Numbers 9

Nu 9:1-5.

THE

PASSOVER

ENJOINED.

2-5. Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his

appointed season, &c.--The date of this command to keep the passover

in the wilderness was given shortly after the erection and consecration

of the tabernacle and preceded the numbering of the people by a month.

(Compare

Nu 9:1

with Nu 1:1, 2).

But it is narrated after that transaction in order to introduce the

notice of a particular case, for which a law was provided to meet the

occasion. This was the first observance of the passover since the

exodus; and without a positive injunction, the Israelites were under no

obligation to keep it till their settlement in the land of Canaan

(Ex 12:25).

The anniversary was kept on the exact day of the year on which they,

twelve months before, had departed from Egypt; and it was marked by all

the peculiar rites--the he lamb and the unleavened bread. The materials

would be easily procured--the lambs from their numerous flocks and the

meal for the unleavened bread, by the aid of Jethro, from the land of

Midian, which was adjoining their camp

(Ex 3:1).

But their girded loins, their sandaled feet, and their staff in their

hand, being mere circumstances attending a hurried departure and not

essential to the rite, were not repeated. It is supposed to have been

the only observance of the feast during their forty years' wandering;

and Jewish writers say that, as none could eat the passover except they

were circumcised

(Ex 12:43, 44, 48),

and circumcision was not practised in the wilderness

[Jos 5:4-7],

there could be no renewal of the paschal solemnity.

Nu 9:6-14.

A

SECOND

PASSOVER

ALLOWED.

6, 7. there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a

man--To discharge the last offices to the remains of deceased relatives

was imperative; and yet attendance on a funeral entailed ceremonial

defilement, which led to exclusion from all society and from the camp

for seven days. Some persons who were in this situation at the arrival

of the first paschal anniversary, being painfully perplexed about the

course of duty because they were temporarily disqualified at the proper

season, and having no opportunity of supplying their want were liable

to a total privation of all their privileges, laid their case before

Moses. Jewish writers assert that these men were the persons who had

carried out the dead bodies of Nadab and Abihu

[Le 10:4, 5].

8-14. Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord

will command concerning you--A solution of the difficulty was soon

obtained, it being enacted, by divine authority, that to those who

might be disqualified by the occurrence of a death in their family

circle or unable by distance to keep the passover on the anniversary

day, a special license was granted of observing it by themselves on the

same day and hour of the following month, under a due attendance to all

the solemn formalities.

(See on

2Ch 30:2).

But the observance was imperative on all who did not labor under these

impediments.

14. if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the

passover--Gentile converts, or proselytes, as they were afterwards

called, were admitted, if circumcised, to the same privileges as native

Israelites, and were liable to excommunication if they neglected the

passover. But circumcision was an indispensable condition; and whoever

did not submit to that rite, was prohibited, under the sternest

penalties, from eating the passover.

Nu 9:15-23.

A

CLOUD

GUIDES THE

ISRAELITES.

15. the cloud covered the tabernacle--The inspired historian here

enters on an entirely new subject, which might properly have formed a

separate chapter, beginning at this verse and ending at

Nu 10:29

[CALMET]. The cloud was a visible token of God's

special presence and guardian care of the Israelites

(Ex 14:20;

Ps 105:39).

It was easily distinguishable from all other clouds by its peculiar

form and its fixed position; for from the day of the completion of the

tabernacle it rested by day as a dark, by night as a fiery, column on

that part of the sanctuary which contained the ark of the testimony

(Le 16:2).

17. when the cloud was taken up--that is, rose to a higher elevation,

so as to be conspicuous at the remotest extremities of the camp. That

was a signal for removal; and, accordingly, it is properly called

(Nu 9:18)

"the commandment of the Lord." It was a visible token of the presence

of God; and from it, as a glorious throne, He gave the order. So that

its motion regulated the commencement and termination of all the

journeys of the Israelites. (See on

Ex 14:19).

19. when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle, . . . then Israel

kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not--A desert life has its

attractions, and constant movements create a passionate love of change.

Many incidents show that the Israelites had strongly imbibed this nomad

habit and were desirous of hastening to Canaan. But still the phases of

the cloud indicated the command of God: and whatsoever irksomeness they

might have felt in remaining long stationary in camp, "when the cloud

tarried upon the tabernacle many days, they kept the charge of the

Lord, and journeyed not." Happy for them had they always exhibited this

spirit of obedience! and happy for all if, through the wilderness of

this world, we implicitly follow the leadings of God's Providence and

the directions of God's Word!