HEBREW WORD STUDY – STRANGE FIRE – ‘ESH ZARAH אש זרה  Aleph Shin  Zayin Resh Hei

Leviticus 10:1-2: “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. (2) So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. (3) Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.”

This is a very troubling verse.  The tabernacle has just been inaugurated after seven days of waiting for the Divine Presence to make an appearance. This occurred on the eighth day when Aaron offered the first sacrifice and fire came from heaven and to lite the altar.  It was now the duty of the priest to keep that fire going so it will never go out.  Scripture tells us that the two eldest sons of Aaron  Abihu Nadab filled a incense burner with “strange fire” and as they approached the Holy of Holies they were struck dead by the fire of God coming from heaven.

There are many and sundry reasons why the sons of Aaron were struck dead. Some say the strange fire meant that they took the fire from a source other than the sacred fire God sent from heaven to burn the incense.  The word strange in Hebrew us zarah is the same word used for a prostitute. A prostitute does not love her client, she performs her services for a price. There is no love there in an ordinary fire. The fire sent by God shows his Divine love.  The word fire is also a word to express passionate love.  Thus, they did not take the fire that originated from God’s passionate love and thus profaned the incense.  Therefore, God struck them dead as punishment.

Other less plausible explanations are that the sons were arrogant. They were supposed to be married before they performed their priestly duties.  They arrogantly felt that as the sons of a High Priest, nephews to a king (Moses) and Princess (Miriam) no woman was good enough them. Some, even suggest as they followed behind their father Aaron and uncle Moses they thought “When are these two old men going to die so we can take over.”  Of course, that is all speculation because Scripture does say what their thoughts were nor if they were married or not. Abibu means “he is a father” which would suggest otherwise and the name of the other son Nadab means noble and generous.  Arrogances might be farfetched.  Some suggested that they wore the wrong garments or that they were not taking their job seriously and just got the fire from another source. Some say it was not laziness but rebellion that cause them to get the strange fire which is the reason for their deaths.  Others even speculate this was punishment for Aaron for having agreed to make the golden calf. Still another explanation is that the sons got themselves so drunk that they staggered carrying the fire, tripped and the fire caught their robes on fire and they burned to death. However, this does not work because Scripture plainly tells us the fire was sent from heaven. 

The only plausible reason was their disobedience in using a strange fire. Yet, if the law was that clear to use the fire from the altar that was set by God, would not Moses and/or Aaron check on these two to make sure all was done as according to the law?  We learn in further verses that  Moses was angry with Aaron and his other two sons for eating the goat meat that had been offered as a burnt offering which Moses believed was forbidden when in mourning.  Yet, after Moses sounded off Aaron calmly explained that only the daily offerings were forbidden to be eaten when in mourning.  An offering on a special occasion, which this goat’s offering was, allowed. Moses admitted his error and all was cool.  It could be that there wasn’t a real understanding of the law that required the use of the fire sent from heaven.  So, it might have just been a sin of omission rather than a sin of rebellion.  But was God that petty?  Would He have struck two young priest to death for making a mistake. Perhaps

But there is another explanation which is popular among rabbis and the sages and one I really feel is the correct reason for the death of Aaron’s two sons.  Scriptures teaches that they carried the burning incense toward the Holy of Holies. Moses said: “I (God) will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified.”  They drew near to the presence of God. Then it says Aaron remained silent when Moses said this was to show that God was holy. Also there appeared to be no sorrow over this event.  Nothing of fear descending upon the people. We learn in Leviticus 16:1 that it is after this event that God warns Aaron not to approach the Holy of Holies any time he wants, but only on a specific occasion. 

The words come nigh or near me is the word qarav which means to draw near but draw near like a close relative.  The view put forth by rabbis in the Talmud and Midrash both teach that these two young men were not arrogant, prideful or any of the above reasons that make these young men out as sinful.  In fact they were so righteous that as they approached the Holy of Holies, even sensing their own demise  they continued to draw closer to God in attachment, delight, fellowship and love to the point that their soul’s “ceased from them.” 

The reason for the belief that if you see God you will die is not that his presence is so horrible like the mask of Medusa, but that when you see the face of God you will experience the ultimate ecstasy of the soul that you will not want to return to the work that the soul is meant to do within the physical realm. We were sent into this world to impact it and transform it, not to escape it. If there was any sin in these two young men it was to allow themselves to draw too close to God such that their souls would desire to leave their bodies and they would receive the Divine Kiss such as Moses, Aaron and Miriam received when they passed away.  They died without torment or pain, they passed away in fulfilled joy.

You see when it is our time to leave this body and the physical realm, if we are believers, born again at that moment we are going to experience what the unbeliever will not, the ultimate ecstasy of the soul and we will not want to stay in our bodies or even in this realm. We will receive that Divine Kiss.

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