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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Numbers 9:6 - 9:14
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The Substitute Festival, or Little Passover
v. 6. And there were certain men, probably Mishael and. Elizaphan, Lev_10:4-5, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the Passover on that day, Lev_19:28; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day;
v. 7. and those men said unto him, We are defiled, Levitically unclean, by the dead body of a man; wherefore are we kept back, literally, "shortened," not given our full rights and privileges, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in his appointed season among the children of Israel? They had reference to the precept which excluded the Levitically unclean from offering a sacrifice and from partaking in a sacrificial meal, Lev_7:21.
v. 8. And Moses aid unto them, Stand still, have patience, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you. He made use of careful prudence in dealing with these men and with the situation in which they found themselves, lest hasty advice should meet with the Lord's disapproval.
v. 9. And the Lord spake unto Moses, in answer to his inquiry, saying,
v. 10. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity, for this was to be a standing rule, shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, the former possibility, of course, including every form of temporary Levitical uncleanness, yet he shall keep the Passover unto the Lord, not merely as a privilege, but as a duty.
v. 11. The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, just one month later than the Passover proper, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, Exo_12:8.
v. 12. They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it, Exo_12:10-46; according to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. Since the celebration of the Passover was a sign of Israel's close fellowship with God, its solemnity had to be insisted upon, also in the Little Passover.
v. 13. But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the Passover, deliberately neglects this solemn religious duty, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people, not only by excommunication, but by death, because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season; that man shall bear his sin. This provision effectually hindered all indifference with regard to the celebration of the Passover.
v. 14. And if a stranger shall sojourn among you and will keep the Passover unto the Lord, after submitting to the rite of circumcision, Exo_12:48-49, according to the ordinance of the Passover and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do, be put on equal terms with, and treated exactly like, a born Jew; ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land. Note that it is not a sign of weakness, but of faithfulness, in a pastor if he asks for time to consult Scriptures before rendering an opinion in a difficult matter.