Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it,
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it,
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And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
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And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron: 'This is the ordinance of the passover: there shall no alien eat thereof;
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Exodus 12:43 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 12:48 When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and would like to keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. He shall be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
- Numbers 9:14 “ ‘If a foreigner lives among you, and desires to keep the Passover to Yahweh, then he shall do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner, and for him who is born in the land.’ ”
- Exodus 12:11 This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover.
- Leviticus 22:10 “ ‘No stranger shall eat of the holy thing: a foreigner living with the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.
- Ephesians 2:12 that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Except he be circumcised, and only profess your religion.
Except he be circumcised, and only profess your religion.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 12:43 And the LORD said unto Moses and…
Exo 12:43 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This [is] the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
Ver. 43. There shall no stranger, &c.] Strangers are excluded; to show that the faithful only have fellowship with Christ; contra quam Lutherani ineptiunt, saith one.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This which here followeth is the law or appointment…
This which here followeth is the law or appointment of God concerning the celebration of the passover.
No stranger, or, foreigner, who is so both by nation and religion; for if he were circumcised, he might eat of it, Exo 12:44,48.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Some further precepts are here given concerning the passover,…
Some further precepts are here given concerning the passover, as it should be observed in times to come.
I. All the congregation of Israel must keep it, Exo 12:47. All that share in God's mercies should join in thankful praises for them. Though it was observed in families apart, yet it is looked upon as the act of the whole congregation; for the smaller communities constituted the greater. The New Testament passover, the Lord's supper, ought not to be neglected by any who are capable of celebrating it. He is unworthy the name of an Israelite that can contentedly neglect the commemoration of so great a deliverance. 1. No stranger that was uncircumcised might be admitted to eat of it, Exo 12:43, Exo 12:45, Exo 12:48. None might sit at the table but those that came in by the door; nor may any now approach to the improving ordinance of the Lord's supper who have not first submitted to the initiating ordinance of baptism. We must be born again by the word ere we can be nourished by it. Nor shall any partake of the benefit of Christ's sacrifice, or feast upon it, who are not first circumcised in heart, Col 2:11. 2. Any stranger that was circumcised might be welcome to eat of the passover, even servants, Exo 12:44. If, by circumcision, they would make themselves debtors to the law in its burdens, they were welcome to share in the joy of its solemn feasts, and not otherwise. Only it is intimated (Exo 12:48) that those who were masters of families must not only be circumcised themselves, but have all their males circumcised too. If in sincerity, and with that zeal which the thing required and deserves, we give up ourselves to God, we shall, with ourselves, give up all we have to him, and do our utmost that all ours may be his too. Here is an early indication of favour to the poor Gentiles, that the stranger, if circumcised, stands upon the same level with the home-born Israelite. One law for both, Exo 12:49. This was a mortification to the Jews, and taught them that it was their dedication to God, not their descent from Abraham, that entitled them to their privileges. A sincere proselyte was as welcome to the passover as a native Israelite, Isa 56:6, Isa 56:7.
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II. In one house shall it be eaten (Exo 12:46), for good-fellowship sake, that they might rejoice together, and edify one another in the eating of it. None of it must be carried to another place, nor left to another time; for God would not have them so taken up with care about their departure as to be indisposed to take the comfort of it, but to leave Egypt, and enter upon a wilderness, with cheerfulness, and, in token of that, to eat a good hearty meal. The papists' carrying their consecrated host from house to house is not only superstitious in itself, but contrary to this typical law of the passover, which directed that no part of the lamb should be carried abroad.
The chapter concludes with a repetition of the whole matter, that the children of Israel did as they were bidden, and God did for them as he promised (Exo 12:50, Exo 12:51); for he will certainly be the author of salvation to those that obey him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat…
A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. One of another nation, and one that was only hired by the day, week, or year; as they were not obliged to circumcision, so without it they had no right to eat of the passover, none but such as became proselytes of righteousness.
A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. One of another nation, and one that was only hired by the day, week, or year; as they were not obliged to circumcision, so without it they had no right to eat of the passover, none but such as became proselytes of righteousness.
