Levítico 10:3

'Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the LORD has said: Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified' — the divine declaration following the deaths of Nadab and Abihu for offering 'unauthorized fire' (10:1) grounds the severity of the judgment in the logic of divine holiness near the sanctuary. The proximity principle — 'those who are near me' (qarob) must maintain the highest holiness standards — is a consistent Levitical theology: approach to the divine presence intensifies moral and ritual requirement. Aaron's silence (verse 3b) has been interpreted as grief, shocked assent, or the only possible response to an inscrutable divine act. The incident shaped later priestly theology about the danger of the holy, reflected in the warning narratives around the ark (2 Samuel 6:7) and in the New Testament's concern for worthy reception of the Eucharist (1 Corinthians 11:27–30).