Numbers 9

1 in the first month. This direction was evidently given before the transactions already recorded (cp. i. 1, 2); and it is mentioned here to introduce what follows in vers. 6-14.

10 yet he shall keep the passover. This arrangement is a clear instance of the subordination of non-essentials to the spirit of a religious institution. See 2 Chron. xxx. 2.

14 a stranger. i.e., one who had received circumcision according to the law in Exod. xii. 48, 49. This provision seems to have foreshadowed the admission of Gentiles into the Church, although the Jews in later ages misapprehended its spirit. See Acts xv.; Gal. ii. 3, etc.

22 they journeyed. Hebrew literature witnesses to the impression this guidance left on the mind of the nation. See, e.g., Psa. lxxvii. 20; lxxviii. 14.