Nadab and Abihu

In the biblical books Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Nadab (Hebrew: נָדָב, Modern: Nadav, Tiberian: Nāḏāḇ, "generous") and Abihu (Hebrew: אֲבִיהוּא, Modern: ʾAvīhūʾ, Tiberian: ʾĂḇīhūʾ, "my father [is] he") were the two oldest sons of Aaron.

[2] Nadab and Abihu were the first two sons of Aaron the Levite by his marriage to Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab from the tribe of Judah.

[3] During the Exodus journey, after the Israelites' affirmation of their covenant with God,[4] Abihu and Nadab accompanied Moses, Aaron, and 70 elders up Mount Sinai.

[7][8] The Levites as a tribe were later ordained for the priestly service after answering a call to take the LORD's side after the idolatry centered on the golden calf.

He told Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron's, his own and their sister Miriam's uncle, to carry the bodies away from the sanctuary to a place outside of the camp.

[21] The corpses had to be removed immediately, because to allow the uncleanliness of the bodies to remain in the sanctuary could invoke God's wrath again.

The sin of Nadab and Abihu was a serious violation of the duties reserved for their father, the high priest.

In doing so, they "offered foreign fire before the Lord," demonstrating a presumptuous and unauthorized intrusion into a sacred role not rightfully theirs.

[29] A precedent of such evil tendency was dangerous, and it was imperatively necessary for the priests and the sacred items that God should give a punishment.

The sin and punishment of these priests showed the imperfection of that priesthood from the very beginning, and that it could not shelter any from the fire of God's wrath.

[32] Nadab and Abihu were not trained in their formative years, to develop habits of self-control as well as respect and obedience to authority.

They saw their father, Aaron, yielding to the pressure of the multitudes and making for them a golden calf against the will of the Lord.

[34] The same obligation rests upon God’s children today, to ensure that they avoid anything that may alter their state of mind and diminish their service to the Lord.