Rabbi Yitzchak posed a sharp question about what appeared to be a redundant verse. The Torah states that a toshav (resident alien) and a sachir (hired worker) may not eat of the Passover sacrifice. But the Torah already declared "No stranger may eat of it." If strangers are already excluded, why add the specific categories of resident alien and hired worker?
Rabbi Yitzchak explains that without the additional verse, a dangerous loophole would exist. A circumcised Arab or a circumcised Gibeonite — peoples who practiced circumcision for their own cultural reasons — might argue that they qualified to eat the Pesach (Passover). After all, they were not "strangers" in the usual sense. They lived in the land. They bore the physical sign of circumcision. They might claim the general prohibition did not apply to them.
The verse about toshav and sachir closes that gap. Physical circumcision alone is not enough. The Pesach sacrifice belongs exclusively to those who have entered the covenant of Israel — not merely those who share an external physical marker. Circumcision performed outside the framework of the Abrahamic covenant, no matter how identical it looks on the body, does not grant access to Israel's sacred meals.
This distinction mattered deeply to the rabbis. Identity in the covenant community was defined by intention and commitment, not by outward appearance alone. The same physical act could carry entirely different spiritual significance depending on the context in which it was performed.