LESSON 13

Feast of Tabernacles

  Yahweh expects His people to grow in knowledge and understanding but He says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," Hosea 4:6. Proverbs 9:10 says, "Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Without knowledge there can be no understanding! People who reject Yahweh's law and ignore His appointed times (Holy Days, i.e., Sabbaths and Feasts) separate themselves from Yahweh through ignorance and lack understanding of His plan of salvation.

   Yahweh's appointed times are memorials of past events in Israel's history and at the same time are type/pictures of future events that will involve all nations. For example: Passover commemorates the time Yahweh's wrath passed over Israel and fell upon Egypt. But the observance also foreshadows the time when Yahweh's wrath will "pass over" people under the blood of His Messiah and fall upon all nations.

   Likewise, the Feast of Tabernacles not only commemorates Israel's release from bondage in Egypt and wandering in the wilderness, but also foreshadows the release of all people who turn to the Messiah and away from bondage to sin and their sojourn in this world until Yahweh's Kingdom is set up on earth.

   The coming Kingdom of Heaven is prefigured by the Feast of Tabernacles. Yahshua the Messiah will be King of Kings in that Kingdom and will give rest from the struggle with sin to everyone who is permitted to enter the Kingdom. Yahshua's reign will be the time when the will of Yahweh will be done on earth as it is in heaven, Matthew 6:10. Rejecting the law and ignoring Yahweh's appointed times leads to a hardening of the heart and disobedience, which Paul warns (Hebrews 3:7; 4:7) can prevent even those released from bondage from entering the Kingdom.

   The Last Great Day signifies the judgment that follows the millennial reign and should not be regarded as one of the days of the Feast of Tabernacles. It symbolizes something else.

   Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread and Feast of Weeks coincide with Israel's two spring grain harvests. The Feast of Tabernacles follows the fall harvest of fruits, grapes and olives. The fall harvest marked the end of the growing season in Israel's agriculture. Israel celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles as a harvest festival as well as a commemoration of wilderness wandering. Exodus 34:22 refers to the Feast of Tabernacles as the Feast of Ingathering. Hence, it is certain that Yahweh also considers the Feast to be a festival of thanksgiving as well as a commemoration.

   In his book, The Gospel in the Feasts of Israel, Victor Buksbazen writes, "The Rabbis say, 'He who has not seen Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles does not know what rejoicing means.'" Israel's rejoicing during the Feast was two-fold. First, the people rejoiced in their freedom. They also rejoiced because barns, sheds and wine cellars were filled with bounties of the harvests. Their rejoicing was boisterous with much singing, dancing and feasting.

   Yet, for all the noisy merrymaking, the festivities were without the drunken revelry and debauchery prevalent in pagan harvest festivals. Debased intemperance was abominable to Israelites at any time, especially during Yahweh's holy days.

   Solemn daily religious ceremonies and sacrifices, plus everyone from high priest to the humblest layman living in temporary dwellings, complied with requirements for commemorating Yahweh's past blessings. Prayers and the singing of Psalms expressed Israel's thanksgiving for those past blessings and requests for continued blessing and protection in the future.

   Many of the type/pictures of Yahweh's plan of redemption found in the feasts do not seem to have been understood even by the prophets. It was the people's enacious adherence to the law that preserved the pictures for New Covenant Israel's study and it is hoped, understanding.

   The fact that New Covenant scriptures were not available may account for the lack of understanding. But today, after nearly two thousand years, few New Covenant believers have any knowledge or understanding of Old Covenant Israel's customs and religious practices. Hence, most people fail to truly comprehend the spiritual significance of many allegories, metaphors and allusions in the New Testament.

   Man's ignorance of Yahweh, due to transgressions of His law and the rejection of His Feasts, is compounded by an ignorance that results in misunderstanding and misapplying many of Yahshua's and the apostles' statements.

Harvest Allegories

   There were three harvests in ancient Israel's agriculture. First was the barley harvest, associated with Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Next came the wheat harvest, associated with the Feast of Weeks. Third, the harvest of the fruits of trees and vines, associated with the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. Many harvest scenes and other activities familiar to the ancients are associated allegorically  and metaphorically with Yahweh's plan of redemption and are used as type/pictures of events in the plan. The phrase, "for the harvest of the earth is ripe" in Revelation 14:15, indicates Yahweh deliberately timed His holy days to coincide with Israel's harvests.

   Two coming resurrections are referred to allegorically in Revelation 14:14-20. The vision speaks of angels who swing sickles over the earth and the earth's human population is harvested. A reaper with a sickle was a common sight in the grain fields during the harvest. He was the person who separated the wheat from the tares, Matthew 13:30. The cut grain was gathered into bundles and taken to the threshing floor. The tares were burned. After the wheat was separated from the chaff it was put into storage and the chaff was burned.

