And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt, saying,
The verse fixes a date and a place: one year after Israel left Egypt, still camped at Sinai, God speaks to Moses again. What He says next is a command to keep the Passover. Commentators find as much meaning in the timing as in the command.
The opening line gives a date. Set it beside the end of Exodus, and it shows what had just happened in the camp.
It helps us to look at the date in verse 1. From Exodus 40:17, and from verse 15 of this chapter, we learn that this was the very time when the tabernacle was "set up," and when the cloud "covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle." So it was at the very moment when God fully took possession of His sanctuary, so that He might dwell among them — the sign and fruit of accomplished redemption.
This chapter reaches back about a month before the census that opens the book. One writer sees a deliberate lesson in that order.
The instructions about the Passover fill the first half of chapter 9. God gave them to Moses at the beginning of the first month of the second year. That is about a month before the events we have been considering, as we see if we compare the first verse of our chapter with the first verse of Numbers 1. The Passover commemorated the basis on which the redemption of the people rested. That came first, and the numbering of the people followed. So the picture makes this point: God only numbers and counts as His those He has redeemed.
The phrase "after they had come out of the land of Egypt" measures a whole year — and they are not home yet.
Time has passed here. It is a year since their deliverance, and they are still in the wilderness... They had been in slavery, but they were out of Egypt and in the wilderness, though not yet in Canaan. They remembered their deliverance, and along with it came toil and testing, because they were in the wilderness. So we have the joy and peace of deliverance, but not yet rest. They were out of Egypt, but in trouble and trial.
God now commands the feast a second time, in a desert far from where it began.
God commands the Passover at this particular moment, and so we learn that He would have His people always remember the ground of redemption on which His grace had placed them. In Egypt, they linked the Passover with shelter from judgment... In the wilderness they kept it as the ground of their deliverance from their slavery under Pharaoh, of their passage through the Red Sea — in a word, of the LORD's salvation. The blood of the Passover lamb had, in fact, secured everything for them which they now enjoyed.
This is the second Passover, and the three Passovers together trace the whole journey.
Israel kept the first Passover in Egypt. The second was in the wilderness at Sinai, with their faces turned towards the land of promise. They kept the next one in the land of Canaan. This shows how essential the blood is for everything. The blood delivers out of Egypt, it keeps in the wilderness and brings into the land of promise.
Mackintosh takes the same three stages and asks what the blood met at each one:
Was it a question of the judgment of God against Egypt? The blood of the lamb screened them from it. Was it a question of the countless and nameless wants of the wilderness? The blood of the lamb secured a full provision for them. Was it a question of the dreaded power of the seven nations of Canaan? The blood of the lamb was the sure and certain pledge of complete and glorious victory.
- Redemption first. The Passover comes a month before the census. God counts as His only those He has redeemed.
- Redemption housed. God had just taken possession of the tabernacle, and His glory filled it. He now dwelt among a redeemed people.
- Redemption remembered. A year on, still in the desert, God tells them to keep the feast again, so they never forget the ground they stand on.
- Redemption carries. Egypt, wilderness, Canaan — the blood of the lamb shelters, provides, and plants them in the land.
- Redemption without rest yet. Deliverance is real, but it has brought them into trial, not yet into Canaan. They have joy and peace now; rest is still ahead.
Let the children of Israel also hold the passover at its set time;
Israel had been out of Egypt for a year and was still in the wilderness. God told them to hold the Passover again — the meal that had marked their shelter from judgment in Egypt. Why keep it here, and why fix the time and the manner so tightly?
The date in verse 1 matters. It falls at the moment Israel set up the tabernacle — God's tent-dwelling among them.
This was the very time when the tabernacle was set up. God took possession of His sanctuary to dwell among them — the sign and fruit of completed redemption. In prescribing the Passover at this particular moment, we learn that God would have His people always remember the ground of redemption on which He had in grace placed them. In Egypt, the Passover was linked in their minds with shelter from judgment. In the wilderness they kept it as the ground of their rescue from Pharaoh's slavery, of their passage through the Red Sea — in a word, of the Lord's salvation. The blood of the Passover lamb had in fact secured everything they now enjoyed.
Israel kept this feast in three different places, not one.
There are three distinct settings in which we find this great redemption-feast kept: in Egypt (Ex. 12), in the wilderness (Num. 9), and in the land of Canaan (Josh. 5). Redemption lies at the foundation of everything in the history of God's people. Are they to be delivered from the slavery, the death and the darkness of Egypt? It is by redemption. Are they to be carried through all the difficulties and dangers of the desert? It is on the ground of redemption. Are they to walk over the ruins of Jericho's walls and stand on the necks of the kings of Canaan? It is because of redemption.
Israel was free, but not yet home.
A year has passed since their deliverance, and they are still in the wilderness. They had been in slavery, but they were out of Egypt and in the wilderness, though not yet in Canaan. They had the memory of deliverance, along with toil and testing as its fruits, because they were in the wilderness. So we have the joy and peace of deliverance, but not yet rest.
Darby then sets two responses side by side:
Unbelief may say, "We shall die in the wilderness," but faith will always keep the Passover. It recognises God's deliverance, and this is blessing.
The verse fixes both when and how.
Verses 2-5 require obedience to everything God had commanded about it. He had laid down the time and the manner, and what He laid down was to stand for all time. This principle of obedience is as true for us who are under grace as it was for Israel under law. Only one variation was permitted, as we see in verses 6-8.
Grace met the one who could not keep it, without weakening the command:
On the one hand the Passover must be kept — the remembrance of the death of Christ is necessary everywhere. There is no pathway out of the world without the death of Christ. On the other hand, suppose they were not in a fit condition because of defilement. The Lord makes special provision for that here. He would not lower the Passover by setting aside its absolute obligation. At the same time He would kindly take account of the conditions of the journey that might get in the way.
Mackintosh carries this straight over to the Lord's Supper.
There is this connection between the Passover and the Lord's Supper: the first was the type, the second the memorial, of the death of Christ. So we read in 1 Corinthians 5, "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." That sentence establishes the connection. The Passover was the memorial of Israel's redemption from Egypt. The Lord's Supper is the memorial of the Church's redemption from the heavier and darker slavery of sin and Satan. So the faithful Christian keeps the Lord's Supper at its appointed time, as the faithful Israelite kept the Passover at its appointed time.
