PASSOVER REGULATIONS THE LEADING OF THE LORD NUMBERS 9:1-23

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 1 PASSOVER REGULATIONS THE LEADING OF THE LORD NUMBERS 9:1-23

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 2 Text: Numbers 9:1-23, PASSOVER REGULATIONS THE LEADING OF THE LORD 1. The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt: 2. The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. 3. In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep it in accordance with all its statutes and all its customs. 4. So Moses instructed the Israelites to observe the Passover. 5. And they observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did. 6. It happened that some men who were ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man could not keep the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. 7. And those men said to him, We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites? 8. So Moses said to them, Remain here and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 3 9. The Lord spoke to Moses: 10. Tell the Israelites, If any of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may observe the Passover to the Lord. 11. They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight; they are to eat it with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs. 12. They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Passover. 13. But the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. Because he did not bring the Lord s offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin. 14. If a resident foreigner lives among you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, he must do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its custom. You must have the same statute for the resident foreigner and for the one who was born in the land. 15. On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle the tent of the testimony and from evening until morning there was a fiery appearance over the tabernacle. 16. This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, and there was a fiery appearance by night. 17. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp.

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 4 18. At the commandment of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. 19. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions of the Lord and did not journey. 20. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, they remained camped according to the Lord s commandment, and according to the Lord s commandment they would journey. 21. And when the cloud remained only from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled. 22. Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; but when it was taken up, they traveled on. 23. At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority of Moses. (NET) Commentary: Passover Regulations Numbers 9:1, The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt: (NET)

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 5 The Israelites have now been camped at Sinai for an entire year. Surely the people were beginning to think that this was to be their final destination in spite of the fact that they were continually told they were going to the land promised to their forbears, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is not uncommon for us today to begin to think of our present circumstances, whether good or bad, as all God has for us. God had great plans for Israel, but the long stay at Sinai was necessary for them to get organized and trained for the march. The Tabernacle, its furnishings and its rituals had to be built and established before they set out. To do otherwise would have brought on even more chaos than they experienced! Waiting periods in our personal journey are frustrating but necessary. Only God knows what lies ahead for us and only He can ready us for it. If you are in a holding pattern, be patient. The command to move ahead will come soon enough. Pray to be ready. Numbers 9:2-5, The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep it in accordance with all its statutes and all its customs. So Moses instructed the Israelites to observe the Passover. And they observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did. (NET)

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 6 The student s mind is taken back to the amazing night just over a year earlier when the word was spread through the slave quarters of Egypt that the Israelites were to prepare and eat a very special meal. Regarding the institution of the Passover, Moses wrote in Exodus 12:1-11, The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel, In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families a lamb for each household. If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to take a lamb according to the number of people you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown. They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it. They will eat the meat the same night; they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs. Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails. You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning. This is how you are to eat it dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord s Passover. (NET)

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 7 The name Passover comes from the fact that, as the angel of death swept through Egypt, slaying the firstborn of every household, it passed over the houses of the Israelites where the blood of the lamb had been applied to the house as directed (See verse 7 of Ex 12 above). So now we have come to the very first observance of the memorial feast ordained to commemorate that great deliverance! It was a double deliverance actually. They were delivered from the death of the firstborn (the 10th plague), but immediately following that event they began the march that delivered them from slavery and started them toward the Promised Land! Not surprisingly, The Passover became the most important feast in the Jewish year! All seven of the feasts were highpoints and important, but The Passover was the pinnacle of the year. This first one didn t go off without a hitch. Read below. Numbers 9:6-12, It happened that some men who were ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man could not keep the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites? So Moses said to them, Remain here and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you. The Lord spoke to Moses: Tell the Israelites, If any of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may observe the Passover to the Lord. They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight; they are

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 8 to eat it with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs. They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Passover. (NET) This forced Moses to get a special revelation from God! One can see why Moses often complained that his job was too much! From that day forward anyone who was ceremonially unclean at the time the Passover was to be observed was allowed to eat it a month later, but that person was still required to follow all the other guidelines. Take note of the restriction in verse 12 about broken bones. When Jesus was on the cross and the Roman soldiers were breaking the legs of the thieves on either side of him, they found that he was already dead and did not break his legs. Note what John 19:33-36 says: But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately. And the person who saw it has testified (and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth), so that you also may believe. For these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled, Not a bone of his will be broken. (NET) (Psalm 34:20, He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken.) (NET)

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 9 Woe to the man or family that was too lazy or too busy to prepare to eat the Passover on schedule and thought, We will just wait and do it next month! Note verse 13! Numbers 9:13, But the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. Because he did not bring the Lord s offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin. (NET) Foreigners were allowed to eat the Passover, but they were required to follow all the guidelines. Obviously this feast could not have had the same significance to those who had not been delivered from Egypt, but it could still be meaningful. Numbers 9:14, If a resident foreigner lives among you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, he must do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its custom. You must have the same statute for the resident foreigner and for the one who was born in the land. (NET) The student, no doubt, has noticed the close resemblance of the Passover to the Lord s Supper (AKA Communion or Eucharist). It was at the Passover observance (the last one that Jesus would observe with his disciples, which is, for this reason, often referred to as, The Last Supper ) that Jesus took two of the elements that were on the Passover table and used them to institute His memorial feast. Matthew s account reads as follows:... Matthew 26:19, 26-30, So the disciples did as Jesus had instructed them, and they prepared the Passover. (Moving

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 10 to verse 26) While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father s kingdom. (NET) Often, in the assembly of the church, those who are not yet redeemed may participate in the memorial feast with the redeemed. While that is acceptable, it cannot mean to the unredeemed what it does to those who have been delivered from death to life! The Leading of the Lord Number 9:15-23, On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle the tent of the testimony and from evening until morning there was a fiery appearance over the tabernacle. This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, and there was a fiery appearance by night. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp. At the commandment of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days,

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 11 then the Israelites obeyed the instructions of the Lord and did not journey. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, they remained camped according to the Lord s commandment, and according to the Lord s commandment they would journey. And when the cloud remained only from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled. Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; but when it was taken up, they traveled on. At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority of Moses. (NET) There is a good lesson here. Always follow the Spirit of the Lord. Striking out on our own usually leads to disaster! One can imagine the consternation of some when they had no sooner set up camp until it was time to move! What? Move? I just hung out the laundry! Think about the men who transported the Tabernacle and its furnishing! There were many lessons on trusting God in those times!

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 12 Questions on Numbers 9:1-23 1. Where was the first Passover after leaving Egypt observed? 2. How long had it been since the crossing of the Red Sea? 3. If God had such big plans for the Israelites, why had they been camped at Sinai so long? 4. When we seem to be on hold in God s leading, what should we do?

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 13 5. What time of day were they to observe this meal? 6. What items were specified to be served in this meal? 7. What animal was to be eaten at this meal? 8. On what day were they to select it?

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 14 9. On what day and at what part of the day was it to be killed? 10. What were they to do for this lamb after selecting it and before the day of the feast? 11. How was the meat to be cooked? 12. What was the rule about breaking the bones of the sacrificial lamb?

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 15 13. How was this fact applied to Jesus when he was crucified? 14. What were they to do with the leftovers? 15. How long did those who were not ceremonially clean have to wait to eat the Passover? 16. What happened to those who were qualified to eat the Passover, but did not do so?

www.biblestudyworkshop.org 16 17. What feast was being observed by Jesus and his disciples when he instituted the Lord s Supper? 18. How did the Israelites know when there were to break camp and move? 19. How did they know where to set up the next camp? 20. What lesson is in this for us in our journey with God?