Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 12:4
And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
4. too little for a lamb ] According to the later Jews, fewer than ten (cf. Jos. BJ. vi. 9. 3; and Targ. Ps.-Jon. here), in accordance with the Rabb. exegesis of Num 14:27, that ten was the smallest number the could constitute a ‘congregation’ (the ‘congregation’ there being interpreted of the ten murmuring spies).
according to every man’s eating, &c.] In determining the number of persons sufficient for one lamb, you are to be guided by the usual measure or amount of their eating, according, for example, as they are adults or children, healthy or infirm, &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Tradition specifies ten as the least number; but the matter was probably left altogether to the discretion of the heads of families.
The last clause should be rendered: each man, according to his eating, ye shall count for the lamb.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. If the household be too little] That is, if there be not persons enough in one family to eat a whole lamb, then two families must join together. The rabbins allow that there should be at least ten persons to one paschal lamb, and not more than twenty.
Take it, according to the number of the souls] The persons who were to eat of it were to be first ascertained, and then the lamb was to be slain and dressed for that number.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Too little for the lamb, i.e. for the eating of the whole lamb at one meal, according to the rule, Exo 12:8,10; if the persons be so few that they cannot eat it up without gluttony.
Take it; or rather thus, word for word, And, or Then he (the master of that family) shall take also his neighbour next unto his house; he shall take him and his family into society with himself; they shall join together.
To the number of the souls, or persons, i.e. as the two families shall consist of more or fewer persons. I suppose the meaning is, that if his next neighbours family were of itself sufficient for the eating of the whole lamb, that he should pass over that to the next small family, which being joined with his might make up a fit number, which, as the Hebrew doctors tell us, was ten, besides women and children.
According to his eating, i.e. according to the proportion which he can or commonly doth eat. The meaning is this, The whole lamb being to be eaten at once, and a sufficient number being necessary to that end, and there being great variety in mens stomachs and meals, they were to give allowance for that, and to take either more or fewer persons, as their stomachs were better or worse.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. if the household be too littlefor the lamb, &c.It appears from JOSEPHUSthat ten persons were required to make up the proper paschalcommunion.
every man according to hiseatingIt is said that the quantity eaten of the paschal lamb,by each individual, was about the size of an olive.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 e says were never fewer than ten, and were often twenty, but no man might feast alone; with which agrees the Jewish canon f,
“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 g.”
The taking in his neighbours may respect the call of the Gentiles to partake of Christ with the Jews, see Eph 3:5.
e De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3. f Misn. Pesach. c. 8. sect. 7. g lbid. c. 5. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) If the household be too little for the lamb.There would be cases where the family would not be large enough to consume an entire lamb at a sitting. Where this was so, men were to club with their neighbours, either two small families joining together, or a large family drafting off some of its members to bring up the numbers of a small one. According to Josephus (Bell. Jud., vi. 9, 3), ten was the least number regarded as sufficient, while twenty was not considered too many.
Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.Rather, shall ye count. In determining the number for any given Paschal meal, ye shall count men according to their eating, admitting more or fewer, as they are likely to consume less or more.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Doth not this express the communion of the faithful? 1Co 10:3-4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 12:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
Ver. 4. Shall make your count, ] sc., Of communicants; that the whole may be eaten up, and every one have enough. Spiritual blessing may be divided in solidum: one may have as much as another, and all alike. The Gentiles also are called to fruition and feeding on the Lamb.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
it. Ellipsis to be supplied by “the lamb” from verse preceding (App-6).
souls. Hebrew, plural of nephesh. Verse 15, singular. See App-13.
eating. Hebrew mouth. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, mouth put for what is eaten by it.
lamb. Repeated at beginning of next clause in the Figure of speech Anadiplosis (App-6) for emphasis.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Reciprocal: 2Sa 19:35 – I hear Mat 26:19 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 12:4. If the household be too little The Hebrew doctors tell us, that there were not to be fewer than ten persons, nor more than twenty, to the eating of one lamb. And at this sacred repast, men, women, and children, masters and servants, if circumcised, were entertained.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; every man according to his {d} eating shall make your count for the lamb.
(d) He will take as many as are needed to eat the lamb.