Bible Commentaries
Numbers 9

Verses 1-23

Numbers 9:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.

Numbers 9:11 The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Numbers 9:11 Comments - The unleavened bread and bitter herbs were part of the menu that the Israel’s dined on the night of their exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:8).

“and eat it with unleavened bread” - Because the Israelites made haste in leaving Egypt they did not have time to leaven their bread. According to Jesus and Paul, leaven is figurative for sin (Matthew 16:6; Matthew 16:11-12, Mark 8:15, Luk 12:1 , 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Galatians 5:9).

Exodus 12:8, “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.”

Matthew 16:6, “Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”

Matthew 16:11-12, “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”

Mark 8:15, “And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”

Luke 12:1, “In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

1 Corinthians 5:6-8, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Galatians 5:9, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”

“and bitter herbs” The Hebrew text reads, “and bitter,” with the word “herbs” implied. As a result, the YLT translates this phrase “bitter things.” Rawlinson tells us that Mishna suggests these bitter herbs may have been “endive, chicory, wild lettuce, and nettles.” [20] The LXX gives a literal translation, “ πικρίδων ” (of bitter [things]). The Clementine Vulgate renders this phrase as “wild lettuce” (cum lactucis agrestibus). [21] The ISBE says that lettuce and endive are used by modern Jews in their Passover meal. [22] As a result, Wycliffe reads, “letusis of the feeld,” the DRC reads, “wild lettuce,” and the NLT reads “bitter salad green.” Rawlinson expresses the popular view that these bitter herbs were in fact distasteful when eaten and represented the bitterness of their Egyptian bondage.

[20] G. Rawlinson, Exodus, in The Pulpit Commentary, ed. H. D. M. Spence and Joseph Exell (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1950), in Ages Digital Library, v. 1.0 [CD-ROM] (Rio, WI: Ages Software, Inc., 2001), comments on Exodus 12:8.

[21] Biblia Sacra juxta Vulgatam Clementinam (Ed. electronica) in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2005), Exodus 12:8.

[22] E. W. G. Masterman, “Bitter herbs,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).

Numbers 9:12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.

Numbers 9:12 “nor break any bone of it” - Comments - Note a reference to Numbers 9:12 in other passages in the Scriptures:

Exodus 12:46, “In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof .”

Psalms 34:20, “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.”

John 19:36, “For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken .”