The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. The requirements for the Passover lamb — year-old, male, without defect — establish the standard that will run through the entire sacrificial system of Leviticus. Every offering to God is to be without defect; it represents the best, not the remainder. 1 Peter 1:19 describes the blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or defect — the Passover lamb's qualifications are fulfilled in the one to whom all Passover sacrifice points. The permission to use either sheep or goats is pastoral flexibility within a theological standard: the species is less important than the condition. What matters before God is not the category of the offering but whether it is truly the best.

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