וידבר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן בארץ מצרים, “Hashem spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, etc.” The emphasis here is on the word ארץ, in open country, outside the city limits, as our sages have explained. We must distinguish between such utterances of G’d to Moses as the instruction to warn Pharaoh of the plague of the dying of the firstborn, a communication Moses received while in Pharaoh’s palace, not outside the city limits. Prayers, commandments, etc., G’d had not revealed within the urban area to Moses, nor did Moses offer his prayers, there, as the urban centers were the centers which abounded with idolatrous symbols, symbols which were despicable in the eyes of G’d. In fact, Moses had already been informed about the plague but it had not been a commandment in the sense that he had to deliver the warning at a certain time. This occurred only now, and seeing that there was nothing new in it this warning this could be delivered within the urban area. The legislation about a new calendar and the Passover had to be revealed outside the urban areas of Egypt

החודש הזה לכם, “this month shall be for you.” Seeing that this was the first commandment relayed to the Jewish people, the Torah mentions that it was revealed to him in the land of Egypt, seeing that all (most) other laws were given to him at Mount Sinai. Alternatively, the words בארץ מצרים mean that the law was given in the rural area of Egypt not while Moses was in the urban areas. It would have been appropriate for the Torah to continue immediately with: “speak to the community of Israel that this month will be the first, etc.” However, Moses and Aaron are here considered as representing the entire people, and G’d first wanted to legislate matters that would remain valid throughout the generations before dealing with how the Passover by the present generation of Israelites who stood poised for the Exodus was to be observed. Once the Torah reports Moses and Aaron being told דברו אל כל עדת ישראל (verse 3), this is the commandment to tell the people now how to observe their Passover. Verse 14 commences with details about the observance of the day of the Exodus to be observed in subsequent years and by subsequent generations. According to the Midrash the wording of the Torah gives only the Jewish Supreme Court the latitude to proclaim the new moon so that the Torah could not first address the entire people. The meaning of the words: “this month shall be for you the first of the months,” is first and foremost that from now on this is the first month in the year for you, and all subsequent months are going to be named in relation to this month, i.e. “the second month”, “the third month”, etc. This will serve to keep the month of the redemption and the miracles associated with it alive in our daily lives throughout the year. We follow the same pattern as we follow with the days of the week, (in our daily psalms) by making the Sabbath the focal point of the week and the days following it all being related to it by being called “second day,” “third day,” etc. We remind ourselves of the day of our rest on every single day of the week by means of this stratagem Similarly, we remind ourselves of the miracle of the redemption by the Torah mentioning months only in that fashion. [after the Babylonian exile, the Jewish people adopted proper names for the months, even reflected in the manner we announce the new moon on the Sabbath preceding it. This was not the Torah’s intention, obviously, and this writer wonders if the sages who permitted use of the secular names of the months wanted to remind us that the redemption from the Babylonian exile did not completely eliminate the traces of exile for a variety of reasons which are not my task to elaborate on here. Ed.] These names of the months current in Persia did find their way into the Bible in the writings of Ezra, Daniel, and the story of Esther, as well as in the prophecies of Chagai and Zecharyah. These prophecies were all revealed while the prophets and the people were already in exile. The Jews who returned to the land of Israel after the Babylonian exile, may have intended to remind themselves of their being redeemed from that exile in a manner parallel to the Jews who were redeemed from Pharaoh’s exile.

שה תמים, ”an unblemished lamb.” It was appropriate to select a lamb for that sacrifice as the horoscope of the lamb is in its ascendancy during the month of “Nissan.” Consuming the lamb was a reminder to every Israelite that this Egyptian deity had been completely powerless to protect its worshippers. By doing this we testify that our departure from Egypt was not due to our own efforts or ability, but exclusively to the power of Hashem.

