When were the Israelites to take the Passover lamb, and how many per household?
The Israelites were to take the Passover lamb on the tenth day of the first month, which the context identifies as April. It was one lamb per father’s house; if a household was too small, it was shared with a neighbor according to the number of souls and each person’s eating.
Les explains that the Jewish calendar set April as the first month of their religious year. In Exodus 12, on the tenth day of that month, every man was to take a lamb according to the house of his fathers—a lamb for a house. If the household was too little or too small for the lamb, he and his neighbor next to his house were to take it according to the number of souls; every man according to his eating was to make the count for the lamb. There was never to be a shortfall, always enough. The lamb had to be without blemish, a male of the first year, taken from the sheep or goats, and kept until the fourteenth day of the same month. Les sees this as a beautiful illustration of the Lord Jesus, who was without spot, blemish, or sin.
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: