And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying,
Do not drink wine ... This prohibition, and the accompanying admonitions, following immediately the occurrence of so fatal a catastrophe, has given rise to an opinion entertained by many, that the two unhappy priests were under the influence of intoxication when they committed the offence which was expiated only by their lives. Such an idea, though the presumption is in its favour, is nothing more than conjecture; but our knowledge of the intemperate habits of the ancient Egyptians shows the necessity, or at least the appropriateness, of such a caution to the ministers of the sanctuary, among a people recently come from Egypt (Wilkinson's 'Ancient Egypt,' 3:, p. 172). Verse 10. That ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean. The grand and special function of the priests, while attending in the first instance to the daily or oft-recurring observances of the Mosaic ritual, was to teach the doctrines of true religion to the people, both symbolically and orally. They were not, like the pagan priests, to possess an esoteric and exoteric doctrine, but whatever was made known to themselves of the nature and practical bearing of sacred things, they were, as official instructors in Israel, to communicate it for the benefit of the congregation.