בין הערבים, “in the afternoon.” According to Rashi, this means any time from noon on, as this is called בין הערבים. Ibn Ezra disagrees, citing as his reason that when it come to lighting the Menorah in the Temple, the Torah describes that time as בין הערבים in Exodus 30,8 and this refers to a period close to sunset, as we know from the Torah’s own elaboration with the words יערוך אותו מערב עד בקר, Exodus 27,21, “that the time for the Menorah to be arranged to burn is from evening to morning.” Nachmanides writes that he believes that the night is referred to as ערב, seeing that the Torah has commanded us to eat the matzoh on the night of the 14th to the 15th of Nissan with the words בערב תאכלו מצה, seeing that the matzah had to be eaten with the meat of the Passover and the Passover is described as being eaten during the לילה, “night, roasted on the fire etc.” (12,8). He agrees that the end of the day is also called ערב, even if it is clearly still daylight, as we know from Genesis 19,1 ויבואו שני המלכים סדומה בערב ולוט יושב בשער סדם, “The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening, while Lot was still sitting holding court in the public square of Sodom.” [the evening being a time when they were still clearly visible. Ed.] Furthermore, we have a verse in Psalms 55,18 ערב ובקר וצהרים אשיחה ואהמה, “evening, morning and noon I complain and moan.” Clearly, the psalmist, by mentioning these three parts of the day, means to describe the entire day as being divided into three parts. It follows that any part of the day which follows noon and is not yet evening must be called בין הערבים, “afternoon.” The period following dawn while the sun is still in the east is called בקר, morning, comprising a total of six hours. The period known as צהרים, “noon” comprises 2 hours, i.e. one hour before astronomical noon and one hour after astronomical noon. The term צהרים is taken from the word צהר, a bright light, as we find it in the top of Noah’s ark (Genesis 6,15) “a window for light, צהר, you are to make in the ark.” These two hours are the brightest part of the day. As soon as the shadows lengthen after the sun has passed its zenith and the sun has left the eastern part of the sky, we come to the period known as בין הערבים. This period until nightfall is known as ערב. The real meaning of the term בין הערבים is not that it is something that separates two time periods from one another, but it is similar to the meaning in מבין השרפה, Numbers 17,2 where it describes Eleazar’s fire-pan being picked up right in the midst of the fire. Similarly,בין הערבים describes a time period within which slaughtering of the Passover lamb is to take place. This time frame is bounded at the beginning from immediately after noon and at the end immediately before sunset. This is also the meaning of בין הערבים תאכלו, in Exodus 19,12 where G’d tells the Israelites that they are to eat the quail during that time frame. Seeing that we have no reason to believe that the quail could not be eaten also later, and there is no restriction applicable to it such as when eating the meat of animals whose blood was sprinkled on the altar, Rashi’s interpretation that the plural mode of ערבים refers to two evenings is very plausible. He refers to the ערב בקר and the ערב יום, the end of the period known as morning and the end of the period known as day. The time in between is the time during which the Passover lamb is to be slaughtered. We find support for this interpretation by Rashi in Kings II 3,20 ויהי בבוקר כעלות המנחה, “and in the morning when it was time to present the meal offering, etc.” We also encounter the other time frame known as בין הערבים, as מנחת ערב, the meal offering of the evening, in Ezra 9,5 ובמנחת הערב קמתי, “at the time of the evening offering I concluded my fast, etc.” The term מנחה in both instances is not confined to the “meal offering,” but on the contrary, it is derived from the word מנוחה, i.e. when the sun prepares to take a rest from its daily activity in the sky. This meaning is reflected in the translation of Onkelos on the word ערב in Genesis Similarly, this is the time frame allocated to lighting the menorah and the offering of the second part of the daily incense offering, (in conjunction with the daily burnt offering) which are also described as בין הערבים in Exodus 30,8 and 29,39 respectively. We can explain the words:שם תזבח את הפסח בערב, (instead of בין הערבים) in Deuteronomy 16,6 as referring to a period previously described as ערב in conjunction with the setting of the sun. Onkelos understands the term בין הערבים as בין שמשיא, “between the sun in the east and the sun in the west,” as in ויהי כבא השמש בערב, “it was when the sun was about to set, in the evening, etc.” Deuteronomy 16,6 clearly defines ערב as the period when the sun sets: שם תזבח את הפסח בבוא השמש, normally translated as “there you will slaughter the Passover, in the evening, when the sun sets.” This translation would clearly conflict with what the Torah has written here. Therefore, in my opinion, the word תזבח in that verse does not refer to the slaughtering but to the whole procedure of offering and consuming the Passover which reflects the preparation the Israelites had made on that date for an immediate departure from Egypt. The verse in Deuteronomy therefore concludes withמועד צאתך ממצרים, “the appointed time at which you departed from Egypt.” After all, the Torah had referred elsewhere to the fact that G’d had taken the Israelites out from Egypt at night,כי.... הוציאך ה' אלוקיך ממצרים לילה. (Deut. 16,1) We must not forget that the actual Passover sacrifice was called by the Torah זבח פסח, so that there is nothing strange in the word תזבח not meaning: ”you will slaughter,” in the verse quoted. Similarly, it appears that we can also understand Deut 16,4 ולא ילין מן הבשר אשר תזבח בערב ביום הראשון לבוקר, as referring to the sacrifice you have performed on the evening of the first day (of the Passover). There is no need to translate the word תזבח as “you slaughter.” The verse tells us that the sacrificial meat of last night’s זבח, also known as the Passover, must not be allowed to be left over uneaten until daybreak.

