The sons of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, each took his fire-pan, and put fire in it and placed incense upon it... A fire came forth from before Hashem and consumed them both, and they died before Hashem. Moshe said to Aharon: Of this did Hashem say, "I will be sanctified through those who are close to Me"...
Rashi explains what it was that Moshe told his brother Aharon.
אמר משה לאהרן, אהרן אחי, יודע הייתי שיתקדש הבית במיודעיו של מקום, והייתי סבור או בי או בך, עכשיו רואה אני שהם גדולים ממני וממך - Moshe said to Aharon, "Ahron my brother, I knew that the Mishkan would become sanctified through those close to Hashem. I was thus under the impression that it would become sanctified either through me or through you. Now I see that they are greater than you and I".
It seems hard to comprehend how Moshe could declare Nadav and Avihu to be of greater status than him and Aharon, when one of the transgressions that the Midrash (ויק"ר כ ט) attributes to Nadav and Avihu is the fact that they did not bear any children, and the Gemara in Brachos (ה ע"ב) tells us, firstly, that the deprivation of children is not an affliction of love, and secondly, that righteous people are only afflicted with 'afflictions of love'. Thus, Nadav and Avihu who did not have children, were clearly not considered amongst the righteous, and definitely not more righteous than Moshe and Aharon.
[Ed note: Although, in context of this discussion, the Zera Shimshon quotes the Gemara according to Rashi's commentary, nevertheless, it is important to note that Tosfos argues with Rashi's premise that righteous people are not afflicted with childlessness; for throughout our history many very righteous people have been known to be barren, and thus Tosfos explains this Gemara in a different manner.]
Furthermore, the Passuk (במדבר ג ד) recounts how Elazar and Isamar inherited the position of ministering in the Bais Hamikdash from their brothers, Nadav and Avihu.
וימת נדב ואביהוא לפני ה' בהקרבם אש זרה לפני ה' במדבר סיני ובנים לא היו להם ויכהן אלעזר ואיתמר על פני אהרן אביהם - Nadav and Avihu died before Hashem when they offered alien fire before Hashem in the Sinai Desert, and they had no children; and Elazar and Isamar ministered in the presence of Aharon, their father. The Midrash (ויק"ר כ יא) expounds on the connection that the Passuk makes between the fact that Nadav and Avihu had no children, and the fact that Elazar and Isamar ministered in their stead, and infers from it the following lesson. If they would have had children those children would have preceded Elazar and Isamar in serving as Kohanim, for we learn that whoever takes precedence in the order of the financial inheritance also takes precedence in the order of the inheritance of positions of honor; with the one condition being that this is only if he conducts himself in the same worthy manner as his forbearers. We need to understand how the Midrash infers from this Passuk that one inherits his father's position only on condition that he is as worthy as his father.
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The Passuk (בראשית טו ב) states that Avraham asked Hashem, מה תתן לי ואנכי הולך ערירי - "What will You give me, seeing that I go childless?" This is hard to understand, being that Hashem had already promised him a child. The Midrash (בר"ר מד ט) thus explains his words as follows. There were two people who said the same thing before Hashem: Avraham and David. Avraham said to Hashem, "What will You give me?" What he was alluding to was, "If I am destined to beget children who will anger You, I prefer to go childless". Similarly, David said to Hashem, "Hashem, examine me and know my heart, and see if I have a troublesome way; and lead me in the way of eternity". What David was alluding to was, "Hashem, examine who will come out from me, and if I am destined to beget children who will displease You, I prefer that You take my life before that happens". Avraham and David's whole purpose in having children was to raise them to serve Hashem; if this was not the case, then they did not wish to have descendants.
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In light of this, we can explain that when Hashem told Moshe that 'He would be sanctified through those who are close to Him', and then it was through Nadav and Avihu that Hashem was sanctified, Moshe understood that it must be that they were indeed greater that him and Aharon, and thus the reason why Hashem withheld children from them must be only because the children that they were destined to bear were those who wouldn't grow up righteously, and the righteous would rather go barren than to bear unworthy children.
Accordingly, we can also understand from where the Midrash learns that only worthy children inherit their righteous father's position. For the Passuk states that Elazar and Isamar inherited the positions of their brothers only because their brothers had no children. This clearly infers that had Nadav and Avihu had children, it would have been those children who would have inherited their positions. Because we established that Hashem only begets worthy children to righteous people, therefore this Passuk can only infer that Nadav and Avihu's worthy children would have inherited their position. Thus, indeed, this Passuk only infers that one inherits the position of his righteous father on condition that he is as worthy as his father.
(זרע שמשון פרשתנו אות ג)
