² tn The first word of the fifteenth line begins with ס (samek), the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

¹ tn Heb “Surely on the fifteenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (ʾakh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; however, cf. NASB “On exactly the fifteenth day.”

² sn The festival in view is probably the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), which began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when the moon was full. See Lev 23:34; Num 29:12.

³ sn The days of Unleavened Bread refer to the week following Passover. It was celebrated for seven days beginning on the fifteenth day of the month Nisan (March-April) after the Passover (Exod 12:1-20; Ezek 45:21-24; Matt 26:17; Luke 22:1).

² sn The instruction for the unleavened bread (vv. 14-20) begins with the introduction of the memorial (זִכָּרוֹן [zikkaron] from זָכַר [zakhar]). The reference is to the fifteenth day of the month, the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. B. Jacob (Exodus, 315) notes that it refers to the death blow on Egypt, but as a remembrance had to be held on the next day, not during the night. He also notes that this was the origin of “the Day of the Lord” (“the Day of Yahweh”), which the prophets predicted as the day of the divine battle. On it the enemy would be wiped out. For further information, see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel (SBT). The point of the word “remember” in Hebrew is not simply a recollection of an event, but a reliving of it, a reactivating of its significance. In covenant rituals “remembrance” or “memorial” is designed to prompt God and worshiper alike to act in accordance with the covenant. Jesus brought the motif forward to the new covenant with “this do in remembrance of me.”