Abihu
Nadab and Abihu
What is the meaning behind the strange story of the death of Nadab and Abihu really telling the Hebrew people who were seeking to follow the prophet Moses?
Leviticus 10: 1 And Nadab[1] and Abihu[2], the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer(מַחְתָּת֗וֹ)[3]04288, and put fire therein, and put incense(קְטֹ֑רֶת)[4] thereon, and offered strange(זוּר),[5] fire(אֵשׂ)[6] before the LORD, which he commanded[7] them not.
Abihu
Abihu אֲבִיהוּא[2] is said to mean “He is (my) father” or “My father is He” and appears twelve times in the Old Testament and is always identified as the second-born son of Aaron and Elisheba (Exodus 6:23). It would seem odd to name your son something that means “you father”.
Nabad
Like with the name Abihu אֲבִיהוּא the name Nabad נָדָב [1] seem slightly od to name your child at birth Nabad which is from the root word Nabad נָדָב [8] and has the meaning of "incite, impel, make willing".
The priest of Israel were not to function like the Abimelechs or Fathers of the earth nor were they to when this son was chosen to receive freewill offerings.
Are these names applied to a son who followed the spirit or way of Abimelech?
Entice and impel
There is a later Aramaic word 05069 בדנ nᵉdab[9] translated freely offered, freewill offering, offering willingly, minded of their own freewill.
The Aramaic word בדנ nᵉdab is said to be defined to volunteer, offer freely. But this word only appears in Ezra 7 and is the result of when "Artaxerxes, king of kings," when he makes a decree in the verses of Ezra 7:12-13 "Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect [peace], and at such a time. 13 I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and [of] his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill <05069> to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee."[10]
The giving by the command and decree "Artaxerxes, king of kings," is not the same as the Corban of Moses and the Corban of Christ who is the king of Kings that sets the captive free.
The Sin of “Strange Fire”
Leviticus 10:1-2 recounts the defining event of Abihu’s and Nadab's life but those names may established in the text after their death Just as Moses was called Moses not because he was the adopted son of the daughter of pharaoh but only because he was drawn from the water.
“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his own censer, put fire in it, placed incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them to offer. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the LORD.”
The phrase “unauthorized fire” (ʾēš zārâ) indicates self-willed worship that disregarded the specific divine ordinance that altar fire be taken from the altar of burnt offering (compare Leviticus 6:12-13). Their act occurred immediately after the inaugural tabernacle service (Leviticus 9), highlighting the gravity of departing from God’s revealed pattern at the very outset of Israel’s corporate worship.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 05070 נָדָב Nadab \@naw-dawb’\@ from נָדָב Nadab 05068 but means to incite, impel, make willing ; n pr m AV-Nadab 20; 20
- 1) eldest son of Aaron by Elisheba; struck dead before the sanctuary in the wilderness for kindling the censers with strange fire
- 2) son of king Jeroboam I of the northern kingdom of Israel and king of Israel for 2 years before being slain by Baasha
- 3) a Jerahmeelite, son of Shammai, of the tribe of Judah
- 4) a son of Gibeon of the tribe of Benjamin
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 030 אֲבִיהוּא ‘Abiyhuw’ ab-ee-hoo’ from 01 and 01931; n pr m; [BDB-4a] {See TWOT on 1 @@ "1b" } AV-Abihu 12; 12
- 1) a son of Aaron destroyed for sacrificing strange fire to God and brother to Nadab.
