Numbers 9:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have an order for keeping the Passover, one year after Israel came out of Egypt, on the fourteenth day of the first month in the second year, a few days before the people were numbered. God gave them this specific command, or else it seems they would not have kept it, because the first Passover was tied to the time when they came into the land of promise (Exodus 12:25), and no Passover was kept until they reached Canaan (Joshua 5:10). This shows early on that ceremonial laws were not meant to last forever, since some of them were allowed to lie unused for many years after being first given.

Still, the Lord’s Supper, which took the place of the Passover, was not set aside in that way in the early Christian church, even though those believers faced greater hardship than Israel did in the wilderness. In fact, during times of persecution, the Lord’s Supper was often celebrated more often than later. Israel in the wilderness could not easily forget their rescue from Egypt, because their whole life there constantly reminded them of it. The real danger would come when they entered Canaan, so there they especially needed to remember the rock from which they had been cut.

God also wanted them to keep the Passover again at the return of the year, when they were calmer and better taught in God’s law. The first Passover had been kept in a hurry, and it was more like the event itself than a sign pointing to it. By keeping it again, their children would understand its meaning more clearly and remember it better later. Calvin thinks they were already required to keep it now, and says it showed their carelessness that they needed to be reminded of such a recent command.

Moses faithfully passed on the Lord’s instructions to the people (Numbers 9:4). In the same way, Paul said he delivered to the churches what he had received from the Lord about the gospel Passover, the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23). Rulers should remind people of what is good, and ministers should stir up our minds by way of remembrance. The people obeyed the command (Numbers 9:5), and though they had recently kept the feast of dedication in chapter 7, they did not use that as an excuse to skip this feast. Special duties must not crowd out regular worship. They kept the Passover even in the wilderness, and so in our own unsettled lives we should still keep close to God through holy ordinances whenever we can, for in them we find the best comfort and rest.

Next comes instruction about those who were ceremonially unclean when the Passover was to be eaten. The law required every Israelite to eat the Passover, but later laws had said that people who were ceremonially polluted could not eat holy things. In a deeper sense, those whose minds and consciences are defiled by sin are unfit for fellowship with God and cannot receive the gospel Passover with true comfort until they are cleansed by repentance and faith. Such people are in a painful position, because if they stay away from holy ordinances, they show contempt for them, but if they come while polluted, they profane them. So they must wash, and then approach God’s altar.

The case that arose in Israel was that some men had become unclean by touching a dead body (Numbers 9:6), and that uncleanness lasted seven days (Numbers 19:11). During that time they could not eat holy things (Leviticus 7:20). This was not their sin, but their misfortune, since some people had to handle dead bodies in order to bury them. For that reason, they could bring their concern to Moses with some confidence.

They did bring their case to Moses (Numbers 9:7). It is wise, in hard questions about sin and duty, to consult the ministers God has set over us and to ask the law from their lips (Malachi 2:7). We should also pray that God will lead us in a straight path. Notice their grief: they were troubled that they were kept back from offering to the Lord. They did not accuse the law of being unfair, but lamented that they were blocked by their present condition and wanted help. It is a good sign when people hunger and thirst for God’s ordinances, and it should trouble us when anything keeps us from bringing our offering in Sabbath worship or at the Lord’s table, as it troubled David when he was kept from the altar (Psalm 42:1, Psalm 42:2).

Moses acted wisely in dealing with this matter. It seemed as if one law was meeting another, and though later law can explain earlier law, Moses still felt compassion for these Israelites who were deprived of the Passover. So he took time to ask God for direction: “I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you” (Numbers 9:8). Ministers should follow this example when settling matters of conscience. They must not decide quickly, but should take time to think, weigh every detail, and compare spiritual things with spiritual things. They must also seek God’s mind, not follow personal preference or feeling, but judge as faithfully as they can according to God’s truth. We do not have Moses’ direct oracle, but we do have the law and the testimony. If we carefully lay hard matters before God in humble, believing prayer, we may trust the Spirit, who leads into all truth, to help us guide others in what is right.

God then gave clear directions for this case, and for similar ones, explaining the law of the Passover. What looked like an unhappy accident became the occasion for good laws. Those who were ceremonially unclean when the Passover should be eaten were allowed to keep it one month later, when they were clean, and the same rule applied to those who were on a distant journey (Numbers 9:10, Numbers 9:11). This teaches us that when we come to God in solemn worship, we need to be both clean and composed. It also shows that a real duty may be postponed for a time because of necessity, even when that delay would not excuse us from neglecting it altogether.

A person who is at odds with a brother may leave his gift at the altar and go first to be reconciled, as Jesus taught in (Matthew 5:23-24). But once he has done his part to seek peace, whether the matter is settled or not, he must come back and offer his gift. In the same way, this later Passover was to be kept on the same day of the month as the first one, because the ordinance was a memorial of their rescue on that day of the month.

We find the whole congregation keeping the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month in Hezekiah’s time, the king who restored proper worship in Judah (2 Chronicles 30:15). That may help explain why some people who were not ceremonially clean were allowed to eat it. If the main Passover had been kept in the first month, those who were unclean could have waited until the second month. But since it was already being kept in the second month, they had no right to wait until the third month. So, rather than miss it altogether, they were allowed to take part, even though they had not finished the cleansing required by the sanctuary law (Numbers 9:19-20).

Whenever the Passover was kept in the second month, all its rites and ceremonies still had to be carefully observed (Numbers 9:12). They were not to think that, because the time had been changed, any part of the solemn service could be neglected. When we cannot serve God exactly as we would like, we should still do all we can.

This allowance for a special need would never excuse people who carelessly ignored the Passover at the proper time, when no real barrier kept them from it (Numbers 9:13). If someone could have eaten the Passover at the appointed time and still chose not to, he would be despising God, misusing his kindness, and would surely bear his sin and be cut off from his people. Those who are forced by hardship to miss God’s ordinances can still trust his grace in their trouble, but those who leave them out by choice can rightly expect God’s judgment for their sin. Do not be fooled, God cannot be mocked.

There is also a word here in favor of foreigners, or strangers, who lived among Israel (Numbers 9:14). If such a person wanted to join in eating the Passover, he still had to be circumcised as a convert to their faith (Exodus 12:48-49). Even so, this open welcome to non-Israelites pointed ahead to the kindness Christ would show to believing Gentiles, non-Jews. Then, as now, there was one law for all. In the days of the Messiah, there would be one gospel for both the stranger and the native-born, for in every nation the one who fears God and does what is right is accepted by him, a truth Peter later came to see more clearly (Acts 10:34-35).