Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
Thou mayest not sacrifice ... within any of thy gates, х zebach (H2077), a sacrifice]. This word, which is applied (Jeremiah 7:22) to a great and solemn sacrifice, is used by Moses himself for the Passover. The instructions here given respecting the celebration of the Passover were to the effect that the Israelites were, after their settlement in the promised land, no longer to be at liberty to kill it at home, but in the place which God should choose to put His name there.
The precise time when this change was introduced into the practice of the Israelites is not mentioned; but it was, in all probability, not until the sanctuary was erected in an appointed place, because the Passover was to be offered nowhere but in the court of the tabernacle or temple, since it was not a religious feast or sacramental occasion merely, but an actual sacrifice (Exodus 12:27; Exodus 23:18; Exodus 34:25). The blood had to be sprinkled on the altar and in the place where the true Passover was afterward to be sacrificed for us at evening.