A. THE PERIOD FROM THE INSTITUTION OF THIS FESTIVAL TO THE I3ARYLONISH CAPTIVITY.
—In the first institution of the Passover, it is or dained that the head of each family is to select, on the tenth of Nisan (i. e., four days beforehand, meant to represent the four generations which had elapsed since the children of Israel bad come to Egypt, Gen. xv. t6), a male lamb or goat of the first year, and without blemish, to kill it on the eve of the fourteenth,* sprinkle the blood with a sprig of hyssop on the two side-posts and the lin tel of the door of the house—being the parts of the * The precise meaning of the phrase 0'313m rz, between the two evenings, which is used with reference to the time when the paschal animal is to be slain (Exod. xii. 6 ; Lev. xxiii. 5 ; Num. ix. 3, 5), as well as in connection with the offering of the even ing sacrifice (Exod. xxix. 39, 41 ;• Num. xxviii. 4), and elsewhere (Exod. xvi. 12 ; xxx. 8), is greatly disputed. The Samaritans, the Karaites, and Ibn Ezra, who are followed by Michaelis, Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, Maurer, Kalisch, Knobel, Keil, and most modern commentators, take it to denote the space between the setting of the sun and the moment when the stars become visible, or when darkness sets in, 1. e., between six and seven o'clock. Accordingly, Ibn Ezra explains the phrase between the two evenings as follows Be hold we have two evenings, the first is when the sun sets, and that is at the time when it disappears beneath the horizon ; whilst the second is at the time when the light disappears which is reflected in the clouds, and there is between them an inter val of about one hour and twenty minutes' (Com ment. on Exod. iii. 6). Tradition, however, inter prets the phrase between the two evenings' to mean from afternoon to the disappearing of the sun, the first evening being from the time when the sun begins to decline from its vertical or noon-tide point towards the west ; and the second from its going down and vanishing out of sight, which is the reason why the daily sacrifice might be killed at 12.30 P.M. on a Friday (Illishna, Pesachim, v.
; Maimonides, Hilchoth Korban Pesach., i. 4). But as the paschal lamb was slain after the daily sacrifice, it generally took place from 2.30 to 5.30 P. M. (vide infra, and Joseph. de Bell. yuct. vi. 9. 3). We should have deemed it superfluous to add, that such faithful followers of Jewish tradition as Saadia, Rashi, Kimchi, Ralbag, etc., espouse this definition of the ancient Jewish canons, were it not for the assertion which is made in some of the best Christian commentaries, and which is repeated in the excellent article Passover in Smith's Dic tionary of the Bible), that jarchi [ = Rashi] and Kimchi hold that the two evenings were the time immediately before and immediately after sunset, so that the point of time at which the sun sets divides them.' Now Rashi most distinctly
declares, From the sixth hour [= twelve o'clock] and upwards is called between the two evenings (tn-vn rn), because the sun begins to set for the evening. Hence it appears to me that the phrase between the two evenings denotes the hours between the evening of the day and the evening of the night. The evening of the day is from the beginning of the seventh hour [ =immediately after noontide], when the evening shadows begin to lengthen, whilst the evening of the night is at the beginning of the night' (Commentary on Exod. xii. 6). Kim chi says almost literally the same thing : is from the time when the sun begins to incline towards the west. which is from the sixth house most obvious to passers-by, and to which texts of Scripture were afterwards affixed [MEzuzA] —to roast the whole animal with its head, legs, and entrails, without breaking a bone thereof, and when thoroughly done, he and his family are to eat it on the same evening together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, having their loins girt, thch sandals on their feet, and their staves in their hands. If the family, however, are too small in number to consume it, a neighbouring family may join them, provided they are circumcised sons of Israel, or household servants and strangers who have been received into the community by the rite of circumcision. The whole of the Pesach is to be consumed on the premises, and if it cannot be eaten up it is not to be removed from the house, but burned on the spot on the following morning. The festival is to be celebrated seven days, i.e., till the twenty-first of the month, during which time unleavened bread is to be eaten, but cessation from all work and trade is only to be on the first and seventh day of the festival. Though instituted to exempt them from the general destruction of Egypt's first-born, the Israelites are told to regard. the Passover as an ordinance for ever, to teach its meaning to their children, and that the transgres sion of the enactments connected therewith is to be punished with excision (Exod. xii. 1-28, 48-51). Thus far the account of the pre-exodus institution of the Passover.