Deuteronomy 16:2

2 Go to the one place of worship and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle for the Passover meal to honor the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 16:2 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 16:2

Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy
God
In the month Abib, and in the night of that month they came out of Egypt, even on the fourteenth day of it at night, between the two evenings, as the Targum of Jonathan; which was a lamb, and typical of Christ, the passover sacrificed for us, ( 1 Corinthians 5:7 )

of the flock and the herd;
that is, you shall sacrifice also the offerings which were offered throughout the seven days of unleavened bread, and these were both sheep and oxen, ( Numbers 28:19 Numbers 28:24 ) and are expressly called passover offerings and peace offerings, ( 2 Chronicles 30:21-24 ) ( 2 Chronicles 35:7 2 Chronicles 35:8 2 Chronicles 35:9 ) , for what was strictly and properly the passover was only of the flock, a lamb, and not of the herd, or a bullock; though Aben Ezra says there were some that thought that in Egypt it was only a lamb or a kid, but now it might be a bullock; which he observes is not right. It may be indeed that the word "passover" here is a general term, comprehending the whole passover solemnity, and all the sacrifices of the seven days: the Jews commonly understand this clause of the Chagigah, or feast of the fifteenth day, the first day of unleavened bread, and so the Targum of Jonathan,

``and the sheep and the oxen on the morrow;''

some distinguish them thus, the flock for the duty of the passover, the herd for the peace offerings, so Aben Ezra; or as Jarchi interprets it, the flock of the lambs and kids, and the herd for the Chagigah or festival; in the Talmud ^F13; the flock, this is the passover; the herd, this is the Chagigah, so Abendana: there was a Chagigah of the fourteenth day, which was brought with the lamb and eaten first, when the company was too large for the lamb, that their might eat with satiety ^F14; but this was not reckoned obligatory upon them ^F15, but they were bound to bring their Chagigah on the fifteenth day:

in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name
there;
that is, at Jerusalem, as the event has shown; hence we read of the parents of our Lord going up to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover, ( Luke 2:41 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 70. 2.
F14 Jarchi in loc. Maimon. Hilchot Corban Pesach, c. 8. l. 3.
F15 T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 71. 1, 2. Maimon. ut supra, (^F14) c. 10. sect. 13. Aruch in voc. (gx) , fol. 58. 1.

Deuteronomy 16:2 In-Context

1 "Honor the Lord your God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib; it was on a night in that month that he rescued you from Egypt.

2 Go to the one place of worship and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle for the Passover meal to honor the Lord your God.

3 When you eat this meal, do not eat bread prepared with yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, as you did when you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread - it will be called the bread of suffering - so that as long as you live you will remember the day you came out of Egypt, that place of suffering.

4 For seven days no one in your land is to have any yeast in the house; and the meat of the animal killed on the evening of the first day must be eaten that same night.

5 "Slaughter the Passover animals at the one place of worship - and nowhere else in the land that the Lord your God will give you. Do it at sunset, the time of day when you left Egypt.