A Night of Watching Guarded for Redemption Through the Generations

"It is a night of watching unto the LORD" (Exodus 12:42). This teaches that the first redemption was kept in store for them, for the generations and for the jubilees and for the sabbatical years and for the years and for the months and for the sabbaths and for the days and for the hours, for the times and for the seasons. "This is that night of the LORD, a watching." By this redemption they were redeemed at this season; by another redemption they will be redeemed at another season. And so it says, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night" (Isaiah 21:11-12). What does He watch? That no nation may enter into another nation, nor kingdom into kingdom, even by so much as a hair's breadth. And who is this watchman? It is the Holy One, blessed be He, who is called Watchman, as it is said, "Behold, He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalms 121:4). These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Yehoshua says: in Nisan they were redeemed, and in Nisan they are destined to be redeemed, as it is said, "a watching unto all the children of Israel throughout their generations." Since there is no need for the text to say "it," why does the text say "it"? He knew of it, but the early fathers did not know of it, as it is said, "For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed is come" (Isaiah 63:4). Another interpretation: "It is a night of watching unto the LORD": a night guarded and protected from the destroyers.