“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.”
Moses then said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke of when he said: among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be glorified. Aaron remained silent. Moses' interpretation of the sons' death is the theological explanation for the fire's judgment: among those who approach me I will be proved holy. The God who appears in glory to those who worship faithfully also appears in judgment to those who worship carelessly. The two appearances of the divine fire — acceptance in chapter 9 and judgment in chapter 10 — are both expressions of the same divine holiness. Aaron's silence is not indifference but the silence of a man who understands what has happened: the God whose altar he serves is the God whose holiness cannot be violated without consequence.
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