3:4 Nadab and Abihu died 1 before the Lord 2 when they offered 3 strange 4 fire 5 before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. 6 So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests 7 in the presence of 8 Aaron their father.
9:6 It happened that some men 9 who were ceremonially defiled 10 by the dead body of a man 11 could not keep 12 the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.
17:10 The Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s staff back before the testimony to be preserved for a sign to the rebels, so that you may bring their murmurings to an end 13 before me, that they will not die.” 14
1 tn The verb form is the preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, literally “and Nadab died.” Some commentators wish to make the verb a past perfect, rendering it “and Nadab had died,” but this is not necessary. In tracing through the line from Aaron it simply reports that the first two sons died. The reference is to the event recorded in Lev 10 where the sons brought “strange” or foreign” fire to the sanctuary.
2 tc This initial clause is omitted in one Hebrew
3 tn The form בְּהַקְרִבָם (bÿhaqrivam) is the Hiphil infinitive construct functioning as a temporal clause: “when they brought near,” meaning, “when they offered.” The verb קָרַב (qarav) is familiar to students of the NT because of “corban” in Mark 7:11.
4 tn Or “prohibited.” See HALOT 279 s.v. זָר 3.
5 tn The expression אֵשׁ זָרָה (’esh zarah, “strange fire”) seems imprecise and has been interpreted numerous ways (see the helpful summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC 4], 132-33). The infraction may have involved any of the following or a combination thereof: (1) using coals from some place other than the burnt offering altar (i.e., “unauthorized coals” according to J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:598; cf. Lev 16:12 and cf. “unauthorized person” [אִישׁ זָר, ’ish zar] 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” [קְטֹרֶת זָרָה, qÿtoret zarah] on the incense altar and the possible connection to Exod 30:34-38), (3) performing an incense offering at an unprescribed time (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 59), or (4) entering the Holy of Holies at an inappropriate time (Lev 16:1-2).
sn This event is narrated in Lev 10:1-7.
6 sn The two young priests had been cut down before they had children; the ranks of the family of Aaron were thereby cut in half in one judgment from God. The significance of the act of judgment was to show that the priests had to sanctify the
7 tn The verb is the Piel preterite from the root כָּהַן (kahan): “to function as a priest” or “to minister.”
8 tn The expression “in the presence of” can also mean “during the lifetime of” (see Gen 11:28; see also BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֶה II.7.a; cf. NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).
9 tn In the Hebrew text the noun has no definite article, and so it signifies “some” or “certain” men.
10 tn The meaning, of course, is to be ceremonially unclean, and therefore disqualified from entering the sanctuary.
11 tn Or “a human corpse” (so NAB, NKJV). So also in v.7; cf. v. 10.
12 tn This clause begins with the vav (ו) conjunction and negative before the perfect tense. Here is the main verb of the sentence: They were not able to observe the Passover. The first part of the verse provides the explanation for their problem.
13 tn The verb means “to finish; to complete” and here “to bring to an end.” It is the imperfect following the imperative, and so introduces a purpose clause (as a final imperfect).
14 tn This is another final imperfect in a purpose clause.