An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible lesson of Leviticus 9:15-10:3, with the title of “Separation,” for Sunday, February 9, 2025. A video version of this lesson is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

ONE way to begin your lesson this week would be to ask: ???“Which of the 5 books of the Law would be your favorite?”???

(I imagine most might say Genesis, or even Exodus. Probably very few, if any, would say Leviticus.)

But then you can transition by saying: this morning we will begin a brief, 3-lesson survey of the Book of Leviticus, and I hope that afterwards we’ll all understand just how important this book is, and how central to God’s ultimate purpose in Christ!

CONTEXT

The context OF the Book of Leviticus:
Leviticus is the 3rd Book of the Law, or the Torah, the books of Moses. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

Unfortunately, many people see the Book of Leviticus just as a boring book of rules and regulations. I have to admit I have had that perspective before. But when you really get to study this book, you begin to see that it is much, much more than that!

L. Michael Morales has a very insightful book on Leviticus, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? In it he writes:

“The primary theme and theology of Leviticus (and of the Pentateuch as a whole) is YHWH’s opening a way for humanity to dwell in the Divine Presence.”

God opening up a way for us to dwell with Him — that is NOT a boring book — rather it gets to heart of what every person is looking for: to be satisfied in the presence of God (as we discussed last time).

And there is evidence that the Book of Leviticus is actually the central book of the Law. 

??? You might ask your group: ??? WHERE in the order of the Books of the Law is Leviticus??

(Of course the answer is: it is in the middle.

You might point out that the middle position is important to the Hebrews.

For example, in Psalm 23 David’s expression “For you are with me” has 26 words in Hebrew before this phrase, and 26 words in Hebrew after it, which “puts the spotlight” on that phrase. This central position was important to the Hebrews, in emphasizing something.

So it is very significant that Leviticus is in the very CENTER position of the Books of the Law. It “puts the spotlight” on it.

But even more than that, Morales points out:

“Once the five-fold nature of the Pentateuch is in view, the centrality of Leviticus becomes readily apparent. … Genesis and Deuteronomy both end with a patriarch (Jacob, Moses) blessing the twelve tribes before dying outside the land, and Exodus and Numbers have many parallel events, framing Leviticus as the central book.”

So Leviticus is actually the central book of the Law, not only in “location,” but also in its theme. At the very heart of Leviticus is Chapter 16, which describes the Day of Atonement, which shows the way for the forgiveness of God’s people, and allows the high priest to enter into the Holy of Holies. It’s teaching: Atonement is the way into God’s presence (and of course that points to the ultimate atonement of Jesus for us on the cross. But we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s realize just how important this book of Leviticus is, in the context of the whole Bible, and the Law/Torah/Pentateuch. It is central both in its location and in its theological importance! 

The context of this week’s passage IN the Book of Leviticus:

The first part of Leviticus has a series of laws, leading up to the Day of Atonement in Chapter 16.

— Chapters 1-7 give laws for the sanctuary, the holy place of God; this is where mankind hopes to meet with Him.

— Beginning with Chapter 8, Aaron and his sons are consecrated with a series of sacrifices for their work as priests. The priests are those who get to minister to the Lord and ultimately enter into His presence.  

— Chapter 9 then begins with Aaron starting to make the sacrifices (including one for himself in :8!) and our focus passage for this week begins with a description of some of the other sacrifices he made, in :15-19.

OUTLINE

I. The Offerings (9:15-21)

II. The Glory (9:22-24)

III. The Strange Fire (10:1-3)

TEXT:

I.  The Offerings  (Leviticus 9:15-19)

15 “Then he presented the people’s offering, and took the goat of the sin offering which was for the people, and slaughtered it and offered it for sin, like the first. 16 He also presented the burnt offering, and offered it according to the ordinance. 17 Next he presented the grain offering, and filled his hand with some of it and offered it up in smoke on the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning.

18 Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings which was for the people; and Aaron’s sons handed the blood to him and he sprinkled it around on the altar. 19 As for the portions of fat from the ox and from the ram, the fat tail, and the fat covering, and the kidneys and the lobe of the liver, 20 they now placed the portions of fat on the breasts; and he offered them up in smoke on the altar. 21 But the breasts and the right thigh Aaron presented as a wave offering before the LORD, just as Moses had commanded.

Here we find Aaron, the high priest, offering a series of sacrifices that the LORD had commanded:

— What :15 called “the people’s offering” which was for sin (also called the sin offering)

— The burnt offering of meat (:16)

— The grain offering (:17)

— The peace offering (:18)

All of these offerings — but did they really make mankind right with God? 

