The first Passover after Egypt
9
📚And the LORD spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 📚“Have the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3 📚On the fourteenth day of this month in the evening you shall keep it at its appointed time. You are to keep it in accordance with all its rites and in accordance with all its ceremonies”. 4 And Moses told the children of Israel to keep the Passover. 5 📚And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month in the evening, in the desert of Sinai. The children of Israel did just as the LORD commanded Moses.
6 📚And some men had become defiled by the dead body of a man, so they could not keep the Passover on that day. And on that day they came to Moses and Aaron. 7 📚And those men said to him, “Even though we are defiled by the dead body of a man, why are we kept away so that we cannot present an offering of the LORD at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”
8 📚And Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will hear what command the LORD gives about you”.
9:8 This is what everyone should do in any doubtful matter, in anything where guidance is needed (Ps 85:8; Prov 3:5-6; Jam 1:5).⚜
9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 📚“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If any of you or of your descendants becomes unclean because of a dead body, or is at a distance on a journey, yet he shall keep the Passover to the LORD. 11 📚They shall keep it on the fourteenth day of the second month in the evening, and eat it with bread made without yeast and bitter herbs.
9:11 The answer God gave to this problem was that those who were unclean at the appointed time of the Passover could observe it one month later.⚜
12 📚They are not to leave any of it until morning, or break any of its bones. They shall keep it according to all the ordinances of the Passover. 13 📚But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and neglects to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from among his people. That man will bear his sin because he did not bring the offering of the LORD at its appointed time.
9:13 To neglect this appointed feast of the Lord was a very serious matter. It was the same as regarding it as of no value, as despising God who appointed it. The penalty was to be cut off in one’s sin. If we lightly regard the Word of God we shall suffer the sad consequences (Prov 1:24-32; Heb 12:25).⚜
14 📚“And if a foreigner is staying among you, and keeps the Passover to the LORD, he must do so according to the ordinance of the Passover, and according to its regulations. You shall have the same ordinance for the foreigner and for the one who is born in the land”.
God’s cloud
15 📚And on the day that the tabernacle was set up the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; and in the evening over the tabernacle there was what appeared to be fire, until the morning. 16 📚So it was always; the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. 17 📚And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then the children of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. 18 📚The children of Israel set out at the command of the LORD, and they camped at the command of the LORD. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle they rested in their tents. 19 📚And when the cloud stayed for many days over the tabernacle, then the children of Israel obeyed the LORD’s command and did not set out. 20 And so it was, when the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle, according to the commandment of the LORD they stayed in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed. 21 📚And so if the cloud stayed from evening to morning, and then the cloud was taken up in the morning, they set out. Whether it was by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they set out. 22 📚Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, remaining over it, the children of Israel stayed in their tents, and did not set out. But when it was taken up, they set out. 23 📚At the command of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the command of the LORD they set out. They obeyed the LORD’s orders in accordance with the LORD’s command through Moses.
9:17-23 Note at Ex 40:36-38.⚜