عدد ٩:٦

The people are informed that they shall shortly pass over Jordan, and that God shall go over before them, to expel the ancient inhabitants, Deu 9:1-3. They are cautioned not to suppose that it is on account of their righteousness that God is to give them that land, Deu 9:4-6. They are exhorted to remember their various provocations of the Divine Majesty, especially at Horeb, Deu 9:7-14; and how Moses interceded for them, and destroyed the golden calf, Deu 9:15-21. How they murmured at Taberah, Deu 9:22; and rebelled at Kadesh-barnea, Deu 9:23; and had been perverse from the beginning, Deu 9:24. An account of the intercession of Moses in their behalf, Deu 9:25-29.

A SECOND PASSOVER ALLOWED. (Num 9:6-14) there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man--To discharge the last offices to the remains of deceased relatives was imperative; and yet attendance on a funeral entailed ceremonial defilement, which led to exclusion from all society and from the camp for seven days. Some persons who were in this situation at the arrival of the first paschal anniversary, being painfully perplexed about the course of duty because they were temporarily disqualified at the proper season, and having no opportunity of supplying their want were liable to a total privation of all their privileges, laid their case before Moses. Jewish writers assert that these men were the persons who had carried out the dead bodies of Nadab and Abihu [Lev 10:4-5].

And those men said unto him,.... To Moses, who was the chief magistrate, though Aaron was the high priest. Jarchi says, they were both sitting together when the men came, and put the question to them, but it was not proper to speak to one after another; for if Moses knew not, how should Aaron know? says he; the more difficult matters were brought to Moses, and he gave answers to them: we are defiled by the dead body of a man; they had touched it, or had been where it was, or at the funeral of it, and so were defiled: this they knew was their case by a law before mentioned, and which they speak of, not as a sin purposely committed by them, but as what had unhappily befallen them, and they could not avoid; and express their concern, that upon this account they should be deprived of the ordinance of the passover and as this confession shows an ingenuous disposition, so what follows, a pious, religious, and devotional frame of mind: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in his appointed season among the children of Israel? they speak very honourably of the ordinance of the passover, they call it "an offering of the Lord", the passover lamb being a slain sacrifice; and this offered to the Lord, by way of thanksgiving, for, and in commemoration of, their wonderful deliverance out of Egypt, and done in faith of Christ the passover, to be sacrificed for them; and it gave them much uneasiness that they were debarred by this occasional and unavoidable uncleanness, that was upon them, from keeping it; and what added to it was, that they could not observe it on the day which the Lord had appointed, and when the whole body of the children of Israel were employed in it; for it is no small pleasure to a good man to observe every ordinance of God in…

There were certain men who were defiled by human corpses (see Lev 19:28), and could not eat the Passover on the day appointed. These men came to Moses, and asked, "Why are we diminished (prevented) from offering the sacrificial gift of Jehovah at its season in the midst of the children of Israel (i.e., in common with the rest of the Israelites)?" The exclusion of persons defiled from offering the Passover followed from the law, that only clean persons were to participate in a sacrificial meal (Lev 7:21), and that no one could offer any sacrifice in an unclean state.

This chapter is, I. Concerning the great ordinance of the passover; 1. Orders given for the observance of it, at the return of the year (Num 9:1-5). 2. Provisos added in regard to such as should be ceremonially unclean, or otherwise disabled, at the time when the passover was to be kept (Num 9:6-14). II. Concerning the great favour of the pillar of cloud, which was a guide to Israel through the wilderness (Num 9:15, etc.).