Numbers 9:11
in Numbers 9Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the second month on the fourteenth day at even they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs:
KJV
The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
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This verse in Numbers 9
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The later Jews speak of this as the “little Passover.” Coming, as it did, a month after the proper Passover, it afforded ample time for a man to purify himself from legal defilement, as also to return from any but a very distant journey. Compare Hezekiah’s act 2Ch 30:1-3.
This site's exposition
on the fourteenth day of the second month
on Numbers 9:11-12
The month moves and the day holds, and nothing else is relaxed, down to the rule that they may not “break any of its bones”. Exodus 12:46 gave that rule first, and John 19:36 applies it to the body of Christ.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Those who also lived farther off or had been unclean in soul were commanded to celebrate the pasch in the second month. This is understood as a type of the holy church, which, since it has been defiled by all demons, was seen to be …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
This secondary passover was to be kept on the same day of the month with the first, because the ordinance was a memorial of their deliverance on that day of the month.
The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2407: “Feeding on a Whole Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
IN great tenderness God permitted the Passover to be kept a second time, that those who had unavoidably been defiled at the first observance might not be shut out from the memorable and symbolical rite. But, although He altered the date of the Passover, He never changed the form of it—the Paschal feast was to be the same whenever it was celebrated and by whomever it was observed. Whether one family, or an Israelite who happened to be a stranger and visitor in the house, whoever it might be—kept the Passover—the same regulations were to be carefully followed.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2407: “Feeding on a Whole Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
IN great tenderness God permitted the Passover to be kept a second time, that those who had unavoidably been defiled at the first observance might not be shut out from the memorable and symbolical rite. But, although He altered the date of the Passover, He never changed the form of it—the Paschal feast was to be the same whenever it was celebrated and by whomever it was observed. Whether one family, or an Israelite who happened to be a stranger and visitor in the house, whoever it might be—kept the Passover—the same regulations were to be carefully followed. From this I gather, learning a lesson from the type, that, whatever may be the experiences through which we come to salvation, Christ is always the same and we must partake of Him in the same way. You who have been so defiled that you have, as it were, to eat of the second Passover, even at the 11th hour, long after others have been feeding on Christ—still there is the same Christ for you as there is for those who come at the right time—who seek the Lord early, and find Him while yet the dew of their youth is upon them. There is none but Jesus for each one of us! There is no way for this man, peculiar to himself because of his righteous life, and no way for that person, peculiar to himself because of his ungodliness—but for the most moral and the most immoral there is the same Savior to be received by the same precious faith! Only by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus are we delivered from wrath and only by feeding upon Christ can our spiritual life be sustained. There are not two gospels, but only one Gospel. There are not two Christ's, but only one Christ! There are not two roads to Heaven but only one road to Heaven.
How the passage was read
On Numbers 9:1-14On Numbers 9:1-14
The make-up Passover
This passage creates something rare in the Law: a second chance at a feast. Anyone unclean or far away at Passover could keep it exactly one month later, on the 14th of the second month. Jewish tradition calls it Pesach Sheni, “Second Passover,” and it is still marked lightly today (some eat a piece of matzah on the day). Israel's kings used the provision at national scale: Hezekiah's great Passover was held in the second month on exactly this ground (2 Chronicles 30).
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
B’DERECH R’CHOKAH’ Rashi commented [that the meaning of this expression — literally “on a distant way” — is] “that he was outside the threshold of the Sanctuary Court during the whole time prescribed for slaughtering [the Passover-offering].
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Pesachim 9:1 (who keeps the Second Passover) · 2 Chronicles 30 (the provision used nationally)
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ | bachodesh | in the month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| הַשֵּׁנִ֜י | hasheni | <the> second | H8145 → | 156 times |
| בְּאַרְבָּעָ֨ה | bearbaah | on [the] four- | H702 → | 318 times |
| עָשָׂ֥ר | ʾasar | teen | H6240 → | 338 times |
| י֛וֹם | yom | day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| בֵּ֥ין | bein | between | H996 → | 407 times |
| הָעַרְבַּ֖יִם | haarbayim | the evenings | H6153 → | 134 times |
| יַעֲשׂ֣וּ | yaasu | they will observe | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| אֹת֑וֹ | ʾoto | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | with | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מַצּ֥וֹת | matzot | unleavened bread<s> | H4682 → | 53 times |
| וּמְרֹרִ֖ים | umerorim | and bitter herbs | H4844 → | |
| יֹאכְלֻֽהוּ׃ | yokheluhu | they will eat it | H398 → | 810 times |
בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁin the month
bachodeshH2320 →284 times
הַשֵּׁנִ֜י<the> second
hasheniH8145 →156 times
בְּאַרְבָּעָ֨הon [the] four-
bearbaahH702 →318 times
עָשָׂ֥רteen
ʾasarH6240 →338 times
י֛וֹםday
yomH3117 →2304 times
בֵּ֥יןbetween
beinH996 →407 times
הָעַרְבַּ֖יִםthe evenings
haarbayimH6153 →134 times
יַעֲשׂ֣וּthey will observe
yaasuH6213 →2628 times
אֹת֑וֹ<obj.> it
ʾotoH853 →10935 times
עַל־with
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מַצּ֥וֹתunleavened bread<s>
matzotH4682 →53 times
וּמְרֹרִ֖יםand bitter herbs
umerorimH4844 →
יֹאכְלֻֽהוּ׃they will eat it
yokheluhuH398 →810 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 19:36Now these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken.”
it leads to
- Psalms 34:20
He protects all his bones; not one of them will be broken.
- Numbers 9:12
they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones. They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.
- Exodus 12:46
It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of the bones.
- John 19:28
After this, knowing that everything had now been accomplished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
- Psalms 22:14
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
- Psalms 34:20
Through
Deuteronomy 16:3You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you…
it leads to
- Exodus 12:39
Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had…
- Exodus 34:18
You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the…
- Exodus 12:19–20
For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation…
- Exodus 12:39
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2407: “Feeding on a Whole Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Pseudo-Cyril, LETTER 87.11.