(Missionary Eleanor Vandevort attended a Nuer tribe sacrifice of an ox in Southern Sudan in the 1950s. You may want to read some or all of this account — or just summarize it, or share her conclusion in the last paragraph.)

“It entered, an ashen-gray beast with a large set of lyrelike horns crowning its oblong head. If God were the least bit particular, I thought upon seeing it, He would not be pleased with this offering. It was a picture of total resignation, weighed down, one might muse, with the human burden for which it was responsible. But what was more obviously the case, it was resigned to die because of illness, and the people were making profitable use of it before death came. 

The graceful horns were the only beautiful feature left of what must once have been a proud, ponderous, gentlemanly ox. Now they seemed too much for him to carry, and his head drooped pitifully. He stood docilely by, oblivious to all that was taking place. There was no light in his eye; no power in his legs. His tail hung down, inert like a slack rope. No one wholly feared his strength. If someone have said to him, “Die,” I think he would have, gladly. …

Three men attended him, clucking reassuringly in the language all cattle understood. The animal began to move slowly into the middle of the yard where there was a tethering peg, freshly hewn and stripped of its bark for the occasion. To it the animal was tied, and against it, it pulled, backing around in a taut circle, its hooves creaking and digging up the earth …

Then the prophetess emerged from the group holding a spear in her right hand, and took a few steps forward the broadside of the ox. There, her otherworldly attitude gave way to genuine feminine timidity before the beast. She held the spear one might if he were expecting to drop it quickly and run, and made a feeble, halfhearted thrust into the animal’s side. The people stepped back against the fence, but the ox only turned its head and looked back at the woman with dull, forlorn eyes. 

The spear blade had nicked the skin, and the prophetess had presumably initiated the death process. She handed the spear to the man at the animal’s rump, who clenched the shaft in his fist close to the spearhead and jabbed it into the ox’s side. The head of the OX dropped low, but the animal did not fall. He jabbed four more times before it finally reeled and fell with a thud, its feet sticking into the air, then rolling back to the ground. 

It had not protested or made a sound against its executioners. Now it lay prostrate and leaden-eyed, its tail flung out behind, its blood splattered bright red on the ground. He had fallen on the right side, which was further evidence of God’s approval. 

The people standing about eyed the body of the ox greedily. It would be divided among them with the choicest parts going to those with highest priority. The stomach and the hump were two of the choicer parts. The head would be cooked and the meat eaten, and the skull-bone would be placed at the base of the sapling in the yard. The carcass would be hacked to pieces there on the ground, and the portions handed out on the spot. There would be shoutings, arguing, and threatenings as disappointed, less eligible persons received the undesirable parts. …

‘Was it good?’ she asked after we had left the yard and I was bidding her goodbye …

I respected her and the pride of her people and was hesitant to speak. Of course, she did not mean to be asking a hard question. She meant, did I appreciate the ways of her people? Did I enjoy myself? Was my curiosity satisfied? ‘Yes, it was good, old mother,” I said. “But I have a doubt in heart. MY doubt is the death, the death of the ox …’.

… How, I thought, are they to discern the distinction between the sacrifice of men for God, and the sacrifice of God for men?”

(Eleanor Vandevort, A Leopard Tamed, pp. 163-166)

THIS is what the sacrifices of Leviticus all ultimately point to: the sacrifice of GOD for MAN, in the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus at the cross. It is just as Hebrews 10:4 says: “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” But then it goes on to say in :14, “For by one offering He (Jesus) has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Only the sacrifice of Jesus truly saves us, and makes us right with God. 

Encourage your group members to make sure their faith is in the sacrifice of Jesus ALONE to save them. 

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???
??? Do even Christians today still try to make “sacrifices” in an attempt to make ourselves right with God? What are some of the things we might do???

(Maybe we think God will be pleased with us if we give a special offering; or pray an extra amount of time; or deny ourselves something that we enjoy, etc. While doing some of these things might indeed be God’s will for us, we always need to remember that we don’t “earn” God’s pleasure or favor by our sacrifices; the only sacrifice we will ever need to make us right with Him is the sacrifice that Jesus already made, “once for all” as Hebrews 10 says, on the cross for us! 

So the sacrifices we see in Leviticus 9:15-19 all point to that ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us, which paves the way for us into His presence, as we see in the next section: 

II. The Glory  (9:22-24)

22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. 23 Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. 24 Then fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

Last week we talked about the “glory of the LORD,” the magnificent light of His presence, that we were designed to be satisfied by. (And remember that whenever we see “LORD” in all 4 capital letters in the Old Testament, it means that in the Hebrew it is YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehovah, the personal name of God.) Here the Bible says when Moses and Aaron “came out and blessed the people, the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.” So God manifests His glory here. 

