord," that is, from the altar of incense, which faced the propitiatory (which was like the throne of God), fire came forth which devoured Nadab and Abihu; for they had already entered the Holy Place with their censers, and had offered and burned alien fire on the altar of incense, as verse 1 says, whence from the same altar avenging fire burst forth against them; for they were punished for sacrilege, not intended in the mind, but perpetrated in deed.
Note here: The fire that had fallen from heaven was carried in censers from the altar of holocausts to the altar of incense, every morning and evening, for burning incense; hence the same heavenly fire was considered to belong both to the altar of incense and to that of holocausts, and it had perhaps already actually been carried to the altar of incense, so that the evening incense might be burned: for these events seem to have occurred toward the evening of the eighth day, after all of Aaron's sacrifices, which easily occupied the entire day, when it was time to burn incense. From this altar, therefore, the sacred fire, not tolerating the company of alien fire, leapt forth and consumed it together with those offering it.
Observe: they are justly punished by fire who had sinned by fire; for by the same means by which one sins, by that same means one is punished.
Hence it is clear that it is a fiction what the Rabbis say, namely that Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire because they had not washed their hands and feet, according to the command of Exodus 30:19, or because they had not put on all the sacred vestments but only their tunics, or because they had refused to take wives, or because they had taught about the law in Moses' own presence contrary to him.
Mystically, this fire is the fire of divine judgment and vengeance, 1 Corinthians 3:13. So Radulphus. Again, this fire is the excommunication of the Church, says Hesychius.
Devoured Them
Not by entirely burning and consuming them, but by striking them dead like lightning, for afterwards their whole bodies were buried; and God did this as a consolation to Aaron, and to mitigate their punishment. God wished to sanction the new law and the reverence of the priesthood with so severe a punishment, as an example for posterity. St. Peter set a similar example for Christians, punishing Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5. Hence Abulensis probably opines that God punished Nadab and Abihu with present death so that they might escape eternal death; and thus they either sinned only venially, or, if they had sinned mortally, before they breathed their last they blotted it out by contrition: the sign of which is, first, that their bodies remained unharmed; second, that Moses ordered them to be buried in their sacred vestments; third, that God ordered the entire people to mourn them. Hence Radulphus says: "Their death exhibited the figure rather than the reality of eternal death."
Note here: God can justly punish venial sins with death, even when there is no scandal, which a human judge cannot do. For God is the absolute Lord of all, who has supreme right and dominion over the life and death of all. An illustrious example of this is 3 Kings 13:24, where the man of God and holy prophet was killed by a lion at God's command, because, deceived by another prophet, he had taken food in his house, which God had forbidden him. In like manner God killed Uzzah, because he had propped up and touched the ark as it was falling, 2 Kings, chapter 6, verse 6.
Verse 3: This Is What the Lord Spoke
Where and when God said what follows is not certain, because it is nowhere expressed or written. I noted a similar thing at verse 1. From this it is clear that many things were said and commanded by God to Moses and the Hebrews which are not written, but handed down by tradition.
I Will Be Sanctified in Those Who Approach Me
That is, in the priests who approach My sacred rites, I will show Myself to be holy, and accordingly I will declare that I will those who minister to Me to be holy, by punishing the profane and sacrilegious.
Therefore by punishment and justice, no less than by mercy, God is sanctified, that is, God shows Himself to be holy. Hence St. Augustine, Question 31: "God was sanctified in them," he says, "because through this vengeance the fear of Him was commended to others." For this reason Numa Pompilius among the Romans instituted that someone should cry out to those sacrificing: "Hoc age" ("Attend to this"), by which they and the bystanders were admonished to be present at the sacred rite with the utmost attention and reverence, lest they incur the offense and vengeance of God.
Verse 4: Brothers
That is, kinsmen; for they were in the third degree of consanguinity. A similar usage is in Genesis 13:8, where Abraham calls Lot his brother, that is, his nephew through his brother.