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Exodus 12:46
exo 12:46
exo 12:46
exo 12:46In one house shall it be eaten,.... For though there might be more lambs than one eaten in a house, where there were a sufficient number to eat them; and there might be more societies than one in a house, provided they kept themselves distinct, and were large enough each of them to eat up a lamb; yet one lamb might not be eaten in different houses, a part of it in one house, and a part of it in another; which may denote the unity of the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and the distinct separate congregations of the saints, and the right that each have to a whole Christ, who is not to be divided from his ministers, word, and ordinances; See Gill on Mat 26:18,
thou shall not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house: into another house; for where there was not a sufficient number in one house to eat a lamb, their neighbours in the next house were to join with them; but then they were not to part it, and one portion of it to be eaten in one house, and the other in another, but they were to meet together in one of their houses, and there partake of it; thus, though Christ may be fed upon by faith any where by particular believers, yet in an ordinance way only in the church of God:
neither shall ye break a bone thereof; any of its tender bones to get out the marrow; and so the Targum of Jonathan adds,"that ye may eat that which is in the midst of it:''this was remarkably fulfilled in Christ the antitype, Joh 19:32.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 43. This is the ordinance of the passover]…
Verse 43. This is the ordinance of the passover] From the last verse of this chapter it appears pretty evident that this, to the 50th verse inclusive, constituted a part of the directions given to Moses relative to the proper observance of the first passover, and should be read conjointly with the preceding account beginning at Ex 12:21. It may be supposed that these latter parts contain such particular directions as God gave to Moses after he had given those general ones mentioned in the preceding verses, but they seem all to belong to this first passover.
There shall no stranger eat thereof] בן נכר ben nechar, the son of a stranger or foreigner, i.e., one who was not of the genuine Hebrew stock, or one who had not received circumcision; for any circumcised person might eat the passover, as the total exclusion extends only to the uncircumcised, see Ex 12:48. As there are two sorts of strangers mentioned in the sacred writings; one who was admitted to all the Jewish ordinances, and another who, though he dwelt among the Jews, was not permitted to eat the passover or partake of any of their solemn feasts; it may be necessary to show what was the essential point of distinction through which the one was admitted and the other excluded.
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In treatises on the religious customs of the Jews we frequently meet with the term proselyte, from the Greek προσηλυτος, a stranger or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country to sojourn with another. All who were not descendants of some one of the twelve sons of Jacob, or of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, were reputed strangers or proselytes among the Jews. But of those strangers or proselytes there were two kinds, called among them proselytes of the gate, and proselytes of injustice or of the covenant. The former were such as wished to dwell among the Jews, but would not submit to be circumcised; they, however, acknowledged the true God, avoided all idolatry, and observed the seven precepts of Noah, but were not obliged to observe any of the Mosaic institutions. The latter submitted to be circumcised, obliged themselves to observe all the rites and ceremonies of the law, and were in nothing different from the Jews but merely in their having once been heathens. The former, or proselytes of the gate, might not eat the passover or partake of any of the sacred festivals; but the latter, the proselytes of the covenant, had the same rights, spiritual and secular, as the Jews themselves. See Ex 12:48.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And the Lord said - From this verse to…
And the Lord said - From this verse to Exo 13:16 are instructions regarding the Passover. Such instructions were needed when the Israelites were joined by the “mixed multitude:” of strangers; and they were probably given at Succoth, on the morning following the departure from Rameses.
No stranger - Literally, “son of a stranger.” The term is general; it includes all who were aliens from Israel, until they were incorporated into the nation by circumcision.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain ADDITIONAL PASSOVER REGULATIONS, Exio 12:43-50.
ADDITIONAL PASSOVER REGULATIONS, Exio 12:43-50.
This additional ordinance, defining the character of the participants in the passover feast, now became necessary, since aliens and strangers of various nations attached themselves to Israel. Exo_12:38. Israel was called to be a blessing to all nations, and, therefore, aliens were not excluded from the covenant privileges if they would take upon them the covenant sign, but this was an essential condition. Transient settlers or labourers for wages were not to be admitted to the passover; but all who had become incorporated into the families of Israel by marriage or by purchase (and who bore the covenant sign) became spiritually as well as outwardly one with the covenant people. Concerning Hebrew servitude see on Exodus 21.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 43. no alien] or foreigner, i.e. a foreigner temporarily…
43. no alien] or foreigner, i.e. a foreigner temporarily resident in Israel. It was a distinctively Israelitish observance.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (43) No stranger.—Comp, Exo_12:48 for limitations. If a stranger…
(43) No stranger.—Comp, Exo_12:48 for limitations. If a stranger wished to join, and would accept circumcision for himself and the males of his family, he might partake in the rite.
FURTHER DIRECTIONS RESPECTING THE PASSOVER.
