ויעשו בני ישראל כאשר צוה ד’ את משה ואהרן כן עשו (בא יב:כח)

Rashi asks what the last words “so did they do” mean. 

Rashi answers: “They” means Moshe and Aaron; they also did so.

Why would one think that Moshe and Aaron did not do what they were commanded to do? 

We can understand the answer with a story:

The holy Rebbe Reb Elimelech zt”l of Lizhensk (Leżajsk, Poland) once visited a city. When he left, the city’s inhabitants escorted him with great honor. They unhitched the horses from the wagon and pulled it by themselves. When Rebbe Reb Elimelech saw the great enthusiasm and honor they bestowed upon a talmid chacham, he stepped down from the wagon and started walking with his escorts.  

When the people noticed the Rebbe amongst them, they exclaimed: “Rebbe, this whole escort is in honor of the Rebbe. Why did the Rebbe descend from his wagon?”.

The Rebbe Reb Elimelech responded: “I saw your great enthusiasm to observe the mitzvah of כבוד חכמים – giving honor to a talmid chacham, so I also wanted to have a share in the mitzvah.”

We know that when doing the mitzvah of Korban Pesach – Pesach offering, the Yidden performed two mitzvahs:

1) They sacrificed the Korban Pesach

2) לשמוע דברי חכמים – they listened to what Moshe and Aaron commanded, even though they did not hear the commandment directly from Hashem.

Whilst Moshe and Aaron performed the first Mitzvah, they did not have the mitzvah of “לשמוע דברי חכמים” since they heard the commandment from Hashem Himself.  Therefore, in this part of the mitzvah, Moshe and Aaron included themselves with the Yidden in “לשמוע דברי חכמים.”

Rashi explains this: ויעשו בני ישראל כאשר צוה השם את משה ואהרן They performed both mitzvohs כן עשו. Moshe and Aaron included themselves with the Yidden in the mitzvah of listening to the words of the Chachamim, the sages.