Deuteronomy 16:7

Deu 16:7. Thou shalt turn in the morning — The words are only a permission, not an absolute command. After the solemnity was over, they might return to their several places of abode. Some think they might return, if they pleased, the very morning after the paschal lamb was killed and eaten, the priests and Levites being sufficient to carry on the rest of the week’s work. But this is evidently a mistake; for the first day of the seven was so far from being the day of their dispersion, that it was expressly appointed for a holy convocation. Nor was it their practice to disperse on that day, but to keep together the whole week, 2Ch 35:17. The meaning, therefore, is, as the paraphrase of Jonathan expounds it, In the morning, after the end of the feasts, thou shalt go to thy tents; that is, thy dwellings, which Moses calls here tents, referring to their present state, and to put them in mind afterward, when they were settled in better habitations, that there was a time when they dwelt in tents.

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

thou shalt roast and eat it--(See on Exo 12:8; compare Ch2 35:13).

thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents--The sense of this passage, on the first glance of the words, seems to point to the morning after the first day--the passover eve. Perhaps, however, the divinely appointed duration of this feast, the solemn character and important object, the journey of the people from the distant parts of the land to be present, and the recorded examples of their continuing all the time (Ch2 30:21 Ch2 35:17), (though these may be considered extraordinary, and therefore exceptional occasions), may warrant the conclusion that the leave given to the people to return home was to be on the morning after the completion of the seven days.

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

7. And thou shalt seethe] The Heb. bashal may be used in the general sense of cooking, but it usually means to boil (Deu_14:21; 1Sa_2:13; 1Sa_2:15). The R.V. roast is due to the effort to harmonise this law with that of P, Exo_12:9, which directs that the sacrifice shall be roast with fire; but P expressly adds that it shall not be boiled in water, and uses for this the same vb bashal as D does. Clearly D and P enjoin different methods of preparing the paschal lamb. Boiling appears to have been the earlier preparation of the part of victims eaten by the worshippers (Jdg_6:19 ff.; 1Sa_2:13 f.) and roasting was at first regarded as an innovation (1Sa_2:15). See however Driver’s note.

thou shalt turn] See on Deu_3:1.

and go unto thy tents] An interesting survival from the nomadic period of Israel’s history; cp. (also for the time after the settlement in towns) Jdg_7:8; Jdg_19:9 (EVV. home); 1Sa_13:2; 2Sa_19:8; 2Sa_20:22; 1Ki_12:16. The people then are to return to their homes on the morning after the Passover feast.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose,.... The word for "roast" signifies to "boil", and is justly so used, and so Onkelos here renders it, and the Septuagint version both roast and boil; but it is certain that the passover lamb was not to be boiled, it is expressly forbidden, Exo 12:8 wherefore some think the Chagigah is here meant, and the other offerings that were offered at this feast; and so in the times of Josiah they roasted the passover with fire, according to the ordinance of God; but the other holy offerings sod or boiled they in pots, cauldrons and pans, and divided them speedily among the people, Ch2 35:13, but the passover lamb seems plainly to be meant here by the connection of this verse with the preceding verses; wherefore Jarchi observes, that this is to be understood of roasting with fire, though expressed by this word:

and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents; not in the morning of the fifteenth, after the passover had been killed and eaten on the fourteenth, but in the morning, after the feast of unleavened bread, which lasted seven days, was over; though some think that they might if they would depart home after the passover had been observed, and were not obliged to stay and keep the feast of unleavened bread at Jerusalem, but march to their own cities; and so Aben Ezra observes, that some say a man may go on a feast day to his house and country, but, says he, we do not agree to it; and it appears from the observation of other feasts, which lasted as long as these, that the people did not depart to their tents till the whole was over; see Kg1 8:66 and with this agrees the Targum of Jonathan,"and thou shall turn in the morning of the going out of the feast, and go to thy cities.''Jarchi indeed interprets it afterwards of the second day.

