But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
At the going down of the sun - literally between the evenings The first of the two evenings began with the At the going down of the sun - literally, between the evenings, The first of the two evenings began with the declining sun, and terminated at sunset; and the second, which commenced then, continued beyond it. The time appointed for killing the Passover was between them-namely, "at the going down of the sun" (cf. Deuteronomy 21:23; Exodus 12:6; Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 9:3-5; Numbers 28:4; Joshua 8:29; Joshua 10:27; John 19:31). Hence, according to the rabbinical traditions, the proper time for the killing of the paschal lamb was the interval between the ninth and the eleventh hour-equivalent to our three and five o'clock P.M. (Josephius, 'Wars of the Jews,' b, 6:, ch. 9:, sec.
3).
At the season - i:e., the month and day, though not perhaps the precise hour. The immense number of victims that had to be immolated on the eve of the Passover - i:e., within a space of four hours-has appeared to some writers a great difficulty. But the large number of officiating priests, their dexterity and skill in the preparation of the sacrifices, the wide range of the court, the extraordinary dimensions of the altar of burnt offering, and the orderly method of conducting the solemn ceremonial, rendered it easy to do that in a few hours which would otherwise have required as many days.