Hashem spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Mitzrayim, saying:
The Torah, when mentioning a date, usually tells us the month and then the year. Why did this possuk change the order and tell us the year first? At the beginning of Sefer Bamidbar the Torah says that Hashem spoke to Moshe on the first of the second month of the second year, which is the order from the lower number to the higher. In addition, this change to the normal way causes confusion, with the Torah placing the exodus from Mitzrayim in the middle of the date.
Additionally, why doesn’t the Torah add that Moshe was told to speak to Klal Yisroel, as he was told with all other mitzvos? The possuk does say that they should make a korban Pesach וְיַּעֲשׂוּ בְנֵּי יִשְׂרָאֵּל אֶת הַּפָסַּח with the ויו at the beginning, which connects it to previous pessukim, and they were commanded to do so, but why does the Torah not tell it to us clearly?
Another question is, why does the Torah need to command them to bring a korban pesach at all? Were they not commanded to do so already in Parshas Bo? Why did they need a special command for this?
The possuk (Shemos 12:43) says כׇּל בֶן נֵּכָר לֹא יֹאכַּל בוֹ - No foreigner shall eat of it. Chazal tell us that this means anyone whose actions have become foreign to Hashem. This includes a person who has rebelled against the Torah as well a gentile who was never part of the Torah. When Klal Yisroel made the golden calf, they were worried that they were included in this category. The Gemara (Chulin 5a) says, anyone who accepts idol worship is considered as though he has denied the entire Torah, and they thought that they would never be permitted to bring a korban pesach ever again. Moshe davened for them, and they were forgiven, but they still doubted their own position with Hashem.
A special commandment was given from Hashem, just to serve as the harbinger of this special news that they were completely forgiven. Now that they were still commanded to bring a korban pesach, they could be sure that they were not ‘foreign’ to Hashem anymore, and He loved them as they deserved.
This commandment was not so much a commandment as a permission. The Torah is saying וְיַּעֲשׂוּ בְנֵּי יִשְׂרָאֵּל אֶת הַּפָסַּח בְמוֹעֲדוֹ - Let the Children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season. They are permitted to do so, and not forbidden because they are foreign.
Now we can understand the first possuk and the different language used to tell Klal Yisroel this mitzvah. The purpose of this mitzvah was not really to command them to do it but to tell them that they are worthy of doing it. This mitzvah was good news for them that the golden calf that they had made was not an impediment to future korbanos. The Torah has to tell us that this took place after they had sinned with the golden calf, and telling us the month does not increase our knowledge about this at all. Only when we know that it happened in the second year can we know that it was after the golden calf, and that they were informed that they were forgiven.
This is also why it doesn’t say, ‘Speak to the children of Israel.’ That is only when a command is coming when it is merely permission for them to do this mitzvah, it is sufficient that Moshe Rabbeinu was told.
The Ohr Hachaim suggests, based on the Gemara, that this Parsha was said on Rosh Chodesh, that this was said before the Shechina descended when the Mishkan was dedicated. They didn’t know yet that they had been forgiven, and that made this parsha all the more important. Indeed, the parsha following this one is וּבְיוֹם הָקִים אֶת הַּמִשְכָן כִסָה הֶעָנָן אֶת הַּמִשְכָן - On the day that the mishkan was erected, the cloud covered the mishkan. Now the shechina was there.
