SUKKOT
by PJ
 V'yakra/Leviticus 23:33-43
"33And the Lord said to Moses,
34Say to the Israelites, The fifteenth day of this seventh month, and for seven days, is the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths to the Lord.
35On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no servile work on that day.
36For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord; on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work on that day.
37These are the set feasts or appointed seasons of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to present an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a cereal offering, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its own day.
38This is in addition to the Sabbaths of the Lord and besides your gifts and all your vowed offerings and all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.
39Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month [nearly October], when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days, the first day and the eighth day each a Sabbath.
40And on the first day you shall take the fruit of pleasing trees [and make booths of them], branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick (leafy) trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.
41You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year, a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall keep it in the seventh month.
42You shall dwell in booths (shelters) for seven days: All native Israelites shall dwell in booths,
43That your generations may know that I made the Israelites dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God."
I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked, "What is Sukkot?" It is also called the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a remembrance of the children of Israel dwelling in tents, or temporary structures, for 40 years as they lived in the desert. It is a remembrance of the L-rd, HaShem dwelling in the Tabernacle. It is a remembrance of Yeshua our Moshiach dwelling in a temporary body as He walked the earth. It is a remembrance that our lives here and now are temporary and that we, too, dwell in temporary structures (our bodies).
The Feast of Sukkot is a reminder of G-d's deliverance and a reminder that the Temple will be back to stay. According to Zachar'yah/Zechariah 14:16-21, it is an eternal feast that all Jews and non-Jews shall keep.
"16And everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.
17And it shall be that whoso of the families of the earth shall not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.
18And if the family of Egypt does not go up to Jerusalem and present themselves, upon them there shall be no rain, but there shall be the plague with which the Lord will smite the nations that go not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
19This shall be the consequent punishment of the sin of Egypt and the consequent punishment of the sin of all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
20In that day there shall be [written] upon the [little] bells on the horses, HOLY TO THE LORD, and the pots in the Lord's house shall be holy to the Lord like the bowls before the altar.
21Yes, every pot in all the houses of Jerusalem and in Judah shall be dedicated and holy to the Lord of hosts, and all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil their sacrifices in them [and traders in such wares will no longer be seen at the temple]. And in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite [that is, any godless or unclean person, whether Jew or Gentile] in the house of the Lord of hosts."
Jews all over the world build their sukkahs, temporary structures, in which to eat their meals, relax, etc. and hopefully to consider and remember the goodness and kindness of G-d for provision during the Exodus and through the 40 years of wandering. On each of the seven days of Sukkot, the Torah requires four species of plants be taken and shaken in a specific manner. It is an ancient welcoming procedure for Royalty.
In the days of the Temple in Jerusalem a unique service was performed every morning throughout the Sukkot holiday: the Nisuch HaMayim —lit. "pouring of the water") or Water Libation Ceremony. Without going into great detail at this point, I will simply say, Yeshua did this same water libation on the cross when blood and water flowed out of His side. The water for the libation ceremony was drawn from the Pool of Siloam. "And you shall draw waters with joy from the wells of salvation" (Yesha'yah/Isaiah 12:3).
The real secret of the water libation ceremony is the drawing down of the Spirit of Prophecy. In joy, one brushes the Divine and revelation comes.
The Jewish fall festivals speak of a future time when men will again tabernacle with G-d, when He will dwell with them and they with Him (Hagilu Natan Elohim/Revelation 21:3). They speak of a day in which all nations will gather to Yerushalaim (Zachar`yah/Zechariah 8:22; 14:16). Curiously, even in the days to come, Bible prophecy tells us that people from the nations of the world will come up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with the Jewish people in Yerushalaim (Zachar`yah/Zechariah 14). The stage is being set and prophecy is being fulfilled. The “coming-up” (aliyah, in Hebrew) is taking place now in Israel with the massive influx of Jews from over a hundred nations.
Yeshua HaMashiach is the tabernacle or dwelling place of G-d. In Him dwelled the fullness of G-d (Yochanan/John 1:14, Colossians 2:9), and G-d dwells in our midst through Yeshua HaMashiach (Matit`yah ha-Levi / Matthew 18:20). Sukkot is an extremely joyous occasion and one day we shall all celebrate it together! It's a time to celebrate Salvation, the Savior, that Moshiach Yeshua, fulfilling yet another Feast of Israel!
“Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible." |