שמות, פרק י״ב, פסוק ו׳

Before the Israelites could step into freedom, they had to undergo a period of intense preparation and waiting. This transitional phase required them to take a lamb and hold onto it for several days, an act that carried both practical and profound spiritual weight. The simple understanding of this requirement is that the lamb was to be physically kept and guarded inside the home [אבן עזרא, שד״ל]. However, the primary approach among commentators is that this was a time of active inspection. The families were tasked with carefully examining the animal to ensure it was completely free of any physical blemishes that would disqualify it as a valid sacrifice [רש״י, הכתב והקבלה].

The command to select the animal four days before its slaughter was unique to the exodus from Egypt and was not required for future generations. This waiting period was directly tied to the spiritual condition of the Israelites. At the time, they were deeply immersed in idolatry and lacked the necessary merits to be redeemed. By waiting, they were given the opportunity to perform two major commandments that would earn them their salvation: circumcision and the Passover sacrifice. Furthermore, the lamb was worshipped as an Egyptian deity. Tying it up and keeping it in their homes for four days forced the Israelites to publicly break away from their idolatrous past. It was a bold display of courage, as they openly humiliated the Egyptian god right in front of their oppressors before ultimately slaughtering it [רש״י, אור החיים, חזקוני].

The instruction for the community to slaughter the sacrifice together presents a logical challenge, as it is impossible for an entire nation to physically slaughter a single animal at the same time. This introduces a fundamental legal principle that a person's appointed agent acts with their full authority. Therefore, one individual could perform the slaughter on behalf of the entire group registered for that specific sacrifice [רש״י, תורה תמימה]. The layered description of the gathered nation also hints at the future practice in the Temple, where the Passover sacrifices would be offered in three massive, distinct groups [רש״י, מזרחי]. On a conceptual level, this collective phrasing emphasizes national unity. The entire nation acted as one cohesive body in a highly public manner. Because everyone participated together, no single individual could later distance themselves from the act or claim to the Egyptians that they had no part in destroying their deity [רלב״ג, חזקוני].

The precise time designated for the slaughter sparked significant discussion. One approach understands the appointed time as the afternoon, beginning at midday when the sun starts its descent toward the west, and lasting until sunset. In this view, the time is framed between two periods of darkening, which are the initial decline of the sun at noon and its complete setting at night [רש״י, רמב״ן]. Another perspective argues for a much narrower window, identifying the time as the short twilight period between sunset and the moment the light completely fades from the clouds, lasting just over an hour [אבן עזרא]. A third view bridges these opinions by looking at the practical differences between the first Passover and those of future generations. In Egypt, where each family slaughtered their own sacrifice at home, the action could easily be completed during the brief twilight window. However, in later generations at the Temple, it was physically impossible to process all the public sacrifices in such a short amount of time, so the window for slaughter was expanded to begin earlier in the afternoon [שד״ל].