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(43-51) This is the ordinance.—These directions, together with those which follow with respect to the sanctification of the firstborn (Exo_13:1-16), seem to have been given to Moses at Succoth, and were consequently recorded at this point of the narrative. They comprise three principal points:—(1) The exclusion of all uncircumcised persons from the Passover (Exo_12:43); (2) the admission of all full proselytes (Exo_12:48-49); and (3) the injunction that no bone of the lamb should be broken (Exo_12:46).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 43-51. SUPPLEMENTARY ORDINANCE WITH RESPECT TO THE PASSOVER.…
Vers. 43-51. SUPPLEMENTARY ORDINANCE WITH RESPECT TO THE PASSOVER. The position of these verses is curious. We should have expected them to have followed immediately on ver. 20, or else to have been reserved for the further consideration of the subject in ch. 23. It is suggested, in order to account for their place, that they formed the matter of a special revelation made to Moses at Succoth. They comprise three main points:
1. The absolute exclusion of all uncircumcised persons from participationin the passover rite;
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2. The extension of the rite (implied in ver. 19) to all full proselytes; and,
3. The injunction that not a bone of the lamb should be broken. (This last isrepeated in Num_9:12)
This is the ordinance of the passoveri.e. , "This is the law, in respect of the persons who are to partake of it there shall no stranger eat thereof, or literally, "No son of a stranger shall eat thereof." By a "stranger" here is meant one of a foreign race who wishes to retain his foreign character and to remain uncircumcised. Compare ver. 48.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR Vers. 43-51. The spirit of the Passover ordinance.
The features to be specified reappear in the Lord"s Supper. The ordinance was
I EXCLUSIVE. (Vers. 43, 45, 48.) A stranger, an uncircumcised person, and a hired servant, were not to be permitted to oat of it. Their relation to Israel was wholly external. In like manner, the Lord"s Supper is exclusive. It excludes the stranger to the death of Christ, the uncircumcised in heart, and those who sustain a merely legal and hireling relation to the Church. These have "neither part nor lot" in the matter.
II YET CATHOLIC. (Vers. 48, 49.) The sojourning stranger who wished to keep the passover had only to be circumcised he and his males to be admitted to the ordinance. He was then to be as one born in the land. This catholicity of spirit, and kindliness to foreigners, blending with a stern exclusiveness in religion, is characteristic of the whole Mosaic code. Cf. Vinet on the tolerance and intolerance of the Christian religion ("Vital Christianity"). The Lord"s Supper is the most catholic of ordinances. It overleaps all barriers of race, nationality, clime, and religion. At the Lord"s table there is neither Greek, nor Jew, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.
III EQUALISING. (Ver. 44.) The master and slave sat down at the same board. See last homily. Christianity is the great social equaliser.
IV UNIFYING. (Vers. 46, 47.)it taught the congregation to feel its unity.
1. The lamb was to be eaten in one house.
2. Not a bone of it was to be broken. "Through the unity and integrity ofthe lamb given them to eat, the participants were to be joined into an undivided unity and fellowship with the Lord, who had provided them with the meal" (Keil).
3. All the congregation were to eat it. The Lord"s Supper, in like manner,is a social meal, in which the Church, eating "one bread," and drinking one cup," declares itself to be "one body" (cf. 1Co_10:16, 1Co_10:17) "The preservation of Christ, so that not a bone was broken, had the same signification; and God ordained this that he might appear as the true Paschal Lamb, that was slain for the sins of the world. J.O.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART Vers. 43-51. The Law of the Passover.
I WHAT GOD REQUIRES IN ITS OBSERVANCE.
1. God demands purity of communion. No stranger is to cat of it.
(1) Our holy things are not to be profaned. The life of Christ is lowered and endangered by indiscriminate admission to the Lord"s table.
(2) They are not to be degraded into superstitious rites. When they are given as if salvation resided in them, we are substituting idols for the unseen Saviour. The only safeguard for purity of worship is purity of communion.
1. It is not to be carried out from the midst of the household of faith. Thepeace and fellowship of the Gospel are only for the circumcised in heart.
2. Communion with Christ to be characterised by reverence and holy awe: not a bone of him is to be broken.
3. Every wall of partition is removed. All who believe have a right to joinin the feast (vers. 41-49); but they must come with the mark of God"s people, a circumcised heart.
II THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH IS BLESSED NOT ONLY WITH SAFETY BUT ALSO WITH DELIVERANCE. "Thus did all the children of Israel and on the self-same day" they passed out of Egypt (50, 51). Fellowship with Christ is deliverance from the bondage of evil. U.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The ordinance of the Passover.
Exo_12:43-48
The ordinance of the Passover.
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Minute instructions in reference to the observance of the Passover
I. That God not only institutes ordinances for men, but also shows in what way they are to be observed.
II. That God will not allow any stranger to the death of Christ to partake of His Holy Sacrament. There shall no stranger eat thereof.
III. That a mere hired and nominal relation to the Church does not give a true right to the Holy Sacrament. An hired servant shall not eat thereof.
