Aaron's two sons died. The reason for this is that they offered "unauthorized fire" to the Lord, Ex 30:9 is the key verse. Our natural reaction may be to say that this is too harsh or unfair, but we say that because we do not appreciate the holiness of the Lord. We need to do things His way, otherwise it just leads to trouble. The root of our rebellion was eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which means taking responsibility on ourselves for deciding what is right and what is wrong. Listen to debates on TV or newspapers or radio, listen to the news, listen to the arguments that your own heart and mind produce. They all come down to "I will decide what is right and wrong", at best we allow God to give advice, but God does not give advice, He gives commands.
Aaron and his two other sons had to obey Moses carefully, and they now seemed to appreciate the gravity of the situation. Again it may seem unfair that they were not allowed to mourn. As leaders we sometimes have to say no to our feelings, even to our "rights".
Notice that God then gives Aaron and his sons further instructions on how to perform their duties. Judgement had been executed, now it was time to move on. Sometimes God needs to discipline us, but we need to understand that it does not mean He is against us. Rather He wants us to learn from it and then to move on.
In the final few verses we see Moses showing some compassion. There is a time to implement rules strictly, and there is a time to be lenient. In this chapter we have seen incidences of both.
No comments:
Post a Comment