And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the oblation that is left of Jehovah's offerings by fire, and eat it with unleavened bread beside the altar; for it is most holy.
Fire from the Lord had just killed Nadab and Abihu. They had offered fire He never commanded. Now Moses turns to Aaron and his two surviving sons, and his first word to them is about food.
The priests had just lost two of their own. Disaster, though, does not release a priest from his place or his portion.
Even in a time of disaster the priests were not to give up their priestly place (Lev. 10:7). They were not to deprive themselves of their priestly food either… The hearts of those who are near to God are to feed on Christ, the Bread of God — Christ in all the perfections of His heavenly, holy Manhood. This food strengthens them for their priestly service and walk. It engages their hearts with Christ's perfections even while disaster and sorrow last.
When people fail, the pull is to lower the standard. But the priests ate because God had commanded it, not because things had gone well.
The temptation is to lower the standard, to come down from the high ground, to take human ground. We must always guard against this evil. It is all the more dangerous because it wears the clothing of modesty, self-distrust, and humility. Despite all that had happened, Aaron and his sons were to eat the grain offering in the holy place. They were to do so, not because everything had gone on in perfect order, but "because it is your due," and "so I am commanded."… Were God's priests to have nothing to eat, no priestly food, because failure had set in? Were the ones who were left to be allowed to starve, because Nadab and Abihu had offered "strange fire"? This would never do. God is faithful, and He can never allow anyone to be empty in His blessed presence.
Older translations call this the "meat offering" or "oblation"; the ESV says "grain offering." Part of it went up in fire to God. The rest belonged to the priests. What that rest pictures is why God calls it most holy.
With Christ as the grain offering… it is He, alive as a man and obedient in holy love, yet offered up to the LORD… The rest was for Aaron and his sons, who were the priestly company and symbolise "all the saints" here below. Even though it is "most holy" — and so rebukes every thought that tends to lower the Word become flesh — it was priestly food.
Two conditions come with this meal: no leaven, and a holy place. One writer applies both to the person eating, not only to the food.
What is the holy place for us? The presence of God. The priests were to eat their portion in the holy place without leaven — with unleavened bread, the absence of all allowed sin. In the presence of God, with the flesh judged and kept in the place of death — only there, and only in that way, can we as God's priests feed on the spotless, holy Person of the Lord Jesus Christ in His life as a man here below.
The command says beside the altar, not on it. One writer draws a line between a table and an altar from that small word.
The priests under the law shared in the altar, but they did not feast at the altar… They sacrificed on it; they ate somewhere else… At the Lord's table we sit to eat. But Leviticus 10:12-13 puts the priests' meal near the altar, and so quite separate from it. Turning the altar into their table would have looked monstrous to them, and to all Israel.
Feeding on Christ is not a private act.
The "sons of Aaron" were to eat of the "grain offering" and the "peace offering" (verses 12-15). See the fellowship here. God fed on the inner parts; of the "peace offering," it was "the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD." Aaron and his sons had their part, and so did the individual worshipper. So I cannot separate myself from God in this, because I cannot separate myself from God's delight in Christ, or from "the whole family of God who have all their portion."
- Failure — Two priests had just died for offering strange fire. God's next word to the survivors was not "stop" but "eat."
- Due — The meal rests on God's word, not on the family's record: "because it is your due," and "so I am commanded."
- Food — The rest of the grain offering pictures Christ's perfect Manhood offered to God. It is "most holy," and it feeds the priests in service and in sorrow alike.
- Place — They ate it unleavened, beside the altar. No allowed evil in the eater; no turning the table into an altar.
- Family — God had His portion in the fire, the priests theirs, the worshipper his. Feeding on Christ is never done alone.
And ye shall eat it in a holy place, because it is thy due, and thy sons' due, of Jehovah's offerings by fire; for so I am commanded.
