Out of Egypt · c. 1445 BC
Chapter 14
Fire from the Lord
Fire came out from before Yahweh, and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.
For parents
Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, offer strange fire before the Lord, something he had not commanded them to do. Fire comes out from before the Lord and devours them, and they die (Leviticus 10:1–2). Relatives carry them out of the camp, and Aaron and his other sons are told not to let their hair go loose or tear their clothes, the way mourners did. Animals are killed as offerings all through the chapter, and blood is put on the priests’ right ears, thumbs and big toes (8:23–24). It is told plainly, without detail.
On the mountain, the had told what to do to make and his sons , so that they could serve him as . Now the Lord spoke to Moses again. “Take Aaron and his sons,” he said, “with their clothes and the . Take the bull for the and the two rams, and the basket of . Gather the whole community at the door of the .”
Moses did what the Lord commanded, and the community gathered at the door of the Tent of Meeting. “The Lord has commanded this to be done,” Moses told them.
Moses had Aaron and his sons come forward, and he washed them with water. Then he dressed Aaron in the tunic and tied the sash around him. He put the robe on him, then the , and tied the ephod’s woven band around him to hold it in place. He put the on him and placed the in it. He set the turban on Aaron’s head and put the gold plate, the holy crown, on the front of the turban, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the and all that was in it, to make them holy. Seven times he sprinkled oil on the . He anointed the altar and all its tools, and the basin and its stand, to make them holy. He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him, to make him holy.
Moses brought Aaron’s sons and dressed them in tunics. He tied sashes around them and put headbands on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Next he brought the bull for the sin offering. Then Aaron and his sons placed their hands on its head. He killed it, and Moses took the blood and used his finger to put it on the horns all around the altar. He purified the altar and poured out the blood at its base. He made the altar holy, to make for it.
He took all the fat from the insides, with the covering of the liver and the two kidneys and their fat, and Moses burned it all on the altar. But he burned the rest of the bull, with its skin, its meat and its dung, outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Then he brought the ram that was for the . Aaron and his sons placed their hands on its head. He killed it, and Moses sprinkled the blood all around on the altar. He cut up the ram, and Moses burned its head, its pieces and its fat. He washed the insides and the legs with water, and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. This burnt offering had a pleasant smell. It was an offering made by fire to the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Then he brought the other ram, the ram for setting the priests apart. Aaron and his sons placed their hands on its head, and he killed it. Moses took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, on his right thumb and on the big toe of his right foot. He brought Aaron’s sons forward, and Moses put some of the blood on the tips of their right ears, their right thumbs and their right big toes. After that, Moses sprinkled the blood all around on the altar.
He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat on the insides, the covering of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat. He also took the right thigh. Out of the basket of unleavened bread that sat before the Lord, he took one unleavened cake, one cake made with oil and one wafer, and he set them on the fat and the right thigh. He put all of it into the hands of Aaron and his sons, and waved it before the Lord as a . After that, Moses took it from their hands and burned it all on the altar, on top of the burnt offering. It was an offering for setting them apart, with a pleasant smell. It was an offering made by fire to the Lord.
Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before the Lord. It was Moses’ share of the ram for setting them apart, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood on the altar. He sprinkled them on Aaron and his clothes, and on Aaron’s sons and their clothes. He made Aaron and his sons holy, and their clothes too.
Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, “Boil the meat at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Eat it there, along with the bread in the basket for setting you apart, the way I commanded when I said, ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it.’ Burn whatever is left of the meat and the bread.
“Don’t go away from the door of the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until your days of being set apart are over, because he will be setting you apart for seven days. Everything done today was done at the Lord’s command, to make atonement for you. For seven days, day and night, stay at the door of the Tent of Meeting and do what the Lord commands, so that you don’t die. That is the command I was given.”
Aaron and his sons did all the things the Lord commanded through Moses.
When the eighth day came, Moses sent for Aaron, his sons and the of . “Take a calf from the herd for a sin offering,” he told Aaron, “and a ram for a burnt offering, both with nothing wrong with them, and offer them before the Lord.
