Exodus 12:19

19 For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, because {anyone eating food with yeast} will be cut off from the community of Israel--[whether] an alien or a native of the land.

Exodus 12:19 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 12:19

Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses,
&c.]. Wherefore, on the fourteenth day the most diligent search was made, and whatever was found was burnt, or cast into the sea, or dispersed with the wind; about which the traditionary writers of the Jews, give many rules and canons, (See Gill on Exodus 12:15), for whoso eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut
off from the congregation of Israel;
which is repeated to deter them from the breach of this ordinance; (See Gill on Exodus 12:15), and it is added for further explanation, of whom it concerns: whether he be a stranger, or born in the land;
by a "stranger" is meant, not a mere Heathen, who was not bound by this law, but a proselyte; and not a proselyte of the gate, one that was only a sojourner among them, and observed the commandments of the sons of Noah; but a proselyte of righteousness, who professed the Jewish religion, and proposed to conform to it in all respects, and therefore was obliged to observe this as other precepts: and by one "born in the land", is intended a native of the land of Canaan, whither they were now going in order to possess it, or a real Israelite, such as were born of Israelitish parents, and proper inhabitants of Canaan, which they would be put into the possession of.

Exodus 12:19 In-Context

17 "And you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought out your divisions from the land of Egypt, and you will keep this day for your generations as a lasting statute.

18 On the first [day], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat unleavened bread until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.

19 For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, because {anyone eating food with yeast} will be cut off from the community of Israel--[whether] an alien or a native of the land.

20 You will eat no [food with] yeast; in all of your dwellings you will eat unleavened bread."

21 And Moses called all the elders of Israel, and he said to them, "Select and take for yourselves sheep for your clans and slaughter the Passover sacrifice.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "anyone eating yeasted food, that person"