NUMBERS: The Children of Israel Commanded to Keep the Passover and Lead by The Lord God as a Cloud by Day and Fire by Night; “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time; and as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped."

Now 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: “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.” (Numbers 9:1-3) 

The Lord God had instituted the Passover the night he "passed over" their homes when He sent the tenth plague into Egypt, the death of the firstborn. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ... Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ... It is the Lord’s Passover." (Exodus 12:1-11)

So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did. (Numbers 9:4-5) 

Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron that day. And those men said to him, “We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?” And Moses said to them, “Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.” (Numbers 9:6-8) 

The scripture doesn't specify which kind of human corpse the men were defiled by. Most likely they had buried a relative, because otherwise they would have been put out of the camp, as the Lord God had previously instructed about unclean persons, “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.” And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did. (Numbers 5:2-4)

Moses could have easily said what the Lord God had previously commanded regarding defiled people, but he wisely sought God's counsel before making a response. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. (Psalm 25:14) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6) 

Christ Jesus said based on His example and Moses, we should always be able to tell if someone's teaching or responses are from God. Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Did not Moses give you the law,..." (John 7:16-19)

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord’s Passover. On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger dwells among you, and would keep the Lord’s Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’” (Numbers 9:9-14) 

This scripture points out two very important facts. First, even though the Lord God commanded that anyone defiled by a corpse be put out the camp, He lets us know that being physically defiled doesn't mean we're spiritually defiled. Remember, the priest could later examine a defiled person and allow them back into the camp, once it was determined they were clean. The desire to observe the Passover was in these men's hearts. Christ Jesus taught, “Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” (Matthew 15:10-11) The same principle applies here. It's not the touching of a corpse that defiled a person from keeping the Lord's Passover, it's the intentions of their heart. That's why the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people.

Secondly, the treatment of the Passover lamb is a foreshadow of what would happen to Christ Jesus, ...our Passover, was sacrificed for us. (I Corinthians 5:7) The Lord God said they shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. When Christ Jesus was crucified on the cross, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ... And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” (John 19:31-36)

Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. At the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. (Numbers 9:15-18) 

Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey. So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses. (Numbers 9:19-23)

When the Lord God gave the children of Israel the commandment to leave Mount Sinai, He promised, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ And I will send My Angel before you,..." (Exodus 33:1-2) All they had to do was obey the commandments and laws of the Lord God by the mouth of Moses. 

The Lord God was with them every day, from morning to night, and He is with us also. I will lift up my eyes to the hills— from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore. (Psalm 121:1-8) AMEN!