but at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 6. Phase, or paschal lamb, which was to be sacrificed between the two evenings, during the space of about four hours, in the court before the ark. Some think that this precept was binding only in times of peace; and that when the people could not assemble in the place appointed, they might sacrifice the lamb elsewhere, which seems very probable, though no positive proof can be adduced. In the reign of Amon, when the priests could not perform their sacred functions in the temple, they removed the ark to another place: but Josias caused it to be brought back. 2 Chronicles 35:3. Calmet.—As the Jews have now no temple, they cannot sacrifice the paschal lamb. Tirinus.—The priests were very expert, and observed an admirable order in offering such a surprising multitude of victims, ( Calmet.) as would be offered by every family of ten people. Bible.—The blood, and perhaps the fat also, was presented on the altar of holocausts, which was very large, and the court exceedingly spacious. Calmet.—Which. This may not signify the precise hour, but may refer to all the time while the Hebrews were preparing for and commencing their journey. Menochius. verse 1.—Hebrew “at the (return of the) season in which,” and so forth