“Tell the Israelites, ‘Bring a male goat as a sin offering. For a burnt offering, bring a calf and a lamb, each a year old, with nothing wrong with them. Bring a bull and a ram as to offer before the Lord, and a mixed with oil, because today the Lord will appear to you.’”
They brought everything Moses had commanded and set it in front of the Tent of Meeting. All the community came near and stood before the Lord. “This is what the Lord told you to do,” Moses said, “and the Lord’s will appear to you.”
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Come near to the altar. Offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. And offer the people’s offering and make atonement for them, the way the Lord commanded.”
So Aaron came near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. His sons brought him the blood. He dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar. On the altar itself he burned the fat, the kidneys and the covering of the liver from the sin offering, the way the Lord had commanded Moses. As for the meat and the skin, he burned them outside the camp.
Next he killed the burnt offering. Aaron’s sons brought him its blood, and he sprinkled it all around on the altar. They brought him the burnt offering one piece at a time, along with the head. He burned them all on the altar. He washed the insides and the legs. Then he burned them on the altar, on top of the burnt offering.
Next he brought the people’s offering. He took the goat of the sin offering, the one for the people, killed it and made it a sin offering, the same as the first. He brought the burnt offering and offered it the way the rule said. He brought the meal offering, took a handful from it and burned it on the altar. He did this in addition to the burnt offering of the morning.
He also killed the bull and the ram, the peace offerings for the people. Aaron’s sons gave him the blood, and he sprinkled it all around on the altar. Then they handed him the fat from the bull and the ram: the fat tail, the fat that covers the insides, the kidneys and the covering of the liver. They put the fat on the breasts, and he burned the fat on the altar. Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.
Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting. Then they came out and blessed the people, and the Lord’s glory appeared to all the people.
Fire came out from before the Lord and burned up the burnt offering and the fat that was on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
and , Aaron’s sons, each took his and put fire in it, and laid on it. They offered before the Lord, something he had not commanded them to do.
Fire came out from before the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
Then Moses told Aaron, “This is what the Lord was talking about when he said,
‘I will show myself holy to those who come near me,and I will be glorified before all the people.’”
And Aaron said nothing.
Moses called and , the sons of Aaron’s uncle . “Come near,” he said to them. “Carry your relatives out of the camp, away from the front of the holy place.” So they came near and carried them out of the camp in their tunics, as Moses had said.
Letting their hair go loose and tearing their clothes were ways people mourned. Moses told Aaron and his sons and , “Don’t let your hair go loose, and don’t tear your clothes, so that you don’t die, and so that he won’t be angry with the whole community. But your relatives, the whole family of Israel, may cry aloud over the fire the Lord has lit.
“Don’t go away from the door of the Tent of Meeting, so that you don’t die, because the Lord’s anointing oil is on you.” They did what Moses told them.
Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons are not to drink wine or any other drink that makes people drunk whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. It is a rule forever, for every generation to come.
“You are to tell the difference between what is holy and what is common, for everyday use, and between what is and what is clean. You must also teach the Israelites all the laws the Lord has given them through Moses.”
Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left, “Take the meal offering that is left from the Lord’s offerings made by fire, and eat it beside the altar, without yeast, because it is most holy. Eat it in a holy place, because it is your portion and your sons’ portion of the Lord’s offerings made by fire. That is the command I was given.
“You and your sons and your daughters are to eat the breast that has been waved and the thigh that has been lifted up. Eat them in a clean place. They are given to you and your sons as your share of the Israelites’ peace offerings. The thigh that is lifted up and the breast that is waved are to be brought along with the fat for the offerings made by fire. They are to be waved as a wave offering before the Lord. They will be yours and your sons’, your share forever, as the Lord has commanded.”
Moses kept asking about the goat of the sin offering, and found out that it had been burned. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left.
“Why haven’t you eaten the sin offering in the holy place?” he said. “It is most holy, and it was given to you to carry the community’s sin, to make atonement for them before the Lord. Look, its blood wasn’t taken into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly should have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded.”
Aaron said to Moses, “Look, today they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and things like these have happened to me. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would that have pleased the Lord?”
When Moses heard that, it pleased him.