CHAPTER 9

(1490 B.C.)

THE PASSOVER

¹And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

²Let the Children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season (which would have been in our April; they had kept the Passover one year earlier in Egypt).

³In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall you keep it. (Redemption by blood was their foundation and, as well, is the foundation also of all Christian experience. It cleanses the conscience, restores the soul, and inspires the songs and feasts of Canaan. Never in this world, nor in that which is to come, will redeemed men reach a degree of holiness that will permit them to dispense with the Precious Blood of Christ. The indication is, this was the last time they kept the Passover in the wilderness, which was a time frame of approximately 40 years. Considering that there were approximately 3 million people, it is not known exactly how they accomplished this Passover, considering the river of blood that would have to be poured out at the Altar. It is believed it would have taken well over 100,000 lambs. All of this tells us that our Salvation didnt come cheaply.)

⁴And Moses spoke unto the Children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover.

⁵And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the Children of Israel.

⁶And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the Passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:

⁷And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an Offering of the LORD in His appointed season among the Children of Israel?

⁸And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you. (Let all Believers understand that we must have the Mind of the Lord in all things.)

UNCLEAN

⁹And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

¹⁰Speak unto the Children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover unto the LORD.

¹¹The fourteenth day of the second month at evening they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. (This meant they could eat it a month late. If they were unclean, they would have time now to be purified. If they were on a journey, and could be back before the appointed time, they could then eat it.)

¹²They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the Ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it (even though they were doing so of themselves at a later time; but all the Ordinances must be kept).

¹³But the man who is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbears to keep the Passover (does not keep the Passover), even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the Offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin (one would lose ones soul if the Passover was ignored; likewise, one will lose ones soul presently, if the Cross is ignored).

¹⁴And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the Passover unto the LORD; according to the Ordinance of the Passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: you shall have one Ordinance, both for the stranger (Gentile), and for him who was born in the land (in essence, Faith in Christ and the Cross is identical for all).

THE CLOUD

¹⁵And on the day that the Tabernacle was reared up the cloud (Glory of the Lord) covered the Tabernacle, namely, the tent of the Testimony: and at evening there was upon the Tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning (the Testimony was the Decalogue written on the two tables of stone, and enshrined within the Ark of the Covenant, the moral law which lay at the heart of Judaism; the tent of the Testimony was the Holy of Holies, in which the Ark dwelt).

¹⁶So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night (this supernatural phenomenon was not transitory, but rather permanent, at least as long as the Israelites were in the wilderness).

¹⁷And when the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle, then after that the Children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the Children of Israel pitched their tents. (Williams says, God protected them by day and by night. He planned for them. He chose their camping ground. He decided when they were to march and when they were to rest. According to the Word of the Lord, they journeyed and, according to the Word of the Lord, they abode in their tents whether by day or by night, or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year. Thus, Israels Shepherd led His flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.)

¹⁸At the Commandment of the LORD the Children of Israel journeyed, and at the Commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the Tabernacle they rested in their tents.

¹⁹And when the cloud tarried long upon the Tabernacle many days, then the Children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not (everything was according to the disposition of the cloud).

²⁰And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the Tabernacle; according to the Commandment of the LORD they abode in their tents, and according to the Commandment of the LORD they journeyed.

²¹And so it was, when the cloud abode from evening unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.

²²Or whether it were two days or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the Tabernacle, remaining thereon, the Children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.

²³At the Commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the Commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the Commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.