And Jehovah spoke to Aaron, saying,
God had just cut off Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, in their sin. His next word does not come through Moses, as nearly every command in this book does; it comes straight to Aaron himself.
One writer ties the change to the subject and the moment:
We notice that in verse 8 the Lord speaks directly to Aaron and not as previously to Moses. This is doubtless because what He spoke about concerned only the priests. It also had in view the failure that had just happened.
One writer reads that directness itself as kindness:
But, if God smites, He can act in loving-kindness. And Aaron must have felt that, as the Lord now spoke directly to him, and not through the channel of the lawgiver. He had cut off his two sons in their sin, yet He would not take the priesthood from Aaron and his remaining sons. And so that they should never later bring down the same judgment on themselves, the Lord warned them against the influence of strong drink whenever they entered the tent of meeting. His care for them was shown in this.
This word is for those who go in before God:
"And Jehovah spoke to Aaron" — to Aaron, because it was about what suited the priests, those who go in "before Jehovah." We have instructions from Christ, as the Priest, as well as the Lawgiver. There are things which concern what is fitting for the saints, and not mere righteousness — things the Spirit shows us suit us as priests… What we are given here is not just a rule. It is priestly instruction about how we come to God. The new nature in which we are born of God is what understands and values it.
The rule that follows is the first Aaron receives as priest. It was literal, and it also reaches further:
This command stands out as the first one given to Aaron after he was set apart as priest… The ban was literal for Aaron and his house. For the Christian it also carries a large and important meaning as a picture. "Wine and strong drink" cover the whole range of things that excite the flesh. The most refined are forbidden as much as the crude, and many kinds lie in between. The first man, in his evil or its consequences, its sorrows or its joys, has no right to intrude into the sanctuary.
Each person must work out what that means for himself:
Each one must judge for himself what, in his own case, would act as "wine or strong drink." The things which excite mere nature are many indeed — wealth, ambition, politics, and the many things people compete for around us in the world. All these things act with exciting power on nature. They completely unfit us for every part of priestly service.
A priest had two jobs that a clouded mind cannot do:
Now the priest was to draw near to God in strict keeping with the order laid down, and not as Nadab and Abihu had done. He was also to distinguish between holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean, as verse 10 says. He was also to teach the people all that God had ordained, and for this a clear mind was needed.
That loss shows up as an inability to judge God's mind, even where no rule was broken:
But have we not often found an inability to judge according to the mind of God, where there was no failure in precept — a spiritual incompetence? Alas, my friends, we have been content to "drink wine and strong drink," and so our spiritual faculties have become darkened.
So who may enter the sanctuary? Kelly answers with a Person, not a rule:
There is One, and only One, Who suits God's presence; but He is the Second man. Only the offering of Himself for us truly fits us for it. His sacrifice is our one title to draw near, and it is enough, and it is perfect… Do we not have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus? He opened that new and living way for us through the curtain, that is, His flesh.
- Spoken — God speaks to Aaron directly, not through Moses. The matter belonged to the priests, and it came right after their failure.
- Sustained — God cut off Nadab and Abihu, yet He left Aaron his priesthood. The direct word is care, not more judgment.
- Sober — "wine and strong drink" stands for everything that excites the flesh, refined or crude. Each person must name his own.
- Sharp — a clear head serves two tasks: telling holy from unholy, and teaching others. A clouded mind fails at both.
- Secured — only Christ suits God's presence. His sacrifice is our whole title to enter.
Thou shalt not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, and thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, lest ye die -- [it is] an everlasting statute throughout your generations,
Fire from the Lord had just consumed Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire. God's next word to Aaron is about drink. Why drink — and why does the warning "lest you die" hang on it?
Up to now in Leviticus the instructions come through Moses. Here that changes, and one writer explains why.
Notice that in verse 8 the Lord speaks directly to Aaron, and not to Moses as He had before. This is no doubt because the matter He spoke of concerned only the priests, and because of the failure that had just happened. Wine and strong drink of any kind were forbidden to the priests who served in the sanctuary. Such things only excite a man's natural powers and feelings, until they cloud his memory and his judgment.
Commentators differ on how far to press this. Some note only the timing; others think drink lay behind the sin.
Notice that in Leviticus 10, right beside the sin of the priests, God forbids any priest to use wine or strong drink while engaged in worship. It is very likely, then, that these priests were under the influence of wine and so offered strange fire.
The two words reach far beyond alcohol.
The ban was literal for Aaron and his house. It also carries a large and weighty meaning as a picture for the Christian. "Wine and strong drink" cover the whole wide circle of everything that stirs up the flesh. The ban catches the most refined stimulants as much as the crude ones, and countless kinds lie in between. The first man, in his evil or its results, its sorrows or its joys, has no right to intrude into the sanctuary.
Because the list is that wide, no one else can draw it up for you.
