Leviticus 23:5

In the fourteenth [day] of the first month,.... The month Nisan, the same with Abib, the month in which the children of Israel came out of Egypt, for which reason it was made the first month in the

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.

Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth [day] of the first month at even [is] the LORD’ S passover.Ver. 5. In the fourteenth day.]

(5) In the fourteenth day of the first month.—This month is called Abib in the Pentateuch (Exodus 13:4; Exodus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:1), and Nisan in the later books of Scripture (Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7). The fourteenth day of this month is about the beginning of April. On this day, which was called both “the preparation for the Passover” (John 19:14), and “the first day of Passover,” all handicraftsmen, with the exception of tailors, barbers, and laundresses, were obliged to relinquish work either from morning or from noon, according to the custom of the different places in Palestine. Leaven was only eaten till midday, and it had to be burned in the afternoon. The time for desisting from and burning the leaven was thus indicated: “Two desecrated cakes of thanksgiving offerings were placed on a bench in the Temple; as long as they were thus exposed all the people ate leaven. When one of them was removed they abstained from eating, but did not burn it; but when the other was taken away all the people began burning the leaven.” It was on this day that every Israelite who was not infirm, ceremonially defiled, uncircumcised, or beyond fifteen miles from the walls of Jerusalem, had to appear before the Lord in the holy city, with an offering in proportion to his means (Exodus 23:5; Deuteronomy 16:16-17). Those who came from the country were gratuitously accommodated by the inhabitants with the necessary apartments (Luke 22:10-12; Matthew 26:18), and the guests in acknowledgment of the hospitality they received left to their hosts the skins of the paschal lambs, and the vessels which they used in their religious ceremonies. Josephus, who was an eye-witness to the fact, tells us that at the Passover, in the reign of Nero, there were 2,700,000 people, when 256,500 lambs were sacrificed. Most of the Jews must therefore have encamped in tents without the walls of the city, as the Mohammedan pilgrims now do at Mecca. It was for this reason that the Romans took great precaution, using both force and conciliatory measures, during the festivals (Matthew 26:5; Luke 13:1). At even.—Or, in the evening, as the Authorised version renders this phrase in the parallel passage (Exodus 12:6), literally, denotes between the two evenings. The interpretation of this expression constituted one of the differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees during the second Temple, and seriously affected the time for offering up the paschal lamb and the evening sacrifices. According to the Sadducees it denotes the time between the setting of the sun and the moment when the stars become visible, or when darkness sets in, i.e., between six and seven o’clock, a space of about one hour and twenty minutes. According to the Pharisees, however, “between the two evenings” means from the afternoon to the disappearing of the sun. The first evening is from the time when the sun begins to decline towards the west, whilst the second is when it goes down and vanishes out of sight.

Verse 5. The Lord's passover.] See this largely explained in the notes on Exodus 12:21-27.

Feasts of the Passover and Unleavened Bread (5–8) The law in detail is set forth Exodus 12, and is accordingly here assumed as known, and only the chief regulations are mentioned. 5. the first month] corresponding to the latter part of March with the former part of April. Here, as elsewhere, P denotes the months by numbers only, whereas JE and Deut. give them the names by which they were known in Canaan or Phoenicia, in this case Abib (Exodus 13:4; Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:1), while in Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7 it is called by its Babylonian name Nisan. See further in Driver (C.B.), Exodus 12:2. on the fourteenth day of the month at even] The Jewish day commencing at sunset, the Passover lamb was to be killed before sunset on the day which both by their reckoning and ours was the 14th, and eaten on what we should call the night between the fourteenth and fifteenth days. passover] The etymological meaning of the Heb. word peṣ ?aḥ ? is obscure. See Driver, Exod. p. 408 for the various conjectures. The LXX. (ðÜó÷á, Pascha, whence the adjective paschal) and so the N.T. (e.g. Matthew 26:17) transliterate it. Our word is taken from the explanation in Exodus 12:13 which refers it to the sparing of the Israelitish houses on the occasion of the slaying of the Egyptians’ firstborn.

In these verses, the Passover, or Paschal Supper, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, are plainly spoken of as distinct feasts. See Exodus 12:6, Exodus 12:15, Exodus 12:17; Numbers 28:16-17. Leviticus 23:5 See Exodus 12:6.

THE , Leviticus 23:4-8. 5. First month — This was called Abib previous to the Babylonish captivity, and Nisan afterward.