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WHAT IS THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES?

A Celebration of God’s Provision and Jesus Birth

By: William and Amelia Morris

The greatest value of the festivals for Believers in Yeshua is that they reveal truths about the Messiah, just as Paul, the Jewish rabbi and Christian apostle, pointed out in Colossians 2:16–17: “These [Sabbath and festivals] are a shadow of things to come, the reality of which is the Messiah.” All of the seven festivals outlined in Leviticus 23 are prophetic pictures of the Messiah. https://www.jewishvoice.org/read/article/yeshua-and-fall-festivals-divine-pictures-things-come

Today there is a large Christian and Messianic Jewish celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in Israel. Thousands of believers in Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) from more than 100 nations go to Israel to worship the King of Kings in Jerusalem, as commanded by GOD.  The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem coordinates one the largest celebrations for tour groups. ICEJ says, “Every biblical holiday given to the Jewish people has three aspects. Israel was to observe the holiday in the present in order to remember something God had done in the past, while looking forward to some future prophetic purpose hidden within each festival. https://feast.icej.org/feast-tour.

The Feast of Tabernacles or Festival of Sukkot is the final of seven annual appointed feasts of the LORD established by GOD in Leviticus 23:33-43. The feast emphasizes thanksgiving for God’s provision, celebration, and a temporary dwelling in the earth. The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is the last of the three pilgrimage festivals in which the Jews were commanded to go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. This feast is an everlasting reminder of GOD’s provision for HIS people during their 40-year journey in the desert to the Promised Land. It reminds all believers that GOD is our provider; now and in the future.   The feast marks the final harvest of the agricultural year in Israel which is why it is sometimes called the Feast of the Ingathering.

On the biblical calendar, God set the date for this feast on the 15th day of the seventh month of Tishrei which varies from late September to October on today’s calendar.  This year the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) occurs October 13-20, 2019.

To celebrate this feast, GOD told the Israelites to live in temporary dwellings or booths for 7 days.  The word for “booth” in Hebrew is sukkah, which means covering or protection. Those who celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) will pray, eat, and may even sleep in their sukkah. This feast is a family celebration today with great joy and thanksgiving.

The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) is a prophetic image of God’s provision for our physical needs and spiritual need for salvation. We find this appointed time being celebrated throughout scripture; Zechariah prophesied how it will be celebrated in the future in chapter 14:16-19 in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) it says:

  16 Finally, everyone remaining from all the nations that came to attack Jerusalem will go up every year to worship the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot, and to keep the Festival of Sukkot. 17 If any of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot, no rain will fall on them. 18 If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, if they refuse to come, they will have no [annual] overflow [from the Nile]; moreover, there will be the plague with which Adonai will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the Festival of Sukkot. 19 This will be Egypt’s punishment and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the Festival of Sukkot.

We find Jesus / Yeshua celebrating this feast and teaching at the feast in the New Testament in John 7:14-18 in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) it says:

¹⁴ Not until the Festival of Sukkot of was half over did Yeshua go up to the Temple courts and begin to teach. ¹⁵ The Judeans were surprised: “How does this man know so much without having studied?” they asked. ¹⁶ So Yeshua gave them an answer: “My teaching is not my own, it comes from the One who sent me. ¹⁷ If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or I speak on my own. ¹⁸ A person who speaks on his own is trying to win praise for himself; but a person who tries to win praise for the one who sent him is honest, there is nothing false about him.

John 7:37-39 in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) says:

³⁷ Now on the last day of the festival of booths, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! ³⁸ Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” ³⁹ (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later — the Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified.) (CJB) Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.

God’s Provision of Salvation with Yeshua’s Birth

A growing number of Bible scholars have documented that it was during the Feast of Tabernacles when Yeshua / Jesus was born. And that his birth most likely took place in a sukkah during the Feast of Tabernacles, not a stable. According to Beyond Today Christian Magazine; “ The Greek word translated “inn” in Luke 2:7 actually refers to a guest room like this one from a reconstructed Israelite house, which doubled as a storage room when not housing visitors..

WOW!  What a gift of provision from GOD, Yeshua our salvation is given to us during this celebration of thanksgiving!

While the bible does not give a date for Yeshua’s birth, most biblical research is focused on the year of His birth. The standard date given for his birth is 4 B.C. because both Luke and Matthew associate Jesus’ birth with Herod’s reign. Today bible researchers are more focused on the month and day of His birth which we know is not December 25^th.  James Cooper, from “The Christmas Expert” puts in the simplest term:

The birth of Jesus probably didn’t happen in the year zero but slightly earlier, in about 4, 5, 6 or 7 BCE/BC. The dates that we use now were set by Monks and religious leaders in the Middle Ages and before. It’s also quite likely that Jesus was actually born in the autumn (during Tabernacles), not in the winter! It can get very cold in the winter in Israel and it is thought that the census would have most likely taken place during the spring or autumn, at a time when many pilgrims, from all over the country, came to visit Jerusalem (which is about six miles from Bethlehem).  https://www.whychristmas.com/story/birth.shtml

Since this feast occurs during the 7^th month of Tishrei (late September to October), it would have been in the autumn season of Israel when Mary and Joseph made the trip to their hometown of Bethlehem which is about 6 miles from Jerusalem. According to Bible scholars like Michael Rood, Rood Awakening International; “There was “no room at the inn,” because all Israel was in pilgrimage to the Temple to observe the feast.”  He also says:

 Yeshua (Jesus) was born on the 15th day of 7th month of the biblical calendar, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (a High Sabbath), which always occurs in autumn. On the Julian calendar, it was Thursday, September 26, 3 BCE. https://www.facebook.com/michael.j.rood/posts/1st-truth-yeshua-was-born-on-the-15th-day-of-7th-month-of-the-biblical-calendar-/10151931476349177/

How Do We Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles?

1. Build a sukkah on your property. You are required to pray and eat in the sukkah for seven days. Some even sleep in the sukkah for the duration of the feast.
2. The first day is considered a holy day in which most forms of work are forbidden.
3. The sukkah is decorated with palm branches and other items. Lots of images online.
4. The rabbis dictated that arbat ha’minim (four species) should be held together and waved during the holiday. These are based on four plants mentioned in the Bible, and the rabbinic version includes the following: etrog (fruit of the citron tree), lulav (palm frond), hadas (leaves from the myrtle tree), and aravah (leaves from the willow tree).
5. The seventh day of Sukkot is marked by a special synagogue service.