He also makes longing for the feast a test of the heart:
The more deeply anyone entered into what had been accomplished on that memorable night, the more earnestly he would long for the fourteenth day of the first month to come round again. He wanted to mark that glorious occasion. If anything kept him from keeping it in the first month, he would gladly and thankfully take up the second. But the man who could be content to go on year after year without keeping the Passover only proved that his heart was far from the God of Israel.
- Ground. God set the feast at the moment He came to dwell among them, so that redemption stayed in front of their eyes.
- Everywhere. Egypt, desert, Canaan — every stage of the journey rests on the same redemption.
- Faith. Unbelief says they will die in the desert. Faith keeps the feast and owns the deliverance already given.
- Appointed. God fixed the time and the manner, not Israel. That principle of obedience holds under grace too.
- Remembrance. The Lord's Supper is to a Christian what the Passover was to an Israelite. Steady neglect of it shows where the heart is.
on the fourteenth day in this month between the two evenings, ye shall hold it at its set time; according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ordinances thereof shall ye hold it.
A year out of Egypt, camped in the wilderness of Sinai, Israel hears God command the Passover again — on a set day, at a set hour, by every rule. Why repeat redemption so exactly, and why now, before the march to Canaan begins?
The order matters. The Passover comes before the census that opens the book:
The instructions about the Passover fill the first half of chapter 9. Moses received them at the beginning of the first month of the second year — about a month before the census. We can see this by comparing the first verse of our chapter with the first verse of Numbers 1. The Passover commemorated the basis on which the redemption of the people rested. That came first, and the numbering of the people followed. So the type emphasised this fact: God numbers and counts as His only those He has redeemed.
The same blood carried them at every stage of the road:
In a word, the blood of the lamb met the people in Egypt; it went with them through the desert; and it planted them in Canaan. It was the blessed basis of all God's actions in them, with them, and for them. Was it a question of God's judgment against Egypt? The blood of the lamb screened them from it. Was it a question of the countless and nameless needs of the wilderness? The blood of the lamb secured full provision for them. Was it a question of the dreaded power of the seven nations of Canaan? The blood of the lamb was the sure and certain pledge of complete and glorious victory.
A feast kept in a desert is kept by people still on the road:
After Egypt, the next place where Israel kept the Passover was the wilderness. God told them to keep it there "according to all its statutes and all its rules" (Num. 9:3). The wilderness is the place of every believer seen as a pilgrim. The world has become a desert to him, and he is passing through it, though not of it, because he is waiting for the return of his Lord… In the wilderness we feed on the Passover as the memorial of our deliverance from Egypt. In it we see Christ going down into death. He bore all the judgment that was our due, going through it and exhausting it. He also met and conquered all the power of the enemy.
The verse fixes the day, the hour, and then every rule. God will not lower His own terms:
We see Jehovah would not lower His end or His ways. On the one hand the Passover must be kept — the remembrance of the death of Christ is necessary everywhere. There is no pathway out of the world without the death of Christ… The death of Christ is the necessary and only possible foundation for any blessing from God; but besides, when they are in the wilderness, the death of Christ is just as necessary. Where indeed is it not necessary?
Grace allowed a second-month Passover. It did not allow a reduced one:
Grace permitted the second month instead of the first. Even so, it allowed no looseness about the rites and ceremonies of the feast. The unleavened bread and bitter herbs were always to have their place. None of the sacrifice was to remain till morning, and no one was to break a single bone of it. God cannot allow any lowering of the standard of truth or holiness. A man, through weakness, failure, or the force of circumstances, might be behind the time; but he must not be below the mark. Grace permitted the first; holiness forbids the second.
One writer carries this over to the Lord's Supper:
There is this connection between the Passover and the Lord's Supper: the first was the type, the second the memorial, of the death of Christ… Every true and faithful Israelite would surely keep the Passover at the appointed time and according to all its rites and ceremonies. In the same way, every true and faithful Christian will celebrate the Lord's Supper at its appointed time, and by all the principles the New Testament lays down about it.
- Appointed first. God commands the Passover before the census and before the march. He counts as His only those He has redeemed.
- Appointed blood. One lamb covers the whole road: it screened them in Egypt, supplied them in the desert, and planted them in Canaan.
- Appointed place. Kept in the desert, the feast belongs to pilgrims. They are delivered people, passing through a world that is not theirs, waiting for their Lord.
- Appointed terms. The day and every rule are God's. He would not lower His ways; the remembrance of Christ's death is needed everywhere.
- Appointed grace. He opened a second month for those who missed the first, but lowered no rule. Weakness may put us behind the time, never below the mark.
And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should hold the passover.
A year out of Egypt, camped at Sinai, God commands Israel to keep the Passover again, and this verse shows Moses passing that word on to the people. Why must a redeemed people keep rehearsing their redemption?
The instructions about this feast reach back to a month before the census that opens the book of Numbers. One commentator draws out what that order pictures.
The instructions about the Passover, which fill the first half of chapter 9, came to Moses at the beginning of the first month of the second year. That is about a month before what we have been considering. We can see this by comparing the first verse of our chapter with the first verse of Numbers 1. The Passover commemorated the basis on which the redemption of the people rested. That came first, and the numbering of the people followed. So the picture stresses this fact: God only numbers and counts as His those whom He has redeemed.
Moses adds nothing and softens nothing. He passes the command on as God gave it. The same writer draws out the rule behind that.
Verses 2-5 enforce obedience to all that God had commanded about it. God had laid down its time and its manner, and what He had laid down was to stand for all time. This principle of obedience is as true for us who are under grace as it was for Israel under law.
The Passover was not a one-off ceremony left behind in Egypt. Israel kept it in Egypt, keeps it here in the desert, and would keep it again in the land. One writer sees in that pattern the death of Christ, needed at every stage.
On the one hand the passover must be kept — the remembrance of the death of Christ is necessary everywhere. There is no pathway out of the world without the death of Christ — the passover kept in Egypt. Without the blood of the Lamb first, they could never have left Egypt or crossed the Red Sea. The death of Christ is the necessary and only possible foundation for any blessing from God. And when they are in the wilderness, the death of Christ is just as necessary. Where indeed is it not necessary? When we enter Canaan, there we find the passover meets us in the foreground. (Joshua 5) Everywhere the death of Christ is essential — as for God's glory, so for man's blessing.
