‘ And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, in the plains of Jericho.'
There are six mentions of the keeping of the Passover in the Old Testament, Exodus 12; Numbers 9:2-5 (at the first movement towards the land); 2 Chronicles 30:15-17 (Hezekiah's revival); 2 Kings 23:21-23 (Josiah's revival); Ezra 6:19-22 and here, all important occasions. But there is no good reason for doubting that it was observed every year. As Numbers 9:2-5 demonstrates that the Passover was observed in the wilderness it would seem that the requirement for circumcision (Exodus 12:48) was suspended when they were ‘by the way' (on their journey), (although it may have been because at that stage, within two years of leaving Egypt, only infants would have been uncircumcised). There was in fact no specific provision in the Law of Sinai about circumcision in relation to the Passover, and the only previous provision in respect of the Passover was for slaves and new adherents to be circumcised before they could observe the Passover, for the aim of the provision about circumcision in Exodus 12:44; Exodus 12:48 was so that only those dedicated to YHWH should partake. It simply assumed true Israelites were being circumcised in accordance with the provisions in Genesis 17. Thus when circumcision was seemingly suspended for Israelites during the period in the wilderness the proviso there would no longer be a suitable test. It would only apply once they were in the land and being circumcised once again. Deuteronomy 16 demonstrates that the final intention was that Passover should be celebrated at the central sanctuary and that the ritual was flexible.