Verse 6: Do Not Bare Your Heads
The Septuagint translates: tas kephalas hymon ouk apokidarosete, "you shall not remove the tiara from your heads," that is, you shall not strip the tiara, meaning: You shall not mourn the death of your brothers Nadab and Abihu, nor shall you give signs of grief, nor shall you go out to their funeral. It is remarkable that the Chaldean translates in the opposite sense: "you shall not grow" or "you shall not nourish the hair of your head"; perhaps he took the Hebrew word tiphrau in the contrary meaning, as signifying "to grow hair" or "to let hair grow," from the fact that para signifies "hair." Thus in other places also the translation and reliability of the Chaldean wavers, whenever he rabbinizes with the Talmudists.
It was the custom of mourners to tear their garments and to sprinkle dust upon their bared heads, as is clear from Job 1:20; 1 Kings 4:12: therefore when it is here forbidden that they tear their garments and bare their heads, it is forbidden that they mourn the death of their brothers. For in the recent consecration, the greatest care had to be taken to protect and spare both their own and the public honor and sanctification, lest they either tear their new sacred garments, or the high priest strip his head (which he had anointed with sacred oil) of the ornament of the tiara—perhaps sprinkling it with dust from the excess of grief—and thus turn this feast into a funeral. God Himself gives this reason in verse 7.
Mystically, when alien fire, that is heresy, arises, one must not bare the head of its intelligible tiara, that is, one must not set aside the integral faith concerning Christ's divinity (for this is the head of Christ), nor tear their garments, that is, the robe of Christ's humanity, nor weaken or cut away His deeds: for nearly all heresies tend toward this, namely to attack either the divinity or the humanity of Christ. So Hesychius.
Lest Perhaps You Die
The word "perhaps" (forte) is not that of one doubting; for they would certainly have died if they had done what is here forbidden, namely if they had mourned their brothers. Yet Scripture sometimes uses this phrase of doubt in certain matters, to show that men are of free will, and that the outcome is free and uncertain; for although this conditional proposition was certain: "If you mourn, you will die," yet the outcome, namely death, was uncertain, because it was uncertain whether they would perform the mourning for which they were to be punished with death. So St. Gregory, Homily 9 on Ezekiel, Chrysostom, and Jerome on Matthew chapter 30.
And Indignation Come upon the Whole Assembly
As if to say: Lest the people be punished by God on account of the sin of the high priest and the priests, as their leaders and heads.
Verse 7: But You Shall Not Go Out from the Doors of the Tabernacle
That is, the doors of the court of the tabernacle; for the priests remained in the court, not in the tabernacle itself or the Holy Place: thus often in Leviticus and elsewhere, "tabernacle" is used for the court of the tabernacle; for this was like the tabernacle and temple of both priests and laity.
For the Oil of Holy Anointing Is upon You
As if to say: You have recently been anointed and consecrated as priests, and out of reverence for this new consecration, I wish you to abstain from all defilements, even of funerals, likewise from mourning and dust; because, as Radulphus says: "It is unworthy for those upon whom so great a compensation of heavenly graces has been poured to weep immoderately over earthly losses." Hence the people are here permitted to mourn, but not the priests over the death of their brothers. Let priests and religious of the New Testament take note of this.
Verse 9: Wine and Everything That Can Intoxicate
Hebrew: kol shechar, all strong drink, that is, every intoxicant. Under penalty of death, wine and strong drink are here forbidden to the priest about to perform sacred duties, so that he may escape sluggishness, forgetfulness, drowsiness, and senselessness: for these are the offspring and products of wine and strong drink, says Philo, book 2 of On the Monarchy; and so that being in control of himself he may have the knowledge of discerning between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and the clean, as is said in verse 10, meaning: So that while ministering he does not err, but separates the sacred from the profane; and that he may teach this to the children of Israel. Hence some suspect that Nadab and Abihu were punished because they had not guarded themselves from excessive drink, and from that had taken profane fire instead of sacred fire; for why else would this single law of abstinence from wine be introduced and sanctioned here immediately after their death? Why else would they be commanded to separate the holy from the profane?
Hear Peter Chrysologus: "The smell of wine had put to flight the smell of incense, and the fire of drunkenness had provoked the flame of the altar. Hence, because alienated by wine, they brought alien fire, and were soon reported extinguished by divine fire. Drunkenness in another person is a crime; in a priest it is sacrilege." Hence also St. Jerome to Nepotian: "Never smell of wine. This is not to offer a kiss, but to serve wine. The old law says: Those who serve at the altar shall not drink wine and strong drink." And further: "A cleric who, often invited to dinner, does not refuse to go, is easily despised. Let us never seek invitations, and rarely accept when asked. For I do not know how even the one who begs you to accept, once you have accepted, judges you more cheaply, and, wonderful to say, if you have spurned him when he asked, he later venerates you the more."
