The Feast of the Passover.
The month of Abib (cf. Exodus 12:2; Exodus 23:15). The time is referred to as a date well known to the people. Keep the passover; make ( עַשִׂיתָ) or prepare the passover. This injunction refers primarily to the preparation of the Paschal lamb for a festal meal (Numbers 9:5); but here it is used in a wider sense as referring to the whole Paschal observance, which lasted for seven days. Hence the mention of sheep ( צאֹן) and oxen ( בְקָר) in Deuteronomy 16:2, and the reference to the eating of unleavened bread for seven days "therewith," i.e. with the Passover. The animal for the Paschal supper was expressly prescribed to be a yearling of the sheep or of the goats ( שֶׂה), and this was to be consumed at one meal; but on the other days of the festival the flesh of other animals offered in sacrifice might be eaten. The term "Passover" here, accordingly, embraces the whole of the festive meals connected with the Passover proper—what the rabbins call chagigah (Maimon; in 'Kor-ban Pesach,' c. 10. § 12; cf. 2 Chronicles 35:7, etc.).