Often, when we encounter multiple instances of a name in the Bible, we get a mixed bag of good and bad. For instance, there are good men and bad men by the name of Judas in the Bible. Seldom do we encounter a name where we get all good results or all bad ones—except for today when we look at the men who go by the name Nadab in the Bible.
Granted, there is a brief mention of a man named Nadab who appears in 1 Chronicles and doesn’t seem good or bad. He appears in a genealogy. For the sake of clarity, we won’t include him in today’s article.
The two evil men named Nadab exist in two completely different books of the Bible. One is a son of Aaron, around the time the priesthood was born. The other is an evil king who had stepped onto the throne right after Israel split. Let’s look at their stories today.
We meet the first Nadab in Exodus 6. He belongs to Aaron. As one of the four eldest sons, Aaron had high hopes for this son, as he’d take on the brunt of the priestly work and hopefully carry on the family tradition. In biblical times, firstborns tended to have more responsibilities but also reaped greater rewards (for instance, Esau was meant to receive a blessing and a birthright).
For those unfamiliar with Levitical law, God had set apart one of the 12 tribes of Israel to serve in the priesthood. We know these people as the Levites or from the tribe of Levi.
We can imagine Nadab was primed and ready to take over priestly duties. That is until God killed him and his brother Abihu.
The story of Nadab and Abihu has to be one of the strangest ones we encounter in Scripture. At first glance, the reader may be tempted to think God overreacted. After all, it seemed that any priest who didn’t do certain rituals correctly could reap deadly consequences. For example, the High Priest would enter the holy of holies once a year. They’d attach bells to his coat to ensure they knew he was still alive.
Going toe-to-toe with God in holy places was that serious.
But once we look further into the narrative, we will better understand why God condemned him to death.
Let’s look and see what happens in Leviticus 10.
It tells us that Nadab and Abihu took their censers, lit them with incense, and offered an “unauthorized fire before the Lord.” When this happened, fire from God consumed them.
Yikes. Although it may seem overdramatic, let’s analyze what happened.
First, the term “unauthorized” translates as foreign in the original language. We know that God had a meticulous design for the temple/tabernacle and Leviticus practices. If anyone brought in foreign practices, they could condemn themselves and the Israelite people. After all, Leviticus 16 mentions that fire had to come from a specific place: the altar itself.
Furthermore, they had likely done so either drunk or not in the right mind. After all, certain duties were delegated to specific people at specific times. Blatantly disregarding this could wind up killing someone.
After all, God was housed in the tabernacle, and later, the temple. His glory filled that space. Because of that, sin cannot collide with holiness. A person could end up consumed by that.
Aaron does have two other sons who survive and carry on the priesthood.
We do meet another figure who goes by the name Nadab in 1 Kings, the son of Jeroboam. You may not recognize that name at first glance, so let me provide a brief history. After Solomon’s time, the kingdom of Israel split into two. Mostly due to Solomon’s son Rehoboam making some poor initial political choices.
Jeroboam takes over the kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and immediately tempts his nation into worshipping foreign gods. Every king in Samaria continued this tradition until the Assyrians kidnapped and exiled them from their lands.
It seems that King Nadab was no different.
It seems that he doesn’t get to reign in terror for long. Thanks to Jeroboam’s evil actions, a man named Baasha not only kills Nadab, but he kills everyone else in the house of Jeroboam.
Nadab only got to rule for two years, although it’s considerably longer than some other kings. One king, Zimri, only rules for seven days before he kills himself.
This pattern persisted throughout Samaria’s history before the Assyrians stepped in. Entire family lines were wiped out, and coups determined who would take the throne next. It seemed that the northern kingdom of Israel would follow in the footsteps of so many other generations that surrounded it.
God had warned the Israelites during the time of King Saul about the dangers of taking on kings: those who did not follow God would force people to do sinful practices and would eventually drive them into the ground.
Often we can leave these “what did we learn today?” sections with a positive note, because at least one of the men did something good. Unfortunately for today, neither Nadab acts as a good role model. We can see many connections between the two of these men. Mainly, they took religious practices for granted. Nadab (Leviticus) disregarded the meticulous practices God had in place, and God wiped him out with fire. Nadab (1 Kings) encouraged Israel to worship foreign gods and (likely) sacrifice their children to them—if he did, later Israelite kings certainly did—and God cut his reign short two years in.
Let’s uncover three main takeaways from these men.
First, family importance means nothing in the eyes of God.
Aaron was the righthand man to Moses. He founded the religious tribe of Israel and served as the first model of the priesthood. One would think that his firstborn son would be completely untouchable, and yet God killed him instantly. King Nadab was Jeroboam’s son. He probably thought he’d have it made, considering his father had a relatively strong rule. Two years in, he met his end.
In the same way, God doesn’t care about our family background. It doesn’t matter if our parents have done good or bad. God cares about our hearts. Our families can’t save us.
Second, God takes religion seriously.
Time and time again, we see “the sins of Jeroboam” about the Israelite kings. The passages mean, of course, the heinous practices Jeroboam had his people engage with. This ultimately leads to the downfall of the northern kingdom.
Yes, God has enormous grace now regarding how we worship and engage with him. But he doesn’t want us to bring practices from other religions into our churches. We have to operate with extreme discernment to know when worldly influences have a hold on us.
Finally, God values leadership.
The man named Nadab utterly failed both in the political and spiritual spheres. God holds leaders to higher standards. This applies to our politicians, priests, and pastors. Although we should be quick to acknowledge the enormous pressure placed on their shoulders (and discern whether we should complain to them about decisions we may or may not like), God doesn’t like people who use power for evil purposes. We need to have people in leadership who value God above all else.
Photo Credit: Public domain photo of 1698 illustration by Jan Luyken via Wikimedia Commons.
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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