Son of Aaron, whose awful death, by the immediate judgment of the Lord, With his brother Nadab, is recorded Lev 10:2 . I refer the reader to that history, for the particulars of this visitation. Some have thought, that they were drunken, when they thus ministered in their priestly office; and so forgot to take the sacred fire in their censers. And they have formed this opinion, on the precept in the ninth verse: where it is said to Aaron, "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacleof the congregation; lest ye die." But it should rather seem, that it was the act of taking strange fire which was their offence, and for which the Lord smote them. Strange fire; not the fire which was appointed, and which was always durning upon the altar: and which typified Christ’s fiery sufferings. And if so, what an awful view it affords, to shew the danger of all offerings, void of an eye by faith in Christ! Isa 1:11 The name of Abihu means, he is my father.
the son of Aaron, the high priest, was consumed, together with his brother Nadab, by fire sent front God, because he had offered incense with strange fire, instead of taking it from the altar, Lev 10:1-2. This calamity happened A.M. 2514; within eight days after the consecration of Aaron and his sons. Some commentators believe that this fire proceeded from the altar of burnt-offerings; others, that it came from the altar of incense. Several interpreters, as the Rabbins, Lyra, Cajetan, and others, are of opinion, that Nadab and Abihu were overtaken with wine, and so forgot to take the sacred fire in their censers. This conjecture is founded on the command of God delivered immediately afterward to the priests, forbidding them the use of wine during the time they should be employed in the service of the temple. Another class allege, that there was nothing so heinous in their transgression, but it was awfully punished, to teach ministers fidelity and exactness in discharging their office. It had a vastly more important meaning,—this instance of vengeance is a standing example of that divine wrath which shall consume all who pretend to serve God, except with incense kindled from the one altar and offering by which he for ever perfects them that are sanctified.
Abi´hu (Father of him), the second of the sons of Aaron, who, with his brothers Nadab, Eleazer, and Ithamar, was set apart and consecrated for the priesthood (Exo 28:1). He and his brother Nadab having presumed to offer incense in censers filled with ’strange’ or common fire, they were instantly struck dead by lightning, and were taken away and buried in their clothes without the camp. As immediately after the record of this transaction comes a prohibition of wine or strong drink to the priests on duty at the tabernacle, it is not unfairly surmised that they were intoxicated when they committed this serious error in their ministrations (Lev 10:1-11).
The second son of Aaron, consecrated to the priesthood with his three brethren, {\cf11 \ul Exo 28:21}; but consumed shortly after by fire from the Lord, with Nadab his brother, for burning incense with common fire instead of that kept perpetually on the altar of burnt-offering, Lev 10:1-2 16:12 {\cf11 \ul Num 16:46}. As this is immediately followed by the prohibition of wine to the priests when ministering in the tabernacle, it is not improbable that Nadab and Abihu were intoxicated when thus transgressing. Their death is a solemn warning not to presume to worship God except with incense kindled at the one altar which Christ hath sanctified, {\cf11 \ul Heb 10:10-14}. It is a dangerous thing, in the service of God, to decline from his own institutions. We have to do with a God who is wise to prescribe his own worship, his to require what he has prescribed, and powerful to avenge what he has not prescribed.\PAR
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Abi’hu. (he (God) is my father). The second son, Num 3:2 of Aaron by Elisheba. Exo 6:23. Being, together with his elder brother Nadab, guilty of offering strange fire to the lord, he was consumed by fire from heaven. Lev 10:1-2.
Second son of Aaron by Elisheba (Exo 6:23; Num 3:2). With Aaron, Nadab, and the 70 elders, he accompanied Moses up Sinai to a limited distance (Exo 24:1). On his death by fire from heaven, in punishment for offering strange fire,
(Heb. Abihu’,
Abihu (a-bî’hew), whose father is He, i.e., God. One of the sons of Aaron, who, together with his brothers, Nadab, Eleazar, and Ithamar, were set apart by God to the office of the priesthood. Soon after they entered upon their sacred duties, Nadab and Abihu were guilty of a violation of God’s commands, respecting the manner of offering incense, and they were suddenly destroyed by fire from heaven. They used strange, or common, fire, instead of the sacred fire which they were required to use from the altar of burnt offering. Lev 10:1-2. As the prohibition of wine and strong drink, especially when entering into the sanctuary, immediately follows, we may infer that Nadab and Abihu were intoxicated when they fell into this presumptuous sin.
[Abi’hu]
Abihu and Nadab, sons of Aaron, with seventy of the elders of Israel, were invited to ascend with Moses, where they saw God and did eat and drink, Exo 24:1; Exo 24:9-11. They were consecrated to minister to the Lord as priests, yet on the first occasion of their exercising the priesthood for Israel they offered strange fire, which the Lord had not commanded, and were smitten by fire from God. Lev 10:1-2. Immediately before this we read that "there came a fire out from before the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat." That fire was never to go out, and doubtless the fire Abihu should have used was the fire that was upon the brazen altar, as is ordained in Lev 16:12. We read elsewhere that everything was to be done ’as the Lord commanded Moses;’ but of this which Nadab and Abihu did, it expressly says it was not commanded; therefore it was sin, and God was dishonoured. Their death followed, and Aaron and his other sons were not to leave the tabernacle nor mourn for the dead. Num 26:60-61; 1Ch 24:1-2. The case of Nadab and Abihu should teach us that not every kind of worship is acceptable to God: "they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth," Joh 4:24: mere outward worship will not do and it must be according to what God has revealed. If separated from the sacrifice of Christ it is but the energy of nature, and is offensive to God.
