Numbers 9:5

Num 9:5 And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.

Ver. 5. And they kept the passover.] {See Trapp on "Exo 12:1"} &c

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 9:5. They kept the passover — in the wilderness — Where they rested almost a whole year; but after they removed from thence, they were in so unsettled a condition that they did not even circumcise their children, (Jos 5:5,) who consequently could not eat the passover, Exo 12:48.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(5) And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day . . . —There is no mention here of the observance of the feast of unleavened bread for seven days, as it was enjoined in Exo_12:18. It might not have been practicable to obtain a sufficient quantity of flour to last so large a number of people for seven days, though it may have been easy to procure from Midian or elsewhere a sufficient quantity for one meal.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds,"who died by them suddenly,''whereby pollution was contracted, see Num 6:9; though perhaps this was a whole house or family, one of which was dead, and so all were defiled, being in the place where the dead body was, or had touched it, or been concerned however in the burying of it, and on account of which were unclean seven days, and so might not eat of any holy things, as the passover; and though at the first institution there was no such law, yet since that time there was, which obliged them, see Lev 7:20; and it is said (z), that the section concerning the red heifer, and so of defilement by a dead body, was delivered on the day the tabernacle was erected, even on the first day of the first month; and though recorded in Num 19:1; yet was given out before this; and indeed otherwise it is not easy to conceive how these men should know that the dead body of a man was defiling:

that they could not keep the passover on that day; as others did, the fourteenth of Nisan, it being, according to the Targum of Jonathan, the seventh day of their defilement:

and they came before Moses, and before Aaron, on that day; on the selfsame day the passover was kept, and they were sensible of their pollution, which disqualified for it; and therefore it should rather seem to be the first day of their pollution than their last; since otherwise they would doubtless have inquired about this matter before the passover came; unless the time of their pollution was so near out, that they thought they might eat it safely, on which they desired advice.

(z) Chaskuni in loc.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In Mount. Hebrew, "desert (or mountainous country) of Sinai," Exodus xiv. 3. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And they kept the passover. It is a question which inevitably arises here, how they obtained a sufficient number of lambs for the requirement of so many people, and how they were slain sacrificially within the appointed time. The first difficulty does not seem serious when we consider,

(1) that kids were available as well as lambs; (see on Exo_12:3)

(2) that the desert tribes would have abundance of lambs and kids for sale at this season, and that the Israelites certainly had money;

(3) that in view of their speedy departure they would be disposed to kill off the young of their own flocks. The second difficulty is more serious, and would be insurmountable if we had to believe that the ritual of this passover was the same which afterwards prevailed. Josephus tells us ("Bell. Jud:," 6:9, 3) that in his day 256, 000 Iambs were slain and their blood sprinkled upon the altar within the three hours "between the evenings." At that time, according to the same authority, a lamb was shared by ten, and

often by as many as twenty people. The number of males who would partake of the paschal meal in the wilderness may be set down as not more than 800, 000. If the women partook of it at all, (which is very doubtful; cf. Exo_12:44, Exo_12:48) they would doubtless content themselves with the scraps left by the men. Allowing twenty souls to each lamb, the number required would be not more than 40, 000. It is obvious at once that the three priests could not possibly kill 40, 000 lambs in three hours, much less sprinkle their blood upon the altar; indeed the same may be said for 10, 000, or even 5000, especially as they could not have acquired the extreme dexterity and dispatch which long practice taught to the later priests. Nor is it satisfactory to reply that the priests did the work "out of the hand of the Levites", (2Ch_30:16)

(1) because this passover took place before the Levites were formally separated for the service of God and of the priests; (see Num_8:22)

(2) because the smallness of the space about the altar would not allow of many people assisting;

(3) because the actual slaying and sprinkling, which was restricted to the priests (being distinctively sacrificial in nature), are the very things which we find impossible in the time. There are but two alternative conclusions, from one or other of which there is no honest escape: either

(a) the numbers of the people are greatly exaggerated, or

(b) the ritual of after days was not observed on this occasion.

As to (a), see what is said on the whole question of numbers in the Introduction. As to (b), it must be borne in mind that no direction whatever had been given, as far as we know, either that the lambs must be slain by the priests only, or that their blood must be poured upon the altar. If the Jews were left to follow the original institution as nearly as possible, they would have killed the lambs themselves, and sprinkled the blood around the doors of their tents. It is true that according to the Levitical ritual, now recently put into use, all other animals slain in sacrifice (or indeed for food) must be slain at the tabernacle by the priest, and the blood sprinkled on the altar; and it is true that this general rule was afterwards held especially binding in the case of the passover. But there is nothing to show that it was held binding then: the passover had been ordained before the establishment of the Levitical priesthood and law of sacrifice; and it might very well have been considered that it retained its primal character unaffected by subsequent legislation, and that the priesthood of the people (in other rites transferred to Aaron and his sons) was recalled and revived in the case of this special rite. If this was the case both at this passover and at that under Joshua, it is easy enough to understand why the later practice was so entirely different; the neglect or disuse of centuries obliterated the tradition of the passover, and when it was revived by the later kings, they naturally followed the analogy of all other sacrifices, and the apparently express command of Lev_17:3-6. They could not indeed obey this command in their daily life, but they could and did obey it in the striking and typical case of the paschal feast.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.