In the desert, keeping this feast meant trusting a deliverance the people could not yet see finished. They were out of Egypt but not yet in the land. That is where faith and unbelief show themselves.
They were to keep the passover as an offering to the Lord. It was to remind them, and keep them fully aware, that they were the Lord's delivered people. We have the same principle in spiritual form in the Lord's supper. There is deliverance in Christ, but trial and testing in our actual condition here. Unbelief may say, "We shall die in the wilderness," but faith will always keep the passover. It recognises God's deliverance, and this is blessing.
One writer points out how rare this obedience turned out to be, and why.
This was the only passover mentioned in the wilderness; there is no record of any other. And when we consider the constant unbelief of the people, we are not surprised. What moral value would a memorial of deliverance have, if the people doubted that deliverance?
Writers link this feast to the Lord's Supper — the bread and cup Christians share in remembrance of Christ's death. One of them sets the two side by side.
The Passover was the memorial of Israel's redemption from slavery in Egypt. The Lord's supper is the memorial of the Church's redemption from the heavier and darker slavery of sin and Satan. So every true and faithful Israelite would keep the Passover at the appointed season, with all its rites and ceremonies. In the same way, every true and faithful Christian will celebrate the Lord's supper at its appointed season, following all the principles the New Testament lays down about it. If an Israelite had neglected the Passover, even once, he would have been cut off from the congregation.
- Redeemed first — God commands the feast of redemption before the census. He counts as His only those He has redeemed.
- Relayed exactly — Moses passes the command on without changing its time or manner. That same obedience belongs to people under grace.
- Needed everywhere — out of Egypt, through the desert, into the land. At every stage the death of Christ is the foundation.
- Held by faith — unbelief says the wilderness will be a grave. Faith keeps the feast and owns the deliverance God has given.
- Kept today — the Lord's Supper is to the Christian what the Passover was to Israel. Keep it at its season, in its appointed way.
And they held the passover in the first [month] on the fourteenth day of the month, between the two evenings, in the wilderness of Sinai according to all that Jehovah had commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
One year out of Egypt, still camped at Sinai, Israel keeps the Passover again, exactly as God commanded. It is the only Passover the Bible records in the whole desert journey, and that raises two questions: why here, and why never again until Canaan?
Commentators find this feast kept at three stages of Israel's story — in Egypt, in the desert, and in the promised land:
We find this great redemption-feast kept in three distinct places: in Egypt (Ex. 12), in the wilderness (Num. 9), and in the land of Canaan (Joshua 5). Redemption lies at the foundation of everything in the history of God's people. Are they to be delivered from the bondage, the death, and the darkness of Egypt? It is by redemption. Are they to be carried along through all the difficulties and dangers of the desert? It is on the ground of redemption. Are they to walk over the ruins of the threatening walls of Jericho, and plant their feet on the necks of the kings of Canaan? It is by virtue of redemption.
The chapter opens by giving the month and the year. That date matches another event: the setting up of the tabernacle, Israel's tent of worship:
Exodus 40:17 and verse 15 of this chapter show that this was the very time when the tabernacle was set up, and when "the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle." So God took full possession of His sanctuary at this very time, to dwell among them — the sign and fruit of accomplished redemption.
The desert journey has not yet begun. One writer notes the second date God allowed, and why the memory of redemption came first:
Next comes the command to keep the Passover, and the appointment of a second Passover for those kept from the first by distance or defilement. For the trials of wilderness life, how necessary it was to carry with them the remembrance and joy of redemption! That meant knowing God as acting for them in grace, whatever difficulties they had to find their way through.
The verse ends by noting that Israel did everything the LORD commanded. God left nothing about the feast to Israel's judgment:
It was the striking memorial of Israel's redemption — the clear expression of Israel's unity. Keeping it strictly, with all the rites and ordinances God appointed, was a duty binding on the whole congregation of Israel. Anyone who wilfully neglected it was to be cut off from the congregation. It was not to be neglected on the one hand, nor tampered with on the other. We could not imagine a faithful Israelite changing the smallest detail of the order laid down for the feast. Neither the time nor the way of keeping it left the slightest room for human ideas. The Word of the Lord settled everything.
After this verse the record goes quiet. Israel's next Passover comes only in Canaan, and commentators give different reasons for the gap. One writer links the silence to the people's unbelief:
This was the only Passover mentioned in the wilderness; there is no record of any other. And when we think of the people's constant unbelief, we are not surprised. What moral value would a memorial of deliverance have, if that deliverance were doubted? A deliverance from one form of death to another would be a mockery. Yet, going by Israel's own complaints, that is what the LORD had done for His people: brought them out of Egypt so that they might be killed in the wilderness.
Another points instead to the generation born in the desert:
As far as I know, there is no evidence that they kept it after Sinai (Num. 9) until they were in Canaan. Those born in the wilderness were not fit to keep it, because they stayed uncircumcised until they crossed the Jordan. Once they were circumcised under Joshua, they kept it.
- Blood first. Redemption is the ground of every stage — rescue from Egypt, survival in the desert, and victory in Canaan.
- Timed by God. The feast falls when God moves in among His people — the tabernacle set up, the glory filling it, redemption accomplished.
- Fuel for the road. God gives the memory of redemption before the desert trials, so the people carry its joy into every difficulty.
- Kept as commanded. God alone fixed the date and the manner. No faithful Israelite would change either, and wilful neglect meant being cut off.
- Then silence. Scripture records no other Passover until Canaan. Some writers point to the people's unbelief, others to the uncircumcised generation born in the desert.
And there were men, who were unclean through the dead body of a man, and could not hold the passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.
Israel kept the Passover at Sinai, and then a new case came up: some men had touched a dead body, so they were unclean and shut out of the feast. That raises two questions — does a worshipper's state matter to God, and what does He do when the person shut out is not to blame?
Where did this new case come from? One writer traces it to the desert itself:
A deeply interesting question, surely, but one that had no answer yet. Exodus 12 gives a very full statement of all the rites and ceremonies of the feast, yet it anticipates no such case. The wilderness brought this new point to light. The difficulty came up in the actual walk of the people — in the real, practical details of desert life — and it needed a solution.