- ↑ 04289 מַחְתָּה machtah makh-taw’ the same as 04288 מְחִתָּה mëchittah ‘’destruction, ruin, terror, a breaking ‘’ said to be in the sense of removal, from 02846 חָתָה chathah ‘’to take away or seize ‘’; n f; [BDB-367a] {See TWOT on 777 @@ "777a" } AV-censer 15, firepans 4, snuffdishes 3; 22
- 1) fire-holder, censer, firepan, snuff dish, tray
- 1a) snuff-dish
- 1b) fire-pans
- 1c) censer
- 1) fire-holder, censer, firepan, snuff dish, tray
- ↑ 07004 ^תרטק^ qᵉtoreth \@ket-o’- reth\@ from 06999; n f; {See TWOT on 2011 @@ "2011a"} AV-incense 57, perfume 3; 60
- 1) incense, smoke, odour of (burning) sacrifice
- 1a) sweet smoke of sacrifice
- 1b) incense
- 1c) perfume
- 1) incense, smoke, odour of (burning) sacrifice
- ↑ 02114 זוּר zuwr [zoor] a primitive root; v; [BDB-266a, BDB-266b] [{See TWOT on 541 }] AV-stranger 45, strange 18, estranged 4, stranger + 0376 3, another 2, strange woman 2, gone away 1, fanners 1, another place 1; 77
- 1) to be strange, be a stranger
- 1a) (Qal)
- 1a1) to become estranged
- 1a2) strange, another, stranger, foreigner, an enemy (participle)
- 1a3) loathsome (of breath) (participle)
- 1a4) strange woman, prostitute, harlot (meton)
- 1b) (Niphal) to be estranged
- 1c) (Hophal) to be a stranger, be one alienated
- 1a) (Qal)
- 02115 זוּר zuwr to press, squeeze, crush
- 1) to be strange, be a stranger
- ↑ 0784 אֵשׂ AlefShin ‘esh [aysh] a primitive word; n f; [BDB-77a] [{See TWOT on 172 }] AV-fire 373, burning 1, fiery 1, untranslated variant 1, fire + 0800 1, flaming 1, hot 1; 379
- 1) fire
- 1a) fire, flames
- 1b) supernatural fire (accompanying theophany)
- 1c) fire (for cooking, roasting, parching)
- 1d) altar-fire
- 1e) God’s anger (fig.)
- א Alef Father-Son- begin- The Paradox: God and Man - (ox bull) [strength, leader, first] (Numeric value: 1)
- ש Shin Eternal Flame of Spiritual Revelation, bound to the coal of righteousness, the Divine Essence. [sun... teeth... consume destroy] (Numeric value: 300)
- 0785 אֵשׁ ‘esh (A) fire; 0786 אִשׁ ‘ish (adv) there is, there are; 0787 אשׁ ‘osh (Aramaic) foundation.
- see 0800 fire from 0784 אֵשׂ ‘esh fire -0787 foundation; 0801 burnt offering,; 0802 woman, wife, female
- See fire Hebrew letters( אוּר AlefVavReish) 0217 meaning flame, light of fire.
- 1) fire
- ↑ 06680 ^הוצ^ tsavah TzadikVavHey \@tsaw-vaw’\@ a primitive root Hebrew letters TzadikVavHey; if you add a Mem 04687 ^הוצמ^ mitsvah v; AV-command 514, charge 39, commandment 9, appoint 5, bade 3, order 3, commander 1, misc 4; 494
- 1) to command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to, order
- 1a) (Piel)
- 1a1) to lay charge upon
- 1a2) to give charge to, give command to
- 1a3) to give charge unto
- 1a4) to give charge over, appoint
- 1a5) to give charge, command
- 1a6) to charge, command
- 1a7) to charge, commission
- 1a8) to command, appoint, ordain (of divine act)
- 1b) (Pual) to be commanded
- 1a) (Piel)
- 1) to command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to, order
- ↑ 05068 נָדָב nadab \@naw-dab’\@ a primitive root BeitDaletNun; v; {See TWOT on 1299} AV-offered willingly 6, willingly offered 5, willing 2, offered 1, willing 1, offered freely 1, give willingly 1; 17
- 1) to incite, impel, make willing
- 1a) (Qal) to incite, impel
- 1b) (Hithpael)
- 1b1) to volunteer
- 1b2) to offer free-will offerings
- See also a much later Aramaic word 05069 בדנ nᵉdab translated AV-freely offered, freewill offering, offering willingly, minded of their own freewill; defined to volunteer, offer freely but this word only appears in Ezra 7 and is the result of when "Artaxerxes, king of kings, (who) makes a decree concerning offerings which suggest they were not truly freewill but the result of men or rulers who exercise authority one over the other.
- 1) to incite, impel, make willing
- ↑ 05069 ^בדנ^ nᵉdab (Aramaic) \@ned-ab’\@ BeitDaletNun corresponding to 05068; v; AV-freely offered 1, freewill offering 1, offering willingly 1, minded of their own freewill 1; 4
- 1) to volunteer, offer freely
- 1a) (Ithpael)
- 1a1) to volunteer
- 1a2) to give freely, offer freely
- 1a) (Ithpael)
- 1) to volunteer, offer freely
- ↑ Ezra 7:15-16 "And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered <05069> unto the God of Israel, whose habitation [is] in Jerusalem, 16 And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering <05069> of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly <05069> for the house of their God which [is] in Jerusalem:"