Finally, a cleric given to wine and gluttony is a priest not of God, but of Bacchus; for of such a person, as Tertullian says in his book On Fasting, "God is the belly, and the lung is the temple, and the paunch is the altar, and the priest is the cook, and the Holy Spirit is the steam, and the seasonings are charisms, and the belch is prophecy, etc.; for him charity boils in pots, faith heats in kitchens, hope lies on platters."
Examples of Pagan and Christian Abstinence
Hear what the pagans did: Among the Troezenians, who performed the sacred rites of Aridalia and sought the oracles of the gods, they abstained from food for an entire day, and from wine for three days, according to Alexander ab Alexandro, book 6, chapter 2.
Amphiaraus, the chief seer, commanded priests who wished to receive clear oracles and render them honestly, to abstain from food for an entire day and from wine for three days, says Volaterranus, book 13, chapter 4.
Those who wished to be initiated into the sacred rites of Isis were prescribed a fast of ten days, according to Apuleius, book 11.
Indeed even Christian laypeople of old exercised themselves with fasting and abstinence before and after receiving the Holy Eucharist, as St. Chrysostom testifies, commenting on 1 Corinthians chapter 11. The food of Emperor Louis the Pious while ill for forty days was nothing other than the Body of the Lord, as Aimonius attests, book 5, chapter 29.
Emperor Zeno, at the election of the Bishop of Constantinople, prescribed a forty-day fast for the entire people, according to Nicephorus, book 16, chapter 18.
Moreover, concerning wine, there is Alciati's emblem 24, that the wise abstain from wine:
Why do you vex me, branches? I am Pallas' tree,
Take away your grapes from here, the virgin puts Bromius to flight.
And Homer, book 1 of the Epigrams:
Wine and baths and love's pursuit,
Send one down the swifter road to hell.
And Horace, book 1, epistle 5:
What does drunkenness not bring about? It discloses secrets,
Bids hopes be fulfilled, thrusts the unarmed into battle.
St. Augustine on Wine and the High Priest
St. Augustine, Question 51, thinks that Aaron, and every high priest succeeding him, could never drink wine and strong drink, because the high priest, he says, had to enter the tabernacle every day to burn incense. But this rests on a false foundation: for St. Augustine thought that the altar of incense was in the Holy of Holies, which only the high priest could enter, and consequently he thinks that only the high priest could burn incense.
But I demonstrated in the last chapter of Exodus that the altar of incense was not in the Holy of Holies, but in the Holy Place, and consequently any priest could offer incense on it, as is expressly stated in 1 Chronicles 6:49 and 2 Chronicles 26:18. So Radulphus.
Verse 11: Through the Hand of Moses
That is, through Moses.
Verse 12: Take the Sacrifice
The grain offering. For in Hebrew it is minchah, which Aquila, as Hesychius attests, translates as "a gift of grain": see what was said at chapter 6, verses 16 and 17.
Verse 13: What Has Been Given to You and Your Sons from the Offerings
In Hebrew, "from the fire offerings," that is, from the victims burned with fire, or consumed by fire for the Lord.
Verse 14: You Shall Eat in a Most Clean Place
In Hebrew, "clean," that is, holy, as the Septuagint translates, and set apart for sacrifices, namely in the court of the tabernacle near the altar of holocausts.
For they have been set aside for you and your children (in Hebrew: they have been given, namely by God who so ordained) from the peace offerings — that is, from the peace offerings, which are offered for peace, that is, for well-being and prosperity.
Verse 15: Because the Shoulder and the Breast, and the Fats That Are Burned on the Altar, They Have Elevated before the Lord
As if to say: Because from the peace offering, the priests with a special ceremony elevated to Me the shoulder and the breast with the fats (in Hebrew: with the fire offerings, that is, with the offerings of fats that are to be burned by fire for God), so that these three things are Mine, while the remaining flesh of the offering goes to the lay people making the offering: for this reason I will that on account of this elevation and the ministry of the priests, these three things should go to both of us, but in such a way that the fats are burned to Me, while the shoulder and the breast go to the priests as food.
