Leviticus 19 - The Rules

Please read Leviticus 19 before continuing!

   This chapter is really long so I'm going to do a long post here divided into sections by different rules and a separate post to talk about cool structure. So, for (some of) the rules...

1. Show great respect for you mother and father: To respect something is to hold that persons worth or excellence in high esteem (to value it). I have amazing parents so for me this is an easy law to obey but I know that many people's experience with their parents makes it quite hard. Due to my lack of experience I can't really give advice but I would assume it would be best to focus on respecting their position of authority (while remembering that God is THE authority) and the good qualities you do see. 
2. Observe the Sabbath day of rest: Obviously the Sabbath is very important to God. It's the day He set aside for us to spend with Him after all! But the way this directly translates from hebrew is "keep my sabbaths." There are many dictionary definitions for the word 'keep' so I combined them: to retain something belonging to someone else and to maintain it through care and labor so that it stays in a certain condition according to a promise. When I thought about this law in that way, it really increased its importance. It helped me to realize that when I promised to follow God, I promised to keep all He holds dear and has shared with me. This includes the Sabbath, and I need to do a better job cherishing that day. 
3. Don't worship idols or create them for yourself: Idols are funny things because they seem like they'd be so easy to avoid yet in reality, nearly everyone has them in their life. In Exodus, the Israelites make the golden calf because they don't want to keep worshipping a God they can't clearly see/feel. When I read that story I always think that the Israelites are the world's biggest idiots but in reality, I often do the same thing. When I don't feel super connected in my Bible Study (usually this is the result of skipping for a couple mornings) I half give up on it despite all the times I have felt connected. I start to make idols for myself in books or pintrest by hurrying through my Bible Study to get to other things. Or by putting it off until I've gone to bed and it's "too late." The point of that was just to say that idols are very real and this law is not something to be skimmed over but taken seriously. (For my Tips and Tricks of Identifying and Casting Out Idols post click on the link!)
4. Offer your peace offerings properly: I think there are several interesting things about this law, the first being that the law specifically says peace offering rather than any of the four others. Leviticus 3 discuses peace offerings and my Study Bible says their purpose is to express gratitude to God and symbolize peace and fellowship with God. This intrigues me so I'm going to venture a guess on why this is. Of the five offerings it is the peace and grain that are given out of love for God rather than necessity after sin. Out of those two, the peace is a longer, more complicated process and more expensive. I think that's why God wanted to highlight it. In the interlinear it says "you shall offer it at your own will to the Lord." I think God wants to make sure that we are sacrificing out of love for Him (our own will) and that we keep the focus on Him and obedience to Him through the whole process. 
5. Leave a little behind when you harvest: This is my favorite law ever!!! These are God's instructions on helping the poor and hungry and they are so cool! According to God, when you harvested your crops you shouldn't harvest every last one so that the poor could come behind you and take what you missed for their own food. In other words, help those who are poor and hungry, give them what you have but allow them to work for it. I think one of the reasons some people in America have no dignity left is that they are never able to earn anything for themselves, they're just given things by the "better off" people. In this situation, God is insuring that the people blessed by the generosity of the "better off" are people who are willing to work to try and get to the "better off" stage themselves. But there is also such a kindness factor here. When people talk about how unkind/generous/merciful/ect the "God of the OT" is all I can say is, have you even read the OT? Because if so I would think you'd have come across things like this to tell you otherwise.
6. Do not steal, deceive, or cheat one another: This is pretty self explanatory but before I move on I'm going to say something on the subject of don'ts. Many people say that the Bible (of Christians say that the OT) is just a book of don'ts and these next rule would definitely make it seem that way. However, (as my study Bible reminded me! :)) all we have to do to follow these rules is to love God wholeheartedly and love our neighbor as ourself. Jesus tells us that the entire law is based on these two commandments! (Matthew 22:37-40) This is not a book of don'ts, it's a place to turn to should we ever be confused on what it means to love God and how to display that love.
7. Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using to swear falsely: Often I have a physical cringe reaction to the exclamation "Jesus Christ!" and, right or wrong, my opinion of that person is immediately lowered a little. And I imagine if I were not a believer and I heard some using God's name to swear I'd probably think less of their "devotion" to God and it would help solidify God as "god" in my mind. This would be especially true if on were to say "I swear by God/the Bible/ect." and to have lied. (aka swore falsely)
8. Don't defraud (trick) or rob your neighbors: This is fairly self explanatory but there was one thing I wanted to point out. The definition of defraud is "to deprive of a right, money or property by trickery or deceit." I liked this because it reminds us the property and money are not the only things we can steal, we can also steal rights. It also reminds us that if something is rightfully ours than we can take it back since we wouldn't be robbing or tricking them but carrying out justice.
9. Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day for pay: Pay them once they've done the work. The reason they're working in because they need money to support them self and/or their family. You don't want to be the reason for no dinner.
10. Do not insult the deaf: It's cowardly and mean to fight with someone who can't defend themselves and in a battle of words, a deaf person can't defend themselves. But besides just in the physical sense, this could be a reference to people without ears to hear. Just like we shouldn't insult real deaf people, if we insult spiritually deaf people they'll remain that way for longer because if they don't like you, they probably won't "want what you have" and won't even try for good hearing.
11. Do not cause the blind to stumble: This is just like the one above (they're supposed to be in the same sentence...). You shouldn't start of physical fight with someone who is blind because they'll be weaker and you absolutely should never cause someone who doesn't know better to sin. If you've read The Last Battle, we see this so clearly between Puzzle and Shift. If you've read the Bible, Jesus says that whoever causes the little children to sin would have been better off dead (Caroline paraphrase). 
12. Do not twist legal matters, always judge fairly: Again, this is self explanatory. We judge fairly because these things are not for our own good but for the good of everyone. You'd never want to let a bad person go because they could continue hurting others in "peace". You'd never want to convict an innocent person because of the predicament it puts them and their family in and simply because of the injustice of it. 
13. Do not spread slanderous gossip: Slanderous gossip is anything that degrades someone else that is said behind that same someone else's back. Don't do it. That's mean and shows a lack of love and faithfulness and honesty towards that person and God, seeing as He's asked you not to and loves that person more than He loves Himself.
14. Do not stand idly while your neighbors life is threatened: Come on people, we need to protect each other before ourselves! If others get out of danger because we've put ourself in dangers way in order for that to happen, we know that we're behaving like Jesus.
15. Do not nurse hatred in you heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sins: When we privately hate someone for doing something we are hurting ourselves by letting evil fester inside us. Hate for a person is abominable because it means we have no love for them. If we love them than we will push aside any awkwardness or fear and confront them directly so that they will understand what they're doing wrong and be given a chance to mend their ways.
16. Don't seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite but love you neighbor as yourself: This is the final law about treating your neighbors and it not only encompasses all the ones before it but connects the words of Jesus to the words of God since they are the same person after all.
17. You must obey all my decrees-this seems pretty unnecessary but I often find myself trying to twist things so that I don't have to obey all God's decrees so I think God is reminding the people not to do that. 