צלי אש ומצות על מרורים יאכלוהו, “roasted on the fire together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.” The meaning of the word על in the phrase על מרורים, is “with,” just as in the construction ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו, “its head together with its legs and its innards.” The reason why the Torah employed the word על here in preference to the more common word עם for “with,” was to indicate that it is not mandatory to make a “sandwich” of all thee three ingredients and to eat them all simultaneously. As long as all three ingredients are eaten during the same meal that is satisfactory. The verse also teaches that the bitter herbs do not need to be eaten with the unleavened bread, as long as they are eaten in conjunction with the meat of the sacrifice. Concerning the eating of the unleavened bread the Torah repeats (verse 18) that it is to be eaten during the course of that evening, i.e. the repetition meaning that this is mandatory even if for one reason or another –such as the absence of the Temple- we cannot eat the Passover lamb. I believe it is more correct to explain the word ומצות in our verse as belonging to what has been written immediately prior to it, i.e. ואכלו את הבשר בלילה הזה צלי אש ומצות, so that the eating of the bitter herbs is not part of the Biblical commandment, but is a Rabbinic injunction. In practice this means that when there is no Passover meat the commandment to eat bitter herbs is no longer Biblical. Not only that, if for some reason no bitter herbs are at hand, this does not invalidate the commandment to consume the sacrificial meat. Anyone who has consumed the meat of the Passover even without the bitter herbs, has fulfilled his Biblical duty. Eating unleavened bread on that evening and eating the meat of the Passover are two separate and independent Biblical commandments.

כי אם צלי אש, “but only when roasted on the fire.” Seeing the meat had to be consumed in a hurry, and boiling meat takes longer than roasting it.

ובכל אלוה' מצרים אעשה שפטים, “and I will execute judgments on all the deities of Egypt.” Rashi, in illustrating how these judgments of the idols of the Egyptians were carried out, says that if the deities had been made of wood, the wood would rot, whereas if they had been made of metal, the metal would melt. Nachmanides points out that Rashi had failed to explain that the reason why the Torah had not given us these details may be understood in light of Jeremiah 10,8 ומוסר הבלים עץ הוא, “(according to Malb’im) seeing that in our imperfect world the instruments of enforcing discipline are usually made of wood, sticks to beat with, etc., although foolish people also make deities out of wood, destroying everything made of wood would hardly teach man a lesson. This is also why when the plague of the killing of the firstborn is carried out, the Torah does not mention precisely which of the Egyptian deities were destroyed, as the word כל is noticeably absent there. Moreover, destroying their idols at night would not worry the Egyptians, who, 1) worried first of all about their own lives, 2) did not become aware until daylight that something had happened to their personal idols. It would therefore not have had the desired effect at the appropriate time. Nachmanides therefore proposes the following: mention of the deities of the Egyptians refers to the respective representatives at the heavenly throne of the people of Egypt, their mazzal. The fact that the Torah writes (Numbers 33,4) that the Egyptians were busy burying their dead and that G’d had killed their deities lends support to Nachmanides’ interpretation.

ויקרא משה לכל זקני ישראל, “Moses called to all the elders of Israel.” This paragraph is a summary, similar to when G’d commanded Moses earlier, saying only כאשר צוה ה' את משה כן עשו, ”the Israelites did in conformity with all that G’d commanded to Moses.” The method that Moses followed in relaying these commands to the people was by telling them details of the legislation before summing it up in general terms. The Torah, reverting to the general terms, כלל, describes Moses calling together the elders who in turn assembled the people at large, telling them משכו וקחו לכם צאן , “draw forth or buy for yourselves a sheep, etc.” It is quite possible that the formulation used was due to the fact that the livestock of the Israelites was quite a distance away from them in the province of Goshen. They were forced to leave their livestock there as sheep, being something repulsive, abominable to the Egyptians, they would not want to antagonize the Egyptians by having their sheep where the Egyptians would see them. The whole paragraph was read to the people, and additional details about what to do with these animals’ blood were added, including the brush to use with which to smear the blood on the doorposts and lintels of their dwellings. They were also warned not to leave their houses during the time that this killing of the firstborn would take place, so as to avoid becoming victims themselves.

ואתם לא תצאו, “as far as your yourselves are concerned, do not set foot outside the threshold of your houses.” Rashi points out that this warning became necessary after G’d had given permission to the forces normally active as destructive elements, such as the angel of death, to be about on that night and to perform their duties. These forces are not equipped to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty, and the night is the period during which they perform most of their work. He quotes Psalms 104,20 בו תרמוש כל חיתו יער, “that is when all the beasts of the forest stir,” as his source. Nachmanides writes that he does not understand Rashi’s remark that the night is the period during which all destructive forces enjoy free reign. If that were so, he argues, why is it not forbidden to go out every night in order to protect oneself against these forces, based on the warning in the verse we have just read? Rashi should have written that on this particular night the destructive forces in the world had been given a free hand to carry out their work. The reason that the Torah, i.e. Rashi, did not want to present the matter in this light, is that seeing that G’d personally, orchestrated the killing of the firstborn a wrong impression would have been created. What happened was as follows: G’d warned the Israelites not to leave their houses during that night because during that night G’d Himself was traversing all parts of Egypt, similar to a king who patrols his realm. Just as a king does not do so without an entourage which precedes him to herald his coming, and which ensures that no assassins lie in wait for the king, so it is with G’d, as we know from Zecharyah 14,5 ובא ה' אלוקי כל קדושים עמך, “and the Lord my G’d will arrive and all the holy angels will be with You.” Seeing that we find that at a time when the destructive forces have been given free reign they do not distinguish between the guilty and the innocent, the only way the Israelites would all be immune on that night was if they stayed indoors. Normal people do not go out at night even if they have not been told not to do so, because they are aware that it is not as safe as to go out by day. If, on that night, an Israelite would change his habit of staying at home, he would expose himself more than he would on other nights. How do we deal with the words: ולא יתן המשחית לבא אל בתיכם לנגוף, “and He will not allow the destroyer to enter your homes to inflict him?” The meaning is that the destructive forces which abound every night anyways, will be restricted to the outside by G’d on this night, so that no Israelite who stays indoors will die on that night, [even if according to G’d’s timetable set for him before he was born, this was the date when normally he should have died. Ed.] On that night only G’d Himself killed Egyptians. Some commentators simply say that the word המשחית in our context here is not an adjective but a noun describing the act of destruction, השחתה.

ושמרתם את הדבר הזה, “You shall observe this matter.” This verse does not refer to the instruction to smear the blood of the Passover lamb on the lintel and doorposts, seeing that this was a commandment that applied only on the night of the Exodus, but it refers to the basic Passover legislation and its ritual.

והיה כי תבואו אל הארץ, “it will be after you will come to the land, etc” This spells out that the Israelites during their journey to the holy Land, were not required to observe the Passover rites and the festival as such, on the anniversary of their departure from Egypt. The Torah insists that the legislation will become effective immediately the people will cross the Jordan into the Holy Land, even if they have not yet conquered part of the land and settled there. This raises the question that the Torah reports in the Book of Numbers that on the first anniversary of the Exodus the Israelites did observe the Passover rites? (Numbers 9,1-8) The answer is simple. The observance of that Passover had to be especially legislated by G’d by special instruction to Moses. If it had been mandatory based, on what we have read here, why did G’d have to give instructions on that occasion that it be observed? Although Rashi says that the fact that the Israelites’ having observed the Passover rites in the second year when they were still encamped around Mount Sinai is detailed in the Torah was an implied rebuke, i.e. that only in that year did they offer the Passover, what rebuke was there for something they had not been asked to do in the first place? We may have to answer that what Rashi meant was that the Israelites had not been deemed fit to offer the Passover after the sin of the spies, a testimony to their having rejected the whole liberation from Egypt, and they had even wanted to appoint a leader to take them back there. [I elaborated somewhat. Ed.] Had the people not committed that sin, they would have been settled in their homeland already before another year had passed, so that no more than one Passover in the desert had ever been envisaged.

זבח פסח הוא, “it is a Passover feast offering.” The term פסח expresses the concept of המלטה, escaping from something, being rescued, similar to the word פסוח. The term is used seeing that G’d, out of a feeling of pity, allowed the firstborn Israelites to survive this judgment of the idolaters. They qualified for this pity because they had demonstrated loyalty to G’d by offering the lamb. This is why the lamb itself is now referred to as פסח.

וילכו ויעשו בני ישראל, ”The Children of Israel proceeded and carried out, etc.” They left the assembly and went to get the sheep and slaughtered it etc., as prescribed.

כן עשו, “so they did.” It is not unusual for the Torah to repeat something like this when the message is that the instructions were carried out in every detail. Our sages, added that the mention of the Israelites “going,” וילכו, means that they did not only receive a reward for performing the commandment but also for the time and effort spent in the preparatory stages/

כי אין בית אשר אין שם מת, “for there was not a single house without at least a single human corpse.” This was because not only the firstborn of the father died but also the firstborn of the mother, and in the absence of a firstborn in the true sense of the word, the senior member of the household died. You might therefore have expected that the Torah, when legislating the sanctification of the Jewish firstborn would include the firstborn of the father. The reason this was not done is because the firstborn of the mother is far better known, his birth having been witnessed. [to determine paternity we would need DNA tests, etc., not available at the time. Ed.]

ויקרא פרעה למשה ולאהרן לילה, “Pharaoh called on Moses and Aaron during the night.” Moses made a point of sleeping in the capital that night, in order that his prediction that Pharaoh’s servants would come down to him and humble themselves could come true. When Pharaoh arrived at his abode they sent messengers to Goshen giving permission for the Israelites to leave, whereupon they assembled in Ramses en masse. It was still fully light at the time when they assembled there. From there they proceeded with pomp and ceremony (not as escapees) as described in Numbers As to the apparent contradiction in the verse (Deut. 16,1) הוציאך ה' אלוקיך ממצרים לילה, “that the Lord your G’d took you out of Egypt at night,” this refers to the night when they became free to go, having obtained Pharaoh’s permission. Ibn Ezra writes that the Israelites who were residing in Egypt proper left the same night, whereas they did not cross the border, i.e. the city of Ramses, until the morning following. At that point, they were joined by all the other Israelites who had come to meet with them, having traveled from Goshen. This commentary does not sound plausible, for how could anyone have traveled at night after having been told not to leave their homes until morning as they would expose themselves to danger if they did? Onkelos explains what happens as follows: the miracles which were performed for the Israelites on that night are called by the Torah “G’d took you out of Egypt.” The wording is justified seeing that the departure of the Israelites from Egypt was due to these miracles.

