Ah! And just like that, we have come to the last Feast of the Lord. The Feast of Thanksgiving for the Lord’s provision.
Throughout scripture, we see how this festival was celebrated and its significance. Sukkot is the last of the 7 High Holidays of the Lord, and we see it celebrated in joyous ways all throughout the Tanach.
We see King Solomon dedicating the Temple to the Lord during The Feast of Tabernacles. We also see Nehemiah and Ezra and the Hebrews returning to keeping the commandments following the Babylonian Captivity. And when they dedicated the Second Temple to God it was during Sukkot.
The Feast of Tabernacles Celebrated throughout the Torah
The Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Ingathering, or the Season of Our Joy are all names used for the festival of Sukkot. It celebrates the end of the harvest season, and it is a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving for Yehovah’s provision, It’s a Biblical Thanksgiving!
“Sukkot” comes from the word Sukkah – which refers to the temporary dwellings or the booths that God caused the children of Israel to dwell in during their 40-year sojourn through the wilderness. The plants mentioned in Leviticus are used to build the Sukkah and give a more temporary and earthy feeling to the booth.
How to Celebrate Sukkot Instructions
Leviticus 23: 33 – 44
“33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, there shall be a feast of tabernacles seven days to the Lord. 35 And on the first day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work. 36 Seven days shall ye offer whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord, and the eighth-day shall be a holy convocation to you; and ye shall offer whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord: it is a time of release, ye shall do no servile work. 37 These [are] the feasts to the Lord, which ye shall call holy convocations, to offer burnt-offerings to the Lord, whole-burnt-offerings and their meat-offerings, and their drink-offerings, that for each day on its day: 38 besides the sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides your free-will-offerings, which ye shall give to the Lord.
39 And on the fifteenth day of this seventh month, when ye shall have completely gathered in the fruits of the earth, ye shall keep a feast to the Lord seven days; on the first day there shall be a rest, and on the eighth day a rest. 40 And on the first day ye shall take goodly fruit of trees, and branches of palm trees, and thick boughs of trees, and willows, and branches of osiers from the brook, to rejoice before the Lord your God seven days in the year. 41 [It is] a perpetual statute for your generations: in the seventh month ye shall keep it. 42 Seven days ye shall dwell in tabernacles: every native in Israel shall dwell in tents, 43 that your posterity may see, that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tents, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I [am] the Lord your God. 44 And Moses recounted the feasts of the Lord to the children of Israel.”
Solomon dedicates the Temple during Sukkot
2 Chronicles 7: 8 – 9:
8 And Solomon kept the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entering in of Aemath, and as far as the river of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day he kept a solemn assembly: for he kept a feast of seven days as the dedication of the altar.”
The Second Temple was dedicated during the Feast of Tabernacles
Ezra 3: 4 – 5:
“4 And they kept the feast of tabernacles, according to that which was written, and whole-burnt-offerings daily in number according to the ordinance, the exact daily rate. 5 And after this the perpetual whole-burnt-offering, and for the season of new moon, and for all the hallowed feasts to the Lord, and for everyone that offered a free-will -offering to the Lord. “
Nehemiah 8: 17 – 18:
” 17 And all the congregation who had returned from the captivity, made booths, and dwelt in booths: for the children of Israel not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day: and there was great joy. 18 And read in the book of the law of God daily, from the first day even to the last day: and they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance. “
A Pilgrimage and a Joy
Sukkot is also one of the three pilgrimage festivals of the Lord, the other two are Passover and Shavuot. These feasts are the ones where all the men of Israel were explicitly commanded to celebrate these festivals in the place where Yehovah placed His name. The men were to bring offerings to the Lord out of the provision and blessings that He had given them (Exodus 34: 22 – 23).
Deuteronomy 16: 16 – 17:
“16 Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: thou shalt not appear before the Lord thy God empty. 17 Each one according to his ability, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he has given thee.”
Annual Reading of the Torah and Sukkot
The first and the eighth days of Sukkot are Sabbath-rest days. The eighth day- Shemini Atzeret is the day traditionally when the annual reading of the Torah cycle is renewed, starting in Genesis. It was during the feast of Sukkot that Moses commanded the Hebrews to hear the reading of the whole Torah once every seven years (Deuteronomy 31: 10 – 13).
The Feast of Tabernacles/ booths
Sukkot is known as the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. We build and dwell in booths in remembrance of when God caused our forefathers to dwell in booths in the wilderness.
Leviticus 23: 42- 43:
“Seven days ye shall dwell in tabernacles: every native in Israel shall dwell in tents, 43 that your posterity may see, that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tents, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. “
Even though the wilderness was a trying time for our forefathers, God continued to provide for them in miraculous ways.
Deuteronomy 8: 4:
“Thy garments grew not old from off thee, thy shoes were not painfully hardened, lo! these forty years. “
I believe that is something we can be glad about and believe that God will provide and look out for us as we celebrate today.
Who should Dwell in Booths?
Some may argue that the command to build and to dwell in booths for the seven days is only for the native of Israel, but the Torah, when detailing the Feasts of Yehovah, states that these feasts are for everyone. They are for the stranger, the sojourner, all the Hebrews, and everyone who wants to follow the commandments of God. In addition to this, there is also a mention of the nations coming up to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Sukkot during the Millennial reign. Proving further that these feasts are indeed the feasts of the Lord and for everyone. The Lord wants us all to rejoice in Him during this time.
Zechariah 14: 16 – 19:
“16 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall be left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem, shall even come up every year to worship the king, the Lord Almighty, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever of all the families of the earth shall not come up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord Almighty, even these shall be added to the others. 18 And if the family of Egypt shall not go up, nor come; then upon them shall be the overthrow with which the Lord shall smite all the nations, whichever of them shall not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the nations, whosoever shall not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles. “
Psalms 100: 4 – 5:
“4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with hymns; give thanks to him, praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good, his mercy is for ever; and his truth [endures] to generation and generation.”
Have a blessed Feast of Tabernacles. Shalom!
Read More
Introduction to the Fall Feast Days
Rosh Chodesh – What is it and when is the Biblical New Moon?
Hebrew Bible scriptures are from the Septuagint.