We have many laws to go yet but will stop there because I feel that it properly concludes this already enormously long post.

Leviticus 18

   I just read Leviticus 18 which is all about sexual immorality which, for the most part, is fairly self explainable and little bit gross. There were some neat verses hidden within the laws though, starting with verses 1-5.
   
   Then the Lord said to Moses, "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord you God. So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decree and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.      Leviticus 18:1-5

   I love how God immediately identifies what will get them in trouble (acting like the people around them) and warns them against it. I love how He gives them instructions on avoiding corruption through observation and imitation of the other peoples simply by saying "obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees" because He has already given specifics in regards to all evil practices, they are well prepared by Him if they choose to listen and obey. But my favorite part is verse 5 because it is the words of God paralleling so perfectly with the words of Jesus! 

   If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
                                           Matthew 16:25

   "Why ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied, "There is only one who is good. But to answer you question-if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments. 
                                           Matthew 19:17

   Echo anyone?! I love it when they do this because it reminds me that they are indeed one and the same no matter what others my say about the wrathful OT God versus the merciful NT Jesus. Clearly they have not read the Bible through, which is necessary in connection making! ;)
   Anyway, after the list of rules we come across 24-30:
   
   Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways. Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out. You must obey  all my decrees and reulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled. So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now. Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel. So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord you God. Leviticus 18:24-30

    There are four things I really like about this passage so I'm going to list them below.