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

Dress, (coques.) Hebrew bashal means frequently, to boil, and sometimes to roast, as it must here, if it refer to the paschal lamb; the other victims might however be boiled, and the Septuagint use both expressions, "Thou shalt boil and roast." See 2 Paralipomenon xxxv. 13. It seems that Moses speaks only of the lamb, the method of preparing which he had abundantly explained before. (Calmet) --- Hebrew has not it, and of course the passage may be understood of all the victims offered on this solemnity. On the morning after it was concluded, people might all depart to their respective homes. The Rabbins observe, that the could not do this on the morning of the 15th Nisan, as it was a solemn festival, on which long journeys were prohibited, and they ought to wait till the end of the seventh day, to make their offering. Under Ezechias and Josias the people appear to have continued together during the whole octave, 2 Paralipomenon xxx., and xxxv. 17. (Haydock) --- Others are of opinion that the people might retire home after the 15th, (Tostat) or in the morning after they had eaten the paschal lamb. (Calmet)

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).

Thou shalt roast; so that word is used also 2Ch 35:13.

In the morning; either,

1. The morning after the seventh day, as appears, partly, by the following verse, which is added to explain and limit this ambiguous word; partly, by the express command of God that the people should come to Jerusalem to keep this feast, which by God’s appointment lasted for seven days; partly, from the examples of the people staying there the whole time of the feast, 2Ch 30:21; 35:17; and partly, from the nature and business of this feast, wherein there being so many extraordinary sacrifices to be offered, and feasts made by the people upon the sacrifices, and two days of solemn assemblies, it is not probable that they would absent themselves from these solemn services, for the performance whereof they came purposely to Jerusalem. Or,

2. The morning after the first day, and so they were permitted to go then, and possibly some that lived near Jerusalem might go and return again to the last day of the solemn assembly. But the former seems more probable.

Thy tents, i.e. thy dwellings, which he calls tents, as respecting their present state, and withal to put them in mind afterwards when they were settled in better habitations, that there was a time when they dwelt in tents.

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

7. Thou shalt roast — The Hebrew word בשׁל (bashal) may mean to boil, but it is also used in a general sense of preparing food for use by cooking.

Go unto thy tents — Or, dwellings. The term tents may have been used to remind them of their long dwelling in tents through the years of their wandering.

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

Thou shalt roast. The verb here primarily signifies to be matured by heat for eating; hence to be ripened as by the sun"s heat (Gen_40:10; Joe_3:13; Heb_4:13) and to be cooked, whether by boiling, seething, or roasting. Here it is properly rendered by roast, as it was thus only that the Paschal lamb could be cooked. And go unto thy tents; return to thy place of abode; not necessarily to thy proper home (which might be far distant), but to the place where for the time thou hast thy lodging. The phrase, "thy tents," which originally came into use while as yet Israel had no settled abodes in Canaan, came afterwards to be used as a general designation of a man"s home or usual place of abode (cf. 1Sa_13:2; 2Sa_20:1; 1Ki_8:66, etc.)

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

In the morning - The morning after the seventh day. Thy tents - That is, thy dwellings, which he calls tents, as respecting their present state, and to put them in mind afterwards when they were settled in better habitations, that there was a time when they dwelt in tents.

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

You must roast it

"You must cook it"

six days

"6 days" (See: Numbers)

seventh day

"seventh" is the ordinal number for seven. (See: Ordinal Numbers)

solemn assembly

"special gathering"

translationWords

tent

day

unleavened bread

assembly

works

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

ובשלת is identical with צלי אש “roast with fire” mentioned in Exodus 12:9, for it (roasting) also comes under the term בשול “cooking” (Mekhilta).

ופנית בבקר AND THOU SHALT TURN IN THE MORNING [AND GO INTO THY TENTS] — i.e. in the morning of the second day of the Passover week. — It teaches us that he (the pilgrim) is required to stay in Jerusalem during the night when the festival terminates (Sifrei Devarim 134:2; Pesachim 95b; Chagigah 17).

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.