¹tn Although it has been used elsewhere in this translation as an English variation from the ubiquitous use of vav in Hebrew, in this instance “then” as a rendering for vav is intended to show that the Nadab and Abihu catastrophe took place on the inauguration day described in Lev 9. The tragic incident in Lev 10 happened in close temporal connection to the Lord’s fire that consumed the offerings at the end of Lev 9. Thus, for example, the “sin offering” male goat referred to in Lev 10:16-19 is the very one referred to in Lev 9:15.
²tn The expression “strange fire” (hr`z` va@) seems imprecise and has been interpreted numerous ways (see the helpful summary in Hartley, Leviticus [WBC] 132-133). The infraction may have involved any of the following or a combination thereof: (1) using coals from someplace other than the burnt offering altar (i.e., “unauthorized coals” according to Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 [AB], 598; cf. Lev 16:12 and cf. “unauthorized person” rz` vya! in Num 16:40 [17:5 HT], NASB “layman”), (2) using the wrong kind of incense (cf. the Exod 30:9 regulation against “strange incense” hr`z` tr#f)q= on the incense altar and the possible connection to Exod 30:34-38), (3) performing an incense offering at an unprescribed time (Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 59), or (4) entering the Holy of Holies at an inappropriate time (Lev 16:1-2).
³tn See the note on 9:24a.
⁴tn The Niphal verb of the Hebrew root vdq can mean either “to be treated as holy” (so here, e.g., BDB 873, LXX, NASB, and NEB) or “to show oneself holy” (so here, e.g., HALOT 1073 [b], NIV, NRSV; Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 [AB], 595, 601-603; and Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 133-134). The latter rendering seems more likely here since, in the immediate context, the Lord himself had indeed shown himself to be holy by the way he responded to the illegitimate incense offering of Nadab and Abihu. They had not treated the Lord as holy, so the Lord acted on his own behalf to show that he was indeed holy.
⁵tn In this context the Niphal of the Hebrew root dbk can mean “to be honored” (e.g., NASB and NIV here), “be glorified” (NRSV here), or “glorify oneself, show one’s glory” (e.g., specifically in this verse HALOT 455 [b]; Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 [AB], 595, 603-604; and Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 126, 134). Comparing this clause with the previous one (see the note above), the point may be that when the Lord shows himself to be holy as he has done in 10:1-2, this results in him being honored (i.e., reverenced, feared, treated with respect) among the people. This suggests the passive rendering. It is possible, however, that one should use the reflexive rendering here as in the previous clause. If so, the passage means that the Lord showed both his holiness and his glory in one outbreak against Nadab and Abihu.
⁶tc The Samaritan Pentateuch has “you must not” (aO) rather than the MT’s “do not” (la^; cf. the following negative aO in the MT).
⁷tn Heb “do not let free your heads.” Some have taken this to mean, “do not take off your headgear,” but it probably also involves leaving one’s hair unkempt as a sign of mourning (see Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 [AB], 608-609).
⁸tn Heb “shall weep [for] the burning which the Lord has burned.”
⁹tn The Hebrew grammar here suggests that the last portion of v. 9 (literally, “a perpetual statute for your generations”) functions as both a conclusion to v. 9 and an introduction to vv. 10-11. It is a pivot clause, as it were. Thus, it was a “perpetual statute” to not drink alcoholic beverages when ministering in the tabernacle, but it was also a “perpetual statue” to distinguish between holy and profane and unclean and clean (v. 10) as well as to teach the children Israel all such statutes (v. 11).
¹⁰tn Heb “and” rather than “as well as,” but see the note on v. 9.
¹¹sn The two pairs of categories in this verse refer to: (1) the status of a person, place, thing, or time—“holy” (vd\q)) versus “common” (lj)); as opposed to (2) the condition of a person, place, or thing—“unclean” (am@f*) versus “clean” (rohf*). Someone or something could gain “holy” status by being “consecrated” (i.e., made holy; e.g., the Hebrew Piel vD}q! in Lev 8:15, 30), and to treat someone or something that was holy as if it were “common” would be to “profane” that person or thing (the Hebrew Piel lL@h!, e.g., in Lev 19:29 and 22:15). Similarly, on another level, someone or something could be in a “clean” condition, but one could “defile” (the Hebrew Piel aM@f!, e.g., in Gen 34:5 and Num 6:9) that person or thing and thereby make it “unclean.” To “purify” (the Hebrew Piel rh@f!, e.g., in Lev 16:19 and Num 8:6, 15) that unclean person or thing would be to make it “clean” once again. With regard to the animals (Lev 11), some were by nature “unclean,” so they could never be eaten, but others were by nature “clean” and, therefore, edible (Lev 11:2, 46-47). The meat of clean animals could become inedible by too long of a delay in eating it, in which case the Hebrew term lWGP! “foul, spoiled” is used to describe it (Lev 7:18; 19:7; cf. also Ezek 4:14 and Isa 65:4), not the term for “unclean” (rohf*). Strictly speaking, therefore, unclean meat never becomes clean, and clean meat never becomes unclean.
¹²tn Heb “by the hand of.”
¹³tn Heb “statute” (cf. 10:9, 11).
¹⁴tn For the rendering of the Hebrew hv#a! as “gift” rather than “offering [made] by fire,” see the note on Lev 1:9.
¹⁵sn Cf. Lev 2:3 and 6:14-18 [6:7-11 HT] for these regulations.
¹⁶tn The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the cleanness of the place specified is ritual or ceremonial in nature.
¹⁷sn Cf. Lev 7:14, 28-34 for these regulations.
¹⁸sn This is the very same male goat offered in Lev 9:15 (cf. the note on Lev 10:1 above).
¹⁹tn Heb “but behold, it had been burnt.”
²⁰sn This translation is quite literal. On the surface it appears to mean that the priests would “bear the iniquity” of the congregation by the act of eating the sin offering (so Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 [AB], 622-625, 635-640). Such a notion is, however, found nowhere else in the Levitical regulations and seems unlikely (so Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 136). A more likely interpretation is reflected in this interpretive rendering: “he gave it to you [as payment] for [your work of] bearing the iniquity of the congregation.” The previous section of the chapter deals with the prebends that the priests received for performing the ministry of the tabernacle (Lev 10:12-15). Lev 10:16-18, therefore, seems to continue the very same topic in the light of the most immediate situation (see NIDOTTE 2:702-704).
²¹tn Or “Behold!”
²²sn The term here rendered “within” refers to the bringing of the blood inside the holy place for application to the altar of incense rather than to the altar of burnt offering in the courtyard of the tabernacle (cf. Lev 4:7, 16-18; 6:30 [23 HT]).
²³tn Or “Behold!”
²⁴tn Heb “today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and like these things have happened to me, and (if) I had eaten sin offering today would it be good in the eyes of the Lord?” The idiom “would it be good in the eyes of [the Lord]” has been translated “would [the Lord] have been pleased.”
²⁵tn Heb “it was good in his eyes” (an idiom).