Exodus 12:4

“And if the household be too little for the lamb, etc.] That they cannot eat it up at once; let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; which Josephus f323 says were never fewer than ten, and were often twenty, but no man might feast alone; with which agrees the Jewish canon f324, “they do not kill the passover lamb for a single person, nor even for a society consisting of one hundred, that cannot eat the quantity of an olive:” every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb: that is, a man must reckon up how many he has in his own house to eat of the lamb, and what their appetites be, by which he will he able to judge…”

“if the household be too little for the lamb, &c.--It appears from JOSEPHUS that ten persons were required to make up the proper paschal communion. every man according to his eating--It is said that the quantity eaten of the paschal lamb, by each individual, was about the size of an olive.”

“Tradition specifies ten as the least number; but the matter was probably left altogether to the discretion of the heads of families. The last clause should be rendered: “each man, according to his eating, ye shall count for the lamb.” return to 'Top of Page'”