Numbers 9:1-14

Regulations for a Supplementary Passover. The institution of such, on the fourteenth day of the second (instead of the first) month, was required to meet the needs of those who were prevented by some adequate cause from participating in the ceremony at the proper time (cf. 2 Chronicles 30:2 f.). The occasion when the law here described was enacted was the second anniversary of the Passover, so that the date of this chapter precedes that of ch. 1. As the people at this time were dwelling in tents (not in houses), it must be supposed that the command respecting the smearing of the lintel and side-posts of the door with blood (Exodus 12:7; Exodus 12:22) was modified.

Numbers 9:2. Moreover: omit (with Vulg.).

Numbers 9:5. at even: Exodus 12:6 *.

Numbers 9:6. cf. Deuteronomy 5:2 *. and before Aaron: omit; note him (i.e. Moses) in Numbers 9:7.

Numbers 9:14. stranger: i.e. a settler who had become a member of the Israelite community (LXX has proselyte), not a mere temporary sojourner (who was forbidden to eat the Passover, Exodus 12:45 *).