Each one must judge for himself what, in his own case, would act as "wine or strong drink." The things that excite mere nature are many — wealth, ambition, politics, and all we compete for in the world. Each of them stirs up nature and unfits us for every part of priestly service. If the heart is swollen with pride, greed, or rivalry, no one can enjoy the pure air of the sanctuary.
The verse gives one reason. The verses that follow give two more. One writer walks through all three.
There are three reasons why we should not feed the appetite of the flesh in this way. First, they were told not to drink wine or strong drink when they went into the tent of meeting, "lest you die." What believer with any experience does not know the dullness and deadness of soul that such indulgence brings on? … Secondly, "that you may distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean." From this we gather that feeding the flesh also darkens spiritual sight and hinders spiritual discernment. Often the first sign that souls have drifted from the Lord is this: they defend what they once condemned. … Thirdly, they were to teach the people of Israel all the statutes the Lord had spoken to them through Moses. They ought to be able to teach others, instead of needing elementary teaching themselves.
The rule is tied to a place and a moment. One writer presses that against those who read it as a total ban on drinking.
First, the restriction applies only to Aaron and his sons. Second, it held only when they went into the tabernacle. Is that proclaiming total abstinence? Does it not rather imply that priests were free at other times to use what was forbidden on a special occasion? Another writer reminds us that under the New Testament all believers are priests. But if we read Aaron's sons as a picture, we must read the wine and strong drink as a picture too. These drinks seem to picture natural joy and excitement, as uncovering the head and tearing the clothes were signs of natural sorrow. Neither suits those who enjoy nearness to God.
Nothing here is a call to gloom. The joy that belongs in that place has a different source.
There is One, and only One, who suits God's presence; and He is the Second man. Only the offering of Himself for us truly fits us for it. His sacrifice is our only title to draw near, and it is enough, and it is perfect … So God would have us filled with His praise when we come to Him like this. … The Holy Spirit too, who bears witness with our spirit that we are His children, is our power of worship. … It is heavenly joy.
- Occasion. God speaks straight to Aaron, not through Moses. The rule was for priests only, and it came right after their failure.
- Definition. "Wine and strong drink" picture everything that stirs the flesh. Refined stimulants count as much as crude ones. Each person must name his own.
- Penalty. The first reason is "lest you die." Feeding the flesh brings deadness of soul.
- Consequence. Excited nature darkens spiritual sight. A drifting soul defends what it once condemned, and needs teaching instead of teaching others.
- Limit. The ban covered priests going into the tent, not all drinking at all times. The joy that does belong there rests on Christ's sacrifice and the Spirit's power.
that ye may put difference between the holy and the unholy, and between unclean and clean,
Aaron has just lost two sons, cut off in their sin, and now God speaks to him directly. The priest must not only serve at the altar; he must see clearly, and this verse says what keeps that sight sharp.
One writer reads the command as God preserving the priesthood instead of removing it.
But if God strikes, He can also act in loving-kindness. Aaron must have felt that, since the Lord now spoke directly to him and not through the lawgiver. He had cut off his two sons in their sin. Yet He would not take the priesthood from Aaron and his remaining sons. So that they would not later bring the same judgment down on themselves, the Lord warned them against the influence of strong drink whenever they entered the tent of meeting. This showed His care for them. Ignoring this warning might bring death on them. Or it would keep them from doing their priestly work properly: putting a difference between holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean.
Wine is named, but the principle reaches wider.
Wine excites nature. All natural excitement hinders that calm, well-balanced state of soul which the priest needs to do his work properly... Only then shall we be in a moral condition to serve in the sanctuary, to form an unbiased judgment between clean and unclean, and to explain and pass on the mind of God. Each one must judge for himself what, in his own case, would act as "wine or strong drink." The things that excite mere nature are many — wealth, ambition, politics, and the many things people compete for around us in the world.
The loss of sight has a warning sign, and Samson is the picture of it.
Another effect of indulging the flesh is to darken spiritual sight and hinder discernment. One of the first symptoms that souls have drifted from the Lord is often that they justify what they once condemned. After Samson's folly and trifling with Delilah, the first thing the Philistines did was put out his eyes.
Discernment is not a skill you pick up at a distance. It grows in God's presence.
Who can judge between "holy and unholy," and between "unclean and clean"? Only the soul that has learnt what is acceptable to God. He learns it from close communion, and from worship, the highest privilege communion gives. So we must refuse wine and strong drink, and anything that stirs the natural man... Suppose I let nature govern me outside. Suppose I feed it there and never judge it. Then I shall find myself unable to form a judgment even in very simple matters.
One writer sees this verse standing over the chapters that follow.
Leviticus 10:10 seems to be the text for chapters 11–15... This principle of telling clean from unclean reaches further. It touches the everyday things of common life. Those rules are past and no longer binding in the letter. They still have a very clear lesson for us: be separate and distinct from the world in our habits of life. That is quite opposed to a thought sometimes heard, that if the heart is right we need not be careful about anything else... The detail about food proves that God looks for holiness in the smallest things of life.
