Moses encounters a situation where men are unable to participate in the Passover sacrifice due to ritual impurity. In response, he demonstrates his unique prophetic greatness by initiating a direct consultation with God. He receives an immediate answer that establishes a permanent law for all future generations [ביאור שטיינזלץ].
Moses instructs the men to pause and wait. The primary approach among commentators is that he asks them to remain at the entrance of the Tabernacle while he seeks an answer from God [אבן עזרא, רבנו בחיי]. Alternatively, this instruction is understood as a call for silence, asking the men to stop their outcries and wait quietly to hear God's word [העמק דבר].
This moment of seeking divine guidance reveals the very nature of how the Torah was transmitted. Rather than being a set of abstract rules, the Torah was given through direct revelation that included exact practical details. Whenever practical doubts arose, Moses waited for a direct ruling from God [רש ר הירש]. Furthermore, this incident shows that the Torah was given in stages, as Moses did not know the specific law for this situation in advance [ברכת אשר על התורה].
The fact that Moses lacked this knowledge is not considered a flaw or a punishment. While certain laws, such as inheritance, can be understood through basic human logic, the concept of delaying the Passover sacrifice to a completely different month is a unique decree. It relies entirely on divine tradition, meaning Moses could not have simply deduced it on his own [רבנו בחיי].
When Moses anticipates God's response, he expects a practical instruction rather than a new formal section of the Torah. He assumes God will issue an oral command rather than a formal spoken teaching [העמק דבר]. Furthermore, by focusing on what God will command the people, rather than what God will speak to him personally, Moses displays his profound humility [רבנו בחיי].
Because these men were ritually impure, they could not physically perform the sacrifice themselves; that duty would fall to the pure priests. Therefore, God's instruction was not a direct order for them to perform the action, but rather a ruling issued concerning their specific situation [נתינה לגר, אוהב גר]. On a deeper level, these men were deeply saddened that their impurity, which resulted from the noble act of burying a neglected corpse, prevented them from joining the rest of Israel in the public sacrifice. Although God did not allow them to offer the sacrifice while impure as they might have hoped, He rewarded their sincere desire. Because of their longing, the entirely new law of the Second Passover was established and recorded in the Torah. This special instruction was given specifically for their sake and because of their merit [חתם סופר].