Synopsis of the Chapter
He renews the feast of Passover and of unleavened bread, and verse 10, the feast of Pentecost, and verse 13, the feast of Tabernacles, and commands, verse 16, that at these every male appear before the Lord in the tabernacle. Finally, verse 18, he commands judges to be appointed in each city.
Verse 1: The Month of New Fruits ¶
1. OBSERVE THE MONTH OF NEW FRUITS -- namely Nisan, that is, March, in which in the promised land the ears of barley begin to turn yellow: for they were offered at the Passover, namely on the second day of unleavened bread, as is evident from Leviticus II, 14, and Leviticus XXIII, 10.
Verse 2: The Passover Sacrifice ¶
2. AND YOU SHALL SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER TO THE LORD, etc., OF SHEEP AND OF OXEN. -- "The Passover," that is, the paschal victims, which are commanded to be offered from sheep and oxen at the Passover solemnity, Numbers XXVIII, 19; for the paschal lamb could not be changed for an ox.
Therefore some Hebrews wrongly take "Phase" here to mean the paschal lamb, and think that a calf could have been substituted for the lamb, and add the reason that in large families a lamb would not have sufficed for everyone. But I respond: The lamb was not meant to satisfy everyone, but so that each person might eat some part of it, in memory of the liberation from Egypt; besides the lamb they ate other foods with which they satisfied themselves. So St. Augustine here, Question XXIV. See what was said on Exodus chapter XII, verses 5 and 11.
THAT HIS NAME MAY DWELL THERE -- that God may be worshipped there and invoked by His name.
Verse 3: Bread of Affliction ¶
3. YOU SHALL NOT EAT LEAVENED BREAD WITH IT (with it, namely the Passover). -- For during all seven paschal days they ate unleavened bread with the lamb, and with other sacrifices and foods, including ordinary ones.
YOU SHALL EAT BREAD OF AFFLICTION. -- In Hebrew: you shall eat unleavened bread, bread of affliction, that is, a sign and memorial of the Egyptian affliction, and also of your haste and fear in leaving Egypt, as follows. Secondly, "bread of affliction," that is, afflicting bread, because unleavened bread is tasteless and heavy on the stomach. Cajetan translates it as bread of poverty, and it can be so translated: for it belongs to the poor to lack the convenience of leavening bread, and to use bread baked under ashes, which is unleavened, and is quickly made and baked.
In Fear and Haste
BECAUSE YOU CAME OUT OF EGYPT IN FEAR (the Chaldean and Septuagint read: in haste) -- that is, because you came out of Egypt with such trepidation and haste that you did not have time to leaven bread: in memory of this you shall eat unleavened bread at the Passover.
Verse 6: The Evening Sacrifice ¶
6. YOU SHALL SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER (properly so called, namely the paschal lamb) IN THE EVENING, WHEN YOU CAME OUT -- when you prepared for the departure; for "came out" signifies an act that was beginning. See what was said on Exodus XII, 42. Secondly, the word "when" could refer to the feast of Passover: for in Hebrew it reads, at the appointed time (namely of the Passover), when you came out. So Vatablus.
Verse 7: You Shall Go to Your Tents ¶
7. YOU SHALL GO TO YOUR TENTS -- to your houses, to your dwelling.
Verse 8: Six Days of Unleavened Bread ¶
8. FOR SIX DAYS YOU SHALL EAT UNLEAVENED BREAD. -- Hence some Jews thought that by the law of God unleavened bread was commanded for only six days; but that it was commanded for seven days is clear from verse 4 here, and Exodus chapter XII, 19. I say therefore: The meaning is: For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, but you will not rest from work; but on the seventh day, besides eating unleavened bread, you shall also rest from work, because it is the feast of the assembly. So Lyranus.
The Feast of the Assembly
BECAUSE IT IS THE ASSEMBLY -- because it is the feast of the gathering, in which the people is collected and united in the temple, about to give thanks to God before returning home. See what was said on Leviticus XXIII, 36.
Verse 18: Judges and Magistrates ¶
18. YOU SHALL APPOINT JUDGES AND MAGISTRATES IN ALL YOUR GATES. -- "Magistrates," that is, officials, namely wise men, who as teachers and magistrates preside over the administration of justice, as follows: judges and magistrates are therefore the same, because judges ought to be teachers. So the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and Vatablus. Hence Plato judged that states would be happy if philosophers ruled them, or if those who rule them practiced philosophy.
Note, "in the gates," that is, in the cities; it is a synecdoche, as also in the following chapter, verse 2. So the Septuagint and the Chaldean. He names the gates because judgments were customarily held in the gates of cities, so that outsiders might more freely come there, as to an open and public place, to plead their case.
Verse 19: Bribes Blind the Eyes of the Wise ¶
19. YOU SHALL NOT SHOW PARTIALITY, NOR ACCEPT BRIBES: BECAUSE BRIBES BLIND THE EYES OF THE WISE AND CHANGE THE WORDS OF THE JUST. -- Let counselors and judges hear this. For these are the two evils of bribes: first, they blind the mind; secondly, they alter the tongue and the sentence to be pronounced; for first, they incline the affections; secondly, the affections incline and cloud the reason and judgment; thirdly, reason inclines the sentence in favor of the one who gave the bribes. See what was said on Exodus XXIII, 8.
Verse 20: Do Not Plant a Grove ¶
20. YOU SHALL NOT PLANT A GROVE OR ANY TREE NEAR THE ALTAR -- lest you seem to imitate the sacred groves of the Gentiles and their idols, especially of Priapus: for the rites of Priapus were performed in groves, so that his obscenities might be concealed by them: hence in these groves they practiced every kind of shameful act. Note "every," that is, any; for the collective "every" among the Hebrews is often taken for the distributive "any."
Tropologically, St. Gregory, in the Preface to Job, letter to Leander, at the end: "I ask, he says, that in reading through the words of this work, you not seek in them the leaves of words; because through sacred eloquence the fruitless levity of loquacity is studiously restrained by its interpreters, since it is forbidden to plant a grove in the temple of God." So also Philo.
Verse 21: Nor Set Up a Statue ¶
21. NOR SHALL YOU MAKE OR SET UP A STATUE -- namely, of the kind the Gentiles set up for their gods or idols.