Bible Commentaries
Numbers 9

Verses 1-23

Rules about the Passover. The Cloud as Guide

1-5. The Passover of the second year. This Passover took place before the events narrated in Numbers 1 : cp. Numbers 9:1 with Numbers 1:1. The repetition of the injunction to keep the Passover was necessary, because the law in Exodus did not contemplate the possibility of a Passover in the wilderness: see Exodus 12:25.

6-14. The Supplementary Passover. Certain persons who were unable to celebrate the Passover at the proper time, because of a ceremonial defilement (Numbers 9:6), are enjoined to observe a supplementary Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month (Numbers 9:9.) This was called ’The Little Passover.’

13. Cutoff] see on Leviticus 7:21.

14. Stranger] one who is not a Hebrew by birth but has been admitted into the nation by circumcision, a proselyte; see Exodus 12:19, Exodus 12:48.

15-23. The cloudy pillar as a signal on the march. This passage is parallel to Exodus 40:34-38: see on Exodus 13:21.

22. It is clear from this v. that the people were not continually marching during their sojourn in the wilderness: see intro. to Numbers 1.