The manifest presence of God is the whole focus here. This is the great desire of mankind: to be fulfilled by the glory of the presence of God. This is what Moses said in :4 that the point of these sacrifices would be: “for today YHWH will appear to you.”

Here’s a quote you can use if you’re led to, from John Newton, former slave trader who was saved and wrote “Amazing Grace”:

“… An hour’s enjoyment of the light of his countenance is worth more than the wealth of the Indes and the power of kings. How often are we like Martha, cumbered about many things, though we say and (I hope) at the bottom believe, that one thing alone is needful. The Lord give us a believing, humble, spiritual frame of mind, and make it our earnest desire and prayer, that we may be more like the angels of God, who are always employed, and always happy, in doing his will and beholding his glory.”

(Letters of Newton, Josiah Bull, ed., p. 66)

This is what we all desire: the glory of the presence of God. This is what Israel experienced that day — but it was so overwhelming they fell on their faces! 

But notice the succession here: HOW were Moses & Aaron able to go into the presence of YHWH in :23? They only went into His presence AFTER THE SERIES OF  SACRIFICES we read in the previous verses! This emphasizes to us how man must have a sacrifice to enter the presence of God — we cannot approach Him without it! 

Again, this points to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus for us. We cannot approach God without His perfect sacrifice. 

So many people today think they’ll just pray to God, or worship God, or walk with God — but they don’t think they have to come through Jesus. They may be very religious, and they may be worshiping a God of their own imagination — but they are not approaching or walking with the living God if they are not coming through Jesus Christ. We MUST have the sacrifice of Christ to be able to approach Him!

Remember Jesus’ words in John 14:6, “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Like Moses and Aaron, we must have a sacrifice to truly approach God. And the only sacrifice that will grant us the access to God which we desire, is the sacrifice of Jesus. Again: make certain that you (and those you love) are coming to God through Jesus.

So these sacrifices, and the appearance of the glory of God, picture what needs to happen to all of us, for us to know God and be satisfied by the presence of His glory. But there is one more element of this passage that we need to warned about:

III. The Strange Fire (10:1-3)

10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy,
And before all the people I will be honored.’”

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.”

A key element here that we need to explain to our class is: What did Nadab and Abihu did that was so wrong?

God had commanded in Leviticus 16:12, “He shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil.” So God had specific commands on what and how the priests were to offer incense to Him: it was to be coals from the altar of sacrifice, mixed with a certain “recipe” of incense which He commanded in Exodus 30:34:  “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. 35 With it you shall make incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. 36 You shall beat some of it very fine, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you. 37 The incense which you shall make, you shall not make in the same proportions for yourselves; it shall be holy to you for the Lord. 38 Whoever shall make any like it, to use as perfume, shall be cut off from his people.”

So God had given specific directions about what was to be burned in those firepans, and how. But Nadab and Abihu did not adhere to God’s command. They offered “strange fire” before the LORD. The Hebrew word for “strange” is “zur,” which means “foreign, strange.” The text does not specify what it was, but whatever it was, was something “foreign, strange” — DIFFERENT than God had commanded. They just ignored what God commanded, and offered up whatever they wanted to in those pans! But that was NOT acceptable to God. Moses told Aaron in 3 “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me, I will be treated as holy.’” In other words, people must RESPECT God; you show Him how you respect Him by obeying what He commanded to be done in the worship. And if they don’t, they will pay the penalty.

Well, we don’t offer “sacrifices” like this anymore, so is there any application for US here? There certainly is! God has commanded us to do certain things in worship. And to treat Him as holy in our worship. But when we disregard His commandments, or treat Him disrespectfully in services, we are in a sense “offering strange fire” in His worship. 

You might consider a couple of discussion questions in this point:

??? What are some of the things God has commanded us to do in worship today???

(Some answers would include:

— “Give attention to the public reading of scripture, exhortation, and teaching” (I Timothy 4:13)

— “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;” (Ephesians 5:19)

— I Corinthians 16:1 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.”

So a number of things are commanded for worship in scripture, including all kinds of singing, scripture reading, teaching, preaching, giving, and so on.

This could lead to a second question:

??? What might be some “strange fire” that we might be tempted offer in OUR worship today??? (Or what are some “strange fire” offerings that you have heard of in churches?)

(There is no lack of answers today, as pastors and church members bring all kinds of things into “worship services” today that are foreign to Biblical worship: 

— using secular music in worship might be considered “strange fire”! 

