One House One Company and the Unbroken Bone of the Lamb

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 212:2

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"In one house shall it be eaten" (Exodus 12:46). Scripture speaks of one company, or does it mean "in one house" literally? When it says, "upon the houses in which they shall eat it," we learn that it is eaten in many houses. Then what does Scripture teach by "in one house shall it be eaten"? It speaks of one company. From here they said: The Passover is eaten in two places but it is not eaten by two companies. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says: In two places, how so? If they were inside the house and the beam split open above them, they go out to the courtyard; if they were in the courtyard and rain came down upon them, they enter the house, so that they are found eating it in two places. "You shall not carry any of the flesh out of the house abroad," outside the company; thus if he carried it out he transgressed the commandment. "And you shall not break a bone in it." Why is it said? It is said of a fit offering and not of a disqualified one. One who breaks a bone of a ritually pure Passover receives the forty lashes, but one who leaves over from a pure offering and one who breaks a bone of an impure one does not transgress. "And you shall not break a bone in it," whether a bone that has marrow in it or a bone that has no marrow in it. "All the congregation of Israel shall keep it" (Exodus 12:47). Why is it said? Because it says, "draw out and take you a lamb"; just as the Passover of Egypt was fit only for families, so the Passover of the generations should be fit only for a family; Scripture teaches, "all the congregation of Israel shall keep it," telling that the Passover is eaten in a mixed gathering. "And when a stranger sojourns with you and would keep the Passover" (Exodus 12:48): I might hear that as soon as he converts he keeps the Passover at once; Scripture teaches, "and he shall be as one born in the land," just as one native-born keeps it on the fourteenth, so the convert on the fourteenth. The school of Elijah taught: Once I was traveling from place to place, and a certain elder met me and said to me, Is there a portion for the nations of the world in the days of the Messiah? I said to him: My son, every nation and kingdom that oppressed Israel and pressed them hard will see Israel's good fortune and then return to their dust and never live again, as it is said, "the wicked shall see and be vexed"; but every nation and kingdom that did not oppress Israel nor press them hard will come in the days of the Messiah, as it is said, "and strangers shall stand and feed your flocks... but you shall be called the priests of the LORD" (Isaiah 61:5-6), and it says, "and to His servants He shall give another name" (Isaiah 65:15), these are the fit ones among the nations. "And every uncircumcised person shall not eat of it"; one might think he disqualifies the members of the company who come with him. Therefore Scripture teaches, "and every uncircumcised person," [meaning] when the whole of him is uncircumcised he is disqualified, but a part is not disqualified.

Themes

PassoverSacrificeMessiah

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