Rules for Passover (Exodus 12:43-50)
Umberto Cassuto sees seven distinct commands relating to the Passover in Exodus 12:43-50:
And YHWH said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover:
Every son of a foreigner will not eat it.
And every servant of a man who is acquired with silver,
and you have circumcised him, then he will eat it.
A settler and a hired-hand will not eat it.
In one house it will be eaten; you will not bring forth from the house any of the flesh outside,
and a bone you will not break of it.
The whole congregation of Israel will do it.
And if a sojourner sojourns with you and would make Passover to YHWH, every male of his will be circumcised, and then he will draw near to make it, and he will be as a native of the land.
But every foreskinned-man will not eat it.”
It seems to me that these seven commands are related to one another chiastically:
A Every son of a foreigner will not eat it
B Servant, once circumcised, will eat
C Settler and hired hand will not eat
D Eaten in one house; none taken outside; not a bone broken
C’ Whole congregation will do it
B’ Sojourner, once circumcised, will draw near
A’ Every foreskinned-man will not eat it
The parallel between A and A’ is emphasized by the word “every,” which is found only in these lines. What A’ makes clear that A does not is that the prohibition is on the uncircumcised partaking.
The parallel between B and B’ lies in the fact that, whether it’s a servant or a sojourner, if he’s circumcised he may partake of the Passover.
The parallel between C and C’ may be less clear, but there is a contrast between the (uncircumcised) settler and hired-hand and the (circumcised) whole congregation of Israel, which would include the circumcised servants and the circumcised sojourners.
At the center is D, which may in fact be viewed not as one command (Cassuto) but as two closely parallel commands, bringing the total from seven (Cassuto) to eight: eating the Passover in one house and not taking any of it outside emphasizes the unity of the Passover and hence of the Passover people, but so does not breaking a bone (e.g., to carry some of it somewhere else).
In fact, it might even be possible to see the D and D’ sections as “In one house it will be eaten” and “A bone you will not break of it,” with “You will not bring forth from the house any of the flesh outside” forming an E section (so that there are not seven or eight but nine sections here).
A Every son of a foreigner will not eat it
B Servant, once circumcised, will eat
C Settler and hired hand will not eat
D Eaten in one house
E None taken outside
D’ Not a bone broken
C’ Whole congregation will do it
B’ Sojourner, once circumcised, will draw near
A’ Every foreskinned-man will not eat it
And that middle section (E), it seems to me, relates to what the whole passage is saying about who may partake: Those who partake are the ones inside the house, the house which, on the first Passover night, had blood on the doors and was passed over by YHWH when he struck Egypt. Only the circumcised are in the house; the Passover flockmember may not be taken outside the house, that is, to the uncircumcised.