Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 9:7
And those men said unto him, We [are] defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?
Verse 7. We are defiled by the dead body of a man] It is probable that the defilement mentioned here was occasioned by assisting at the burial of some person – a work both of necessity and mercy. This circumstance however gave rise to the ordinance delivered in Nu 9:10-14, so that on particular occasions the passover might be twice celebrated:
1. At its regular time, the 14th of the first month;
2. An extra time, the 14th of the second month.
But the man who had no legal hinderance, and did not celebrate it on one or other of these times, was to be cut off from the people of God; and the reason given for this cutting off is, that he brought not the offering of God in his appointed season-therefore that man shall bear his sin, Nu 9:13.
We have already seen, from the authority of St. Paul, that Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us; and that it was his sacrifice that was pointed out by the paschal lamb: on this, therefore, we may observe, that those who do not sooner or later eat the true Passover, and get the salvation procured by the sprinkling of his blood, shall be cut off from among those that shall enter into the rest prepared for the people of God; and for the same reason too; they bring not the offering of God in its appointed season, and therefore they shall bear their sin.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Which if we neglect, we must be cut off; and if we keep it in these circumstances, we must also be cut off. What shall we do? The passover is called
an offering of the Lord, because it was both killed and eaten in obedience to Gods command, and to Gods honour, and as a thank-offering to God for his great mercies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And those men said unto him,…. To Moses, who was the chief magistrate, though Aaron was the high priest. Jarchi says, they were both sitting together when the men came, and put the question to them, but it was not proper to speak to one after another; for if Moses knew not, how should Aaron know? says he; the more difficult matters were brought to Moses, and he gave answers to them:
we [are] defiled by the dead body of a man; they had touched it, or had been where it was, or at the funeral of it, and so were defiled: this they knew was their case by a law before mentioned, and which they speak of, not as a sin purposely committed by them, but as what had unhappily befallen them, and they could not avoid; and express their concern, that upon this account they should be deprived of the ordinance of the passover and as this confession shows an ingenuous disposition, so what follows, a pious, religious, and devotional frame of mind:
wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in his appointed season among the children of Israel? they speak very honourably of the ordinance of the passover, they call it “an offering of the Lord”, the passover lamb being a slain sacrifice; and this offered to the Lord, by way of thanksgiving, for, and in commemoration of, their wonderful deliverance out of Egypt, and done in faith of Christ the passover, to be sacrificed for them; and it gave them much uneasiness that they were debarred by this occasional and unavoidable uncleanness, that was upon them, from keeping it; and what added to it was, that they could not observe it on the day which the Lord had appointed, and when the whole body of the children of Israel were employed in it; for it is no small pleasure to a good man to observe every ordinance of God in the manner and at the time he directs to, and his people in general are attending to the same; and the rather they were urgent in their expostulations, because it is said a, this was the seventh and last day of their pollution, when they should be clean at evening, and the passover was not to be eaten until the evening, and therefore so earnestly expostulate why they should be kept back from it.
a Maimon. in Misn. Pesachim, c. 7. sect. 6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) An offering.Better, the offering, or oblation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Kept back Greek, fall short or fail; Vulgate, defrauded. Since their defilement was involuntary, and even commendable, arising as it did from attending to the burial of the dead, the demand was reasonable, and worthy of being carried to the Lord.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 9:7 And those men said unto him, We [are] defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?
Ver. 7. And those men said unto him. ] Moses they knew was a meet man to resolve this case of conscience. He was a messenger, an interpreter, “one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness,” Job 33:23 a merchant to sell oil and balm from Gilead, to cure consciences. Mat 25:9 Others may write cases, that is, covers of conscience; but resolve none. Conscience is a diamond, and will be wrought on by nothing but dust of diamond, such as contrition hath ground it to.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
we may not offer: Num 9:2, Exo 12:27, Deu 16:2, 2Ch 30:17-19, 1Co 5:7, 1Co 5:8
Reciprocal: Num 9:10 – be unclean Num 9:13 – because Num 28:2 – General Ezr 6:21 – all such
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 9:7. Wherefore are we kept back They thus confidently expostulate with Moses, because in the first institution of the passover no mention is made of excluding such unclean persons from that ordinance. And although it might possibly have been inferred from the law recorded Lev 7:20, that persons in their condition were not to partake of that sacrifice; yet, considering that all the Israelites were expressly commanded to celebrate the passover, (Exo 12:47,) they might well entertain doubts respecting their duty in this matter, and therefore have recourse to Moses for decision. That we may not offer an offering Which if we neglect we must be cut off, and if we keep it in these circumstances, we must also be cut off. What shall we do?
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:7 And those men said unto him, We [are] defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not {c} offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?
(c) Or, celebrate the Passover the fourteenth day of the first month.