And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.
And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.
And Moses speaketh unto the sons of Israel to prepare the passover,
And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should hold the passover.
Numbers — Israel on the move — and Israel on the ground in rebellion. Two censuses bracket thirty-eight wilderness years; God's faithfulness holds where the people's does not.
Voices3
And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover. The time now drawing nigh for the observation of it, it being now almost a year since their coming out of Egypt.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
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).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed
Thus Paul delivered to the churches what he received of the Lord concerning the gospel passover, 1 Cor. xi. Note, Magistrates must be monitors, and ministers must stir up men's minds by way of remembrance to that which is good.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
