And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people. Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle - It is supposed that Moses accompanied Aaron into the tabernacle to show him how to offer the incense, prepare the lamps and the perfume, adjust the shew-bread, etc., etc.
And the glory of the Lord appeared - To show that every thing was done according to the Divine mind,
1. The glory of Jehovah appears unto all the people;
2. A fire came out from before the Lord, and consumed the burnt-offering. This was the proof which God gave upon extraordinary occasions of his acceptance of the sacrifice. This was done probably,
1. In the case of Abel, Genesis 4:4.
2. In the case of Aaron; see above, Leviticus 9:24.
3. In the case of Gideon, Judges 6:21.
4. In the case of Manoah and his wife. Compare Judges 13:19-23.
5. In the case of David dedicating the threshing-floor of Ornan, 1 Chronicles 21:28.
6. In the case of Solomon dedicating the temple, 2 Chronicles 7:1.
7. In the case of Elijah, 1 Kings 18:38.
Hence to express the accepting of an offering, sacrifice, etc., the verb דשן dishshen is used, which signifies to reduce to ashes, i. e., by fire from heaven. See Psalms 20:3. In such a case as this, it was necessary that the fire should appear to be divinely sent, and should come in such a way as to preclude the supposition that any art or deceit had been practiced on the occasion. Hence it is not intimated that Moses and Aaron brought it out of the tabernacle, professing that God had kindled it there for them, but the fire Came Out from Before the Lord, and All the People Saw it. The victims were consumed by a fire evidently of no human kindling. Josephus says that "a fire proceeded from the victims themselves of its own accord, which had the appearance of a flash of lightning;" εξ αυτων πυρ ανηφθη αυτοματον, και ὁμοιον αστραπης λαμπηδονι ὁρωμενον τῃ φλογι· "and consumed, all that was upon the altar." - Antiq., lib. iii., c. 8, s. 6, edit. Haverc. And it is very likely that by the agency of the ethereal or electric spark, sent immediately from the Divine presence, the victims were consumed. The heathens, in order to give credit to their worship, imitated this miracle, and pretended that Jupiter testified his approbation of the sacrifices offered to him by thunder and lightning: to this Virgil seems to allude, though the words have been understood differently.
Audiat haec genitor, qui foedera fulmine sancit.
Aen. xii., ver. 200.
"Let Jupiter hear, who sanctions covenants by his thunder."
On which words Servius makes this remarkable comment: Quia cum fiunt foedera, si coruscatio fuerit, confirmantur. Vel certe quia apud majores arae non incendebantur, sed ignem divinum precibus eliciebant qui incendebant altaria. "To sanction the covenant signifies to confirm it; for when a covenant was made, if there were a flash of lightning, it was considered to be thereby confirmed: or rather because our Ancestors lighted no fire upon the altars, but obtained by their supplications divine fire," etc. The expression apud majores, "among our ancestors," shows that they could boast of no such divine fire then; nor could they ever before, as the whole account was borrowed from the Jews. Solinus Polyhistor gives us an account to the same effect; for, speaking of the hill of Vulcan in Sicily, he says: In quo, qui divinte rei operantur, ligna vitea super aras struunt, nec ignis apponitur in hanc congerlem: cum prosicias intulerunt, si adest deus, si sacrum probatur, sarmenta licet viridia sponte concipiunt, et nullo inflagrante halitu, ab ipso numine fit accendium, cap. v. in fine. "They who perform sacred rites in this place, put a bundle of vine-tree wood upon the altar, but put no fire to it; for when they lay the pieces of the victim upon it, if the deity be present, and he approve the sacrifice, the bundle, although of green wood, takes fire of itself, and without any other means the deity himself kindles the flame." These are remarkable instances, and show how exactly the heathen writers have borrowed from the sacred records. And in farther imitation of this miracle, they had their perpetual fire in the temple of Vesta, which they feigned to have descended at first from heaven, and which they kept with the most religious veneration.