Sober Distinctions: The Priests and the Profane Text: Leviticus 10:8-11
Introduction: The Aftermath of Strange Fire
We come to our text on the heels of a terrifying event. Leviticus 10 opens with the story of Nadab and Abihu, the two eldest sons of Aaron, who offered "strange fire" before the Lord and were instantly consumed by fire from His presence. They were priests, they were consecrated, they were at the very heart of Israel's worship, and yet they were struck down. This was not a capricious act of a petty tyrant. This was the holy jealousy of a holy God, establishing from the outset that He will be treated as holy by those who draw near to Him.
Now, the text doesn't explicitly state that Nadab and Abihu were drunk, but the very next thing the Lord does, speaking directly to Aaron for the first time in this book, is to issue a permanent command against priests drinking on duty. The juxtaposition is deafening. It is a classic example of the Bible teaching by what we might call thunderous implication. It is as though God were saying, "Aaron, your sons treated worship like a fraternity party, and they paid for it with their lives. Let this be a lesson for all time. When you come into My house, you come with all your wits about you."
This is not a text about teetotalism. Scripture is clear that wine is a gift from God to gladden the heart of man. But it is a text about sobriety, and more than that, it is a text about the absolute necessity of clear-headed spiritual discernment. We live in an age that loves to blur every line, erase every distinction, and muddy every category. Our culture is drunk, not just on alcohol, but on sentimentality, on relativism, on the intoxicating fumes of self-worship. Into this stupor, this passage speaks a sharp, bracing word. God demands distinctions. Holiness requires a clear mind. And the central task of God's people is to be able to tell the difference between the holy and the profane, the clean and the unclean, and to teach those differences to the world.
The Text
Yahweh then spoke to Aaron, saying,
"Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die, it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations,
and so as to separate between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean,
and so as to instruct the sons of Israel in all the statutes which Yahweh has spoken to them through Moses."
(Leviticus 10:8-11 LSB)
The Perpetual Prohibition (vv. 8-9)
The command comes directly from Yahweh to Aaron, in the shadow of his sons' incineration.
"Yahweh then spoke to Aaron, saying, 'Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die, it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations...'" (Leviticus 10:8-9)
Notice first the context. This is a command born out of tragedy. God is a Father, and He is instructing Aaron on how to prevent such a disaster from ever happening again. The issue is not the substance, wine, but rather the impairment it can cause. When the priests were to enter the tent of meeting, the place of God's special presence, they were to be entirely sober. Their minds were not to be clouded, their judgment was not to be impaired, and their reactions were not to be slowed. Why? Because ministry in the presence of a holy God is serious, life-and-death business. It is not a casual affair.
The penalty for disobedience is stark: "so that you will not die." This echoes the fate of Nadab and Abihu. God is making it plain that to approach Him with a mind dulled by intoxicants is to treat Him lightly, which is a form of offering strange fire. It is to value the buzz of the drink more than the fear of the Lord. It is to be unfit for service. This is not a suggestion; it is a capital law.
And this is not a temporary regulation. It is a "perpetual statute throughout your generations." This is where we must think carefully about how Old Testament laws apply to us. The specific command was for the Levitical priests concerning the physical tabernacle. That tabernacle is gone, and that priesthood has been fulfilled in Christ. However, the principle, the general equity, remains. The reason for the law is what is perpetual. God still demands that those who minister before Him do so with clear minds and sober judgment. The principle is permanent because God's holiness is permanent.
In the New Covenant, all believers are a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). This means that while this passage does not forbid a Christian from having a beer with dinner, it absolutely forbids a Christian from being drunk, from being controlled by any substance. Paul echoes this very principle: "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). The contrast is between two controlling influences. You will either be controlled by wine or by the Spirit. You cannot serve two masters. The perpetual statute for the new priesthood is a life characterized by Spirit-filled sobriety, not wine-soaked foolishness.
The Reason for Sobriety: Making Distinctions (v. 10)
Verse 10 gives the first and primary reason for this command. It is not arbitrary. It is intensely practical and theological.
"and so as to separate between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean," (Leviticus 10:10 LSB)
This is the central task of the priest: to make distinctions. The Hebrew word for "separate" or "distinguish" is foundational to the entire book of Leviticus. God's creative work in Genesis 1 was a work of separation, light from darkness, waters above from waters below. God's work of redemption is also a work of separation, calling a people out of the world for Himself. Holiness, at its root, means to be "set apart."