("He is Father").
By: George A. Barton, Louis Ginzberg
—Biblical Data:
He is mentioned in Ex. xxiv. 1, 9, where he and his brother are classed with Moses and Aaron as the leaders or chiefs of the "elders" of Israel, who go up into the mount to eat the covenant meal with YHWH.
In other passages Abihu is designated as the second son of Aaron and Elisheba (Ex. vi. 23), and with his father and brothers is consecrated to the priesthood (Ex. xxviii. 1). With Nadab he is put to death for offering strange fire to YHWH (Lev. x. 1; Num. iii. 2, 4, xxvi. 60, 61). Elsewhere in the Old Testament he is only mentioned in I Chron. vi. 3 and II Chron. xxiv. 1, 2.
—In Rabbinical Literature:
The haggadic representation of the death of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. x. 1-6) is wholly an idealization of the Biblical narrative. Despite the fact that the latter ascribes the death of the sons of Aaron to an offense committed by them, an old Midrash applies the verse in Ecclesiastes (vii. 15), "There is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness," to Nadab and Abihu, who, it is said, brought an incense-offering into the sanctuary in order to honor God, and while doing so were consumed by fire (Yalḳ. on Eccl. l.c. § 976; so also Jerome, in his commentary ad loc.). In accordance with this, the Midrash places the time of the offering of Nadab and Abihu before the fall of the heavenly fire, and indeed to bring down the fire was the very purpose that Nadab and Abihu had in mind (Sifra, Shemini Milluim, ed. Weiss, p. 44b; somewhat differently Ephraem Syrus; compare Gerson, in "Monatsschrift," 1868, xvii. 102).
The words in Lev. x. 2, "they died before God," are used because the death of the children of pious parents during their lifetime affects God closely (Lev. R. xx. 10). Moreover, since the death of the pious has an expiatory effect (l.c.), the Biblical account of their death is read on the Day of Atonement.
In order that the death of Nadab and Abihu may not appear entirely unjustifiable, the Haggadah seeks to reconcile God's justice with the blamelessness of pious men (Tan., AḥRevelation , 6, ed. Buber, 7): they died in an attempt to put off corporeality.
Philo testifies to the great age of this Haggadah when, in his customary allegorization of Biblical material, he says: "Nadab and Abihu, who approached God and gave up mortal life in order to receive immortality, were naked; that is, they broke every bond connecting them with mortal needs and passions" ("De Allegoriis Legum," ii. 15, ed. Cohn and Wendland, p. 101). The reference to nakedness is made clear by a Midrash, which remarks that the transgression of the sons of Aaron lay in the fact that they performed their duties 
without the prescribed apparel of the priests, which they forgot in their ecstasy. They were not necessarily naked, however, as Philo has it. According to another view, the sons of Aaron were killed by fire from God; their bodies and clothes were not consumed, the marvelous fire taking only their breath from them (Sifra, l.c., ed. Weiss, p. 45b; Sanh. 52a).
Eliezer b. Hyrcanus and Akiba find them blameworthy only in so far that they ventured upon so important an act without consulting Moses. R. Ishmael holds the view that they did not bring their sacrifice at the right time (Sifra, l.c., ed. Weiss, 45b, and Aḥre, beginning; Yoma, 53a; 'Er. 63a). The latter explanation made its way into the Peshito, which adds to "strange fire" (
) the words "not at the right time." Originally, the addition was, of course, an explanatory gloss, which in course of time came to be embodied in the text. Following the trend of R. Eliezer's ideas, the later Haggadah attaches blame to the sons of Aaron because of their too great self-esteem. They remained unmarried, because they did not regard any woman as good enough for them. They even considered themselves more important than Moses and Aaron, and secretly longed for the time when they should stand at the head of the people (Pesiḳ., ed. Buber, pp. 172b et seq.; Tan., ed. Buber, l.c., where the parallels are given in notes).
The endeavor of the old Haggadah to interpret the fault of the sons of Aaron as a trivial offense had, however, an effect contrary to that anticipated. When, at a subsequent period, the varying opinions were all accepted as correct, the sons of Aaron, instead of being represented as models of virtue, came to be invested with many mischievous traits (see Pesiḳ. and Tan. l.c.; especially the opinions of Levi and Bar Ḳappara, which are shared by the Church father Ephraem Syrus, as shown in "Monatsschrift," l.c.).
—Critical View:
The death of Nadab and Abihu probably represents the memory of some calamity to a portion of the priesthood, which, in the contest for the establishment of the Levitical law, was a warning to all who might violate that law.
ABIHU (‘he is father’).—Second son of Aaron (Exo 6:23, Num 3:2; Num 26:60, 1Ch 6:3; 1Ch 24:1); accompanied Moses to the top of Sinai (Exo 24:1; Exo 24:9); admitted to the priest’s office (Exo 28:1); slain along with his brother Nadab for offering strange fire (Lev 10:1-2, Num 3:4; Num 26:61, 1Ch 24:2).