Verse 16: Meanwhile, When Moses Sought the He-Goat That Had Been Offered for Sin
Of the people, chapter 9, verse 15. When Moses sought it, he found it had been burned up — because Aaron and his sons, struck and grieved by the recent slaughter of their kinsmen, could not eat this he-goat offered for sin, as they ought to have done according to the law established in chapter 6, verse 26, and therefore they judged that the he-goat should be burned, just as God had commanded that other flesh offered to God and remaining to them should be burned, chapter 7, verse 17.
And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar. — He passes over Aaron the father, because the death of his sons touched him more than it did the brothers, and he saw that he was absorbed in grief.
Verse 17: Why Did You Not Eat the Sin Offering in the Holy Place
Which is most holy, and given to you that you might bear the iniquity of the multitude? — so that, namely, together with the sin offerings of the people, you might also receive upon yourselves, as it were, the sins of the people, so as to expiate them, and beg God for their pardon.
Verse 18: Especially Since None of Its Blood Was Brought Within the Holy Place
The word "especially" here is not restrictive, but explanatory and rational. This is clear from the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and the Septuagint. As if to say: You were absolutely obliged, O priests, to eat the he-goat offered for sin: for none of its blood was brought into the sanctuary, nor sprinkled on the altar of incense. For such a victim had to be eaten by the priests; but the one whose blood was brought within the Holy Place was not eaten, but was entirely burned outside the camp, as was said in chapter 6, verse 30.
Verse 19: How Could I Have Eaten It?
In Hebrew: and if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been good? that is, would it have been pleasing in the eyes of the Lord? As if to say: It would not at all have been pleasing if at this time I had observed this ceremony of eating: for in so great a slaughter of my kinsmen and wrath of God, it is rather a time for grief and fasting, than for joy and feasting, or banqueting; which excuse and justification Moses approved and accepted as just. For Agesilaus rightly said, when suddenly moving camp by night he was forced to leave a sick friend behind: "In such a case it is difficult both to show mercy and to be wise at the same time."
Moral Lesson: Accepting Excuses in Anger
Morally, let us learn here from Moses to readily accept an excuse when we are angry and offended, to show mercy, to calm the spirit, and to dispose it toward forgiveness. For this is the victory over anger: the gentleness and clemency of a princely and royal soul. Thus Seneca, book 2 of On Anger, chapter 30, urges that if we suffer anything from someone, we should make excuses. "Is he a boy?" he says. "Let his age be pardoned; he does not know whether he sins. Is he a father? Either he has done so much good that he now has a right to wrong us; or perhaps the very merit by which he offends us is his own. Is it a woman? She errs. Was he ordered to do it? Who but a fool is angry at necessity? Has he been wronged? It is no wrong to suffer what you did first. Is he a judge? Trust his judgment more than your own. Is he a king? If he punishes the guilty, yield to justice; if the innocent, yield to fortune. Is it a dumb animal, or like a dumb animal? You become like it if you grow angry. Is it illness or calamity? Then it will pass more lightly over one who endures it. Is it God? You waste your effort just as much by being angry at Him as when you pray that He be angry at another. Is he a good man, who has done the wrong? Do not believe it. A bad man? Do not be surprised."
St. Ambrose on Excuse and Repentance
Symbolically, St. Ambrose, writing to Simplician, explaining this statement of Aaron, teaches that an excuse for error comes easily, but repentance is difficult. "To sin not at all," he says, "belongs to God alone: to repent of sin belongs to the wise. Yet this is difficult; for nature resists, shame resists." And shortly after: "For present things outweigh future ones, violent things outweigh moderate ones, the many outweigh the few, the pleasant outweigh the serious, the soft outweigh the harsh, the joyful outweigh the sad, the alluring outweigh the strict, and the hasty outweigh the slow. For iniquity is swift, because in action it anticipates thought: but virtue is slow, and a long deliberator, because it considers what must be revered, and first examines what is fitting and honorable. Therefore repentance is sluggish and modest: for it attends only to future things, whose hope comes late and whose fruit comes later still."