Tag: Abihu

Navigating the Complexities of Worship

Biblical Examples of Obedience and Error

Brent Pollard

 Comparing the post-exilic Jews criticized in Malachi, David, and Nadab and Abihu provides a holistic picture of the connection between human deeds and divine expectations in worship and obedience. Each scenario represents distinct facets of human engagement with divine decrees and religious rituals.

The Jews who returned from exile did not exert much effort in following God’s decrees during Malachi’s time. God accused them of robbing Him because they withheld their offerings (Malachi 3.8–12). Even when they did bring offerings, they only brought God their leftovers, which God considered disrespectful since it showed a lack of reverence and sincerity toward Him (Malachi 1.6–14). Consequently, their lack of reverence and sincerity undermined their worship and strained their relationship with Him.

It is essential to refrain from viewing worship as a mere duty and instead approach it sincerely, reflecting deeply on God’s holiness and His expectations.

David’s unauthorized census, influenced by Satan during a time of divine displeasure with Israel, exemplifies a grave judgment error by disregarding Exodus’s instructions for conducting censuses (Exodus 30.11–12). Despite his general Joab’s objections, David proceeded, only to recognize his sin swiftly. God presented three punitive options, with David choosing a three-day pestilence. At Araunah’s threshing floor, divine mercy stopped this pestilence. God instructed David to make a sacrifice there to atone for his sin. Araunah offered his livestock, crops, and farming implements as fuel for the sacrifice. However, David insisted on purchasing the necessary items for the sacrifice from Araunah, emphasizing that true sacrifice must come with a personal cost, reflecting his repentance and adherence to divine instructions (2 Samuel 24.24; 1 Chronicles 21.24).

David’s insistence on offering to God only what costs him personally emphasizes the value of sacrifice and personal investment in worship. Similarly, our worship and offerings to God must be meaningful and require personal sacrifice. David’s actions demonstrate the value of sincerity, individual responsibility, and acknowledging God’s worthiness in worship. We should not assume God expects less of us.

In Leviticus 10.1, we read about Nadab and Abihu, who offered a “strange” fire that God had not authorized. Their lack of sober judgment might have made things worse. The story serves as a warning about the significance of following God’s commands regarding worship. The severe punishment given to Nadab and Abihu shows how seriously God takes obedience and the dangers of presumptuous or innovative worship practices.

What comparative insights can we glean from examining these three examples of worship?

David sincerely adheres to divine commands, while Nadab and Abihu and the post-exilic Jews act presumptuously or complacently.

David demonstrates a profound reverence for God and deeply understands His nature. He acknowledges the importance of making meaningful sacrifices. Nadab and Abihu, on the other hand, failed to show reverence or a complete understanding of the sacred nature of God’s specific instructions. The actions of the post-exilic Jews imply a detachment from the importance and meaning of their worship practices.

The narrative of David underscores the crucial value of genuine and heartfelt worship. Nadab and Abihu’s story warns those who disregard God’s commands. Additionally, the account in Malachi calls for reevaluating our approach to worship. It urges us to move away from complacency and towards a more heartfelt and obedient practice. These stories emphasize the consequences of our actions and highlight the valuable lessons we can learn from them.

The central theme derived from these examples underscores the importance of approaching God with sincerity, reverence, and unwavering obedience. Worship transcends mere human actions for personal satisfaction; it is a divine mandate that demands meticulous adherence to God’s commands and a heart devoted to honoring Him. Each of these narratives offers valuable perspectives on the nature of worship, the significance of obedience, and the consequences of diverse attitudes and actions in response to divine directives.  

A Hope For The Future

Carl Pollard

 Hebrews 7:20-28 compares and contrasts Christ to the Levitical priesthood. In these verses Jesus’ Superiority is clearly seen. With Christ we have hope in the future, and with that comes power for the present. Christ is a better hope because He is the Appointed Priest. Being appointed caries with it the idea of being assigned a role or job. Christ has been assigned the role of being our very own priest. 

Hebrews 7:20-22 says, “And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.'” This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.”

The Levitical priests were appointed by command. Exodus 28:1-4, “Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him for my priesthood. These are the garments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests.”

‭‭God created the role of priests. It was a Divine command, but without an oath. In contrast to this, the great High Priest was made Priest with an oath. Psalm 110:4 says, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.””

This is a promise joined with an oath. Hebrews 6:17, “So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.” Jesus is a guarantee of the better covenant appointed by an oath from God, Christ guarantees the new covenant that is better. 

Since He is appointed by God, we have direct access through Our Great High Priest. We have hope in knowing that the very Son of God is active in our relationship to the Father. That is a better hope. Beyond anything in the world. 

What do you hope for in the future? A better job? More money? A bigger home? If so, know that people get fired, money gets spent, and homes rot away. If our hope is anything but our great High Priest, we have lost sight of what’s most important. Christ is our better hope because He has given us what we need most, a relationship with God the Father.