Leviticus puts consecration first, then discernment. One writer applies this to the Christian.
In Leviticus, the consecration of the priests comes first. Then all the matters of clean and unclean are set out together. It was the priests who had to know how to tell the clean from the unclean. The priesthood had to discern everything. This also belongs to the Christian. He does not do it as one who fears that sin will be charged to him, though he does have a responsibility. He does it because God has anointed him to tell good from evil, according to the holiness of God's service.
One writer sets this beside Eli, a priest who could not tell prayer from drunkenness.
Eli supposed Hannah to be drunk, when in reality she was a sorrowful woman pouring out her heart to her God. Nearness to God was meant to give the priests good judgment about holy and unholy, unclean and clean, so that they might instruct the people (Lev. 10:9-11)... "For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction" (Mal. 2:7-8). How is it with us? Grace has put every believer into the priestly place, but are we in the power of it? Are we spiritually discerning?
- Nearness — telling holy from unholy is not natural cleverness. You learn it in God's presence, in communion and worship.
- Clear head — wine stands for anything that excites the natural man. Whatever excites you also blinds you, and each believer must name his own.
- Blindness — the first sign of drift is justifying what you once condemned.
- Everyday reach — this verse heads the clean-and-unclean chapters. Holiness reaches food, homes and habits, not just the sanctuary.
- Teaching — you see clearly so you can teach others. Grace puts every believer in that priestly place; the question is whether we live in its power.
and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which Jehovah hath spoken to them by the hand of Moses.
Aaron's instructions end with a second task: the priests were to carry God's word out to the people. The command comes straight after the death of Aaron's two sons and the ban on strong drink, tying teaching to the teacher's own state before God.
The priest stood between God and Israel, and the traffic ran both ways. One writer reads Aaron's instructions alongside Malachi's picture of the priest as God's messenger.
Here we have the responsibility side, together with the character of the office — "For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." They represented the people before God, and they were charged to represent God to the people.
The verse is the last of three linked purposes: no strong drink, then discernment between holy and common, then teaching. A man passes on what he has taken in near God.
So it is that, kept away from everything that works on the flesh, and near God, I learn His mind in the sanctuary. I am also able to "distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean." Then I can teach others and say, That is the mind of the Lord about such and such a thing. It says here, "teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them by Moses." But have we not often found an inability to judge according to the mind of God, where no clear rule had been broken — a spiritual incompetence? Sadly, my friends, we have been content to "drink wine and strong drink," and so our spiritual faculties have grown dark.
The teaching had fixed content: all the statutes the LORD spoke by Moses. So the priest had to know them himself, and birth into Aaron's family did not give him that. The same writer points to Ezra, a descendant of Aaron, who held the office and knew the Word.
He became a priest by birth and consecration; but he only became "a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given," by personal study of the Word. So inherited office, even among the Jews, could not supply what was needed to exercise it. That could only come from dealing with God personally in the Scriptures. Consecration entitled the priest by grace to serve before God. But he could only serve in a way God accepted when he did everything in obedience to the Word. And he could not teach unless he himself knew the mind of God. … If Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, it was first of all so that he might do it. Then came teaching. This order can never be ignored without cost. Where teaching does not flow out of a heart that is itself subject to the truth, it is powerless to influence others, and it hardens the heart of the teacher himself.
Another writer takes the ban on wine as covering far more than a drink. Anything that stirs up nature blurs the eye that sorts holy from common, and with it the ability to pass God's mind on.
Wine excites nature. All natural excitement spoils the calm, well-balanced state of soul that the priestly office needs. So far from using any means to excite nature, we should treat it as a thing that does not exist. Only then will we be in a fit moral state to serve in the sanctuary, to judge calmly between clean and unclean, and to explain and pass on the mind of God. Each one must judge for himself what, in his own case, acts as "wine or strong drink." Many things excite mere nature — wealth, ambition, politics, and the things people compete for around us in the world.
Israel's later priests failed at exactly this point. One commentator turns that failure into a question for us.
Nearness to God was meant to give the priests good judgement about holy and unholy, unclean and clean, so that they might instruct the people (Lev. 10:9-11)… "But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction" (Mal. 2:8). How is it with us? Grace has put every believer into the priestly place, but are we in the power of it? Are we spiritually discerning?
- Sober — the ban on strong drink is about capacity, not health. Anything that excites nature dims the eye that must sort holy from common.
- Near — the mind of God is learned in the sanctuary first; a teacher only hands on what he has taken in there.
- Studied — office and family gave no knowledge. Only personal study of the Word, in a heart set on obeying it, made a priest fit to teach.
- Faithful — the content is fixed: all the statutes the LORD spoke by Moses. The priest passes on God's mind, not his own.
- Answerable — priests who lost discernment made many stumble. Grace has put every believer in that priestly place, so the question stands today.