Contact with death runs through the book of Numbers, and the desert itself explains why:
Defilement by the dead is characteristic of the book of Numbers… The wilderness is barren. It has nothing that would sustain life, so it suggests death. In many places the skeletons of animals and men lie far and wide, bleaching in sun and wind. The world bears the same stamp and seal of death, the clear mark of its distance and alienation from the living God.
These men had every right to the feast. What they lacked was a state to match it, and they felt the loss:
They were not only conscious of their uncleanness. They also felt the pain of losing the privilege of celebrating the memorial of their redemption… These children of Israel had a perfect title to the Passover feast. But they now understand that the title, by itself, was not enough. There must also be a state suited to the title. And further, the Lord alone could order how the feast was kept.
The men brought the case to Moses and Aaron. One writer admires what Moses did next:
Moses had no answer to give, but he knew who had, and he waited on Him. This was the very best and wisest thing for Moses to do. He did not pretend to be able to give an answer. He was not ashamed to say, "I do not know." With all his wisdom and knowledge, he did not hesitate to show his ignorance. This is true knowledge — true wisdom.
God's answer was a Passover kept one month later. That was not a loosening of the rule:
Then in Numbers 9 comes a special provision. It covers any impurity picked up in the wilderness that might stop the Passover being kept at the right season. It is the resource of grace, and is found only here… We see that the Lord would not lower His end or His ways. On the one hand the Passover must be kept — the remembrance of the death of Christ is necessary everywhere… On the other hand, if they were not in a fit condition through defilement, the Lord here makes a special provision for it.
The delay was never a way around cleansing:
Their stay outside, and their loss of the privileges God's people normally enjoy, might be only temporary. Numbers 9:6-10 shows this. Defilement in the first month kept these men from the Passover, yet the grace of God allowed them to take it in the second month. But the condition was always the same: the defilement had to be removed in a way suited to the glory of God.
One writer draws a sharp line between being hindered and being careless:
These men had been defiled not by their sin, but by duties connected with the dead… So the provision did not excuse carelessness, but it did cover unavoidable duties. We may well take this teaching to heart in relation to the Lord's Supper… To miss it through carelessness means spiritual loss. It is not so if necessary and right duties hinder us.
Yet the second month is a mercy with a memory attached:
Whenever we let defilement push the redemption of our blessed Lord into second place, God must show us we have done so. He does this even in His restoring grace. So the very grace that restores us to God's thoughts reminds us of our failure.
- Defilement: The desert raised a case the first Passover never covered: contact with death, the mark the world bears.
- Desire: These men grieved at being shut out. Their right to the feast was real, but they still needed a state to match it.
- Dependence: Moses would not answer from himself — "I do not know" is called true wisdom here.
- Deferral: God did not cancel the feast or skip the cleansing. He moved the date, so grace met the need and the standard stood.
- Discernment: God provides for those held back by real duty. Carelessness only brings loss, and even restoring grace reminds us of the failure.
And those men said to him, We are unclean by reason of the dead body of a man why are we kept back, that we may not present the offering of Jehovah at its set time among the children of Israel?
A year after leaving Egypt, Israel keeps the Passover at Sinai, and some men are shut out because they had touched a dead body. They ask Moses whether that must cost them their place at the memorial of their redemption.
Nothing in the first Passover rules had covered a case like this.
This is a deeply interesting question, but so far no answer had been given for it. The original rules in Exodus 12 say nothing about such a case, although they give a very full statement of all the rites and ceremonies of the feast. It was reserved for the wilderness to bring out this new point. The difficulty came up in the actual walk of the people, in the real practical details of desert life. A solution had to be found for it.
Defilement came by contact, and one writer applies that to the company a believer keeps today.
Some of the people had been defiled by contact with a dead body, and that barred them from keeping the Passover (v.6). This speaks seriously to us today. There are many dead bodies in Christendom. They profess to be Christian, but they have no life in them, so the corruption of death taints them. If someone joins in fellowship with such a group, it defiles him, even though he himself is not dead. He must be purified from this defilement before he can rightly take part in the Lord's supper.
Before they ask anything, they admit what is wrong.
They plainly confessed the defilement. Then this question came up: were they to be shut out from the holy privilege of coming before the Lord in His appointed way? Was there no resource, no provision for such a case?
No one disputed their right to the feast.
Many a Christian might learn a lesson from these Israelites. They were not only aware of their uncleanness. They also felt, with real pain, the loss of the privilege of celebrating the memorial of their redemption… These children of Israel had a perfect title to the Passover feast. But now they understand that the title by itself was not enough. There must also be a state suited to the title. And the Lord alone could order how the feast was kept.
The answer could have gone two ways: relax the feast, or abandon the men. It did neither.
We see that the Lord would not lower His end or His ways. On the one hand, the passover must be kept. The remembrance of the death of Christ is necessary everywhere… On the other hand, they might not be in a fit condition, because of defilement. For that case the Lord here makes a special provision. He would not lower the passover by setting aside its absolute obligation. At the same time, He would look with pity on the circumstances of the journey.
Faced with a question he had no answer for, the leader of the nation refused to invent one.
"And Moses said to them, Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you." Lovely attitude! Moses had no answer to give; but he knew who had, and he waited on Him. This was the very best and wisest thing for Moses to do. He did not pretend to be able to give an answer. He was not ashamed to say, "I do not know."
The Lord's reply covered both the defiled man and the traveller.
The men who were defiled made a confession of it. Moses did not know what to do about their case, so he turned to the Lord for instruction, and the answer came at once. The grace of God met this need in a blessed way… He gave them time for cleansing and for return from the journey, and then a month later they could keep the Passover. None was to be shut out from the feast of redemption which God in His grace had provided for His people. Confession and self-judgment are needed in keeping the Lord's Supper. If the wanderer returns, he finds a welcome at the table He has spread for His people.
- Contact. Touching what is dead defiles. That is what kept these men from the feast — so a believer should watch what he joins himself to.
- Confession. They admitted their defilement plainly; confession and self-judgment are still needed at the Lord's table.
