Deuteronomy 12:9

9 for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the Lord your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 12:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:9

For ye are not yet come to the rest
The land of Canaan, which was typical of the rest which remains for the people of God in heaven; for though they now enter into a spiritual rest in Christ, they are not yet come to their eternal rest; they are in a world of trouble, through sin, Satan, and wicked men; but they shall come to it, as Israel did to Canaan; for God has promised and prepared it, and it remains for them; Christ prayed for it, is also gone to prepare it, and the Spirit is the seal and earnest of it, and works up the saints, and makes them meet for it:

and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you;
and the land of Canaan being an inheritance, and the gift of God, was also a type of the heavenly inheritance; which saints are now born unto, and have both a right unto, and meetness for, through the righteousness of Christ, and grace of God; but as yet are not entered on it, but that is reserved for them in heaven, and they are preserved and kept for that; and ere long shall inherit it, as the free gift of God their Father to them, and which is peculiar to them as children. Jarchi and Ben Melech by the "rest" understand Shiloh, and by the inheritance Jerusalem; so in the Misnah F6; see ( 1 Chronicles 23:25 ) the Targum of Jonathan is,

``ye are not come to the house of the sanctuary, which is the house of rest, and to the inheritance of the land.''


FOOTNOTES:

F6 Zebachim, c. 14. sect. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. & Bartenora in ib.

Deuteronomy 12:9 In-Context

7 And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
8 You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires,
9 for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the Lord your God is giving you.
10 When you cross over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is allotting to you, and when he gives you rest from your enemies all around so that you live in safety,
11 then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, and all your choice votive gifts that you vow to the Lord.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.