Fire from the Lord has just killed Nadab and Abihu. Why, on the day judgment fell inside the priestly family, does Moses tell the surviving priests to sit down and eat?
The verse gives two reasons for the meal: it is their due, and God commanded it. One writer sees here the danger of shrinking back after failure.
It is very difficult to bow to God's judgment and at the same time hold fast God's ground. The temptation is to lower the standard, to come down from the high place, to take human ground. Yet Aaron and his sons were still to eat the grain offering in the holy place. They were to do so, not because everything had gone on in perfect order, but "because it is your due," and "so I am commanded." There had been failure, but their place was still in the tabernacle. Those who were there had certain "dues" founded on God's own command. Were God's priests to have no priestly food because failure had set in? God is faithful, and He can never allow anyone to be empty in His blessed presence.
This command came on the day Nadab and Abihu died. The timing is the point.
Even in a time of calamity the priests were not to give up their priestly place. They were not to go without their priestly food. Aaron and the priests who were left were to feed on the grain offering that was left from the LORD's food offerings. The hearts of those who are near to God are to feed on Christ, the Bread of God — Christ in all the perfections of His heavenly, holy Manhood. This strengthens them for their priestly service and walk. It engages their hearts with Christ's perfections even in the middle of calamity and sorrow.
One writer sets the grain offering beside the burnt offering.
Christ as the burnt offering was wholly consumed to the Lord, with no share for man. With Christ as the grain offering it was different. Here it is He, alive in flesh and obedient in holy love, offered up to the Lord. Of the fine flour with the oil, the priest took his handful and burned it on the altar to the Lord. The rest was for Aaron and his sons, who were the priestly company and picture "all the saints" here below. The Lord has the memorial of it, a fire offering no less than the burnt offering. The Lord had His delight in that blessed life of absolute devotion to His will. So do not we who believe, and know ourselves brought to God, have the privilege of enjoying that offering in peace and thanksgiving?
Another writer reads the ingredients as a portrait.
The grain offering shows the perfect humanity of Jesus in life, the spotless One. There was nothing rough or inconsistent in Him. He was perfectly pure and even in all His ways, as the fine flour sets forth. No leaven was to be with it. Nothing unclean was to go with it.
The verse fixes not only what is eaten, but where — and who.
It was to be eaten "in a holy place," as only the priests ate of it, not even their families. This verse keeps the rest of the grain offering for the priests, in a holy place. The next verse lets their sons and daughters eat freely of the peace offering, in a clean place. Only in God's presence can we enjoy in fellowship what Christ was each day on earth, and all the way through to God. Elsewhere we reason or imagine, and either way we are bound to soil what is "most holy." Only the power of the Spirit enables the believer to take Christ in this way, without mixing in his own thoughts.
One writer counts everyone who has a share in this meal.
See the fellowship here. God fed on the inward parts. Aaron and his sons had their part, and so did the particular worshipper. I cannot then separate myself from God in this, because I cannot separate myself from God's delight in Christ. Nor can I separate myself from the whole family of God, who all have their portion. There is no proper worship that does not take in God, Christ, and the whole family of Aaron — the church. It is a common feast, if it is true.
Who eats today? One writer sets the Christian beside Aaron.
The holiness of the Christian is certainly no less than this. He is a priest more truly and fully than Aaron himself, for whom the office was only a shadow and a ceremony. Christ is the truth… He therefore makes priesthood as real for the Christian as sonship is.
- Commanded — The meal rests on God's word: "your due" and "so I am commanded." Failure in the family did not cancel it.
- Kept — After judgment the temptation is to lower the standard. Their place was still in the tabernacle.
- Fed — The grain offering pictures Christ's spotless life. God took His handful, and the priests ate the rest.
- Holy place — Such food is enjoyed only in God's presence, and only by the Spirit, with none of our own thoughts mixed in.
- Shared — God, the priests and the worshipper feed on one offering. It is a common feast, and every Christian is a priest at it.