Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on the fire and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.
Leviticus 11:1 (NASB)
I recently read a post regarding the “Strange Fire” of Leviticus 10:1. Aaron’s sons are killed for burning an incense that God had not commanded. The post said that God just hates when we do stuff without permission and that we should take God very seriously.
This is a bad teaching.
For starters, this wasn’t some new issue that just came up out of nowhere. God had already told them about “strange” fire and incense in Exodus. He already told them “Don’t do it.”
You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering, or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it.
Exodus 30:9 (NASB)
But what makes a fire or flame “strange?”
Perhaps an answer is given to us in Leviticus 6: a strange fire is any fire that didn’t come from the continually burning fire that God provided.
The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out.
Leviticus 6:12-13 (NASB)
Good fire is GOD’S fire.
Therefore, strange fire is man’s fire. It’s not good.
So what does this have to do with Genesis?
Back in Genesis 11, we learned that Shinar and the bricks of the Tower of Babel point to Empire. Slavery. Bondage. Ur of the Chaldeans means “FLAME of the Chaldeans.” These bricks are baked in Babylonian furnaces, fueled by humanity. The furnaces are fueld by us.
Strange Fire consumes us. It devours us. It spends us like fuel to keep the machine of Empire and slavery burning. And not just us. Our children as well.
Jeremiah, in his outcry against Israel repeats this warning. This the fire God “did not command,” echoing Leviticus 11.
They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.
Jeremiah 7:31 (NASB)
The Fire of Man is lit to bake the bricks of bondage, idolatry, and confusion.
The Fire of God stays continually burning and is the source of Life for those who seek Light and Warmth.