   Familiar, mundane events are used to impart understanding of future events that will occur during the unfolding of Yahweh's plan. Literally speaking, Yahshua the Messiah is the one who will separate saints from sinners in the resurrections, Matthew 3;12. Allegories, however, cannot convey understanding of every detail of future events.

   "Although Yahweh gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them," Isaiah 30:20. The fulfillment of this prophecy must pertain to the time of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. There has never been a time when Israel hasn't been confronted with adversities and overwhelmed by afflictions. Israel hasn't seen teachers of truth since the days of Yahshua and the Apostles. The resurrected saints who will rule with the Messiah will be spirit-born beings who, like Yahshua after His resurrection, will be able to appear at will to the flesh-and-blood people living in the Kingdom. (Remember, this is during Yahshua's reign on earth and not during Yahweh's eternal Kingdom that follows.)

  People who reject the law and ignore the holy days during this age are not likely to become teachers in the Kingdom age. Such people will not know or understand the secret wisdom hidden in Yahweh's Word, 1 Corinthians 2:7-8.

   Israel was commanded to dwell in booths during the Feast of Tabernacles, Leviticus 23:42. The reason for this command is given in verse 43. "So that your descendants will know that I [Yahweh] had Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt." There doesn't seem to be any secret, hidden wisdom in this command.

  The Feast of Tabernacles is appointed for the time of the full month during the seventh month of the scriptural year and just before the beginning of the rainy season in Israel. The booths, frail structures roofed with branches and reeds, would be of little protection against wind and rain. Yet, Yahweh demanded that His people rejoice before Him while dwelling in these frail, temporary structures during the Feast. With the fruits of their labors in the storehouses, the people rejoiced in Yahweh's blessings regardless of the weather. Living in booths kept them reminded of the fact that in spite of the seeming permanence and prosperity of their nation, their security and way of life was still dependent upon Yahweh's providence.

   Today, we should rejoice in the knowledge that Israel's release form bondage in Egypt is a type/picture of our own release from bondage to sin. We should rejoice in the knowledge that the Feast of Tabernacles foreshadows a time of rest from the struggle to overcome the world. Yahweh has promised that anyone who "enters into His rest" (does this mean keep the Feast of Tabernacles?) will rest from his own labors, Hebrews 4:10. The labor to produce the fruit of an agricultural harvest is no longer a part of the lifestyle of most people but the struggle to produce the fruits of righteousness against the degradations of sin is more intense and emotionally demanding than ever.

   Obeying Yahweh's command to assembly with brethren for eight days is a repast of spiritual food and rest from the struggle. That point alone should engender a lot of joy. The fact that Yahweh is faithful, Hebrews 10:23, and His many promises to those who obey Him are great and precious, 2 Peter 1:4, merits far more rejoicing than can be expressed in nothing more than solemn, religious ceremonies and rituals. True, solemn ceremony and ritual is an important aspect of correctly observing the Feast, but apart from the ceremonies and rituals there is no call or excuse for somber timidity and reticence among the brethren.

   Many things Yahshua said and did cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of the religious ceremonies ancient Israel practiced during the Feast of Tabernacles. For example, we are told in John 7:37-38 that on a Last Great Day of a Feast of Tabernacles Yahshua attended, He stood up and said, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him" We are told this refers to the Holy Spirit which had not yet been given, but we are not told that the statement would be understood by the hearer because of what was taking place in the temple on that day.

   Every day of the Feast a priest brought water from the pool of Siloam and poured it out in libation at the altar. The water symbolized rain needed for good crops, and the ritual was regarded as a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessing of rain. The ritual was also considered to be symbolic of the pouring out of Yahweh's Holy Spirit upon all nations at the Messiah's coming. The ceremony was accompanied by the sounding of trumpets, singing of Psalms and prayers. The messianic fervor climaxed with the shout, "Save us now, I beseech thee, O Yahweh."

   It must have been immediately after this shout that Yahshua proclaimed Himself to be the answer to their prayers. That the messianic implication was clearly understood is evident from the contention that arose among the people over the fact that Yahshua did not come from where they understood. Scriptures said the Messiah would come.

   Another of Yahshua's statements was, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 stems from the fact that the temple was brilliantly illuminated during the Feast. Burning torches and lampstands transformed the temple into a symbol of Yahweh's light. Yahshua told the people that He is the light the temple symbolized.

   We do not have an altar upon which to pour water, but we are the people upon whom the Holy Spirit has been poured. Therefore, our observance of Yahweh's Feast should be more fervent and joyous than that of the ancients. We can light up the tabernacle and grounds with a dazzling display of lights during the Feast, but the light to the world that we should really display is the sincerity of our love for the brethren and great rejoicing in the blessings and knowledge Yahweh and His Messiah has given to us.

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