בשנה השנית לצאתם מארץ מצרים, “during the second year, counting from their Exodus from Egypt.” This verse proves conclusively that the Torah has not imposed upon itself the rule of reporting events in historical sequence only, a rule known as אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה. It is stated specifically that the Book of Numbers commences with events which took place in the second month of the second year, whereas here the Torah backtracked to the first month of that year. The Israelites observed the Passover only once during all the years they were in the desert, i.e. on the first anniversary of the Exodus. One of the reasons was that the Israelites were not able to perform the rites of circumcision due to the northern wind which blew in the desert, exposure to which presented a health risk to the babies. Had they not sinned by accepting the majority report of the spies, they would not have had to wander in the desert and would have been in the Land of Israel before they would have had to observe a second Passover. Uncircumcised males are forbidden to partake of sacrificial meat, something unavoidable in performing the Passover ritual. [This editor has never understood this reason, as the natural increase of the Jewish people was about 2.5 percent annually, and it would have taken over 20 years before the majority of the male Israelites would have been uncircumcised. Why would the majority not perform such an important commandment because a minority was unable to? Ed.] Nachmanides writes that the reason why the Torah did not follow chronological sequence here was that before listing commandments issued to the people in the desert, the Torah wanted to complete the legislation pertaining to the erection of the Tabernacle, its inauguration, and to report on the composition of the encampment as it was to remain throughout the time the Israelites were in the desert. Seeing that the commandment to offer a Passover in the desert, at least according to some of our sages, was a one-time legislation, the record of this legislation and its performance could be deferred until this point. It is possible that mention had to be made of this commandment once more as in Exodus chapter 12 where we read about this legislation originally, it had never been stated that the commandment would remain in effect throughout the generations. [I do not follow, as in Exodus 12,14 this has been spelled out. Ed.] Now G’d wanted the people to perform these rites in order to remind them of what had happened exactly one year ago and to recall how many overt miracles G’d had performed in bringing about the people’s redemption from slavery. It was not necessary in the desert to write again the details of the seven day festival of matzot, etc., as being commandments that must be performed by the body they were automatically valid for all posterity.

בין הערבים תעשו אותו, “you shall prepare it in the afternoon.” The various procedures connected with offering the Passover are all included in the words תעשו אותו, “prepare it.”

ככל חוקותיו וככל משפטיו תעשו אותו, ”you shall make it according to all its decrees and its laws.” Here the Torah means to include the laws governing the eating of the Passover, such as that it must not be eaten on the day it was slaughtered but only on the night following it; as had been pointed out in chapter 12 in Exodus already, as well as the fact that similar rules apply to the people offering the substitute Passover known as פסח שני, by people who had been unable to do so on the proper date due to being ritually impure on account of contact with the dead.

בדרך רחוקה, “on a remote road.” The dot over the letter ה in the word רחוקה alludes to the respective opinions concerning the distance the traveler has to be from the Temple at sunrise of the 14th of Nissan, the day the Passover must be slaughtered. One sage holds that anyone more distant than the threshold of the courtyard of the Temple during the period that the slaughtering was in progress is included here, whereas the other sage holds that a distance of approximately 30000 cubits, equivalent to the distance of the Hasmonean town of Modiin from Jerusalem constitutes “remote” in the sense that if the person was ritually impure he was equated with someone too far distant to be able to reach Jerusalem on that day. (compare Pessachim 69) Nachmanides writes that although in connection with the substitute Passover known as the “second Passover,” nothing has been written concerning the distance of a potential pilgrim from the Temple on the morning of the day the Passover must be slaughtered, the same rules that apply to someone offering the Passover on the 14th of Nissan also apply to a person who is permitted (commanded) to offer it on the 14th of Iyar. He who omitted offering the first Passover even deliberately, is still commanded to make up for this on the 14th of Iyar, whereas someone who on the morning of the 14th of Nissan was beyond Modiin and thus legally free to wait until the 14th of Iyar, is nonetheless permitted to offer his Passover on the 14th of Nissan if he managed to reach the Temple gates while the slaughtering was still in progress. (by driving or flying instead of walking). In fact, such a person is accorded special praise for having made the effort when legally he need not have exerted himself.

וכי יגור אתכם גר, “when a proselyte shall dwell amongst you, etc.” Nachmanides writes that the reason why in connection with proselytes the Torah emphasized how and under what circumstances he may observe the Passover rites, whereas nothing like this is said about his observing most of the other commandments, is because the parallel paragraph in Exodus 12,48 applied only to converts that had converted prior to the Exodus. If the Torah had not repeated the legislation here, we would have thought that these converts were not obligated to observe the Passover in the desert or subsequently, as their fathers had not been redeemed from slavery, never having been slaves in Egypt.

וביום הקים את המשכן, “and on the day the Tabernacle had been erected, etc.” now the Torah resumes the report of the Israelites’ journeys in the desert, prefacing it with the reminder that the clouds of G’d’s glory covered the Tent of Meeting by day and that it would be replaced each evening by a fire visible all night. The movements of these clouds or the fiery appearance would signal that the people were to either break up and move, or make camp, as the case might be. Audible signals were heard by means of the trumpets, as we shall be told in chapter 10

כסה הענן את המשכן לאהל העדות, “the cloud covered the Tabernacle that was a Tent of Testimony.” Nachmanides interprets these words as showing that the cloud only covered the actual Tabernacle, not the courtyard surrounding it.

ובהאריך הענן, “and when the cloud remained stationary for a longer period, etc.” Nachmanides writes that the meaning is that the people were not always content that the cloud remained in the same place for a long period as it delayed their progress toward the Holy Land. Nonetheless, the people observed G’d’s expressed will, and the Torah compliments them for this. This is why the Torah added the otherwise superfluous words that the people honoured G’d’s wish by not breaking camp until told to do so. Similarly, when the motion of the cloud signaled that they were to continue their journey although they had only pitched their tents on the day before, they did not complain but obeyed G’d’s wish without protest. On occasion this meant that after a whole night’s journey, and making camp in morning, they had to break camp and move on within literally, a number of hours. Although such uncertainties about their movements must have taken a toll on their nerves, it is recorded to their credit that they did not express discontent about this, ever.

על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו, “They would encamp according to the word of Hashem, and they would break camp and commence their journey according to the word of Hashem.” This has been repeated once more to tell us that this pattern continued for all the forty years they were in the desert. Previously, the Torah had described the people as journeying followed by their making camp, whereas here the pattern is reversed and their encamping is mentioned ahead of their breaking camp. The Torah wanted to stress that on all occasions the glory of Hashem accompanied them. It also appears to me that the verse that concludes with ובמקום אשר ישכן שם הענן, שם יחנו בני ישראל is the verse to which the words על פי ה' יסעו apply, to tell us that after having encamped according to the word of Hashem, they also commenced journeying again only at the command of Hashem. On the other hand, when we read על פי ה' יסעו, the Torah follows with the report that the people started to journey at the command of Hashem, by adding that they did not continue but they encamped at the command of Hashem although they might have preferred to keep on journeying toward their ultimate destination.