After anointing Aaron and his sons – the consequences of dishonouring a holy God become immediately evident.
Leviticus 10: The Death of Nadab and Abihu
1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them.
2 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD has said, 'Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'" And Aaron held his peace.
4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, "Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp."
5 So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said.
6 And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, "Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the LORD has kindled.
7 And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you." And they did according to the word of Moses.
8 And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying,
9 "Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
10 You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean,
11 and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them by Moses."
12 Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: "Take the grain offering that is left of the LORD's food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy.
13 You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons' due, from the LORD's food offerings, for so I am commanded.
14 But the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons' due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel.
15 The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the LORD, and it shall be yours and your sons' with you as a due forever, as the LORD has commanded."
16 Now Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying,
17 "Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?
18 Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded."
19 And Aaron said to Moses, "Behold, today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would the LORD have approved?"
20 And when Moses heard that, he approved.
Leviticus 11: Clean and Unclean Animals
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them,
2 "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.
3 Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.
4 Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.
5 And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.
6 And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.
7 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.
8 You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.
9 "These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat.
10 But anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you.
11 You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses.
12 Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is detestable to you.
13 "And these you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
14 the kite, the falcon of any kind,
15 every raven of any kind,
16 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind,
17 the little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl,
18 the barn owl, the tawny owl, the carrion vulture,
19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
20 "All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you.
21 Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground.
22 Of them you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind.
23 But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.
24 "And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening,
25 and whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.
26 Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean.
27 And all that walk on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening,
28 and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.
29 "And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, the great lizard of any kind,
30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.
31 These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening.
32 And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or a garment or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose. It must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean.
33 And if any of them falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it.
34 Any food in it that could be eaten, on which water comes, shall be unclean. And all drink that could be drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean.
35 And everything on which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean. Whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean and shall remain unclean for you.
36 Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whoever touches a carcass in them shall be unclean.
37 And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean,
38 but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.
39 "And if any animal which you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening,
40 and whoever eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.
41 "Every swarming thing that swarms on the ground is detestable; it shall not be eaten.
42 Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable.
43 You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them.
44 For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.
45 For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."
46 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground,
47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.
Things to think about…
1. What a tragedy. Aaron’s two oldest boys Nadab and Abihu were killed because they didn’t offer the incense that was required. Ex 30:34-38 was the formulae they should have used; they didn’t and died as a result. Our God is a consuming fire, Heb 12:29. The application is simple, our prayers (incense) are only acceptable when we have Christ as our Lord and Saviour and we genuinely live to please him in our witness to the world. These prayers are sweet smelling and are answered by the Lord as described in Ps 141:2; Rev 8:3,4. Our worship is acceptable as we are sacrifice ourselves as living sacrifices of obedience to His will and not our own. We should never offer “strange fire” in our worship to the Lord, but worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, John 4:23, 24 in ways that honour His word.
2. Why weren’t Aaron and his other two sons allowed to lament the loss, Lev 10:6-11? Simply because they were representing God. God was not pleased, and any remorse would be a sign of injustice on God’s part. This would have been very difficult for Aaron’s family. Sometimes the Lord disciplines those very close to us and we need to minister in such a way that we recognise the trial but exalt the truth. The Lord will not be mocked, even by family members that we know and love.
3. Moses was a stickler for the law Lev 10:16-18. After Aaron had lost his two oldest boys due to their sin, the younger two sons Eleazar and Ithamar were required to eat the sin offering to atone for the sin of the congregation. But the sin offering was completely burned up! Aaron does not want to be a hypocrite. His two boys had just been struck dead because of their sin. How can the remaining two boys atone for sin when ‘such things as these have happened to me’, Lev 10:19. Aaron asks “would the Lord have approved?”. No, is the implied answer and Moses sees Aaron’s point, vs 20. The law is the law, yes, but we are also called to be a people of grace and mercy, not hypocrisy. Moses understands his brother Aaron’s grief and relents of the laws requirement. We all blow it at various points in our lives. Let’s love, instruct, discipline and show Christ centred grace to all as we move forward in our walk, knowing that when we get a right view of our sin, we see that we are in fact the chief of sinners, as Paul testifies of himself. Let truth be administered with mercy, grace and forgiveness.
4. The clean and unclean animal laws of Lev 11 make a lot of sense. I am a little suspect on the eating of grasshoppers, but that may be due to a cultural aversion more than anything else. John the Baptist ate them and clearly more than survived, he thrived on them. Many of the unclean animals are known to carry parasites, viruses and bacteria that are unhealthy for human consumption. But bacon please, Lev 11:7, how did that not make it through!? Personal preferences don’t have any weight when it comes to what is considered clean and unclean in the Mosaic Law.
5. Clearly Lev 11 points to the necessity of being set apart – clean. We are made clean with the blood of Christ. The important thing is that we reflect Christ’s ‘cleanness’ by how we live before the ‘unclean’ – who hopefully, one day, will be clean.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Life groups on this week. Ric Beson will be taking the Life Group at church 6:30pm and will be looking at the life of Christ in the church.
Pastor Jay will be starting the young adult’s life group after Sunday mornings message. It will be a Christian topics and apologetics class.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for the start of Kids@Church, Life groups and church community days.
2. The conflicts in Israel and Ukraine. Praise for the peace of Jesus to reign.
3. Mathys has a prayer time at church on Monday afternoons. He would be happy for you to join him and to send prayer requests.
4. That we be bold in our witnessing for Christ. Pray for a heart to see those around you to be saved. Pray for the blessing over the new pastoral care and hosting program.
5. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points
1. The Lord blessed us with truth and a sense of His presence in all our meetings on Sunday.
2. Praise God for the church leaders. May the Lord bless as they make their plans, that He guides our steps.
3. Steve Hawkins testimony on Sunday.
4. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Groups start back on Wednesday night at Church – 6:30pm. New Christians and Young Adults – Sunday after church.
2. Combined Baptist Church service at Beacon Baptist 5pm 11th Feb.
3. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
4. Tune in again this week on our YouTube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for January...
Q. 16. Who were our first parents? A. Adam and Eve.