- Longing. They felt the loss of the memorial with real pain. Their title to the feast was perfect, but a title alone was not enough — the state had to match it.
- Waiting. Moses had no answer of his own, so he took the case to the Lord. The Lord alone could order how the feast was kept.
- Grace. God would not lower the feast, and He would not shut the man out. A second month was pure grace, and the one who returns still finds a welcome.
And Moses said to them, Stay, and I will hear what Jehovah commands concerning you.
Israel is in the desert, keeping the Passover, and a small group cannot join because contact with a dead body has left them unclean. When they bring their case to Moses, he tells them he has no answer yet.
Moses faced a case the earlier instructions had not covered.
A deeply interesting question, but one for which no answer had yet been provided. The original instructions in Exodus 12 anticipate no such case. Yet they give a very full statement of all the rites and ceremonies of the feast. It was reserved for the wilderness to bring out this new point. The difficulty appeared in the actual walk of the people, in the real practical details of desert life. That is where it called for a solution.
The men had not sinned; their defilement came from handling the dead. Even so, the leader would not bend the command to fit the case.
Moses knew that he had no authority to vary God's instructions, so he went to the Lord to hear what He had to say. The men in question had been defiled not by their sin but by attending duties in connection with the dead. God allowed them to eat the feast exactly a month later, but they had to keep all the ordinances connected with it. So this sanctioned no carelessness, yet it made provision for unavoidable duties. We may well take this teaching to heart in relation to the Lord's Supper. To miss that through carelessness means spiritual loss. It is not so when necessary and right duties hinder us.
Waiting cost Moses something. As leader, he had to admit he had no reply.
"Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you." Lovely attitude! Moses had no answer to give, but he knew who had, and he waited on Him. He was not ashamed to say, "I do not know." With all his wisdom and knowledge, he did not hesitate to show his ignorance. This is true knowledge — true wisdom.
The same writer turns this on the reader, and on our habit of covering gaps in our knowledge with speech.
We are often so silly as to be ashamed to expose our ignorance. We foolishly imagine that our reputation for wisdom and intelligence suffers when we say, "I don't know." That is a total mistake. Those words are a fine sentence, and they express true moral greatness. We always attach much more weight to the words of a man who never pretends to knowledge he does not have. But a man who is always ready to speak, in flippant self-confidence, we are never ready to hear.
These men were Israelites, redeemed with the rest. Their right to the feast was clear. Something more was still needed.
Moses could only refer the matter to the Lord. From this we gather that the word of the Lord alone must govern the observance of the Passover. These children of Israel had a perfect title to the Passover feast. But they now understand that the title, by itself, was not enough. There must also be a state suited to the title. And further, the Lord alone could order the manner of its celebration.
God's reply set a second date, a month later, for the defiled and for those far from home.
Moses did not know what to do about their case, so he turned to the Lord for instruction. The Lord gave it at once. The grace of God met this need in a blessed way. They had time for cleansing and for return from the journey, and then a month later they could keep the Passover. None was to be shut out from the feast of redemption which God in His grace had provided for His people.
The second month was real relief. It was not a loophole.
The wilderness is where human failure comes fully out. The wilderness is also where God displays the infinite resources of His grace. But let us say it once more, and may it sink deep and wide into our hearts. The richest provisions of divine grace and mercy give no warrant whatever for lowering the standard of divine truth. Suppose a man had pleaded defilement or distance as an excuse for not keeping the Passover, or for keeping it in any way other than God had commanded. He would certainly have been cut off from the congregation.
- Question. Desert life raised a case the written instructions had not covered. The wilderness is where the real difficulties surface.
- Wait. Moses' greatness shows in his pause; he had no answer, but he knew who had, and he was not ashamed to say so.
- Word. No leader may adjust God's command to fit a hard case; only the Lord could set the terms of His own feast.
- Grace. The reply opened a second date, a month later, leaving time to get clean and to travel home. No redeemed Israelite stayed shut out.
- Standard. Mercy met the need of those truly hindered. It never lowered the rule for the careless.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
In this verse God answers a question no one on earth could settle. Men who had touched a dead body wanted to know why that should shut them out of the Passover. What follows is God's own reply — and it shows how He handles His people when the wilderness gets in the way of worship.
The case was new. The first Passover instructions had never covered it. One writer shows where the gap appeared.
The original instructions in Exodus 12 do not deal with a case like this, even though they set out all the rites and ceremonies of the feast in full. It took the wilderness to bring this new point out. The difficulty came up in the people's actual walk — in the real practical details of desert life — and it needed an answer. So the record of this whole matter belongs where we find it: in Numbers, the book of the wilderness.
Moses had no answer of his own. One writer calls what he did next the wisest possible move.
Moses had no answer to give; but he knew who had, and he waited on Him. This was the very best and wisest thing for Moses to do. He did not pretend to be able to give an answer. He was not ashamed to say, "I do not know." With all his wisdom and knowledge, he did not hesitate to show his ignorance. This is true knowledge — true wisdom.
From this verse on, God does not lower His standard. He joins two things that can seem opposed.
From verse 9 on we see grace and holiness brought together to meet defilement. Defilement now is death above all, because the Spirit of God works in us with power, and so we know sin in its real force as death. God brings in the remedy where the need is, the moment the matter at hand is being kept back from offering to the Lord.
God's answer moved the date. It never cancelled the duty, because the Passover held something too important to drop.
On the one hand, the Passover must be kept. Remembering the death of Christ is necessary everywhere. There is no path out of the world without the death of Christ, which they kept in Egypt… On the other hand, if defilement left them unfit, Jehovah here makes a special provision for it. He would not lower the Passover by setting aside its absolute obligation. But at the same time He would look with pity on the circumstances of the road, which could get in the way of keeping it.
Grace made room for weakness. It did not lower the standard.
The grace of God can meet us in our greatest weakness, if only we feel that weakness and confess it. But do not let this most precious and comforting truth lead us to treat sin or defilement lightly… Through weakness, failure, or the pressure of circumstances, a man might be behind the time. But he must not be below the mark. Grace allowed the first; holiness forbids the second.
One writer applies this provision to the Lord's Supper. He draws a line between being hindered and being careless.
