Numbers 9 Footnotes

9:8-13 As was his usual recourse, Moses consulted the Lord for the answer. Critics have asserted that this issue arose as a result of the circumstances described in 2Ch 30:2, when a second-month Passover was celebrated during the reign of Hezekiah. However, the situation then was totally different. In Nm 9 the issue is the purity of the worshipers, but in 2Ch 30 the issue is the purity of the priests and the lack of pilgrims in Jerusalem. The legislation of Nm 9 probably served as the historical precedent for the second-month Passover in the late-eighth century BC since Nm 9:10 also cites the case of a person being on a distant journey and thus unable to keep the Passover at the prescribed time.