קומו, צאו!, “get up and get going!” He meant that they should depart without delay seeing that the King had commanded that the people would depart immediately and had refused them the right to perform any more slave labour. He added that they should engage in the worship of their G’d as they had demanded all this time, as an additional reason for them to hurry to do as commanded. It is as if the servants said to Moses and Aaron: “do what he says seeing this is what you waited for all this time!” [this commentary presupposes that the words ויקרא למשה ולאהרן לילה, ”he called upon Moses and upon Aaron at night, did not describe Pharaoh, personally, going to see Moses, but his servants did. Ed.]

וברכתם גם אותי, “bless me also!” according to the plain meaning of the text, Pharaoh wished to be included in a complimentary fashion in Moses’ prayer for the dying to stop. After all, as we explained earlier, Moses had assured Pharaoh that there would be no further plagues in Egypt. Alternately, he meant that Moses should pray that G’d should not continue to penalize him in any form.

משארותם צרורות בשמלותם על שכמם, “their leftovers bundled up in their garments, flung over their shoulders.” Ibn Ezra understands the word משארותם as referring to wooden bowls used to knead dough in. The word appears in this context in Deuteronomy 28,17 טנאך ומשארתך, “your fruit basket and your kneading bowl.” They flung this over their shoulders as their donkeys were fully loaded with all the fancy garments they had taken from the Egyptians. I find this illogical, for would it not have been simpler for them to place the heavy wooden bowls on the donkeys and to carry the lighter garments on their shoulders?

ויאפו את הבצק אשר הוציאו ממצרים עגות מצות, “(as a result) they baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into flat cakes of unleavened bread.” This was done deliberately, in order to fulfill the negative commandment that anyone eating leavened goods on that day will be subject to the karet penalty. If, judging by the words כי גורשו ממצרים, the impression was created that the dough was baked by the heat of the sun on the basis that the Israelites had flung the dough over their shoulders, this is not meant to give the impression that if the Israelites had remained in Egypt any longer that this dough would have risen, become leavened, but it explains why it was baked while they were en route, and not in their homes before their departure. Alternately, the plain meaning may be that the reason why it turned into unleavened cakes was because they did not have time to bake it in the regular way prior to their departure as they were literally being expelled. Had they been allowed sufficient time, these cakes would have been leavened.

ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה, “ According to Rashi we have to divide up these years into the thirty years between the promise to Avraham of his children inheriting the land of Canaan after a period of being strangers or slaves or both, and the birth of Avraham’s son Yitzchok who would be the carrier of his name, and the 400 years commencing with that time, Yitzchok himself being a stranger in the land of Canaan, moving about and not owning any land. Rashi bases himself on an ancient Midrash. (Mechilta, also Bereshit Rabbah 44,21) according to which the last 210 of these years commenced with the arrival of Yaakov in Egypt. Nachmanides writes that this appears incorrect, seeing that as long as Avraham was alive we cannot perceive any of his children as having been in exile. The meaning of the promise in Genesis 15 is simply that G’d told him that his descendants, before this promise would be fulfilled, would experience many years of exile and even slavery, the period in question extending over 400 years. G’d, at the time did not bother to inform Avraham about the extra 30 years we read about here, seeing that He had already told him that taking over the land of Canaan had to await the time when the accumulated sins of the Emorite would spill over the allotted measure, so that G’d could legally dispossess them. Accordingly, the period that the Children of Israel dwelled in Egypt, (starting with the descent of Yaakov, or with the arrival of Joseph 22 years earlier) are 430. The 30 years are a hint that the extra years, just as the years spent in the desert, were not a period during which the measure of the Emorites’ sin had not yet been complete, but this delay was solely due to the sins of the Israelites themselves. The verse before us simply informs us that the duration of the stay of the Israelites in the land of Egypt until the allocated time was up was 430 years. The last 30 years had nothing to do with the promise/decree announced by G’d to Avraham in Genesis chapter 15. We find a similar construction in Deuteronomy 2,14 והימים אשר הלכנו מקדש ברנע עד אשר עברנו את נחל זרד שלשים ושמונה שנה עד תם כל הדור אנשי המלחמה וגו, “The number of years which we walked from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the river Zered were 38 years, until the entire generation of men of military age had died, etc.” The Israelites who had been encamped for 19 years at Kadesh Barnea (according to all our sources) certainly did not wander another 38 years in the desert. Moses describes simply that the entire period beginning with the decree that the men of military age at the time of the sin of the spies would die in the desert, until the last of these men had died, took 38 years. We must learn from all this that when someone sinned and a penalty such as exile is decreed for him during which he is not free to live his life according to his own agenda, this does not automatically mean that at the end of the exile he will be free to do as he pleases during the remainder of his life. If he becomes guilty of any additional offence, he will, of course, be punished for such an offence separately. The promise to Avraham by G’d that his descendants would eventually inherit the land of Canaan and that it would take 400 years for that promise to be fulfilled, simply meant that it would not be less than 400 years. It did not mean that at the end of those 400 years possession would become automatic. If the Torah therefore speaks of 430 years having elapsed during which the Israelites had dwelled in the land of Egypt, this means that the extra years had been added on by G’d on account of serious sins committed by Avraham’s descendants. The promise to Avraham was, that as compensation for the 400 years of waiting for the redemption, these people would leave the land of their oppression (remember that no specific country had been named) with great material possessions. The word אחרי, “after,” mentioned in chapter 15 of Genesis, hardly ever means “immediately after.” Furthermore, there are no promises by G’d which are so ironclad that they could not become null and void if the recipient became guilty of a major sin prior to the time the promise was due. [the exceptions are promises worded as an oath.] It is common knowledge that the Israelites, while in Egypt, were guilty of numerous and serious sins, including the cardinal sin of not circumcising their male babies. Ezekiel chapter 20 recounts a list of such sins by the Israelites committed both in Egypt and subsequently in the desert. It is therefore easy to understand why G’d added 30 years to the number of years originally decreed. In fact they should have stayed still longer, had it not been for the communal prayer in which for the first time in over 80 years the Israelites pleaded with G’d, as described in Exodus 2,23, and G’d’s responding in The Jewish farmer, when offering the first fruit of his respective crops recites a prayer/blessing during which he refers to G’d’s response to the people on that occasion. (compare Deuteronomy chapter 26. In verse 6 the farmer confesses that while in Egypt the Egyptians made sinners out of our people, i.e. וירעו אותנו המצרים. We all know that even after the Exodus, G’d was forced to delay arrival in the Holy Land and taking possession of it by another 40 years to give Him time for the Jewish people to replenish themselves as the generation who left Egypt had forfeited seeing G’d’s promise fulfilled in their lifetime. As a result, the fourth generation which should have returned to the land of Canaan did not do so, except for Calev and Joshua, and children who had been under 20 at the Exodus

ליל שמורים, “a night of fulfillment of anticipations.” According to Ibn Ezra, G’d stood watch during that night and did not allow the destructive force to enter the homes of the Jews. This is why He commanded that in future the beneficiaries of His standing watch, i.e. His people, should observe that night by observing a special watch. This is the appropriate manner of thanking the Lord and praising Him for what He did for us. Nachmanides queries, saying that the language, i.e. שמורים הוא לה' להוציאם מארץ מצרים, “it is a night of special watch in order to take them out from the land of Egypt,” is not compatible with an interpretation that restricts the verse to saving the lives of the Jews from the destructive forces that abounded on that night. He therefore interprets the word שמורים as a reference to the conclusion of a watch over the fate of the Jewish people from the time when the covenant between the pieces was concluded with Avraham 430 years earlier. It is also possible to understand the word ליל שמורים as summing up all the strenuous efforts G’d had had to make in order to ensure that by that night the Jewish people would be on a spiritual level that would justify their redemption for all time.

