祭司的失敗
利未記九章23節至十章3節
23摩西、亞倫進入會幕,又出來為百姓祝福,耶和華的榮光就向眾民顯現。
24有火從耶和華面前出來,在壇上燒盡燔祭和脂油;眾民一見,就都歡呼,俯伏在地。
利未記10
1亞倫的兒子拿答、亞比戶各拿自己的香爐,盛上火,加上香,在耶和華面前獻上凡火,是耶和華沒有吩咐他們的,
2就有火從耶和華面前出來,把他們燒滅,他們就死在耶和華面前。
3於是摩西對亞倫說:這就是耶和華所說:我在親近我的人中要顯為聖;在眾民面前,我要得榮耀。亞倫就默默不言。
信息分享
但如今,我們忽然看見審判和死亡。亞倫的兩個兒子拿答和亞比戶究竟犯了甚麼罪呢?
當亞倫首天擔任大祭司的工作將盡,他的兩個兒子卻各從外面的營火拿來一些燒著的炭,放進自己的香爐裡面。可是,香爐只可以用神特定的火。留意第1節說:「是耶和華沒有吩咐他們的」──他們的罪正在於此。
神曾經用火燒盡祭物來表示祂悅納摩西所做的一切;但此刻,神卻用火來施行審判。同樣地,在初期教會的時期,聖靈曾經降臨在使徒和信徒身上,讓他們得著能力(火同樣象徵聖靈),可是,亞拿尼亞和撒非喇卻因為欺哄神,遭到聖靈的審判而猝死。
這兩齣悲劇的背後都隱藏著同一個教訓,摩西在第3節所說的話便直接道明:「我在親近我的人中要顯為聖。」
亞倫突然之間痛失了兩個兒子,該怎麼辦呢?在第6節,我們看見神吩咐他不要為兒子的死哀哭,反要繼續事奉。對亞倫來說,這絕非易事,但我們從中得到的教訓卻是:別人的罪和失敗,不應成為我們事奉神的障礙。
這是一齣慘痛的悲劇。但願我們能夠緊記,神是聖潔的,祂期望祂的兒女都能表現出聖潔和順服;對領袖崗位的信徒就要求更高。
THE PRIESTS WHO FAILED
Leviticus 9:23 - 10:3
23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people,
24 and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.
2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying:
‘By those who come near Me
I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people
I must be glorified.’”
So Aaron held his peace.
Message
Now suddenly we are in the presence of judgment and death. What did these two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, really do?
The first day of Aaron's work as high priest seems to have almost ended, then his two oldest sons took their fire-pots and filled them with live coals from a camp fire somewhere. Only the fire that God had given could be used. This was their sin-notice the words of verse 1-'which the Lord had not commanded them'.
The very fire of God which had shown his acceptance of all that Moses had done, now became a fire of judgment. In the same way in the early days of the Christian church, two people acted out of the will of God and the same Holy Spirit (whose symbol is fire)-the one who gave such wonderful power to the apostles and believers-came on Ananias and Sapphira in judgment.
The lesson behind these two incidents is the same. It is expressed in the words of Moses in verse 3. 'By those who come near me, I will be treated as holy'.
What did Aaron do on the sudden death of his two sons? In verse 6 God told him not to mourn for their death but to continue in God's service. This must have been hard on Aaron but the lesson for us is that sin in the life of someone else is no excuse for us to stop serving God. The failure of others is no excuse for us.
This is a sad section. May it impress again on our hearts the holiness of God and the holiness and obedience which God desires to see in the lives of his children. This is especially true of those who are in a place of leadership or special service.

