(א) וַיִּקְח֣וּ בְנֵֽי־אַ֠הֲרֹן נָדָ֨ב וַאֲבִיה֜וּא אִ֣ישׁ מַחְתָּת֗וֹ וַיִּתְּנ֤וּ בָהֵן֙ אֵ֔שׁ וַיָּשִׂ֥ימוּ עָלֶ֖יהָ קְטֹ֑רֶת וַיַּקְרִ֜בוּ לִפְנֵ֤י יי אֵ֣שׁ זָרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹ֦א צִוָּ֖ה אֹתָֽם׃ (ב) וַתֵּ֥צֵא אֵ֛שׁ מִלִּפְנֵ֥י יי וַתֹּ֣אכַל אוֹתָ֑ם וַיָּמֻ֖תוּ לִפְנֵ֥י יי
(1) And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire therein, and laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. (2) And there came forth fire from before the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
(א) ותצא אש. רבי אלעזר אומר לא מתו בני אהרן אלא על ידי שהורו הלכה בפני משה רבן רבי ישמעאל אומר שתויי יין נכנסו למקדש, תדע שאחר מיתתן הזהיר הנותרים שלא יכנסו שתויי יין למקדש. משל למלך, שהיה לו בן בית וכו' , כדאיתא בויקרא רבה:
(1) Rabbi Eliezer said, the sons of Aaron died because they rendered a halachic decision in the presence of Moshe their teacher. Rabbi Yishmael said they entered the Temple while intoxicated, and the proof is that after their death the Torah warns against performing the service in the Temple while drunk.
תני, ר' אליעזר: לא מתו בניו של אהרן, אלא על ידי שהורו הלכה בפני משה רבן. ומעשה בתלמיד אחד שהורה לפני רבו
R. Eleazar taught: the sons of Aaron did not die but for that they taught Jewish law (halachah) in front of Moses their Rabbi/Teacher.
(א) וידבר יי וגו'. ..... לא נמנעו מקרוב לדביקות נעימות עריבות ידידות חביבות חשיקות מתיקות עד כלות נפשותם
...They came close to a sublime light with holy love, and died because of it. This is the mystic secret of “[G-d’s] kiss” through which the righteous die. Their death was equivalent to the death of the righteous
Philo (c. 44 CE, Alexandria) "they died before the Lord"
[Nadab and Abihu] were not seized by a wild beast, but were taken up by a rush of fire unquenchable, by an undying splendor, since in sincerity they cast aside sloth and delay and consecrated their zeal, hot and fiery, flesh-consuming and swiftly moving, to piety. [This fire] was "strange" (lev 10:1) to earthly existence, since it belonged to the realm of God...Wafted by a favorable breeze and carried the heights of heaven, they were passed away, like a wholly burnt offering [from the Tabernacle] into celestial splendor.--Philo, On Dreams
It is thus that the priests Nadab and Abihu die so that they may live, receiving an incorruptible life in exchange for mortal existence and being translated from the created to the uncreated. Over them, a proclamation is uttered betokening immortality, "They died before the Lord" (Lev. 10:2), that is, "They came to life," for a corpse may not come into God's presence.
Sifra Col. 92, no. 32
Upon beholding the fire of divine approval immediately preceding their action (Lev. 9:23-24), they joyfully arose "to add love to love," and "each took his censor" and "took" refers to joy...
David Flusser, Second Temple Judaism...
They brought the fire before God as an act of joy, in order to add love to the existing love. The motif or religious death appears here without the persecution that normally attends martyrdom. They loved God "to the death," the most important justification for death for God's sake beginning with the thought of Rabbi Aqiva. The idea of loving God "to the death" preceded that of martyrdom and would remain a key element in the Jewish understanding of dying for God for generations to come.
Perhaps instead of looking at Nadav and Avihu, who brought fire near to God, or who brought themselves near to God, we should be looking at the Deity. The classical rabbis suggest as much by pairing our parasha with a haftara taken from 2 Samuel 6, the account of King David’s moving the Ark of the Covenant from its temporary storage outside Jerusalem in Gibeah to Jerusalem, the future site of the Temple. That account has a remarkable parallel to our parasha.
The Ark was mounted onto a freshly made wagon, pulled by a team of cattle. The procession was accompanied by great fanfare. When along the way the cattle tripped, and the Ark was about to fall, one Uzza stretched out his hand to stabilize the Ark and prevent it from smashing on the ground. At once the Deity “exploded” (פרץ) against Uzza, slaying him on the spot. Uzza had only the best intentions; he didn’t want the Ark to crash. Where did he go wrong?
Uzza forgot that YHWH does not tolerate any impingement by the impure on anything that is directly connected with the divine. God could not tolerate for a second the less-than-divine hand of Uzza making contact with the holy Ark, the seat of God’s presence.
We find the same concept at the Sinai revelation (Exodus 19:22, 24). There Moses must cordon off the mountain when the divine presence descends upon it—lest God “explode” (פרץ) and thereby kill any person or animal that encroaches on the mountain while the divine is touching it.
Seeing the Deity through Different Eyes
We are used to thinking of God as an always benevolent protector. But in one of the most prevalent conceptions in the Bible, the Deity is a being who is “Wholly Other,” from a reality different from ours—as the scholar of religion, Rudolf Otto, described it in the early twentieth century.[3] This being is fascinating on one hand and terrifying on the other hand. The Deity is surrounded by mystery (in Otto’s Latin terminology: mysterium fascinans et tremendum). In this conception, God is not necessarily good and just in our terms—the way we might like God to be. God is an unpredictable and frightening power from another realm that elicits our awe and wonder, but with whom we must be exceedingly careful.
Uzza, who tried to keep the Ark from falling, forgot to be cautious in the presence of God. So, it seems, had the young priests, Nadav and Avihu, when they brought forth their fire.
The two stories have a curious connection in the Bible. The person who had been keeping the Ark at his home in Gibeah before it was taken to Jerusalem is named Avinadav—a mirror image of the names of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu. The man who tried to stabilize the Ark, Uzza, was Avinadav’s son.
The story of Nadav and Avihu is shrouded in the smoke of their incense. The smoke is dissipated to a degree by reading the haftara, relating the story of Avinadav’s son, Uzza. But the Deity who lies at the heart of both stories, and several others in the Torah and Tanakh, remains a mystery.
(20) David went home to greet his household. And Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “Didn’t the king of Israel do himself honor today—exposing himself today in the sight of the slavegirls of his subjects, as one of the riffraff might expose himself!” (21) David answered Michal, “It was before the LORD who chose me instead of your father and all his family and appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel! I will dance before the LORD (22) and dishonor myself even more, and be low in my own-k esteem; but among the slavegirls that you speak of I will be honored.” (23) So to her dying day Michal daughter of Saul had no children.