10:1 It has been recounted that Aaron’s two eldest sons, Nadav and Avihu, had become liable to the death penalty at the Giving of the Torah. Now, ten months later, they became liable to the death penalty on two additional counts. First, they reasoned correctly that just as the revelation of the Divine Presence that accompanies the daily morning sacrifice is followed by offering up incense, so should the revelation of the Divine Presence that had just been witnessed be followed by an incense offering, as well. Although they were right, they stated the law (and acted on it) before giving Moses a chance to do so. Since Nadav and Avihu’s spiritual stature was second only to that of Moses and Aaron, they should have certainly known not to preempt Moses in this way, and they therefore incurred the death penalty.
From a second perspective, Nadav and Avihu sought to enhance the ecstasy of the moment by drinking wine; in this inebriated state, they offered up their incense. Inasmuch as performing sacrificial rites while drunk had not yet been forbidden, they did not technically transgress any prohibition; therefore, their incense did elicit Divine revelation. However, due to their exalted spiritual stature, they should have intuited that God does not want His priests to officiate while drunk. It was in this sense that their incense was “an unauthorized fire that God had not commanded them to offer up.” They therefore thereby incurred the death penalty.
Thus, Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, each took a pan, put coals that were on fire in it, placed incense upon the fire, and thus brought before God (i.e., on the Inner Altar) a fire that was foreign—i.e., unauthorized—as far as they were concerned, inasmuch as He had not commanded them to offer it up (or offer it up in this way), although He had indeed commanded Moses to offer it up.
2 This incense offering did, indeed, elicit a revelation of the Divine Presence similar to the one that had just occurred: fire went forth from before God. However, in this case, because Nadav and Avihu had offered the incense improperly, the fire issued in the form of two pairs of flames that entered their nostrils and consumed them—i.e., their souls, leaving their bodies and clothing intact—and thus they died there, before God.
