Leviticus 10:8

• The placement of this instruction suggests that Nadab and Abihu might have been drinking alcohol when they offered the "unauthorized fire" (Leviticus 10:1). Priests should not drink anything that could impair their judgment before serving in the tabernacle.

• the Lord said to Aaron: Previously, God communicated only with Moses, but now he accepted Aaron as the people's representative and spoke directly to him.

• The word common means "secular" or "ordinary."

• clean and the unclean: See Leviticus 7:19–21; 11:1–15:33.

A fire was to burn all the time on the bronze altar. Its coals were to be used for burning incense (Leviticus 6:9; 16:12). Nadab and Abihu, perhaps careless because they had been drinking wine (10:8–11), took coals from another place. This broke God’s command, and they died as a result.