Too drunk
Wine is a mocker, cider, and anyone who errs by them is not wise. (Proverbs 20: 1).
Nadab and Abihu would never have committed their fatal sin if they had not been partially intoxicated by drinking a lot of wine. They knew that it was necessary to make the most careful and solemn preparation before they presented themselves to the sanctuary where the divine presence was manifested; But because of their intemperance they had been disqualified to exercise their holy office. His mind became confused and his moral perceptions dulled, so that they could not discern the difference between the sacred and the common.
Aaron and his surviving sons were warned: "... you shall not drink wine or cider ... to discern between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean." . . The consumption of alcoholic beverages has the effect of weakening the body, confusing the mind and degrading the moral faculties. It prevents men from understanding the sanctity of sacred things and the rigor of God's commandments. All who held positions of sacred responsibility should be strictly temperate men, so that they would have lucidity to differentiate between good and bad, firmness of principles and wisdom to administer justice and show mercy.
The same obligation rests upon every disciple of Christ. . . To the church of Christ of all ages is addressed this solemn and terrible warning: "If anyone violates the Temple of God, God will destroy him: for the temple of God, which you are holy, is holy" (1 Cor. 3: 17) (Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 376, 377).
The case of the sons of Aaron has been recorded for the benefit of the people of God, and should teach those who are especially preparing for the second coming of Christ, that the complacency of a depraved appetite destroys the soul's sensitivity, and affects both To the powers of reasoning which God has given to man, that spiritual and holy things lose their sacred character. Disobedience seems pleasurable rather than excessively sinful (I, 132).
E. G. White