Exodus 12:4

4 Yf the housholde be to few for a shepe, then lett him and his neghbour that is nexte vnto his house, take acordinge to the nombre of soulles, and counte vnto a shepe acordinge to euery mans eatinge.

Exodus 12:4 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 12:4

And if the household be too little for the lamb
That they cannot eat it up at once; let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the
number of the souls;
which Josephus ^F5 says were never fewer than ten, and were often twenty, but no man might feast alone; with which agrees the Jewish canon ^F6,

``they do not kill the passover lamb for a single person, nor even for a society consisting of one hundred, that cannot eat the quantity of an olive:''

every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb:
that is, a man must reckon up how many he has in his own house to eat of the lamb, and what their appetites be, by which he will he able to judge whether he can dispense with a lamb himself, or whether he must take in some of his neighbours, and how many, so as to eat up the whole lamb, for, for such persons the lamb was to be slain. The rule is,

``if a man slays it for those that do not eat of it, or for those that are not counted, for the uncircumcised, and the unclean, it was wrong, and not allowed of ^F7.''

The taking in his neighbours may respect the call of the Gentiles to partake of Christ with the Jews, see ( Ephesians 3:5 Ephesians 3:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3.
F6 Misn. Pesach. c. 8. sect. 7.
F7 lbid. c. 5. sect. 3.

Exodus 12:4 In-Context

2 This moneth shall be youre chefe moneth: eue the first moneth of the yere shal it be vnto you

3 Speake ye unto all the felowshipe of Israel saynge: that they take the .x. daye of this moneth to euery housholde, a shepe.

4 Yf the housholde be to few for a shepe, then lett him and his neghbour that is nexte vnto his house, take acordinge to the nombre of soulles, and counte vnto a shepe acordinge to euery mans eatinge.

5 A shepe with out spott and a male of one yere olde shall it be, and from amonge the lambes ad the gootes shall ye take it.

6 And ye shall kepe him in warde, vntyll the xiiij. daye of the same moneth. And euery ma of the multitude of Israel shall kyll him aboute eue.