Numbers 9

Numbers 9:2

Richard Challoner: Make the phase: That is, keep the paschal solemnity, and eat the paschal lamb.

Numbers 9:6

Richard Challoner: Behold some who were unclean by occasion of the soul of a man: That is, by having touched or come near a dead body, out of which the soul was departed.

Numbers 9:8

Pacian of Barcelona: To leave the crowds and return to the tabernacle means to leave the tumult of external things behind and enter the hidden places of the mind. For the Lord is consulted there, and one hears, silently and within, what should be done outside and publicly. Good pastors do this every day. When they do not know how to decide about doubtful matters, they return to the hidden place of the mind as if to some tabernacle. They ponder the divine law, as if they were seeking advice from the Lord at the ark of the covenant. What they first hear silently within, they later make known when they act publicly. To fulfill their external offices without blame, they have recourse unceasingly to the secret places of the heart, and thus they hear the voice of God through his hidden inspiration, as they withdraw from carnal sensations in spiritual meditation. Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Numbers

Paterius: To leave the crowds and return to the tabernacle means to leave the tumult of external things behind and enter the hidden places of the mind. For the Lord is consulted there, and one hears, silently and within, what should be done outside and publicly. Good pastors do this every day. When they do not know how to decide about doubtful matters, they return to the hidden place of the mind as if to some tabernacle. They ponder the divine law, as if they were seeking advice from the Lord at the ark of the covenant. What they first hear silently within, they later make known when they act publicly. To fulfill their external offices without blame, they have recourse unceasingly to the secret places of the heart, and thus they hear the voice of God through his hidden inspiration, as they withdraw from carnal sensations in spiritual meditation. — EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, Numbers 5

Numbers 9:11

Pseudo-Cyril: Those who also lived farther off or had been unclean in soul were commanded to celebrate the pasch in the second month. This is understood as a type of the holy church, which, since it has been defiled by all demons, was seen to be unclean in soul, but cleansed by a saving confession, is commanded to pass over unto a second birth, as if to a second month. However, before the month of new fruits is the last old month, in which it is completely forbidden that the true pasch be held. — LETTER 87.11