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The Lord spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Shelters for seven days to the Lord. On the first day is a holy assembly; you must do no regular work. For seven days you must present a gift to the Lord. On the eighth day there is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must present a gift to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly day; you must not do any regular work.
Leviticus 23:33 – 36
I have to admit, Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles is my second favorite of the Mo’edim (the first being Passover). To be fair, I’ve always been a “camping” kind of guy, but the real reason is that I see significant symbolism within it and that symbolism becomes clearer and more meaningful with every passing year.
First and foremost, understand that Sukkot is one of the three ‘Pilgrimage’ festivals commanded by God; Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles).
“Three times in the year you must make a pilgrim feast to me. You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before me empty-handed.
Exodus 23:14 – 17
You are also to observe the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you have gathered in your harvest out of the field. At three times in the year all your males will appear before the Sovereign Lord.”
If you’re not clear on the above citation, let me clarify: The Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Matzot occurs in the same time-frame as Passover. For that reason, it is commonly referred to as Passover, but they are not strictly the same. The Feast of Harvest being spoken of is Shavuot, which occurs at the time of the wheat harvest and, lastly the Feast of ingathering at the end of the year is Sukkot.
With the destruction of the second temple ca 70 AD, actual pilgrimage is no longer considered obligatory in Rabbinic Judaism, though there are many – Jew and ‘Gentile’ alike – who make every effort to get to Jerusalem each year during these times. Know that, one day there will be another temple. Know also that the whole world will make pilgrimage and observe Sukkot exactly as prescribed:
Then all who survive from all the nations that came to attack Jerusalem will go up annually to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and to observe the Feast of Shelters. But if any of the nations anywhere on earth refuse to go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, they will get no rain. If the Egyptians will not do so, they will get no rain—instead there will be the kind of plague that the Lord inflicts on any nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Shelters. This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Shelters.
Zechariah 14:16 – 19
The prescriptions for the proper observance of Sukkot re laid out in Leviticus 23… in fact, this chapter is kind of a one-stop for a summation of all the appointed times.
“‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the Lord for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest. On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees—palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook—and you must rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You must celebrate it as a pilgrim festival to the Lord for seven days in the year. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you must celebrate it in the seventh month. You must live in temporary shelters for seven days; every native citizen in Israel must live in shelters, so that your future generations may know that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”
Leviticus 23:39 – 43
Here we see a numerous reasons for the observance of this particular appointed time. It points back to the Exodus from Egypt. It points even now to the provision of the Lord our God and it points to the future reign of the Anointed King! Some of this is obvious, and some not as much.
Consider that God instructed Moses and the Israelites to construct for Him a temporary dwelling. The Tabernacle was, in effect a Sukkah for Almighty God as He dwelt among the assembly of Israel. Think about that for a moment – as Israel camped in the wilderness forty years, the God of the Universe camped right alongside them.
He tabernacled among us again when He came in the flesh and rightly taught the Torah. Many, present company included, see this as the rightful commemoration of His birth. He tabernacles among us still by the indwelling of the Ruach ha Kodesh (the Holy Spirit).
Moreover, the wave offerings point back to His provision of Manna, as well as the fruitfulness of the land once they entered into it. He had promised them an exceedingly good land and ultimately provided for and saw them through until such time as they could reap the bounty of the land. It is fitting then, that this Festival of Temporary Shelters is marked with a commemoration of His provision both before, and after entry into the Land of the Promise.
I see a prophetic picture painted within Sukkot that points to the past, present and future. Creation took seven days, Sukkot is seven days… there’s more to this, but in order to really get to grips with it, we need to understand Shemini Atzeret; the Eight Day. We’ll discuss this in further detail in the next article. Until then…
חג סוכות שמח – Chag Sukkot Sameach – Joyous Sukkot Festival
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You