Komentarz do Wyjścia 12:51

AND IT CAME TO PASS THE SELFSAME DAY THE ETERNAL DID BRING THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT. Since Scripture said above, It was a night of watching unto the Eternal for bringing them out of the land of Egypt,³⁶¹Above, Verse 42. it reverted and explained that they did not go out at all of the land then, but that Pharaoh gave them permission [at night] to go out, and thus they became free men. Instead, it was in the glare of full daylight that they went out from all the borders of Egypt with all their hosts — the hosts of women and the mixed multitude³⁶²Ibid., Verse 38. that attached themselves to them.
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained the purport of the verse as follows: “And it came to pass the selfsame day that the Eternal did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt that He spoke to Moses, saying, Sanctify unto Me.”³⁶³Further, 13:2. Thus according to Ibn Ezra, the verse before us is to be joined to the following chapter.

ויהי בעצם היום הזה, It was on the self-same day, etc. The reason the Torah records the Exodus immediately after concluding the legislation of the Passover ceremonies is to remind us that the fulfilment of this מצוה is what triggered the redemption from Egypt. The Israelites had no other credentials than performance of this commandment.

'ויהי בעצם היום הזה וגו, although this has been mentioned once, it is repeated because G’d gave instructions to Moses concerning the sanctifying of the Jewish firstborn forthwith on the very day the Exodus took place.

ויהי בעצם היום הזה, “it was on that very day, etc.” Ibn Ezra explains that this verse is inseparable from the one following it, [although the Christians start a new chapter with the next verse. Ed.] seeing that G’d spoke to Moses and gave him the instructions regarding sanctifying the first born of man and certain beasts. Nachmanides justifies the use of the line: “on that very day,” by referring to the ליל שמורים discussed previously. The verse describing the nature of that night could have given the impression that the Israelites actually moved out of Egypt during the same night. The line in our verse is meant to correct any such impression, and to emphasise that the Exodus took place on the morning of the 15th of Nissan. The significance of the previous night, the ליל שמורים, lay in the Israelites having obtained permission to leave by the Egyptians.

V. 51. על צבאותם. Durch Geburt und Wahl, wie dies durch die ersten Paragraphen des Peßachgesetzes, Kap. 12, 3. 4, angebahnt und durch das letzte Gesetz, V. 43 f. noch näher präzisiert war, hatten sich alle Seelen der jüdischen Volksgesamtheit in Familiengruppen kristallisiert, jede solche Hausesgruppe hatte in dem vorangehenden Gesetze ihre heilige geweihte Bedeutung in Mitte der Gesamtheit gewonnen, so dass in Wahrheit nicht nur jeder Stamm, sondern selbst jede Familie, jedes Haus, als eine um Gott sich scharende Gruppe zu bezeichnen war, und in solchen, um den gemeinsamen Mittelpunkt sich scharenden Heeresgruppen war der Auszug vollzogen; da gab Gott das Gesetz der Erstgeburtsweihe, durch welche innerhalb einer jeden solchen Familiengruppe der sie in sich zusammenhaltende und zur Nationalgesamtheit einigende Gedanke seine lebendigen Vertreter haben sollte.

ויהי בעצם היום הזה, “it was on that very same day;” these words have to be read as linked to what the Torah wrote in verse 41 where it described the departure of the Jewish people from Egypt in the same terms. If proof were needed that this is the correct interpretation, compare Numbers 3,13: כי לי כל בכור ביום הכותי כל בכור וגו', “for every firstborn Israelite belongs to Me, since the day when I smote all the firstborn of Egypt, etc.”