The Price Of Disrespecting God’s Holiness

Brent Pollard

On Wednesday nights at the Andrews, North Carolina, church, I have attempted to teach about the monarchs of united and divided Israel. After we finished studying Saul, I explored David’s life and reign. In the most recent installment of this series, we discussed David’s transport of the Ark of the Covenant from Kiriath-Jearim to David’s newly established capital Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6; 1 Chronicles 13). David didn’t follow Torah protocol when relocating the Ark of the Covenant; instead of having God’s priests carry it, he put it on the back of an ox cart. This decision by David set in motion the series of events that resulted in Uzzah’s death when he reached up to steady the Ark after the oxen jostled it. Such an outcome can more easily stir our emotions than our logic, prompting us to declare that Uzzah’s treatment was unjust.

Although God forbade the Israelites from worshiping graven or molten images, there was one physical object that they were permitted to honor: the Ark of the Covenant. This sacred artifact represented God’s Shekhinah (presence) on earth, facilitating communication with Him. We also recall the Ark’s significance on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the atoning lamb on the mercy seat, which was located between the cherubim’s wings atop the Ark. During the conquest of Canaan, the Israelites took the Ark of the Covenant with them into battle as a symbol of God’s might. However, the apostate Israelites of the Judges’ Period treated the Ark as a mere talisman. This abuse of the Ark led to its temporary loss to the Philistines following their victory over Israel at Aphek (1 Samuel 4). 

Therefore, it becomes clear that God did not overlook Uzzah’s good intentions when he tried to prevent the Ark from falling off the ox cart. Instead, the dishonor David and company showed God kindled His anger because of this act. People treated this holy representation of God with great disrespect, as though they were hauling around a load of potatoes on a simple wooden cart with oxen. While God had overlooked the Philistines’ treatment of the Ark when they returned it similarly (1 Samuel 6), He had expected more from His covenant people. This carefree attitude towards the Ark of the Covenant ultimately led Uzzah to believe he could reach out and touch it without consequence.

It wasn’t the first time God made it abundantly clear that He demanded holiness. For instance, He incinerated Nadab and Abihu for offering an unapproved type of fire, as recorded in Leviticus 10.1. On that occasion, Moses reminded the men’s father, Aaron, of God’s words: “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored” (Leviticus 10.3 NASB1995). Even Moses missed out on the Promised Land for failing to give God the glory when he disobeyed God’s instructions for procuring water for the Israelites since his actions could not give God credit for supplying their needs (Numbers 20.12). Thus, David had ample examples to know that the things of God required the utmost reverence and care. Therefore, it is all the more puzzling that David, who typically sought God’s approval before acting, committed such a blunder here.

So, what is our application for Christians living today? I would suggest that there is something very holy from God that people too often treat profanely today. There are certain circumstances when people are not afraid to use the word “casual” when discussing certain assemblies. I am speaking of the church. As the Ark contained the ten commandments, Paul describes the church as the “pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3.15 NASB1995). This same passage teaches that the church is the household of God! As the Ark contained the manna that God used to sustain the Israelites, the church is where we partake of the Bread of Life (see John 6). And as the budding rod of Aaron within the Ark reminded the Israelites of God’s chosen priesthood, we are reminded that we who comprise the church are God’s holy priesthood today (1 Peter 2.9–10).In closing, the lessons from the time of David, Uzzah, and the Ark of the Covenant are not mere historical narratives; they are instructive for our relationship with God today. As David learned painfully, God’s holy nature demands our profound respect and obedience. This story encourages us, as modern-day believers, to examine how we approach that sacred institution God’s Son purchased with His blood (Acts 20.28). God’s word reminds us to live our faith with reverence and awe, understanding that we should not lightly take God’s presence. Like the Israelites of old, God calls us to honor Him in our actions and to treat the church with the respect and reverence she deserves as the bride of Christ (Isaiah 54.5; Revelation 21.2; Ephesians 5.22ff). Thus, as we go about our worship and service in the church, may we do so with the awareness that we are engaging with the living God, who calls us into a relationship marked by reverence, love, and obedience.

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Knowledgeable Worship

Thursday’s Column: Captain’s Blog

Carl Pollard

Each Sunday, Christians come together to worship our Creator. But before we can properly worship God, we need to know what He wants from us. We can’t just come together and do what we think God would want. There is no guesswork required because God has plainly told us. This isn’t an article on our singing, taking the Lord’s supper, or reading scripture. But worship requires knowledge, and this knowledge will help us to properly prepare when we come together. 

If our knowledge is lacking, what happens? In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu offered God something He did not ask for. “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord” (1-2).

“Strange fire?”

Depending on your translation there are several different interpretations of what they offered. 

  • ESV “Unauthorized” 
  • NKJV “Profane” 
  • RSV “unholy” 

None of these translations speak well of their actions, and we read the consequences of their actions. They offered God a sacrifice without proper knowledge. Some would say that how God responded was uncalled for, and while His actions may seem extreme, there are several facts we learn about Worship. 

We learn that when God tells us how to do something, we better listen. We learn that proper knowledge of how to worship is essential. We learn that God takes worship seriously. 

I’m thankful that God doesn’t deal with us today in the same way. The times that I’ve caught my mind wandering in the songs we sing, or when I loose my train of thought during the Lord’s supper, I’m sure that God has had plenty of opportunities to strike me down. 

