The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, explores a striking rhetorical pattern found throughout the Hebrew Bible: moments where a prophet says God "has spoken," and the rabbis ask — where exactly did He speak it? The method reveals hidden connections between scattered verses.
The example here concerns the devastating moment when Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu died after offering unauthorized fire before God. Moses turns to his brother and says: "This is as the Lord spoke: With My near ones I will be sanctified" (Leviticus 10:3). Moses is telling Aaron that God had warned this would happen. But where in the Torah did God actually say this?
The Mekhilta traces the source back to (Exodus 29:43): "And I will be appointed there for the children of Israel, and it will be sanctified by My glory." The Hebrew word for "My glory" — bikhvodai — can also be read as "by My honored ones," meaning those closest to God. The Tabernacle would be consecrated through the death of God's most devoted servants.
Moses understood this before the Tabernacle was even built. He knew the dedication would exact a terrible price. When tragedy struck, he could point Aaron back to the original warning. God had spoken it — not as a threat, but as a statement of metaphysical reality. Holiness at its most intense is dangerous. Those nearest to the Divine bear the greatest risk.