— preaching “sermons” that are not based on God’s word, but on modern psychology, politics, movies, etc. This is “strange fire.” “Let him who has My word, speak My word. What does straw have in common with grain?” (Jer. 23:28)

— I think we need to be careful about the “gimmicks” and promotions and the means we use to get people to church. It’s ok to be creative, to an extent, but we need to make sure we aren’t “using strange fire” and employing “strange” worldly methods to try to accomplish God’s work! 

ILLUSTRATION:

Interesting to our lesson today, well-known pastor John MacArthur actually has a book entitled Strange Fire. In it he writes about how: 

“those who blatantly misrepresent His Holy Spirit; who exchange true worship for chaotic fits of mindless ecstasy; who replace the biblical gospel with vain illusions of health and wealth; who claim to prophesy in His name yet speak errors; and who sell false hope to desperate people for millions of dollars.”

There is a LOT of room for discussion on this topic! You and your group can undoubtedly share some thoughts about it.

And the penalty for “strange fire” was heavy: Verse 2 says “fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.” 

(Think “Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark,” when the fire came from the Ark of the Covenant and killed those who were dabbling with the Ark — the movie got that picture from the Biblical accounts of the “fire” from the ark/the presence of the LORD! 

The bottom line is, our God is a holy God. 

— Deuteronomy 4:24 “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

— Hebrews 12:29 quotes that in the New Testament, “For our God is a consuming fire.” 

The point here is: the God of the Bible is not to be “messed with,” trifled with, taken lightly, or blatantly disobeyed. 

In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Susan Pevensey is told about Aslan the Lion (who is a figure of Christ):

“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion” …”Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” 

This is our God. He IS a Lion! He is fearsome, terrible, not to be trifled with — and He is good — but He is not to be trifled with!

You might even consider posting that quote, or part of it, and asking your group what they think of it. God is GOOD — but He is not “safe” — not for those who trifle with Him, or blatantly disobey Him!

As we try to apply this, we should strive for a careful balance to be kept, between a craven fear of God, and a blatant disregard for Him:

— On the one hand, Nadab and Abihu blatantly disregarded God’s commands regarding worship

— On the other hand, there is someone like Martin Luther in the 1500s, who was so terrified of the presence of God in worship that he couldn’t complete the service! 

The right Christian balance lies somewhere between those two extremes: we shouldn’t live in “craven fear” of God — but we should also never forget that He is Holy, Holy, Holy God! And we should always treat Him with the utmost respect and awe.

Then our focus passage ends with an interesting interaction in verse 3: “Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.”

Aaron had just lost his two sons, Nabad and Abihu, by fire from the presence of the LORD! This was an incredibly difficult blow — the loss of a child is perhaps the most painful human experience. And yet GOD did it — and it was because of their own blatant rebellion against Him. So Aaron couldn’t “protest,” or say anything. I think of it as similar to Job 40:4, after God confronts him, Job says: “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.” In other words, there is nothing I can say. I think it is similar with Aaron here. His sons got what they deserved. And as God’s High Priest, his foremost allegiance is to GOD, not even to his own children. (Remember Jesus said in Matthew 10:37, “He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” His ultimate allegiance was to be to GOD, not even to his own family.

And there is some application for US here too: the Lord is to take precedence over every other relationship in our lives — even our own spouses and children. 

You could post this expression: “Family first” — and have your class discuss it. Is this true, or not?

(Again it’s a balance. On the one hand, God commands us to love and care for our families. But on the other hand, family is not to be “first” — not ahead of God. Only GOD should have absolute first place in our life, as Jesus taught and Aaron experienced here.

??? You might also discuss: ??? What are some ways in which we might be tempted to put our children ahead of the Lord today???

(For example, years ago I knew a family who wouldn’t let their child go into missions, because they didn’t want them moving far away from them. They had allowed their love for their child to supersede their love for God and His kingdom. 

You/your group can share other applications like that.

But the bottom line is, God is a holy God. He is to be treated with the utmost respect and honor. We see in this passage that He is not a God to be trifled with! We must have the sacrifice of Jesus to experience fellowship with Him — but thank God, through His sacrifice, we CAN!  NEXT SUNDAY we get into that great Leviticus 16 passage: the heart of this Book of Leviticus, which is the very heart of the Law. It teaches us about the Atonement, and ultimately points us to Jesus, whose sacrifice allows us to dwell in the very presence of God Himself!  

We’ll look forward to that next time. “Next week, from Oklahoma,” Lord willing. Please pray for our safe travels and move this week.  

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