1. the metaphor: I personally love analogies and metaphors and connections and word pictures. They help me to wrap my mind around certain concepts and to remember them. God is the master with that kind of stuff (parables! symbols! OT-NT links!) and this is a great example of it. He's explaining how when we defile ourselves, bad things come of it by saying that abominable practices create a poison that makes what is taking care of us sick. The only way for it to get better is to vomit, which has disastrous results for the defiled people.
2. foreigners abstinence: Even if a foreigner does not believe in God, as long as s/he is in the community of Israel, s/he will abstain from defiling practices and abominations. I love this because I often find myself laughing a crude jokes or turning a blind eye when someone who's not a Christian cusses or gossips (aka sins) in my presence because I don't want to seem judgmental. Unfortunately, this strategy can actually be very harmful because it makes us get used to what ever they're doing and, after time, begin to view it as not quite so big of a deal as we used to think it was. However, the way we see it does not change what it is and sin is evil, period.  God is reminding the Israelites that it's never a good idea to allow those around you to sin without blinking an eye because, as much as we (or at least I) would like to deny it, it will slowly desensitize our conscience until we end up doing it ourselves or do other things that no longer seem bad in the light of what people do regularly around us.
3. "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways": When God asks us not to do something, it is for our good. God didn't ask us to obey Him because He's the boss. He asks us to obey Him because He's just and doesn't want to have to punish us or drive us out of the good land He's placed us in but will if that's what it takes. Besides that fact that when one's eyes are opened to the fact that they've defiled themselves, that releases a flood of emotions that aren't overly pleasant. 
4. I am the Lord your God: I love that He ends with this statement. A final reminder of why other peoples do detestable things and many don't seem to be punished. A reminder that the God of the universe loves us enough to rule over us personally forever.

   I'm going to end with an exert directly from my study Bible (shockingly enough this is the only Bible notes I used it this whole post!! :O). 

   

   Several detestable activities are listed here: (1) having sexual relations with close relatives, (2) committing adultery, (3) offering children as sacrifices, (4) having homosexual relations, and (5) having sexual relations with animals. These practices were common in pagan religions and cultures, and i is easy to see why God dealt harshly with those who began to follow them. Such practices lead to disease, deformity, and death. They disrupt family life and society and reveal a low regard for the value of oneself and of others. Society today takes some of these practices lightly, even trying to make them acceptable. But they are still sins in God's eyes. If you consider them acceptable, you are not living by God's standards. (emphasis added)

Leviticus 16

   I have recently discovered the incredible benefits of waking up early, using an exhaustive concordance (I use THIS one but hope to get a paper version soon), of only reading a little at a time because you want to study it*, and of reading the same verse in different translations.** Because of this, this will be a long post so I'm splitting it into thought sections. The section titles will be bigger so you know where the splits are. This will be on Leviticus 16 (as you may have gathered from the post title!:)) and I would recommend reading the whole thing first.

Leviticus 16:1-2

   Every word of the Bible has been made available to us for a purpose, although I'm not always sure exactly what the purpose of all the words is. "After" would seem to be one of those meaningless words. I mean, obviously God gave Moses the message for Aaron AFTER the death of his sons. That was six chapters ago! But after looking at it a little bit I decided that the only reason the word was in there was to emphasize the fact that it was after. And I think that these words reveal a compassionate, tender, understanding side of God. Obviously it was necessary that Aaron know how to avoid death so the warning served a clear purpose, but why wasn't he just told that with the rules? Well, if your two sons just died doing their job (albeit not well), how would you feel about continuing that job? Probably a little scared that you too would mess up or get lazy. I think that God's clear instructions to Aaron about how not to die, served to comfort as well as inform. After Aaron knew exactly how to avoid the fate of his two sons, I would be willing to bet that his scared fear vanished only to by replaced by awe fear. And how much better is it be to face God with you knees bowed instead of knocking!

