The passover is again commanded, 1-5. A second passover for the unclean or absent, 6-14. The cloud directs the removals and encampments of the Israelites, 15-23.
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 "Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at its appointed season. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season. According to all its rites and according to all its ceremonies, you shall keep it." 4 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel that they should keep the passover. 5 And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did. 6 And there were some men who were defiled by the dead body of a man and they could not keep the passover on that day. And they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day, 7 And those men said to him, "We are defiled by the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back so that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in its appointed season among the children of Israel?" 8 And Moses said to them, "Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you."
9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'If any man of you or of your posterity is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is in a journey afar off, he shall still keep the passover to the LORD. 11 The fourteenth day of the second month at evening, they shall keep it and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it. 13 But the man who is clean and is not in a journey and forbears to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people because he did not bring the offering of the LORD in its appointed season. That man shall bear his sin. 14 And if a stranger sojourns among you and wishes to keep the passover to the LORD, according to the ordinance of the passover and according to its manner so he shall do. You shall have one ordinance both for the stranger and for him who was born in the land.'"
15 And on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony. And at evening there was upon the tabernacle something like the appearance of fire until the morning. 16 Thus it always was: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. 17 And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel journeyed. And in the place where the cloud stayed, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. 18 At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed and at the commandment of the LORD they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. 19 And when the cloud remained upon the tabernacle many days, the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD and did not journey. 20 And sometimes the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle. Then according to the commandment of the LORD they stayed in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed. 21 And sometimes the cloud stayed from evening until the morning. And when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed. Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. 22 Or whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained upon the tabernacle, remaining upon it, the children of Israel stayed in their tents and did not journey. But when it was taken up, they journeyed. 23 At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed. They kept the charge of the LORD at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Numbers, Chapter 9[➚]
[v.12] - "nor break any bone of it" - Reference, Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:20; John 19:33, 36.