הוא הלילה הזה לה' שמורים לכל בני ישראל לדורותם, “this was the night for Hashem of protection for all the Children of Israel throughout their generations.” This night which Hashem had kept His eye on during all these many years, had become sanctified now as associated forever with His name as Hashem.

זאת חוקת הפסח, “this is the decree of the Passover offering.” Ibn Ezra says that the whole paragraph deals with the observance of the Passover in future generations, claiming that the words ויעשו בני ישראל את הפסח (verse 50) refers to the observance of the Passover in the year following, in the desert, as described in Numbers The matter is not surprising as the Torah also commanded Aaron to save the manna in a bottle, almost 40 years before this was done, although it is reported already in Exodus How could Aaron be reported, in the past tense, as having deposited this bottle next to the Holy Ark, when there had not yet been a Holy Ark at that time, in fact the legislation of building a Tabernacle had not yet been given? Nachmanides disagrees, claiming that in none of the paragraphs other than in Numbers were the Israelites commanded how to observe these rites in the desert. He points out that prior to the performance of the circumcision of all the males, the Torah had to record the legislation about all uncircumcised males not being allowed to partake of the meat of that sacrifice. Actually, this paragraph should have been written prior to the paragraph describing the killing of the firstborn, however, seeing that paragraph about the new moon, etc., was written (announced) on that very day. Moses told the people immediately and he commanded them regarding all the laws of the Passover. He added numerous other commandments, such as the prohibition of idolaters eating from the meat of that sacrifice, he added what had occurred in the middle of that night, assuring the people that on that night they would be redeemed. He told them that the Exodus that would occur on that night would change their status for all future generations. When completing this interlude, the Torah reverts back to details such as not breaking a bone of the Passover lamb (in order to suck out the marrow), not to take any part of the meat out of the house, as well as details about how a proselyte will be able to observe these rites. These latter regulations apply for the generations after the Exodus.

כל בן נכר לא יאכל בו, “no person alienated from his faith is allowed to partake in it.” According to Rashi what are meant are people alienated from their father in heaven, The law applies both to gentiles, as well as to Jews who act like gentiles. Nachmanides writes that there was no need to exclude gentiles specifically, and this also agrees with the translation by Onkelos who speaks of a Jewish “stranger.” A heretic is known either as a משומד, “someone who has destroyed himself,” in the spiritual sense, or a מנוכר, from the word נכר,alien, i.e. someone who has estranged himself to his Creator.

ועצם לא תשברו בו, ”you are not to break a bone of it.” Seeing that the Passover lamb is to be eaten על השובע, as the final part of the meal, so that it satiates the person consuming part of it, breaking bones of it would create the impression in the viewer that the person doing it was left hungry after eating its meat. Alternately, the meaning could be that on that occasion, when the meal was being consumed hurriedly, while standing up, the Israelites would try and stuff themselves as much as they could in anticipation of a long march. Such behaviour would contradict the festive nature of the meal.

ויהי בעצם היום הזה, “it was on that very day, etc.” Ibn Ezra explains that this verse is inseparable from the one following it, [although the Christians start a new chapter with the next verse. Ed.] seeing that G’d spoke to Moses and gave him the instructions regarding sanctifying the first born of man and certain beasts. Nachmanides justifies the use of the line: “on that very day,” by referring to the ליל שמורים discussed previously. The verse describing the nature of that night could have given the impression that the Israelites actually moved out of Egypt during the same night. The line in our verse is meant to correct any such impression, and to emphasise that the Exodus took place on the morning of the 15th of Nissan. The significance of the previous night, the ליל שמורים, lay in the Israelites having obtained permission to leave by the Egyptians.