What Does Leviticus 10:1 Mean in the King James?
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Their act brings something near, but nearness does not make an uncommanded offering authorized.
THE MEANING
Nadab and Abihu take their censers, add fire and incense, and bring a foreign fire before the LORD, though he has not commanded it. The action looks like an offering, yet the verse names it as outside what was commanded. Their intention remains unspoken; the missing command is explicit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
An act becomes acceptable simply because it is presented before God as an offering.
THE ROOT
וַיַּקְרִיבוּ
wayyaqrivu
GROWS FROM
קרב
Approach, draw near, or bring near.
The Hebrew verb carries the movement of bringing near: what the KJV calls “offered” is also an approach. The same root names both a thing brought near and what is near, so the verse frames their action as entering proximity, not merely presenting an object.
ALSO GROWS
qorbān: Drawing near; an offering brought near.
קָרְבָּן
The word joins an offering to the act of bringing near, connecting the object they present with the approach they make.
qarov: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
The same consonants connect bringing near with nearness itself: the act and the state share the same root.
צִוָּה
tsivvah
GROWS FROM
צוה
Command or charge.
The verse expressly marks the offering as something the LORD had not commanded; the absence of a charge is part of the description, not an inference added by the reader. This root sharpens the contrast between bringing near and being directed to bring near.
ALSO GROWS
mitzvah: Commandment, instruction.
מִצְוָה
The related noun shows the command as a given instruction, bringing the verse’s emphasis on what was not commanded into focus.
tetzavveh: You shall command.
תְּצַוֶּה
This verb form shares the command root and shows its use as an explicit direction to act.
THE PATTERN
Approach to God is shaped by what God gives and requires, not by the religious appearance of the act.
What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.THE THREAD
And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make an atonement for thyself, and for the people: and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them; as the LORD commanded.In both verses, the Hebrew root קרב (q-r-b; qarav, draw near or bring near) carries the movement rendered as “go unto,” “offer,” and “offering.” Leviticus 9:7 places Aaron’s approach under the LORD’s command; 10:1 uses that same approach-language for an offering the LORD did not command.
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