UNAUTHORIZED FIRE

“At this, fire came forth from the presence of Adonai and consumed [Navad and Avihu], so that they died in the presence of Adonai.”
Leviticus 10:2

It is in this account of Navad and Avihu that we begin to see once again the seriousness of obeying Adonai. The rule was that no unauthorized fire would be offered unto Adonai. The fault was that Aharon’s sons took it upon themselves to offer what was wrong. In the end, fire from Adonai’s presence overtook the two men.
If we skip ahead to the book of Acts, we see Adonai once more proving Himself, in that He will not accept anything less that obedience. Truth be told, we can see this in many accounts. But I am speaking specifically concerning Ananias and Sapphira. These two also lost their lives because when a vow was made it was not acted in full upon. This was the disobedience that caused them their lives.
Let us look a little deeper, however, at the mistake of these priests. The nature of the issue rests in the fact that these two men were priests. Their position was a privilege, and with all the rules and regulations that had been laid out by Adonai via Moshe, they simply should have known better. If we review certain words in this account, perhaps we will see even more concerning their offense. The word for ‘fire’ is esh, meaning hot coals. It was hot coals that the men placed in their censors. Looking still, the true term is esh zarah, translating into hot coals of incense. This was the unauthorized fire – the alien incense offering.
Adonai does not desire that we do anything against His will, be it offering false fire or going back on a vow. The problem is that even though we know this, we still test Him. The priests knew the rules, yet they chose not to obey. Let us not be so simple-minded that we too ignore the rules of Adonai and offer our own unauthorized fire.

Leviticus 9:24 – 10:11