Bible Strands
Leviticus 10:3
Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I will reveal My glory.’” But Aaron remained silent.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses speaks to Aaron immediately after Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire from the LORD's presence (v.2). Aaron, their father, remains silent.
The words — דִּבֶּר (di.Ber), "he spoke," is the formal word for divine utterance in the Torah; the construction הוּא אֲשֶׁר (hu' 'a.Sher), "it is that which," identifies the event as the direct fulfillment of a prior divine declaration rather than an arbitrary act.
The thread — Exodus 19:22 warns that priests who approach the LORD without consecration will provoke Him to "break out" against them; Leviticus 21:6 restates that priests must be holy because they present offerings to the LORD.
Why it lands — The verse removes any assumption that proximity to God is safe or that His holiness is merely decorative. It asks the reader to take seriously that God's presence is a force that can consume, and that the proper response to His judgment is silence, not protest.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Exodus 19:22 Even the priests who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them.”
- Isaiah 49:3 He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, in whom I will display My glory.”
- Leviticus 21:6 They must be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. Because they present to the LORD the food offerings, the food of their God, they must be holy.
- Numbers 20:12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
- 1 Samuel 2:30 Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.
- Deuteronomy 32:51 For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.
- 1 Chronicles 15:12 And he said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves so that you may bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.
- Isaiah 52:11 Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
- Ezekiel 20:41 When I bring you from the peoples and gather you from the lands to which you have been scattered, I will accept you as a pleasing aroma. And I will show My holiness through you in the sight of the nations.
- Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.