Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 16:8
Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day [shall be] a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work [therein].
8. See introd. note. The incompatibility of this v. with the preceding is obvious unless we are to explain tents as the shelters which pilgrims to the central sanctuary pitched during the feast. But (as we have seen) tents means the people’s homes. The numbering of the days is not clear. If the Passover day itself is included there is no contradiction of Deu 16:3, for that was the first day of unleavened bread, and this v. may be interpreted as also fixing seven days for the eating of such bread; but distinguishing them as six plus a seventh on which in addition the solemn assembly was to be held. But if the Passover day was meant to be included it is strange that it is not mentioned. On the whole, and particularly because of the two expressions characteristic of P, a solemn assembly and thou shalt do no work (the latter however also in Deu 5:13), it is probable that Deu 16:8 is an addition by the compiler of the two once separate laws on the Passover and the Math.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Six days, to wit, besides the first day, on which the passover was killed; or rather besides the seventh and the last day, which is here mentioned apart, not as if leavened bread might be eaten then, for the contrary was evident from many places, but because there was something more to be done, to wit, a solemn assembly to be kept. So in all there were seven days, as it is said, Exo 12:15; Lev 23:6; Num 28:17.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread,…. In other places it is ordered to be eaten seven days, Ex 12:15 and here it is not said six only; it was to be eaten on the seventh as on the other, though that is here distinguished from the six, because of special and peculiar service assigned to it, but not because of an exemption from eating unleavened bread on it. The Jews seem to understand this of different corn of which the bread was made, and not of different sort of bread; the Targum of Jonathan is, on the first day ye shall offer the sheaf (the firstfruits of the barley harvest), and on the six days which remain ye shall begin to eat the unleavened bread of the new fruits, and so Jarchi:
and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God; a holy convocation, devoted to religious exercises, and the people were restrained, according to the sense of the word, from all servile work, as follows:
thou shalt do no work therein; that is, the business of their callings, their trades and manufactories; they were obliged to abstain from all kind of work excepting what was necessary for the dressing of food, and in this it differed from a sabbath; see Ex 12:16.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
seventh day. Compare Exo 12:16; Exo 13:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Six days: Exo 12:15, Exo 12:16, Exo 13:7, Exo 13:8, Lev 23:6-8, Num 28:17-19
solemn assembly: Heb. restraint, Lev 23:36, 2Ch 7:9, Neh 8:18, Joe 1:14, *marg.
Reciprocal: 2Ch 35:17 – the feast
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 16:8. Six days That is, besides the first day on which the passover was killed. So that, in all, unleavened bread was eaten seven days.