Deuteronomy 12:7

Deu 12:7 And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.

Ver. 7. And there ye shall eat before the Lord.] Lo, this ye shall have of God’s hand, as a recompense of all your charge and pains, ye shall feast before him with joy. This made those good souls go bodily on "from strength to strength"; though they took many a weary step, yet their comfort was, that they should "every one of them in Zion appear before the Lord." {Psa 84:7} This was the sweetmeats of that feast; other dainty dishes there might be, but this was the banquet.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 12:7. There — Not in the tabernacle or temple, where only the priests might eat the most holy things, (Num 18:10,) but in the court of the tabernacle, or in some place adjacent to the sanctuary. Ye shall eat — Your part of the things mentioned Deu 12:6; before the Lord — In the place of his peculiar presence, where his sanctuary shall be. And ye shall rejoice — For God is to be served with delight and gladness, and his worship ought to be a source of consolation to us, and it will be such if we worship him in spirit and truth. In all that you put your hand unto — In all your possessions and labours whatsoever, which shall otherwise be accursed to you.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Where his Ark shall be.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

there ye shall eat before the Lord--of the things mentioned (Deu 12:6); but of course, none of the parts assigned to the priests before the Lord--in the place where the sanctuary should be established, and in those parts of the Holy City which the people were at liberty to frequent and inhabit.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God,.... The priests and the Levites, what was their portion, so Aben Ezra; but the people also are included, and by what follows seem chiefly designed, who were to eat their part of the sacrifices, particularly of the tithes and peace offerings, in the holy place that should be chosen and appointed; see Deu 14:22.

and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto; in all the labours of their hands, and what they got thereby, which they were cheerfully to enjoy, and express their thankfulness for it in this way; see Ecc 5:18.

ye and your households; their wives, sons, daughters, men and maid servants; yea, with them Levites, strangers, fatherless, and widows, were to partake of some of their freewill offerings, Deu 16:10.

wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee; and these offerings were eucharistical, and by way of thanksgiving for the blessing of God upon their labours, for it is that which maketh rich, Pro 10:22.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

An injunction that the feasts which accompanied certain offerings (not specified) were to be also held in the same place.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

You. In gratitude, you shall therefore offer your victims. (Haydock) --- The Jews were accustomed to make a feast thrice a year in the holy city. They might also eat some parts of the peace-offerings. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

There; not in the most holy place, wherein only the priests might eat, Num 18:10, but more generally in places allowed to the people for this end in the holy city.

Ye shall eat, to wit, your part of the things mentioned Deu 12:6.

Before the Lord, i.e. in the place of God’s presence, where God’s sanctuary shall be.

All that ye put your hand unto; either to bestow your pains and labour upon it; or, to take and use or enjoy it. The sense is, You thus doing shall be blessed and enabled to rejoice, or to take comfort in all your labours and enjoyments, which otherwise would be accursed to you. We have the same phrase below, Deu 12:18; 15:10.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. And there ye shall eat — That is, at this appointed place. The Israelites were accustomed to make these feasts of great importance. They were festal entertainments, not only for their families and friends, but also for Levites, widows, orphans, and strangers.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And there ye shall eat before the Lord. The injunction here and in ver. 17, respecting the eating by the offerer of the firstlings of his flocks and herds, appears to be inconsistent with the injunction in Num_18:18. There it seems as if the whole of the flesh was to be given to the priest. "And the flesh of them shall be thine the priest"s as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine." This may be taken to mean that just as the wave breast and the right shoulder are the perquisites of the priests in the case of other offerings, as e.g. the peace offering, so in the case of the firstling offering the whole flesh shall be the priest"s; and thus taken, the passage presents an unquestionable discrepancy to that in Deuteronomy. But probably the passage is not to be so taken. The particle translated "as" (K.) not infrequently occurs in the sense of "according to, after the manner of," implying conformity to some rule or model. (Gen_44:2; Exo_21:9 Exo_39:8; Lev_5:10; Num_8:4 Num_9:3 Num_29:18; Psa_7:1-8; Zec_2:10, etc.) The passage, therefore, may be rendered thus: And the flesh of them shalt thou take after the manner (or according to the rule), of the wave breast, etc., i.e. not the whole of it, but only these parts. So the LXX seem to have taken the passage: kai ta krea eujtai kasa kaimatov kai kata toona ton dexion soi estai. Of some of the offerings the whole was received by the priest, as in the case of the sin offering and trespass offering; (Lev_6:25, etc.; 7:1, etc.) while of others only certain portions, viz. the wave breast and the heave shoulder, were given to him, as in the case of the peace offering. (Lev_7:28, etc.) The purport of the law in Num_18:18 is that, in respect of the firstling offering, the allotment to the priest shall be after the same manner as in the peace offering. There is thus no discrepancy between the two passages. The animal belonged originally to the offerer; when he brought it before the Lord part of it was consumed on the altar, part of it was assigned to the priest, and the rest, as a matter of course, remained with himself. The law in Numbers, addressed to the priest, intimates what he might claim as his portion; the law in Deuteronomy, where the people are addressed, directs them how to use the portion that remained with them. It may be added that, even supposing that all the flesh was given to the priest, yet, as it had to be consumed on the day in which the sacrifice was offered, and as every clean person in the house might partake of it, it is almost certain that the offerer would, as a matter of course, share in the meal, as was usual in the case of sacrificial meals. Rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto; enjoy whatever your hand may gain, whatever you may earn, all the good which the Lord may give you (cf. ver. 18; 15:10; 23. 20; 28:8, 20). The phrase is peculiar to Deuteronomy; but comp. Gen_3:22; Isa_11:14.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There - Not in the most holy place, wherein only the priests might eat, but in places allowed to the people for this, end in the holy city. Ye shall eat - Your part of the things mentioned, ver. 6. Before the Lord - In the place of God's presence, where God's sanctuary shall be.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

It is there

This refers to the place that Yahweh will choose for the children of Israel to worship.

rejoice about everything that you have put your hand to

Here "put your hand to" represents the whole person and work that he has done. AT: "rejoice about all the work you have done" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

Yahweh

God

joy

hand

household

bless

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

אשר ברכך ה׳ ACCORDING AS THE LORD [YOUR GOD] HAS BLESSED YOU — in accordance with the blessing bring [the offerings of festive rejoicing] (Sifrei Devarim 64:5).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.