[300] _Scalig. de emend. Temp. l. 5. p. 270._
Concerning this Lamb they are charged thus: _Upon the tenth of ~Abib~ every one shall take a Lamb for an house, a male of the first year, without blemish, and this be kept until the fourteenth day of the same month_, _Exod. 12. 3. &c._ The _Lamb_, it was either of _Sheep_ or _Goats_. For an _house_, the whole body of the _Israelites_, was divided into twelve _Tribes_, the _Tribes_ into _Families_, the _Families_ into _Houses_: if the _House_ were too few for the eating of the _Lamb_, then the next Neighbour joyned with them in the eating thereof. The whole Company was termed φρατρία, in the same sense S. _Mark_ useth συμπόσια, and πρασιαὶ, _Mark_ the sixth. All these words signifie a _society_, or _company of guests_, _so many as can sit at the same table_: the latter word properly signifieth, _a bed in a Garden_; and thus in the _Gospel_, the whole multitude sitting on the grass, seem to be compared unto a _Garden_; and their several _societies_ or _companies_, unto so many _beds in the Garden_. The number of _Communicants_ in this _Paschal society_ was never less than ten, nor more than twenty.[301] It followeth in the Text, _A male_, to note the masculine and peerless vertue of our _Saviour_, whom it did typically shew forth. _Of the first year_;[302] which phrase they interpret thus, That the lamb, after it was eight daies old and forward, was allowable to be offered for the _Passover_, but not before; because it is said, _When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat is brought forth, then it shall be seven daies under the dam, and from the eighth day, and thenceforth, it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto the Lord_, _Levit. 22. 27._ And the reason of this Law, some of the _Hebrews_ have thought to be,[303] because in their Opinion nothing in the world was absolutely perfect, until a _Sabbath_ had past over it. Moreover if it were an hour elder then a year, it was unlawful, because it is said, _A male of the first year, without blemish_, as well to admonish the _Israelites_ of their own personal integrity, as to signifie the absolute perfection of him who was in truth the _Lamb of God_. And this he kept till the _fourteenth day of the same month_. The _Rabbines_ affirm[304] four causes of this: _First_, because otherwise through the multitude of businesses, at the time of their departure, they might forget the _Paschal Lamb_. _Secondly_, that in this four daies space they might have the more certain knowledge of the Lamb’s perfection. _Thirdly_, that by beholding the Lamb so long before their eyes, they might have the better occasion, in that space, both to recount with themselves _Gods_ mercy in their deliverance from _Ægypt_, and also to instruct and _Catechise_ their children in that point: for which respect it was a received Tradition amongst the _Jews_, that during the space of these four daies, their Lamb was tyed to their bed-posts. _Lastly_, that in this time of preparation, they might throughly sit and address themselves for the Oblation.