Incense - #AtoZChallenge

It was a time of great faith and abundant joy. Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, had rescued the Israelites from their lives of slavery. 

They had escaped from Egypt and were rejoicing in their freedom.

The Lord had selected the tribe of Levites to be priests in perpetuity. 

The priesthood was to be their inheritance. It was a great honor...

Moses looked around at the assembled group. Faces looked back at him, some excited, some concerned. "I know it sounds like a lot, but this is all written down, and we'll do the first few sacrifices together so that everyone can see how it goes. You agree?"

"Amen!" the chorus of voices gave Moses confidence. The descendants of Levi understood in principle, at least. The practicalities of each step of each type of sacrifice, whether to burn incense or not, times and dates, would all be confirmed as they performed their new duties. He dismissed them to go home to their tents.

Nadab and Abihu arrived back at their neighboring tents to see their wives working together on a big meal. "What's this?" Nadab asked.

"We're just so proud of you!" His wife answered, planting a kiss on his cheek while keeping her greasy hands away from him. "Dinner will be ready soon." The two brothers looked at each other and smiled. Abihu's wife looked up from wrangling their toddler and cheered in agreement. "So happy!" she called out. As Aaron's sons, they held rank. This would be good.

They shared their evening meal together. The wives were interested in what was happening with their husbands. "We are so blessed!" said one. Abihu demurred. "It is a great honor." He looked at his brother. "There's a lot of responsibility..."

Nadab finished the thought. "And so many details! My goodness!"

After dinner, the two brothers sat in front of their tents talking. "I'm not a fan of trekking across a desert, but maybe being God's chosen will make it a little easier," said Nadab.

"Yeah, I'm not big on the idea of getting bloody for all these different sacrifices," Abihu said, and looked slyly at his brother. "But then, no one else is allowed to do it." They discussed the different jobs that all their friends and neighbors from other tribes had, and mused about what things would be like in the promised land.

Nadab had an idea. "Hey! Tomorrow, let's go up and light some incense. Just, you know, praise or thanks, or whatever."

Abihu gave a skeptical look.

"No one else can do it!" Nadab urged. Aaron had only four sons. Nadab and Abihu were among the elite of the Levites, who were the elite of the whole nation of Israel. "Come on. It's a good thing! 'A pleasing aroma to the Lord'!" He quoted Moses' words back to his brother.

"Yeah, but only at certain times and certain situations. We should check the rules first."

"Oh, stop. We're praising God!" Nadab could see his brother wasn't on board. "Think of it as... offering a gift of thanks for - for - for the blessing of being able to offer gifts of thanks." 

Abihu was still skeptical. But this was his closest brother. He wouldn't lead him astray. He exhaled a huff. "Yeah, okay. Tomorrow."

The next day, they took their censors, lit incense, and brought it to the tabernacle at dawn. People saw them, smelled the incense, and gathered to see what was going on. "Where's Moses?" one person whispered. "I didn't hear anything about a gathering," said another as they followed behind. 

At the tabernacle, Nadab looked back to see the gathering crowd and smiled. He made a big show of taking his brother's arm and they entered the outer tent to the noise of cheering behind them. Those nearest the entrance watched as fire burst out of the censors and consumed them in an instant.

Reference: The brief tale of Nadab and Abihu's sudden death is told in the book of  Leviticus, chapter 10, verses 1 and 2. No explanation is given for why they did it, just that it was "unauthorized fire" at a time when the rules were just being set.