Deuteronomy 16:5,6 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates That is, of thy cities, as that word often signifies: see Genesis 22:17; Genesis 24:60. But at the place which the Lord shall choose And in no other place. The reason of this is evident the passover itself was a sacrifice; hence Christ, as our passover, is said to be sacrificed for us, 1 Corinthians 5:3; and many other sacrifices, as we have just seen, were to be offered during the seven days of the feast. Now no sacrifice was accepted but from the altar that sanctified it. It was therefore necessary that they should go up to the place of the altar; for though the paschal lamb was entirely eaten by the owners in their separate apartments, yet it must be killed in the court of the tabernacle or temple, its blood sprinkled, and its inwards burned upon the altar. Besides, by confining them to the appointed place, he kept them to the appointed rule, from which they would have been apt to vary, and to introduce foolish inventions of their own, had they been permitted to offer these sacrifices within their own gates, from under the inspection of the priests. Add to this, that being appointed to attend where God had chosen to place his name, they were hereby directed to have their eye up to him in the solemnity, and the desire of their hearts toward the remembrance of his name, and were pointed to the place where the Messiah, the true passover, was to be slain. At even at the season that thou camest out of Egypt That is, about the time thou wast preparing to come out.