And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of
Sinai
While the people of Israel were encamped there, before they took
their journey from thence: in the first month of the second
year, after they were come out of the
land of Egypt:
the following order was given some time in the first month of the
second year of Israel's departure out of Egypt; the precise day
is not mentioned, it must be in the beginning of the month before
the fourteenth day of it, in which the passover is ordered to be
kept, according to the first institution of it; very probably
immediately after the setting up of the tabernacle, and the
consecration of Aaron and his sons; and it must be before the
numbering of the people the fixing of their standards, the
appointment of the Levites, and the dedication of them; since the
order for the numbering of the people was on the first day of the
second month, ( Numbers 1:1 ) , but the
account of them was postponed to this time, in order to give a
relation of an affair which was not finished until the second
month, and therefore the whole is laid together here:
saying,
as follows.