Leviticus 10 is a sobering reminder. And we need to ask ourselves, “Are we offering strange fire to God?” 

We can avoid doing this by having the proper knowledge of what God has commanded. 

It’s not about what we think sounds good, or what we think God would like. 

It’s about our Creator. We don’t need to guess; He has clearly told us. In John 4:23-24, Jesus in speaking with the Samaritan woman says, “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews, But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”

What does God want us to know about worship? The people God seeks to be His are the ones who worship in Spirit and Truth. 

The word Spirit literally means, “As the source and seat of insight, feeling, and will.” 

Basically what Jesus is trying to convey is that:

  • When we sing, we sing with feeling
  • When we pray, we pray with feeling
  • When we remember Christ, we feel the weight of the sacrifice. 
  • When we read God’s word, we do it with feeling. 

God wants our hearts to be in worship. 

A knowledge of God helps us accomplish this command. Which is exactly why Jesus says to worship in spirit, but also in Truth. Our emotions and feelings are based on the truth that God has revealed. The truth that comes from divine inspiration. If we worship in spirit and neglect the truth, we are offering strange fire. If we worship in truth alone without emotion, we are offering strange fire to God. 

In order to worship, we must have a knowledge of what God wants from us.

Some Hurdles I Just Cannot Jump Regarding Instrumental Music In Worship

Neal Pollard

How often the matter gets discussed among preachers in churches of Christ, I cannot say. But, I know that it does. More members of the church than we might care to think do not have this matter settled in their minds, especially as it has to do with the state of those who have been immersed for the forgiveness of sins, submit to the authority of Christ in other areas of their lives, but who use the instrument in worship. Some have said they think its use is wrong and we have been right to argue against its use but do not think they can say it is a salvation or fellowship issue. It should be stated that many of these are sincere brethren who love the Lord and people nor are they change agents intent on trying to destroy the Lord’s body. Too often, we have lacked an environment where we could have healthy, constructive dialogue free of name-calling, suspicion, and visceral discussion. But failing to discuss and work through matters like these does not make them disappear.

Having said that, here are some hurdles I just cannot jump regarding this matter:

  • The presence of singing and absence of instruments in New Testament passages. The fact that every instance of singing in the context of the Christians’ activity together reveals singing (Greek is a precise language; ado means to utter words in a melodic pattern [Louw-Nida] and ). Psallo, according to Lexicographers, encompassed playing musical instruments at an earlier time in its linguistic history, but did not mean that in New Testament times (e.g., BDAG, 1094; TDNT, 8:494). Interestingly, the translators of English translations, beginning with the King James Version, were unanimously members of religious groups that used mechanical instruments in music. Despite their obvious bias in worship practice, they translate the Greek “singing and making melody in your hearts.”
  • The absence of instrumental music in worship in early church history. Though a member of the church of Christ, Everett Ferguson has the utmost respect from scholarship across the religious spectrum. In multiple volumes, Ferguson meticulously sets forth the case that instrumental music was absent in the church from its establishment until many centuries later. His studied conclusion is that this was neither incidental nor coincidental. He writes, “The historical argument is quite strong against early Christian use of instrumental music in church” (The Instrumental Music Issue, 98; the whole chapter is a worthwhile read). In another work, he states, “The testimony of early Christian literature is expressly to the absence of instruments from the church for approximately the first thousand years of Christian history” (The Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today, 272). John L. Girardeau, a Presbyterian scholar, devotes an entire, well-documented chapter to the historical case of only vocal music in Christian worship for many centuries and upon doctrinal grounds (see Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church, 86-100).
  • The examples of how God dealt with unauthorized worship throughout history. What do we make of what God does with Cain’s worship in Genesis 4, Nadab and Abihu’s worship in Leviticus 10, and Jeroboam’s worship in 1 Kings 12? Why would God care in the Patriarchal and Mosaic Dispensations that His commands for worship be followed per His instructions, but lose that desire under His Son’s covenant?
  • The fact that God draws definitive, doctrinal conclusions through the use of silence. The writer of Hebrews says, “For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests” (7:14). The argument shows that Jesus could become a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, but not under the Old Testament rule and covenant. Why? God specified Levi as the tribe for the high priest under the old law. It did not explicitly say that a high priest could not come from any other tribe, but it did not have to. What it specified was sufficient, an argument made in the New Testament.
  • The fact that authority can and must be tangibly determined.  Why is it that we sing in worship at all? Is worship merely a matter of what we come up with and wish to offer? Few would argue such. The basis for worship arises from what the New Testament teaches. Nearly everyone, then, would say there are definitive, delineated boundaries. If there is and must be divine authority for worship, and thus “rules” that are objectively determined, there must be activity that falls out of those bounds. Where will we find the boundary markers if not in Scripture?

This list is not meant to be exhaustive and it cannot, in one brief article, be exhaustive. It is included here to show us the great pause that should exist in changing our minds or our teaching on a matter where God has been vocal and specific. The weight of that is not insignificant or inconsequential. May we lovingly and wisely approach this matter and take great care before we relegate a matter of divine importance to a mere matter of human preference.

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