IV. That circumcision of heart is necessary (Exo_12:48). (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_12:43-51
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_12:43-51
MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS IN REFERENCE TO THE OBSERVANCE OF THE PASSOVER
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I. That God not only institutes ordinances for men, but also shows in what way they are to be observed. God had instituted the Passover, and now He gives to the Israelites clear injunctions as to the manner in which they are to observe it. The ordinances of Heaven are not to be kept according to the fearful and arbitrary dictates of the human mind, but according to the revelation and will of God. God tells men how they are to keep His ordinances. Thus they are protected against unwisdom and presumption in reference to them. Men are liable to error in the worship of the Eternal, especially at the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. This is a solemn feast, and must be observed after a pattern Divinely made known.
II. That God will not allow any stranger to the death of Christ to partake of His Holy Sacrament. “There shall no stranger eat thereof.” It would be impossible for a stranger to enter fully into the meaning of the Passover; he would know but little or nothing of Israel’s deliverance from the bondage of Egypt by the mighty hand of God. He would not, therefore, be in sympathy with the ordinance. And so those who are strangers to the death of Christ ought not, and cannot, truly come to the sacramental table of the Lord. That sacrament finds its explanation in the Cross, and no one can enter into it who has not realised in his inner nature the deliverance and blessing consequent on the death of Christ. The believer in the atonement alone can fully realise the blessing of the Lord’s table.
III. That a mere hired and nominal relation to the Church does not give a, true right to the Holy Sacrament. “And an hired servant shall not eat thereof.” There would be many sustaining this relationship to Israel, as there are in relation to the Church in our own age. There are many hired servants of the Church; they are nominally, and perhaps officially, connected with Christian people, but they are not of the true Israel, either by birth or by circumcision; hence they have no right to take part in the Passover, or in the Supper of the Lord.
IV. That circumcision of heart is necessary in order to partake of this Holy Sacrament. (Exo_12:48.) If the stranger wished to keep the Passover, he was to be circumcised; no uncircumcised person was to eat thereof. Nor should any one eat of the Supper of the Lord unless he be circumcised in heart, and be brought into deep sympathy with the sign of the Christian life, the Cross. None are excluded from the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper who are willing to comply with the moral requirements of the service.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exo_12:43-51. Faith and obedience make all proselytes as home-born, as the children of the Church.
The table of the Lord must not be profaned by unhallowed communicants.
All God’s Israel must observe His ordinance of worship, especially His Passover.
One law of God unites them that be nigh and afar off in Passover worship.
One law of God makes one heart of His people in obedience.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Freedom! Exo_12:51. Stretching from one end to the other of the mighty continent of South America are the lofty mountains of the Cordilleras. On the summit of a spur of the main chain, at a distance from the city of Lima in Peru, was perched a house of ancient construction, originally built as a fortification to command the pass through the mountains. Behind it rose range above range of mountains, the more distant lowering to the sky, and covered with eternal snows; while from its windows could be seen the fertile plains of Peru stretching away to the ocean, distinguishable on clear days by a silvery line in the horizon. During the rebellion of the hapless Indian descendants of the Incas of Peru against the cruel oppressions of the Spanish conquerors, this building, occupied by an English merchant, became the centre of a terrible struggle. While the army of the Incas rushed impetuously down the mountain side, the Spaniards pressed up to gain possession of the building, as the key to the mountain pass. The English owner and his family remained passive spectators, feeling that the first to reach would be the masters of the situation. The Spanish soldiers gained first the house; but no sooner had they barricaded their positions, than the Indian warriors surrounded and besieged them. Desperate was the struggle; but, step by step, the oppressed natives gained possession of the outworks, walls, gardens, and at last of the building itself. All this was through the bravery, prudence, and resolution of their noble leader Manco. Thus, step by step, did the oppressed people of Israel gain their liberty, through the undaunted courage, matchless judgment, and iron resolution of Moses, their leader; who depended, however, not on human arms, but on weapons from the Divine Armoury, and the dread artillery of heaven. A like deliverance, after prolonged struggles, is at hand for the Christian Church—
“Already she is on her august way,
And marching upward to her final goal.”
—Percival
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 No foreigner may share in eating it
No foreigner may share in eating it
The pronoun "it" refers to the Passover meal.
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every Israelite's slave
"any slave of an Israelite"
bought with money
This can be stated in active form. AT: "whom the Israelite has bought with money" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
Moses
Aaron
Passover
alien
servant
circumcise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 12:43-50 These additional instructions for the observance of Passover…
12:43-50 These additional instructions for the observance of Passover relate primarily to outsiders (12:43) and foreigners (12:48). Perhaps the presence of the non-Israelite rabble (12:38) in the community prompted these instructions. The key factor was whether or not the person was willing to become fully identified with Israel and with the Lord by submitting to circumcision.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.