The Messiah and the Ritual of Israel (Continued)

Sukkot in Jerusalem

The Feasts of Israel

The Feast of Tabernacles (Hag HaSukkoth)

The Scriptural warrant for this Feast is contained in Leviticus 23.33-44. See also Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Numbers 29:12; and Deuteronomy 16:13-15. It was an eight-day feast that began on the 15^th Tishri, which is five days after the Day of Atonement. It was the third of the pilgrim feasts (shalosh regalim) when the strength of Israel, “all thy males”, (Exod.23.17; Deut.16.17; see also Exod.34.23) had to appear before the Lord. Yet another harvest festival, it celebrated the end of the fruit harvest. At this season, the grapes and olives and other fruits were gathered and either stored or processed. The wine was made and the oil was pressed. The first and last days of the festival were designated days for gathering together for a national assembly, for worship and teaching, and no servile work was permitted. The eighth day was the closing of the annual cycle of the YHWH’s feasts.

As was the custom, offerings were made each day, burnt offerings, meat offerings, various sacrifices, drink offerings as well as freewill offerings. The freewill offerings were to reflect the blessing of God, “every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.” (Deut. 16:17) If the 10^th of the month was a day of solemnity, the period of this festival from the 15^th of the month was a time of rejoicing. The nation was to delight in the Lord and His goodness. “Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice”. (Deut. 16:15)  At the heart of the festival was the dance that included waving aloft “the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook”. (Lev. 23:40) 

 Just like the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, this Feast also was a remembrance of the deliverance of the nation out of Egyptian slavery. For seven days, the nation was required to dwell in shelters made from the branches of trees, as a memorial that they were tent dwellers for forty years while journeying from Egypt to Canaan. They lived in tents from the time of Passover, when they were delivered from Egypt, through the time at Sinai when Moses received the Law, through the additional years in the wilderness that was the punishment for the sins of Israel, especially that of the golden calf, until they reached Canaan. In token of this, they called the festival the Feast of Booths.

 Every seven years there was an additional ceremony when the Torah was read to the nation that had gathered for the festival. The importance of these celebrations were further re-enforced when King Solomon chose the season of Sukkoth to dedicate the first Temple, and it was at this time that the Shekinah glory honored the Temple and the feast, by filling the building.

 The prophet Zechariah, looking to the future, saw a time when rejoicing over YHWH’s goodness would be international not just national. He foresaw a day when the nations would be brought to acknowledge the God of Israel and come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast and thank God for providing their corn, wine and oil. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” (Zech. 14:16)

More Next Time

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[1] 1 Kings 8.2 ff