What Does Exodus 12:45 Mean?

"No foreigner or hired worker shall eat of it." Verse 45 provides two additional exclusion categories: the sojourner (Hebrew: toshav, temporary resident) and the hired worker (sachir, employee). Both are non-household members: the temporary resident has not established the permanent household relationship that the ger has, and the hired worker is an economic relationship rather than a household membership relationship. The Passover is for the permanent members of the covenant household, not for those whose connection to the household is temporary or economic rather than covenantal and permanent.

The distinction between the sojourner (toshav) who is excluded and the ger who is included (verse 48-49) reflects a distinction in commitment and residence status: the ger (resident alien) has settled permanently among Israel and adopted Israel's community identity; the toshav is passing through or temporarily residing. The Passover's distinction between included and excluded non-Israelites is based on covenant commitment and permanence of household relationship, not ethnicity.

The hired worker's exclusion alongside the temporary resident's draws a line around the household as the Passover unit: you eat the Passover with your household, not with your business relationships. The hired laborer who works for pay is not a household member; the permanent slave who has been circumcised is a household member. The Passover statute consistently locates participation in household membership: the same category that verse 3 established as the organizing unit of the Passover selection: one Lamb for a household.