Joy Over Sorrow

“And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left alive, saying, Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?” (Le 10:16-17 AV)

 There is a lot going on here.  Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron who served as priests, offered strange fire before the LORD and died as a result.  There is much speculation as to exactly what the strange fire was, but clearly, it was not in accordance with the laws of fire offered to God.  God struck them dead.  Eleazar and Ithamar took their place.  Two more sons of Aaron.  The goat of the sin offering was to be offered, but the flesh was to be kept back and eaten with joy by the priests in the holy place before the LORD.  The two sons, out of respect for their father’s grief and their own sorrow, decided to burn their portion on a separate fire apart from the brazen altar.  Moses confronts them and seeing as how they could not fulfill the law by eating the sacrifice with joy, was content with their solution.  Prior to this entry, I wrote regarding God’s grace and the impossibility of fulfilling God’s law.  Sometimes it is virtually impossible to walk in obedience and thus God’s grace abounds.  One cannot read the word and pray daily if they are under medication following surgery.  However, for this morning’s meditation, let us consider joy.  In particular, the joy that should always attend to the reality of forgiveness of sins.  The sin offering was the offering that atoned for sin.  When assimilating it by eating it, joy should abound.  Sin has been atoned for and joy must be the result.

Recently, I have been reminded of the temporary nature of life.  As one ages, they are keenly aware of how short life is getting.  Life changes and the simple joys of this life are lost to its realities of it.  Things change.  Adjusting to my sons growing older and leaving the house was a difficult adjustment to make.  One that almost broke me.  For twenty years or so, there were always around inviting me to be a part of their life.  I watched them grow up together.  I watched them play together.  Now, they were scattered to different parts of the globe.  The joy of my salvation was one source of overcoming that deep grief of loss.  Today, my wife and I are getting older.  Our health isn’t what it used to be.  Some of the simple things we used to enjoy as a couple is not as common as they once were.  But one comfort which keeps me in a state of joy is remembering we will share eternity.  I know Jesus says there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage in eternity, but that doesn’t mean Lisa and I will cease to keep company.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God which we have in Christ Jesus.  Not His love for us, nor our love for one another.

Salvation, or the forgiveness of sin, should be the joy that sustains us through the hardships of life.  Knowing nothing can separate us from the love of God no matter the depth of our trial is the medicine a troubled soul needs.  We are not one to judge Eleazar, Ithamar, or Aaron.  We would have done the same.  And grace from Moses and God would have been granted.  But in this account, we can also see that not eating the sacrifice with joy failed to take advantage of an opportunity to hasten recovery from their troubled soul.  Perhaps they should have tried.  Perhaps not.  All we do know is they were required to eat the sacrifice with joy and if they had, their loss would have been lessened.  There is no blame when they could not.  No fault left at their feet.  Moses was content with the explanation.  No harm, no foul.  But one cannot help but ask the question if they had eaten, would they have been better off?