These men had been defiled not by their own sin but by duties they carried out in connection with the dead. God allowed them to eat the feast exactly a month later, but they had to keep all the ordinances that went with it. So carelessness got no approval, yet unavoidable duties got provision. We may well take the teaching of this to heart in relation to the Lord's Supper, which was instituted just as the prophetic meaning of the Passover was about to be fulfilled. To miss it through carelessness means spiritual loss. It is not so when necessary and right duties keep us away.
Another writer puts the welcome of it plainly.
No one was to be shut out from the feast of redemption that God in His grace had provided for His people… If the wanderer only returns, he finds a welcome at the table He has spread for His people.
- Need. The problem came up on the road, not in the rulebook. Exodus 12 never covered it; the wilderness brought it to light.
- Silence. Moses did not guess. He waited on the One who had the answer, and this verse is God's reply.
- Grace. God did not scold the defiled men. He brought the remedy to the exact point of need, where defilement had kept them from offering to Him.
- Standard. The date moved; the requirements did not. Grace let a man be behind the time, never below the mark.
- Welcome. Being hindered need not keep anyone from the table God has spread. If the wanderer returns, he finds a welcome.
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your generations be unclean by reason of a dead body or be on a journey afar off, yet he shall hold the passover to Jehovah.
A practical problem came up in the desert: some Israelites had touched a dead body, so they could not keep the Passover at its set time. God's answer covers anyone defiled and anyone far away on a journey, and it names a second date instead of cancelling the feast.
This provision is not found in the original Passover law given in Egypt. One writer connects that fact to the character of the book it sits in.
The Red Heifer is given in full detail only in the fourth book, because it is the special provision for defilements along the way; and this book deals with the wilderness path of God's people. So only here do we have the gracious means of a second-month Passover for those who missed the first through a passing defilement. The Passover itself was instituted and set out most fully in the second book as the sacrificial basis of redemption.
Mackintosh makes the same observation from the side of experience: the difficulty surfaced in real desert life, and no answer to it had been given before.
The original law in Exodus 12 does not foresee any such case, though it gives there a very full statement of all the rites and ceremonies of the feast. It was reserved for the wilderness to bring out this new point. The difficulty came up in the actual walk of the people — in the real practical details of desert life — and it needed a solution. So Numbers, the book of the wilderness, is the fitting place for the record of this whole affair.
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Uncleanness and distance are very different problems, yet God treats them together. Neither one excuses a man from the feast. A later date answers both.
On the one hand the Passover must be kept — the remembrance of the death of Christ is necessary everywhere. There is no pathway out of the world without the death of Christ... On the other hand, if they were not in a fit state because of defilement, the Lord here makes a special provision for it. He would not lower the Passover by setting aside its absolute obligation. But at the same time He would kindly allow for the conditions of the road that might make keeping it impossible.
The extra month makes room for weakness. It does not lower the rules.
The grace of God can meet us in our greatest weakness, if only we feel that weakness and confess it. But do not let this precious and comforting truth lead us to trifle with sin or defilement. Grace allowed the second month instead of the first. But it did not on that account allow any looseness about the rites and ceremonies of the feast. The unleavened bread and bitter herbs were always to have their place. God cannot allow any lowering of the standard of truth or holiness. A man might be behind the time through weakness, failure, or the pressure of circumstances. But he must not be below the mark.
The delay is not empty. A month is what the two hindrances need: time to wash, and time to travel home. But grace for the hindered is not cover for the careless.
God gave time for cleansing and for the return from the journey, and then a month later they could keep the Passover. No one was to be shut out from the feast of redemption that God in His grace had provided for His people... If the wanderer only returns, he finds a welcome at the table He has spread for His people... But if anyone did neglect the Passover on purpose, he was to be cut off from his people. Such neglect showed that he had no heart for the Lord and His redemption.
The rule exists because some men wanted in. They did not resent the shut door; they wanted the place they had lost.
God tenderly regarded the desire of His people. Longing to be fully one with His own, and to enjoy the privileges He Himself has given, is always the sign of a right state of soul. So He directed that an exceptional provision be made for this case. Such believers, and any who might be on a journey, should not be barred from their place at the Passover table. They were to keep the feast on the fourteenth day of the second month, and they were to be careful at the same time to keep it according to all its rules.
One writer applies the same two hindrances to the breaking of bread today.
When someone is cleansed from the defilement of unholy company, he is to be welcomed to the breaking of bread. And if distance has made fellowship impossible, that must not hinder fellowship when he returns from his journey.
- Hindrance. Two things could keep an Israelite from the feast on time: touching a dead body, and being far away on a journey.
- Question. The men did not shrug at the shut door. They asked for their place, and that longing is the sign of a right state of soul.
- Grace. God gave a new date, not an excuse: the fourteenth day of the second month. That is just enough time for cleansing to finish and travellers to get home.
- Standard. Grace allowed the later month, but not one loose rite: a man may be behind the time, but never below the mark.
- Result. No one who wanted in was shut out of the feast of redemption. But the man who skipped it on purpose was cut off from his people.
In the second month, on the fourteenth day, between the two evenings, shall they hold it; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs shall they eat it.
Israel kept the Passover in the wilderness, on the day God had set. But some men had touched a dead body. That shut them out of the very feast that marked them as a redeemed people. This verse is God's answer: a second date, one month later, with every detail of the first feast still standing.
Exodus 12 gives a very full statement of all the rites and all the ceremonies of the feast. Yet it never allows for a case like this one. It took the wilderness to bring this new point out. The difficulty came up in the actual walk of the people, in the real practical details of desert life, and it needed an answer.
Notice what God protects here, and what He adjusts.
This provision is the resource of grace, and it is found only here... On the one hand the passover must be kept. The remembrance of the death of Christ is necessary everywhere. There is no way out of the world without the death of Christ, which they kept in Egypt. When they are in the wilderness, the death of Christ is just as necessary. When we enter Canaan, we find the passover meets us there in the foreground (Joshua 5)... On the other hand, suppose they were not in a fit condition because of defilement. Jehovah here makes a special provision for that. He would not lower the passover by setting aside its absolute obligation. But at the same time He would look with pity on the circumstances of the road that might make keeping it impossible.
A later date did not mean an easier one.
