Drinking wine on duty

Then the LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, so that you can distinguish between the holy and common, between the unclean and the clean, and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses." - Leviticus 10:8-10

I wonder sometimes if there was anything inherent in the command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Or did the Lord simply create a rule to give us the opportunity to obey? It pleases me when my children obey me, a deep joy because I know their souls are healthy. It also sometimes shocks me, but that's not the current subject.

There are some practical reasons that the priests shouldn't be drunk when performing their duties. The rules the priests followed were complex, detailed, and absolute. Two of Aaron's sons were struck dead for lighting unauthorized fire at the very beginning of the system of sacrifices. Don't compromise your judgement. This is not a time to relax and kick back; this is serious work. Unlike the Nazarites, who were never to touch alcohol, the priests were simply forbidden to drink while they worked.

I like the phrase, "so that you can distinguish between the holy and common." I have been watching coverage of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and crying. I don't watch it all the time, and will stop when it overwhelms me, but I have let myself grieve and pray. When the Murrah bombing happened in OKC, I didn't watch enough of the coverage. It was like skipping a funeral or something; I didn't pay enough respect. I'm not a very scheduled, orderly person, so I am very sensitive to things with a ritualistic feel. Sometimes those rituals help us notice things, to distinguish between the holy and common.

Aaron and his sons were examples. The sacrifices they carried out were living lessons about who God is. The way you and I live, because we are called Christians, requires a certain reverance from us. Revelation 1:5 said that God has made us priests, and so we represent who God is to people watching. We display reverance to help distinguish between the holy and the common, so that people can learn about the God we serve.