I Chronicles 24:1 "Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abibu, Eleazar, and Ithamar."

This agrees with Numbers 3:1, 2 "These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spake with Moses in mount Sinai." [1] "And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the first born, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar." [2] The first born Nadab and Abihu would never assume the role of their father because of the wickedness in their acts, going against YHVH Father's instructions concerning the fire on the altar.

Numbers 10:1 "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 first verses of Numbers 10, were at the time when the children of Israel were still camped at the base of mount Sinai. It had been two years since that Passover night, when the Pharaoh of Egypt had given the order to the children of Israel to depart out of Egypt. It was at this time when the Israelites were at the base of mount Sinai that God gave a new order to the camp; an avenue whereby His people could approach YHVH, by God's own way. This way was through the Tabernacle and the Holy of Holies, and the mercy seat, where God would commune with His people.

The numbering of the men over twenty had taken place, and the males of Levi had been separated from the rest of the tribes, as the males of Levi would be in service to the Lord, and the rest of the men of all the tribes would be in the service of the army for protection, as the entire congregation would be migrating through the wilderness for the next thirty eight years.

Because of the stand that the Levites made, united, God took this tribe to be committed to him. Aaron and his sons had just finished going through a very hard time of the rigors of the consecration process, and this procedure was required by God for any priest to become sanctified, or set apart for His service. You would expect these two men, Nadab and Abihu, to be taking their relationship with YHVH our Heaven Father very seriously at this point in time. These two men looked at their new job as priest as if a game. They did not take God seriously; the point was that God would provide the fire for their sacrifices.

When the call came to perform their duties, these two oldest sons of Aaron, took their censer pans that were to carry the coals of fire, and they put live coals of fire from their own home into them. They brought those hot coals to the tabernacle altar to start the fire on the altar of God. We know from the prior chapter of Leviticus, that God was the only one to provide the fire on the altar of God. This fire was to be kindled day and night, and offerings made every morning and evening on the altar. These two sons of Aaron had let the fire go out by not kindling the fire.

The incense of prayer and worship on the golden altar in the holy place was kindled by fire taken from the brazen alter in the outer court, on which atonement was made, as is given in Leviticus 16:12, 13. In this case, only those whose sin is atoned for can worship. Strange fire is the fire made by man and that was not what God provided, or commanded, required and given by God from heaven. This strange fire was fire of their own kindling: making another way. It is also our way that we offer to God in our worship today. People today try to make other ways to the Father than "the Way" that God has laid out to approach Him from His holy Word. Today all the worship, all the fire that is not kindled by the Holy Spirit is "strange fire", and is of the flesh.

John 4:23 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him."

John 4:24 "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth."

Today there is a movement to bring all religions of the world together to form a common way to worship God. God is letting us know that there is only one way, and that way is through His Son Jesus The Christ. So applying what Nadab and Abihu did, is similar to what is going on today in the ecumenical church world. The introduction of anything in the worship of God that is not ordered by God in and through His Word, is "strange fire". It is an abomination in the eyes of God, and that is why Nadab and Abihu were struck down by God in the sight of the people. God used their death to teach the children of Israel a lesson that they do not play games with their God. Remember that the children of Israel had drifted far from the Lord as a people, during their time of captivity from the days of Joseph, to the time of Moses.

Numbers 10:2 "And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord."

This fire did not come from the burning offering altar, but from God Himself, just as that Spirit struck Zacharias and made him unable to speak when the angel told him that Elizabeth would bare John the Baptist. There at the foot of mount Sinai, the glory of God had just appeared before the entire congregation, and all that were present fell on their faces, this act of these two sons of Aaron took place right after this event, and it was not the proper time for the burning of the incense as many scholars believe.

Numbers 10:3 "Then Moses said unto Aaron, "This is it that the Lord spake, saying, `I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me, and before all the people I will be glorified.' " And Aaron held his peace."

The people witnessed God's glory and they witnessed this act by these to sons of Aaron. Of course as a father, Aaron would be upset, but Moses told Aaron to hold his peace, for God is speaking and being sanctified before the people of the congregation. And God is letting them know that He has set His priests aside to be sanctified before Him. This was not a game as Nadab and Abihu had thought, and God was letting the Congregation know it. We read in I Peter 4:17

I Peter 4:17 "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"

God is telling the Christians that He will not put up with horseplay in His house. As we have seen in chapters 2 - 9 of Leviticus, each of the sacrifice offerings and procedures leading to the sacrifice are to be done in orderly manner, exactly as God has prescribed through the mouth of Moses. When our Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross He paid the price for the sins of those twho by faith would come to him in belief and repentance, the way was established, and that way became the only way to follow. There are no shortcuts, or new ways to God, it was simply coming to the Father through His Son Jesus the Christ.

All worship that does not have Jesus Christ the center and object of it's worship, and the glory of Jehovah for it's end, and the holy Spirit for it's power, will be rejected and judged by God. You can count on that. God sanctified Himself by the actions of His judgments. Aaron and his sons were the ones that were suppose to be the leaders in the religious community, and they were the ones that broke the law first.

I Chronicles 24:2 "But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest's office."