Though grace allowed the second month instead of the first, it did not allow any slackness about the rites and ceremonies of the feast. "The unleavened bread and bitter herbs" were always to have their place. None of the sacrifice was to remain till the morning, and not one bone of it was to be broken. God cannot allow any lowering of the standard of truth or holiness. A man, through weakness, failure, or the force of circumstances, might be behind the time. But he must not be below the mark. Grace permitted the first; holiness forbids the second. If anyone had presumed on the grace to set aside the holiness, he would have been cut off from the congregation.
The bread and the herbs are more than part of the meal.
Leaven is a picture of evil. So the unleavened bread speaks on one side of the absence of evil, and on the other of purity and holiness. The apostle Paul speaks of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth... The bitter herbs stand for what comes of entering into the sufferings of Christ on our behalf: repentance, and self-judgment in the presence of God. These two things picture the state of soul in which alone we can really feed on the lamb roasted with fire.
Grace here does more than excuse these men. It gives them a way in.
They were given time to be cleansed and to get back from their journey. Then, a month later, they could keep the Passover. Restores the Lord's Supper line so the application is grounded
This second date did not stay on paper. A king later used it for a whole nation.
At the time of Hezekiah's revival, the Passover was not kept on the fourteenth day of the first month, but on the fourteenth of the second month (2 Chr. 30:15). That was the date the Word authorized for those who were unclean, or on a journey when the feast was held. The priests were in the first case. They had lacked the zeal to sanctify themselves, so they were unclean, and Hezekiah acted accordingly.
- Cause — a man was unclean from a death, or far off on a journey. Exodus 12 had never covered such a case.
- Gift — grace moves the date, not the standard: a man may be behind the time, but never below the mark.
- Reach — no one is shut out. The delay gives the unclean time to get clean, and the traveller time to come home.
- Cost — the bitter herbs come with the bread. Repentance and self-judgment are the state of soul that can feed on the lamb.
- Result — a whole nation later used this second date. Hezekiah's people owned their uncleanness and kept the feast.
They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone thereof according to every ordinance of the passover shall they hold it.
Some Israelites had touched a dead body and missed the Passover at its set time, so God let them keep it a month late. But they had to keep it in full — grace moved the date, never the standard.
A second month was not a softening of the feast. It made sure that neither death nor distance cost anyone the Passover.
There are two great foundation truths set out in the Passover: redemption, and the unity of God's people. These truths are unchangeable... Circumstances were not to interfere with it. Death or distance was not to interrupt it. "If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD." Keeping this feast was binding on every member of the congregation. So Numbers 9 makes a special provision for those who were not up to the mark of keeping it in the proper order. Turn to 2 Chronicles 30 and you will see that Hezekiah and the congregation in his day made use of this gracious provision.
The permission touched the date only. The rules in this verse — nothing left till morning, no bone broken — still bound the man who came late.
The grace of God can meet us in our greatest possible weakness, if only we feel and confess that weakness. But do not let this most precious and comforting truth lead us to trifle with sin or defilement. Grace permitted the second month instead of the first. Even so, it allowed no looseness about the rites and ceremonies of the feast... God cannot allow any lowering of the standard of truth or holiness. Man, through weakness, failure, or the force of circumstances, might be behind the time; but he must not be below the mark.
Read verse 3 beside verses 11–12 and something odd appears. The first month gets a phrase; the second month gets an item-by-item list.
Why is it that in this ninth chapter of Numbers the directions for the second month are much more detailed than those for the first? Surely it is not that the ordinance was more important in the one case than in the other... for the first month we simply read that they shall keep it "according to all its statutes and all its rules." But for the second month we get a detailed statement of what those statutes and rules were.
The lamb was never eaten alone. Unleavened bread and bitter herbs went with it, and each one carries a meaning.
Keeping the feast of "unleavened bread" pictures feeding on Christ, on Him in His unstained purity. The bitter herbs were eaten with the lamb's body on the Passover night; self-judgment went together with faith in God's mercy through the Lamb.
Whatever the family could not eat had to be burnt. That rule says something about God's own estimate of the sacrifice.
Further, nothing of the Passover was to remain till the morning. What is the meaning of that? Whatever they could not eat had to be burnt with fire. The death of Christ is infinitely precious to God; it all goes up as a sweet aroma to Him. What I fail to grasp, God appreciates.
For centuries Israel obeyed this rule without knowing why. The reason came to light on the day Jesus died.
Why God gave that instruction to the people in Egypt was not clear at the time. Israel had kept many a Passover since then, and observed that ordinance. Yet the reason for it stayed a mystery. Now it came to light. And John marks it, in that the soldiers did not break the Lord's legs... But God, we must say, held them back from it. For in what they did not do, those Roman soldiers did not know they were carrying out God's mind.
Bones hold a body together. That picture sets a standard for how we hold the truth about Christ.
They were not to break a bone of the Passover lamb. The bones are the framework of the body. So the foundational truths of the Person and work of Christ must be kept in unbroken faithfulness.
- Grace — uncleanness or distance delayed some; God gave a second month, so that no one lost the feast of redemption.
- Standard — the delay touched the date only: a man might be behind the time, but never below the mark.
- Detail — the fuller list of rites comes with the second month, not the first — right where failure had come in.
- Wholeness — no bone broken: we take the Lamb whole, and we hold the truth of His Person and work unbroken too.
- Fulfilment — Roman soldiers left His legs unbroken without knowing why, and the reason for the old command came to light at the cross.
But a man that is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbeareth to hold the passover, that soul shall be cut off from among his peoples; because he presented not the offering of Jehovah at its set time that man shall bear his sin.
Men who were unclean could not keep the Passover on time, so God gave them a second date a month later. Verse 13 marks the limit of that mercy: it names the man who has no such hindrance and stays away anyway.
God opened the second month for those who could not come, not for those who would not. The words "who is clean and is not on a journey" mark off the man this allowance never covered.
God gave time for cleansing and for the return from the journey, and then a month later they could keep the Passover. None was to be shut out from the feast of redemption which God in His grace had provided for His people... But if someone neglected the Passover on purpose, he was to be cut off from among his people.
The penalty is heavy because a missed Passover was never just a missed date. How much a man valued that memorable night decided how much he longed for the feast.
