Exodus 12:19

19 Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreign resident^[a] or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel.

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 "You are to observe the [Festival of] Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

18 You are to eat unleavened bread in the first [month], from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day.

19 Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreign resident or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel.

20 Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes."

21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go, select an animal from the flock according to your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ex 12:48; Nm 9:14