After Nadab and Abihu’s deaths in the Tabernacle, how would you like to be a Levite and receive an assignment in the Tabernacle? That job would hold little appeal. God, however, was good enough to give them all of the organization and information they needed to perform their duties safely. We may find the assignment of their duties dull, but I’m guessing that the original audience found it very interesting. Why preserve the record for us? My guess is that it reinforces important truths that God wants us to remember.
Why did it have to be so dangerous? God is holy, and man does not approach Him of his own initiative and in his own way. Rather, man is granted access to God as a privilege, and with that privilege comes responsibility. Some of the requirements may not make sense to us, but that would be expected when God is holy; His “otherness” makes Him beyond our comprehension.
God is good to give us the details we need to come near to Him. He doesn’t need to bother with us at all, and the reality that He cannot tolerate sin in His presence might make His total rejection of sinful man understandable. Instead, He makes a way for us to come near to Him and provides a way for us to be protected from destruction that would otherwise result from sin approaching Him too closely. These instructions detail His goodness to man.
We can rush through some of these readings; I encourage you to use the time you save in rushing through the dull details, to understand the significance of those details to God’s Old Testament people. Then consider what they mean to us New Testament people. What praise for God do they inspire in you? Take the time to offer it to Him out loud today!