Career experts tell us that there are some mistakes many people tend to make in the first week of a new job. The biggest one is not carefully following their new boss’s directions. Another is failing to ask questions about things they don’t understand.

Today we read about the first week on the job for the priests at the tabernacle. Some of them definitely made mistakes, including one wrong choice with disastrous results.

Ministry Begins with Aaron

The priests were still learning the ropes on the first day of ministry in the tabernacle, so Moses directed them.

“Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.” Leviticus 9:7

Aaron began by slaughtering a calf as the sin offering for himself with the assistance of his sons. He completed everything God required for his sin offering and the carcass of the calf was taken outside the camp and burned.

Next Aaron prepared the ram he brought as a burnt offering for to atone for his sins. It was completely consumed by fire on the altar and its sweet aroma rose up to the Lord.

Ministry for the People 

The Israelites studied Aaron as he performed his sacrifices and they learned about the types of offerings and the order in which they must be offered. When it was time to slaughter the goat as the sin offering for all the people, they learned that God had made a way for them to be forgiven and saved from the death penalty they deserved for their sins.

The sacrifice of animals in place of sinners was not a permanent solution to the problem of sin. In fact, it served as a relentless reminder of sin and its consequences. Over and over the people had to  return to the altar to confess their sins and offer innocent animal victims to pay the penalty for their crimes.

The sacrificial system was a constant reminder of how bad sin was and how vast God’s grace was in response. And the people’s obedience was evidence to God that they trusted him for their salvation.

To finish first day of ministry at the tabernacle, Aaron performed the ritual of reconciliation for the people by offering the burnt and fellowship offerings.

The Blessing

 “Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having sacrificed the sin offering, the burnt offering and the fellowship offering, he stepped down.

Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.” Leviticus 9:22-24

Imagine the sound that filled the air when Israel saw the glory of God! In one great wave, the congregation shouted and fell facedown. It must have looked the way Heaven looks when people first see the Lord. Or maybe this the way the whole world will look when Jesus comes back to earth.

Aaron ministered well during the first day at the tabernacle and God was pleased.

Grave Errors

Aaron had four sons who were trained to help him at the tabernacle; their work was clearly defined and they knew what to do. No one knows why Nadab and Abihu violated one of God’s laws, by taking unauthorized fire into their censors and burning it before the Lord, but God was instantly angry and he killed the two priests.

This was a shocking event, and from a human perspective it was hard to see the justice in it, but the Bible assures us that God is always perfectly just in dealing with sinners. In his commentary on this passage, John Calvin said: “If we reflect on how holy a thing God’s worship is, the enormity of the punishment will not offend us.”

The priests were responsible to establish tabernacle worship correctly, not start careless trends that would lead to more disobedience to God’s Law.

The Lord had the final word:

“Moses then said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: ‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’” Leviticus 10:3

The Impact of the Loss

Aaron was silent about the death of his sons; he knew that God had acted with justice. He watched as two of his nephews carried his dead sons, still in their priestly tunics, outside the camp to join the ashes of sin offerings, also placed outside the camp.

Moses told Aaron, and his remaining sons Ithamar and Eleazar, not to show any emotion for their lost family members. Other relatives and the people of Israel could mourn for them, but the priests were not allowed to lament over what God had done as they served at the tabernacle.

Moses went on giving instructions to Aaron and his sons as if nothing had happened to Nadab and Abihu. He told the priests that they should never drink wine or other fermented drink when they were going to the tabernacle. They shouldn’t let anything impair their judgment while they served God.

The meal of meat and bread from the sacrifices was waiting for Aaron and his sons to eat so Moses asked their families to join them and he explained exactly how the food was to be consumed.

Finally Moses asked about a missing goat that had been slaughtered as a sin offering for Israel and that should have become the priests’ meal. He learned Eleazar and Ithamar had mistakenly burned it on the altar. Moses was angry and scolded the two young priests, but Aaron intervened.

“Aaron replied to Moses, ‘Look. They sacrificed their Absolution-Offering and Whole-Burnt-Offering before God today, and you see what has happened to me—I’ve lost two sons. Do you think God would have been pleased if I had gone ahead and eaten the Absolution-Offering today?’ When Moses heard this response, he accepted it.”  Leviticus 10:19-20 (The Message)

Moses wanted to enforce the rules for the tabernacle, but he remembered that Aaron had suffered a terrible loss. God gave Aaron grace and understanding through Moses’s acceptance.

Clean and Unclean Animals

Leviticus 12:1-47 is a long, complicated explanation of clean and unclean animals, insects, fish and birds. The Israelites could eat clean animals, but not unclean ones. The carcasses of unclean animals made anything that touched them unclean, too, and that required rituals of cleansing for anything or anyone who came in contact with them.

Scholars have tried to sort out why some creatures were clean and others unclean. They theorize that some animals were obviously dirtier than others because of where they lived or what they ate. Some were more likely than others to pass diseases on to people.

But if these animals were perpetually unclean, why were the dietary restrictions set aside after Christ came? Why did the early church accept what had previously been unclean? Apparently the laws regarding clean and unclean animals were only intended for Israel in the Old Testament, and  they were an ongoing test of the people’s willingness to obey God.

Consecrated Through Obedience

In his commentary titled, The Book of Leviticus, Gordon J. Wenham points out that when God called Israel be holy and unique, he told them,

“I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy . . . I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44-45

Israel had regulations concerning almost everything in their lives and they constantly had to distinguish between what was clean and unclean. Their persistent obedience to God’s laws consecrated them and set them apart from all the nations around them.

I once heard a pastor suggest that God gave Israel so many laws because he wanted to keep their attention. Since there was not a single part of their lives that was not governed by the Law, they thought about God all day long.

Holiness Today

For we who believe in Jesus Christ, reading the Law is a reminder of how impossible it is to be holy in our own strength. If we had to keep the Law, we would fail as miserably as Israel did. Thank God that we are sanctified, not by obeying the Law, but by the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Our biggest challenge is probably that we don’t worry about holiness enough. We become mindless in our walk with the Lord because we are safe in Christ. But that doesn’t release us from being accountable to what God has said. God preserved these Scriptures so we would know what holiness is . . . and so that we would worship his Son who has fulfilled the Law and set us free from its demands.