Abihu
A son of Aaron, consecrated with his brothers to the priesthood, and one of the seventy who went up the mountain with Moses and saw the God of Israel. With his brother Nadab he offered unauthorised fire before the Lord, contrary to what had been commanded, and fire came out and consumed them both. Moses told Aaron that God would be treated as holy by those who came near him, and Aaron held his peace; the pair were carried out of the camp still in their tunics, and their father and brothers were forbidden to mourn.
What we know — and how we know it
Scan by NYPL — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersJosephus recounts the death of Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu by fire after their unlawful offering. His account merely reworks the Leviticus narrative and is not an independent source.
Where in scripture
ExodusLeviticusNumbers1 ChroniclesAaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, as his wife; and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
Exodus 6:23
He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.
Exodus 24:1
Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.
Exodus 24:9
“Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
Exodus 28:1
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them.
Leviticus 10:1
Fire came out from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.
Leviticus 10:2 — Struck down
These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Numbers 3:2
Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh, when they offered strange fire before Yahweh, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the presence of Aaron their father.
Numbers 3:4
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
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