These two young sons of Aaron died right in the sight of their father. In time God would place Aaron's third son Eleazar as High priest, when Aaron would die in the wilderness. Notice how the Kenite scribes left out those reasons that Nadab and Abihu were killed in their writings.

I Chronicles 24:3 "And David distributed them, both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their offices in their service."

This chapter is taking a look at the numbering of the Levites, but not at God's orders, like back in the wilderness some five hundred years before, but as it was written back in I Chronicles 21:1 "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to numbering Israel.

I Chronicles 24:4 "And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers."

I Chronicles 24:5 "Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another; for the governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of Eleazar, and the sons of Ithamar."

At first thought, you would think that this numbering division was back in the wilderness, but it was not. This is speaking of the numbering of the Levites and sons of Aaron some five hundred years later, at the time David was king over Israel. David was doing the numbering here and not the high priest. The method used for making the divisions of the land as God laid out in Numbers 26:55 "According to the lot shall the possession thereof be divided between many and few." This process was controlled by the high priest at the time, for he was the one that kept the Urim and Thummim. The High priest cast the lots and the Lord caused the stones to come either yea or not, this way or that, or what ever the decision had to be made in that moment in time.

I Chronicles 24:6 "And Shemaiah the son of Nethaneel the scribe, one of the Levites, wrote them before the king and the prince, and Aadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and before the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites: one principle household being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar."

I Chronicles 24:7 "Now the first lot came forth to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,"

So there were twenty four men to qualify to fulfill the position of delivering the courses for that week, and this is the order that each of the men would serve in the temple. The tour of duty lasted from Sabbath to Sabbath. These men lived in the time of David's numbering, about 921 B.C. and by the time that the house of Judah came out of Captivity in about 455 B.C., there was not one Levite returning to Jerusalem to set up this form of worship God required in His Temple. These Kenites had taken over the priesthood from top to bottom, as Ezra noted in Ezra 8:15; "And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the People, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi."

Ezra finally saw the problem he had with this tribe of Nethinims that he was taking back to Jerusalem with him, to build the temple and set up Temple worship. King Artaxerxes gave the commission to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of God, to speedily go back and set up temple worship. However Ezra never stopped to take note that the entire priesthood had been taken over by Satan's kids while Judah was in Babylonian captivity, and within this 43,000 people that are returning to Jerusalem, not one of them is a Levite. As you read the New Testament and see how those Jewish Kenite religious leaders sought to murder Jesus at every turn of His life, it becomes clearer just who those religious leaders were. They were the offspring of those that are returning here to set up Temple worship. Sure the names we read here of those assigned to duty in the Temple were Levite, but there was not one Levite that was with Ezra when they left for Jerusalem to reestablish temple worship.

I Chronicles 24:8 "The third to Hirim, the fourth to Seorim,"

I Chronicles 24:9 "The fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin,"

I Chronicles 24:10 "The seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,"

I Chronicles 24:11 "The ninth to Jeshuah, the tenth to Shecaniah,"

I Chronicles 24:12 "The eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,"

I Chronicles 24:13 "The thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,"

I Chronicles 24:14 "The fiftheenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,"

I Chronicles 24:15 "The seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Aphses,"

I Chronicles 24:16 "The nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezekel,"

I Chronicles 24:17 "The one and twentieth to Jachim, the two and twentieth to Gamul,"

I Chronicles 24:18 "The three and twetieth to Delaiah, the four and twentieth to Maaziah."

I Chronicles 24:19 "These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the Lord, according to their manner, under Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him."

So this was the order of the priests to handle each of the twenty four courses of the Levites in David's time.

I Chronicles 24:20 "And the rest of the sons of Levi were these: of the sons of Amram; Shubael: of the sons of Shubael; Jehdeiah."

Again this numbering here was to assign specific families to their duties within the Congregation, all of the sons of Levi.

I Chronicles 24:21 "Concerning Hehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, the first was Isshiah."

I Chronicles 24:22 "Of the Izharites; Shelomoth: of the sons of Shelomoth; Jahath."

I Chronicles 24:23 "And the sons of Hebron; Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth."

I Chronicles 24:24 "Of the sons of Uzziel; Michah: of the sons of Michah; Shamir."

I Chronicles 24:25 "The brother of Michah was Isshiah: of the sons of Isshiah; Zechariah."

I Chronicles 24:26 "The sons of Meriari were Zahli and Mushi: the sons of Jaaziah; Beno."

I Chronicles 24:27 "The sons of Merari by Jaaziah; Beno, and Shoham, and Zaccur, and Ibri."

I Chronicles 24:28 "Of Mahli came Eleazar, who had no sons."

I Chronicles 24:29 "Concerning Kish: the son of Kish was Jerahmeel."

I Chronicles 24:30 "The sons also of Mushi; Mahli, and Eder, and Jerimoth. These are the sons of the Levites after the house of their fathers."

I Chronicles 24:31 "These likewise cast lots over against their brethren the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, and Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites, even the principal fathers over against their younger brethren."

Just as the Urim and Thummim was used in the selection process by the High priest for the sons of Aaron, so also will this same process be used to making the divisions here for the selection of lots for Levi. The divisions would be equally divided amongst all the men for their duties, and family size.