Fun Facts:

•  According to THIS interlinear translation, mercy seat is translated directly from Hebrew as "propitiatory shelter". It is derived from the word propitiate. THIS is the link to the definition and if you click on conciliate it gets even cooler!
• I think it's kinda cool how God is covering the thing that represents His mercy/atonement/"propitiativeness." It seems a little symbolic, like the area of our lives where He is most often relating with us is mercy and forgiveness. (since he is relating to the people most closely in the most holy place)

Leviticus 16:4

   I love how God talks to Moses about Aaron's priestly garb and says, "These are sacred garments, so he must bathe himself in water before he puts them on." Whenever they OT talks about the sacred clothes that they wore when interacting with God, I'm always reminded of Ephesians 6:10-18 where it talks about the armor of God. I've always connected the OT and NT by thinking that the same things are done in both except that they are done physically in the OT and spiritually in the NT (not every time of course but generally speaking). I feel like this is a extension of that connection. Because Aaron's garments were sacred, he must cleanse himself before putting them on. The same is true for us. When we let the armor of God fall away from us, we sin. But it's not like we can successfully slap it back on as soon as we notice it's gone. We must first cleanse ourselves through confession, repentance, and forgiveness before we are in a position to wear something so holy and full of God.


Leviticus 16:7-10; 15-22

   For some reason I was really struck by the two goats, especially the second one. I love that the people's sins are confessed verbally before they can be sent away. I love the way that the scapegoat is driven into the wilderness where it can't find its way back. I love the way that there is a man chosen to drive away his sin and I think that in this post cross era, God has chosen all of us to be that man everyday. We don't have to wait a year to confess our sin and let God help us drive it far away, we can do it everyday. A lot of times, we'll have to go a little into the unknown (wilderness) ourselves when driving it away but because we are following God's command, we will not get lost! 

Fun Facts:

• Jesus took on the role of both goats
• The first goat is to make peace with God for the ways they have wronged Him (appease) and the second was to prove to the people that God has forgiven them and their sin is far away (at least the sin on that goat! :))
• Lots of times people will do activities where they "drop their sins" into a lake and have them float away with a balloon. I'm sure that someone has taken credit for these cool ideas but really, the original version of this was God's goats!
• In the hebrew translation, the wilderness is called the land of severance. I thought this was cool because it emphasizes that the sin has really been take away from them. That it is completely apart from who they are (although it wasn't permanently severed until JC)

Leviticus 16:13

   In verse 13 some translations use "testimony" in the place of "Arc of Covenant." I looked it up and the original translation says "testimony" but both are used. I think that the two different names are so cool! Both names for the same object present the said object as proof for God's promise that He is real and on their side! And that's exactly what it is, proof of the Promise!  

Leviticus 16:29

   When I was reading this verse I found it really interesting how to "deny yourself" was the equivalent of fasting and not working. In the interlinear bible I discovered that the direct translation says "humble your souls." Humility is the mark of a Christian (check THIS out for confirmations!) so it's only natural that, as Christians, we'd want to "humble our souls" since that is the part of us that we should take the most care of. Now, the Jews in the OT humbled their souls through fasting and refraining from any type of work but those two things aren't always the best idea in today's time. In the OT (and much of the NT as well) fasting was a form of worship and a way to deny oneself in order to put God first. In today's time it would be all to easy to fast with the focus on ourselves by keeping something like weight loss goals or self righteousness in the back of our mind. If we ever fast for external reasons, our souls shall not be humbled but inflated and that's all we'll ever get (Mathew 5:16-18). Doing no work in today's time must be fully understood as well. It doesn't just mean not doing office work, it includes cooking and dishes and laundry and email and everything in between and the point is to dedicate the day to God so it is pointless to fast and do no work if you spend the day on pinterest and playing boardgames. Honestly I'm not so sure if I could do either one successfully right now and until I know that my heart's in the right place and I won't be skiving off on any of my responsibilities. However, even if those aren't the most practical ways to humble our souls and deny ourselves, there are ways we could serve, times we could spend praying, and money we could give to God's people that may do the job in a way more suitable to our lives and where we are in our walk. Seeing as fasting was the equivalent of denying oneself, what you could do to deny yourself for God's sake is what will work to humble your soul. Of course I'm mainly speaking for myself so anyone of y'all reading this may be in a place where fasting and not working would be perfectly suitable and practical. If this is your case, go for it! 


*I used to excuse myself from spending "too much time" Bibleing because I "didn't want to forget all the stuff I was learning." Now, God is teaching me that He'll strengthen my memory but I shouldn't read to much at once or I'll be late for school if I actually study! :)
**You are probably already aware of this but if you need a certain translation you can use Bible Gateway's translation bar thingy.

