Leviticus 10

v1-2: God has told us how He wants to be worshipped. It is dangerous to deviate from what He has prescribed, and think that we can do as we please. Up to that time, everything Aaron and his sons had done was “as the Lord commanded Moses,” but then Nadab and Abihu did what they had not been authorised to do, and were both struck dead. Their punishment by God was “a warning to others” and shows “how jealous God is in the matters of his worship.”

v3-7: “When God corrects us… it is our duty to be silent in the correction, and not to quarrel with God,” nor should we “call on him to explain his justice or accuse him of acting foolishly.” We should instead “rest in all that God does,” meaning that not only should we “bear, but also accept, the [discipline] for our sin.”

v8-11: “Drunkenness is bad in anyone, but it is especially scandalous and harmful in ministers, who ought of all people to have the clearest heads and the cleanest hearts.” Those who have the responsibility to teach God’s Word must not be addicted to drink because “those who live according to the sinful nature cannot know the things of the Spirit,” and “such teachers pull down with one hand what they build up with the other.”

v12-20: Aaron “could not put off his natural feelings when he put on his holy clothes.” It is possible that “there may be a deep sense of suffering even where there is a sincere acceptance of the will of God in suffering,” and we find that “the sorrows of this world… prevent us from acceptably carrying out our… duties.”