On that memorable night the congregation of Israel found refuge and rest under the shelter of the blood. The more deeply anyone entered into the divine reality of what was done then, the more he would long for the return of "the fourteenth day of the first month," so that he could mark that glorious occasion again. And if anything prevented him from keeping the feast in "the first month," he would take up "the second" all the more gladly and thankfully. But the man who could be satisfied to go on year after year without keeping the Passover only proved that his heart was far away from the God of Israel.
The verse pins the guilt to a time: the man did not bring the offering at its appointed time. Grace moved that time by a month, but it changed nothing about what the feast required.
The grace of God can meet us in our greatest possible weakness, if only we feel and confess that weakness. But do not let this most precious and comforting truth lead us to trifle with sin or defilement. Grace permitted the second month instead of the first. But it did not on that account allow any carelessness about the rites and ceremonies of the feast... Through weakness, failure, or the power of circumstances, a man might be behind the time. But he must not be below the mark.
The verse leaves the man to bear his own sin. Commentators read him in two ways. Some see a picture of unbelief:
The keeping of the Passover was so serious a matter that a man who was not defiled and not travelling had to keep it. If he refused, he was to be cut off in death. This pictures someone who has no regard for the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Only through that sacrifice can anyone have a true relationship with God.
Others apply it to Christians who have a memorial of their own and let it slide.
We have a memorial of our redemption, and He whose death and resurrection secured it has His own appointed way of being remembered: the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup. To neglect it is a very solemn thing, and many Christians might well take the warning to heart. Grace now reigns through righteousness. But that should only make us feel the unspeakable love more deeply — the love that lays the remembrance of Himself upon our hearts.
Verse 13 turns on a distinction worth keeping. Being kept away is one thing; staying away is another.
Spiritual decline follows only from deliberate absence from the Lord's table. Sometimes circumstances put up a barrier that cannot be crossed, even when there is the strongest desire to be present when the ordinance is kept — and that desire is always there where the mind is spiritual. But we may lay it down as a fixed principle of truth: no one can make progress in the divine life who stays away from the Lord's table on purpose.
- Provision — God opened a second month. No Israelite who was unclean or away from home had to miss the feast of redemption.
- Boundary — that provision covered those who could not come, not those who would not. A man who was clean and at home had no excuse.
- Diagnosis — settled neglect of the memorial proved that a man's heart was far from the God who redeemed him.
- Standard — grace let a man be behind the time, never below the mark. The later date changed none of the rules of the feast.
- Application — commentators differ on whether the cut-off man pictures unbelief or a careless believer. Both readings press the same point. Staying away from the remembrance of Christ's death on purpose is never a small thing.
And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and would hold the passover to Jehovah, according to the rite of the passover, and according to the ordinance thereof, so shall he do. Ye shall have one rite, both for the stranger and for him that is born in the land.
The Passover was Israel's family meal, kept on the anniversary of the night God brought them out of Egypt. Verse 14 turns to an outsider — a foreigner living among them — who may keep it under the same rule as the native-born. So who may come to God's table, and on what terms?
This is not a passing visitor. It means a non-Israelite who had joined himself to Israel and its God. The Greek Old Testament calls him a proselyte:
This was the name given to anyone from the nations who embraced the Jewish faith. The name is a Greek word, from a verb meaning "to come to." The Greek translation uses it where the Hebrew has "the stranger" who sojourns among you. Such a person might eat the Passover and offer a burnt offering or sacrifice, if all the males in his family were circumcised.
The verse lays no duty on the outsider. It only removes the barrier:
Suppose a man had no claim at all — an outsider to the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger to the covenants of promise. If he wanted to keep the Passover to the Lord, he might do so. This is one of the striking early hints of grace found even under the law. Such hints announce very plainly that God was always looking on to the time when His grace could travel out in the gospel to all the world: "let the one who desires take the water of life without price." Notice too: the stranger got no command to keep the feast. If he wished to keep it, the way was open. He only had to have the qualification for it, just as the children of Israel did.
Israel was slow to accept this side of God's character:
This provision was not only for those hindered on the due date. In His kindness God thought of "the stranger" too. Such a man might also take part, if he kept all the ordinances. So, under the law God was dealing only with Israel, yet He kept the door open for any stranger whose heart was touched and drawn toward Himself. The average Jew was slow to admit this, as we see in Peter's words in Acts 10:34-35. Now, in the gospel, all distinctions have disappeared. There is "no difference," either in guilt or in the richness of the grace offered, as the letter to the Romans declares.
The welcome came with a condition. He must keep the feast according to the ordinance.
A stranger (v. 14) might keep the Passover, but he must keep it according to the ordinance and in the way laid down. Grace brings us to God. But it always brings us according to what God is, so it never departs from the principle of holiness — the eternal ordinance of God's house in the Spirit. If a man is not spiritually holy, his worship is only detestable to God.
One mark settled who could eat. And one kind of person was still shut out:
The main point in the Passover regulations is this: only the circumcised may take part. Once circumcised, a stranger was no longer a stranger. That is clear enough when we remember what circumcision implied. It also helps us understand why the "hired servant" is named among those shut out. The covenant of grace will not mix with the idea of wage-work. The feast of redemption is for people with no power for good, who shelter under the shadow of the Almighty: "while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
These Passover rules have a counterpart at the Lord's table:
There is this connection between the Passover and the Lord's Supper: the first was the type, the second the memorial, of the death of Christ. So we read in 1 Corinthians 5, "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." That sentence establishes the link. The Passover was the memorial of Israel's redemption from slavery in Egypt. The Lord's Supper is the memorial of the Church's redemption from the heavier and darker slavery of sin and Satan.
One writer applies the verse's single rule to the church today:
The same principle is just as true in the assembly of God today: there are to be no double standards.
- One door. God did not shut the outsider out. If he wanted to keep the feast, the way was open — an early hint that grace would one day travel to the whole world.
- One invitation. The stranger got no command to keep the feast. Desire, not duty, brought him in — the open call sounded long before the gospel.
- One rule. He came in on God's terms, not softened ones. Grace brings people near, but always according to what God is, so holiness is never set aside.
- One mark. Circumcision qualified him. The hired servant had no place, because the feast of redemption belongs to those who cannot earn it.
- One table. The Passover was the type and the Lord's Supper is the memorial of one death. The same even-handed rule stands today: no double standards.