John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 16

Observe the month of Abib Sometimes called Nisan; it answered to part, of our March, and part of April; it was an observable month, to be taken notice of; it was called Abib, from the corn then appearing in ear, and beginning to ripen, and all things being in their verdure; the Septuagint calls it the month of new fruit;

it was appointed the first of the months for ecclesiastic things, and was the month in which the Israelites went out of Egypt, and the first passover was kept in it, and therefore deserving of regard; see (Exodus 12:2) (13:4)

for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night ; for though they did not set out until morning, when it was day light, and are said to come out in the day, yet it was in the night the Lord did wonders for them, as Onkelos paraphrases this clause; that he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, and passed over the houses of the Israelites, the door posts being sprinkled with the blood of the passover lamb slain that night, and therefore was a night much to be observed;

and it was in the night Pharaoh arose and gave them leave to go; and from thence may be reckoned their coming out of bondage; see (Exodus 12:12Exodus 12:29–31Exodus 12:42) .

You shall therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord your
God
In the month Abib, and in the night of that month they came out of Egypt, even on the fourteenth day of it at night, between the two evenings, as the Targum of Jonathan; which was a lamb, and typical of Christ, the passover sacrificed for us, (1 Corinthians 5:7)

of the flock and the herd ;
that is, you shall sacrifice also the offerings which were offered throughout the seven days of unleavened bread, and these were both sheep and oxen, (Numbers 28:19Numbers 28:24) and are expressly called passover offerings and peace offerings, (2 Chronicles 30:21–24) (2 Chronicles 35:7 2 Chronicles 35:8 2 Chronicles 35:9) , for what was strictly and properly the passover was only of the flock, a lamb, and not of the herd, or a bullock; though Aben Ezra says there were some that thought that in Egypt it was only a lamb or a kid, but now it might be a bullock; which he observes is not right. It may be indeed that the word "passover" here is a general term, comprehending the whole passover solemnity, and all the sacrifices of the seven days: the Jews commonly understand this clause of the Chagigah, or feast of the fifteenth day, the first day of unleavened bread, and so the Targum of Jonathan,

there was a Chagigah of the fourteenth day, which was brought with the lamb and eaten first, when the company was too large for the lamb, that their might eat with satiety ^F14 ; but this was not reckoned obligatory upon them ^F15 , but they were bound to bring their Chagigah on the fifteenth day:

in the place which the Lord your God shall choose to place his name
there ;
that is, at Jerusalem, as the event has shown; hence we read of the parents of our Lord going up to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover, (Luke 2:41) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 70. 2.
• F14: Jarchi in loc. Maimon. Hilchot Corban Pesach, c. 8. l. 3.
• F15: T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 71. 1, 2. Maimon. ut supra, (^F14) c. 10. sect. 13. Aruch in voc. (gx) , fol. 58. 1.

You shall eat no leavened bread with it
With the passover, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; that is, with the passover lamb, nor indeed with any of the passover, or peace offerings, as follows; see (Exodus 12:8)

seven days shall you eat unleavened bread therewith ;
with the passover; this plainly shows, that by the passover in the preceding verse is not meant strictly the passover lamb, for that was eaten at once on the night of the fourteenth of the month, and not seven days running, and therefore must be put for the whole solemnity of the feast, and all the sacrifices of it, both the lamb of the fourteenth, and the Chagigah of the fifteenth, and every of the peace offerings of the rest of the days were to be eaten with unleavened bread:

[even] the bread of affliction ;
so called either from the nature of its being heavy and lumpish, not grateful to the taste nor easy of digestion, and was mortifying and afflicting to be obliged to eat of it seven days together; or rather from the use of it, which was, as Jarchi observes, to bring to remembrance the affliction they were afflicted with in Egypt:

for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste ;
and had not time to leaven their dough; so that at first they were obliged through necessity to eat unleavened bread, and afterwards by the command of God in remembrance of it; see (Exodus 12:33Exodus 12:34Exodus 12:39) ,

that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the
land of Egypt all the days of your life ;
how it was with them then, how they were hurried out with their unleavened dough; and that this might be imprinted on their minds, the master of the family used ^F16 , at the time of the passover, to break a cake of unleavened bread, and say, this is the bread of affliction or bread of poverty; as it is the way of poor men to have broken bread, so here is broken bread.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: Haggadah Shel Pesach, in Seder Tephillot, fol. 242. Maimon. Chametz Umetzah, c. 8. sect. 6.

And there shall be no leavened bread seen with you in all your
coasts seven days
For before the passover they were to search diligently every room in the house, and every hole and crevice, that none might remain any where; see (Exodus 12:15Exodus 12:19) (13:7) ,

neither shall there be anything of the flesh, which you sacrificedst
the first day at even, remain all night until the morning ;
which may be understood both of the flesh of the passover lamb, as Aben Ezra, according to (Exodus 12:10) and of the flesh of flocks and herds, or of the Chagigah; according to Jarchi this Scripture speaks of the Chagigah of the fourteenth, which was not to remain on the first day of the feast (the fifteenth) until the morning of the second day (the sixteenth).

You may not sacrifice the passover within any of your gates ,
&c.] Or cities, as the Targum of Jonathan, so called because they usually had gates to them, in which public affairs were transacted; but in none of these, only in the city of Jerusalem, the place the Lord chose, might they kill the passover and eat it, and other passover offerings:

which the Lord your God gives you ;
in the land of Canaan, and which land was given them of God.