Numbers 09

 

Passover Regulations

 

9:1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt:

 

Israel had been traveling in the wilderness for thirteen months. They had been camped at Mount Sinai for one month. Jehovah spoke verbally to Moses. 

 

9:2 “The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. 9:3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep it in accordance with all its statutes and all its customs.”

9:4 So Moses instructed the Israelites to observe the Passover.9:5 And they observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.

 

Jehovah commanded the Israelites to observe the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at the appointed time. Jesus would later be crucified on Passover at the same appointed time.

 

9:6 It happened that some men who were ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man could not keep the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. 9:7 And those men said to him, “We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?” 9:8 So Moses said to them, “Remain here and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

 

Some men defiled themselves by touching a dead body, making them ceremonially unclean to observe the Passover. They wanted a solution from Moses.

 

9:9 The Lord spoke to Moses: 9:10 “Tell the Israelites, ‘If any of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may observe the Passover to the Lord. 9:11 They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight; they are to eat it with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs. 9:12 They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Passover.

 

God gave these men permission to celebrate the Passover at the same time during the next month.

 

9:13 But the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. Because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin. 9:14 If a resident foreigner lives among you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, he must do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its custom. You must have the same statute for the resident foreigner and for the one who was born in the land.’”

 

If anyone else failed to keep the Passover at the appointed time, they would lose their Jewish citizenship. Foreigners were allowed to keep the Passover with the same exact stipulations.

 

The Leading of the Lord

9:15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle – the tent of the testimony – and from evening until morning there was a fiery appearance over the tabernacle. 9:16 This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, and there was a fiery appearance by night. 9:17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp. 

 

After the Tabernacle was constructed, the Shekinah Glory appeared above the Tabernacle. He appeared as a cloud by day, which kept the hot sun out of the camp. He appeared as a fire by night, which kept the cold out of the camp. The fire by night also gave light to the camp during the darkness of night.

 

9:18 At the commandment of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. 9:19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions of the Lord and did not journey.

 

As long as the Shekinah Glory remained hovering above the Tabernacle, Israel was to stay in camp.

 

9:20 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey. 9:21 And when the cloud remained only from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled. 9:22 Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; but when it was taken up, they traveled on. 0:23 At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority of Moses.

 

The Shekinah Glory would begin to move when it was time to leave camp and travel. The Shekinah Glory was the travel agent of Israel. He told her when and where to set camp and leave camp. Every moment of the travel was controlled by the Shekinah Glory.