Serious Skin Diseases

   I was just reading through Leviticus 13:1-46 and was amazed by the instructions God gave the people for their own good. First, He is aware that no real medical advancements have been made so He tells the priests and people exactly what to do look for to tell if a skin condition goes deeper than the skin (they look for hair in the affected area). He also gives the people many opportunities for healing checks so that they aren't unclean for too long if their disease is just a temporary ailment. Everything makes a lot of sense health wise and shows how God cares for His people but Leviticus 13:45-46 always makes me cringe. It seems a little unnecessary for the people to have to tear their clothes, leave their hair uncombed, cover their mouth and yell "unclean", and live in an isolated place outside the camp. But when you really think about it, it's not.
   The part that's the hardest for me to grasp is living out side of the camp, especially since leprosy (now called Hansen's disease) is not very contagious.* It can only be caught through respiratory droplets (someone breathing on you) of an infected person. And now it makes sense. If you have this disease it would foolish to stay in camp, even if you were confined to your home. In Biblical times, many families all slept together and married couples certainly did. If you had the disease, there was a huge chance that you'd breath on someone while y'all were sleeping and then you'd both have it!
   The clothes and hair and yelling fulfill the need for a visible, audible sign so that no one unwittingly come close enough to catch the disease. And, just incase, God has them cover their mouths as they yell (could this be to catch any sneaky respiratory droplets?). So, point is, when you take a closer look a Biblical rules and passages that seem ridiculous, you discover that they actually make perfect sense and Leviticus 13 is no exception! :) 

*My study Bible also said that leprosy could have simply been the name used for all the skin diseases since they couldn't differentiate between them yet and Hansen's Disease was the most common one or something like that. In this case, it is likely that many types of "leprosy" were contagious. But for now, lets leprosy is referring to Hansen's Disease.

Ceremonially Clean and Unclean Animals

   People are often confused why God gave His people such long, detailed rules in the OT. For instance, the 47 verses dedicated to what animals you can't eat (Leviticus 11:1-47). Most people explain this passage by saying that God was setting these rules for health purposes and He probably was! Most of the animals listed are scavengers and therefore more likely to carry disease. There are also rules saying that if a rat falls into your food you must throw it away so that makes a lot of sense. Personally however, I think that there is more to the laws than health.
   According to my Bible, pigs were a common animal used by pagans for religious sacrifice (which means they were probably raised and eaten as well). If the Israelites couldn't eat pigs or use them for sacrifice, they had no use for them. That meant that there was one less link between God's people and the Pagans surrounding them. 
   God wanted His people to be holy (set a part, different, unique) because He is holy. He knew that mixing with the Pagans would loosen their grip on who they were as God's people because of the compromises they would make over time. It seems like many of God's rules could have served a double purpose by keeping the Israelites away from those who could and would defile them (not associating with certain animals limited reasons for social or business interaction with pagan communities). 
   This is yet another change that Jesus brought about with the cross. When Jesus was on earth He explained that food doesn't go through our heart, just our stomach, so eating certain foods won't defile us but acting in certain ways will (Mark 7:14-19). This is why I think that the food restrictions were put in place more for spiritual health than physical. When we live with Jesus and have the Holy Spirit inside of us,God wants us to go out into the non-christian world and declare His name. The difference between then and now is, simply put, Jesus. If we love Jesus, He lives inside of us which makes it quite a bit harder to be defiled by the outside world. Also, we can go preach to people because we actually have hope and salvation to share with them (an eternal purpose for association!) 
   
Side Note: My study Bible also pointed out that God not only says not to eat them but even touching them will render you unclean. Direct Quote: "He wanted the people to be totally seperated from those things He had forbidden. So often we flirt with temptation, rationalizing that at least we are technically keeping the commandment not to commit the sin. But God wants us to separate ourselves completely from all sin and tempting situations. Perhaps this passage has made you aware of areas of your life where you have "technical" innocence but in which you have actually been involved in sin. It is time to cross back over the line and stay there." That note really hit home for me because I tend to do that a lot. You know, thinking to yourself, "well, mom didn't say I couldn't be reading" but knowing that she did say to do you homework. So yeah, this is definitely something that I need to work on! And if you do too, I hope that you found this as encouraging and enlightening as I did! :)

Expansion on the Chronological Life Application Study Bible

Nadab and Abihu

   I recently received an amazing Bible from my parents. It's chronological and has the best study notes I've ever read! I'm currently reading through the OT and the explanations of different events and laws are making God's word come alive to me in a whole new way! Because of this, many of my posts will be expansions on what I've read in my Bible so whenever you see "Expansion on the Chronological Life Application Study Bible" at the bottom of a post, please know that much of the post is not original! On that note (no pun intended!:)), lets dive into the confusing story of Nadab and Abihu. 

