Lev. x. 1 — 3. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put in- cense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them ; and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
IN all that we behold around us there is a great degree of obscurity, so that we can judge but very imperfectly either of the actions of men, or of the dispensations of God. For want of an insight into the motives of men's conduct, we cannot form a cor- rect estimate of their character ; nor can we, without a revelation from heaven, distinguish those events which come directly from God, and those which, though ultimately referable to him, proceed rather from secondary causes. But in the Bible we find certainty. We learn the principles by which men are actuated ; and see the hand of God accomplishing his own unerring purpose. We behold sin in all its diversified forms ; virtue in all its various degrees ; mercies in all their rich extent ; and judgments in all their tremendous consequences. Had the event, of which we read in our text, happened in our day, we should probably have admired the zeal of Nadab and Abihu, and have represented their death as a trans- lation from the service of God in an earthly taber- nacle to the enjoyment of him in the tabernacle above. It is possible too that we might have ascribed the silence of Aaron to a want of parental affection. But, through the light which the Scripture casts upon these things, we behold in the death of the former, a judgment inflicted ; and, in the silence of the latter, a virtue exercised. — Under these two heads we shall consider the history before us. I. The judgment inflicted —