The priest stood as the guardian of these distinctions. He had to be able to look at a skin disease and distinguish between leprosy and a common rash. He had to distinguish between a clean animal and an unclean one. He had to distinguish between a ritually pure person and a defiled one. Most importantly, he had to distinguish between the holy, that which was set apart for God's special use, and the profane, that which was common or ordinary. These were not just matters of ritual; they were living parables, teaching Israel about the nature of God and the nature of sin. Sin is the blurring of these lines. Sin is calling evil good and good evil. Sin is treating the holy as though it were profane.
How could a priest with a clouded mind possibly make these critical judgments? A man who has had a few drinks begins to see things fuzzily. His discernment is compromised. He might let something unclean slip by. He might treat a holy vessel with casual disrespect. Intoxication is the enemy of distinction. It makes everything seem like a good idea. It blurs all the sharp edges of reality into a soft, sentimental haze. This is precisely why our culture is so obsessed with intoxication, both literal and metaphorical. A drunk culture cannot make moral distinctions, and so it declares that there are no distinctions to be made.
For the Christian, the new priest, this duty is magnified. We are called to "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess. 5:21). We are to have our "powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (Heb. 5:14). This requires a sharp, sober mind, a mind saturated with the Word of God, not a mind pickled in alcohol or addled by worldly philosophies.
The Result of Sobriety: Teaching the People (v. 11)
The second reason flows directly from the first. The priest's ability to make distinctions was not for his own benefit, but for the benefit of the entire congregation.
"and so as to instruct the sons of Israel in all the statutes which Yahweh has spoken to them through Moses." (Leviticus 10:11 LSB)
The priests were not just ritual functionaries; they were teachers. They were the custodians of God's law, and it was their job to transmit that law to the people. They were to be the living embodiment of God's Word, instructing Israel in how to live. But you cannot teach what you do not know, and you cannot communicate clearly what is fuzzy in your own mind. A drunk teacher is a contradiction in terms. His speech is slurred, his thoughts are jumbled, and his authority is gone.
This is why elders in the New Testament are explicitly commanded not to be "a drunkard" (1 Tim. 3:3) or "addicted to much wine" (Titus 1:7). A man who cannot control his own appetites cannot be trusted to guard the flock of God. His lack of sobriety in one area reveals a lack of the self-control necessary for leadership in all areas. He cannot teach the statutes of the Lord because he is actively disobeying the clear principles of sober-mindedness laid down in those statutes.
But again, this extends to all of us in the priesthood of all believers. We are all called to instruct. Fathers are to teach their children. Older women are to teach the younger women. We are to "teach and admonish one another in all wisdom" (Col. 3:16). We are to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). This requires clarity, precision, and a mind that is sharp and ready. Our witness to a lost and dying world is compromised when we are indistinguishable from it. If our lives are a drunken, chaotic mess, what statutes of Yahweh can we possibly commend to others?
The priest's sobriety was essential for his two main functions: discerning truth and declaring truth. He had to be able to see the difference between holy and profane, and then he had to be able to explain that difference to the people. This is our task as well. We are to live lives of sharp, sober distinction, and we are to be able to articulate the reasons for those distinctions to a world that has lost its mind.
Conclusion: The Sober High Priest
The Levitical priesthood, with its laws and rituals, was a shadow. It was a finger pointing forward to the substance, who is Jesus Christ. He is our Great High Priest. And we should see in this text a beautiful portrait of His perfect fitness for that office.
Jesus Christ was perfectly sober. He was never out of His right mind. His judgment was never clouded, His discernment never compromised. He walked through this world and perfectly distinguished between the holy and the profane. He could spot hypocrisy a mile away. He knew what was in man. He called good good and evil evil, without wavering, without apology.
When He went to the cross, He was offered wine mingled with myrrh, a narcotic to dull the pain (Mark 15:23). He refused it. He would not have His senses dulled. He was determined to face the full, unanaesthetized wrath of God for our sakes. He had to drink the cup of God's fury, and He would do it with a clear head, soberly tasting the death that we deserved. He did not die in a drunken stupor like a fool; He died as a clear-eyed sacrifice, the perfect priest offering Himself.
Because of His perfect, sober ministry, we who are in Him are called to the same standard. Not a standard of legalistic abstinence, but a standard of joyful, Spirit-filled self-control. We are children of the day, not of the night. "So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober" (1 Thess. 5:6-8). Our High Priest was sober so that we could be made sober. He refused the narcotic on the cross so that we could be filled with the new wine of the Spirit. Let us therefore live as priests, with clear minds and discerning hearts, able to distinguish the precious from the worthless, and able to teach the ways of God in a world that is dead drunk on rebellion.