        Please read Leviticus 10:1-7 before continuing!

   Stories like this are always extremely confusing to me because it seems so crazy that God would destroy someone for making what seems to be a little mistake. These stories are also very powerful weapons used by those who fight against the reality of God and Christ because many Christians don't know how to respond or haven't even heard the stories. (Being able to stand up for God is another incentive to know and treasure His word.) Although I may never understand the reason behind this particular action in it's entirety, the explanation given in my study notes made a lot of sense. It is paraphrased below.


   Even though they had just listened to the explanation of God's personal instructions (Leviticus 1-7), watched them preformed (Leviticus 8-9:21), and visually seen the presence of God (Leviticus 9:22-24), they used the wrong kind of fire when the sacrificed their offering to the Lord. The fire on the Alter used for sacrifice was holy because God's greatness and goodness and holiness demanded that everything the Israelites worshiped Him with was holy (This changed after Jesus came. Now, through His grace, we can worship God however we feel lead by the Holy Spirit which is the way God originally intended anyway! Thanks JC!) Nadab and Abihu were being careless in their service and worship of God. The instructions for how to relate to God are part of His law so preforming the sacrifices was an act of obedience and doing them correctly showed respect. Nadab and Abihu had been placed in a position of leadership so they had a special responsibility to obey God because the people would follow their lead. However, instead of taking care to obey God and not lead His people astray, one of their first acts as priests (they were still in the ordination process and this could be their first since no others are mentioned) showed disrespect and disobedience to God's law. You know the story Jesus told about the master and the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), Nadab and Abihu are like the first man. As priests, the were respected, taken care of, and got to spend their time serving God in the beautiful tabernacle tent. But, they were careless with what they'd been given and received their due reward.** 
   So, what can we learn from the story of Nadab and Abihu? We can learn what it means to be a leader for Jesus. When God puts us in a position to lead, it is extremely serious because God's people are what He loves most in the world and when we lead, He has trusted us with what is most precious to Him. If God has commissioned you to lead or teach others, never take that role for granted or abuse it. Stay faithful to God and follow His instructions.


*Does this mean they aren't in heaven? Who are any of us humans to say? Nadab and Abihu and real people and their story is a true story, God has told us what we can learn from and no more. 
*Many people argue against Christianity by claiming the the fiery God of the OT is very different from sweet, loving Jesus in the NT. As a follower of Jesus, it is important that we know the truth, Jesus is God. (John 10:30; 1 Tim. 3:16; John 8:19; John 1:14) But just as important as it is to know and believe the verses that spell it out for us, it is also important to recognize that fact. The story of Nadab and Abihu can be easily related parable of the talents. Just as Nadab and Abihu were severely punished for their disrespect and disobedience toward God, so was the third servant and all three were severely punished. There are many other similarities between Jesus' teaching, God's instruction, and the event of the OT. But to me, the most significant is the fact that from the moment Adam and Eve sinned, God (in His three parts) had a plan to sacrifice Himself to save us. He alluded to Jesus all through the OT which shows that He never changed His mind or love in regards to us and the salvation plan. 

Food for Thought: According to John 1:14, God (the threesome) is the perfect balance of grace and truth. When God kills Nadab and Abihu, He's displaying the truth side of Himself. He flat out said bad things would happen to those who disobeyed the laws created by God for their own good. But what if He was also showing grace to His people by eliminating the opportunity for them to have been led astray by two of their first priests. Obviously this could be completely wrong but I thought it was interesting to think about.

Reassurance: One way that we are assured that they weren't consumed by the fiery wrath of God for a little accident is what next happens with their two brothers, Eleazar and Ithamar. Read Leviticus 10:16-20. The two brothers were confused, sad, and probably quite scared. They did what they thought would be best based on God's law and their own feelings. While it probably would have been best for them to go ahead and follow God's law despite their emotions, God won't punish us for doing things wrong on accident in our confusion or grief. What matters to Him is that we are doing our best to obey Him and ask forgiveness when we don't get it right. 

Expansion on the Chronological Life Application Study Bible

p.s. the last 2 sentences from the "So, what can..." paragraph are verbatim from my Bible.