Leviticus 23:33-44

7. The Feast of Tabernacles 23:33-44

This feast (Heb. Sukkot) was another very joyous occasion for the Israelites. It was the third fall festival. It commemorated the Israelites’ journey from Egyptian bondage to blessing in Canaan. Its other names were the Feast of Booths and the Feast of Ingathering (CEV the Festival of Shelters). The people built booths out of branches and lived under these for the duration of this eight-day festival as a reminder of their life in the wilderness. They presented many offerings during this holiday (Numbers 29:12-38). In this feast the Israelites’ looked backward to the land of their slavery and forward to the Promised Land of blessing. The feast opened and closed with a Sabbath. It was primarily a time of joy since God had provided atonement. It was the only festival in which God commanded the Israelites to rejoice, and it revolved around the harvest of grapes and other fall field products.

". . . in the later postexilic period [it] took on something of a carnival atmosphere." [Note: Harrison, p. 220.]

The Israelites will enjoy a similar prolonged period of rejoicing in the Millennium when they will enjoy national blessing as a result of Jesus Christ’s atoning work for them (Zechariah 14:16). Then the Jews in the millennial kingdom will be believers in Him and therefore redeemed and adopted as His chosen people. However there will be greater blessings on ahead for them in the eternal state.

God designed this feast primarily as a time of anticipation as well as reflection. Similarly our worship should include the element of anticipation as we look forward to entering into all that God has promised us in the future. The Puritans patterned their Thanksgiving Day feast in New England after this Jewish festival. [Note: Harris, p. 629.]

"The people of God must preserve in memory how the LORD provided for them throughout the year and how he provided for their ancestors as he led them to the fulfillment of the promises." [Note: Ross, p. 437.]

"The dozen feasts of the Hebrew calendar [counting those added later in Israel’s history] are pitifully few when compared with the fifty or sixty religious festivals of ancient Thebes, for example." [Note: Kenneth Kitchen, The Bible In Its World, p. 86.]

"When we celebrate Good Friday we should think not only of Christ’s death on the cross for us, but of the first exodus from Egypt which anticipated our deliverance from the slavery of sin. At Easter we recall Christ’s resurrection and see in it a pledge of our own resurrection at the last day, just as the firstfruits of harvest guarantee a full crop later on (1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Corinthians 15:23). At Whitsun (Pentecost) we praise God for the gift of the Spirit and all our spiritual blessings; the OT reminds us to praise God for our material benefits as well." [Note: Wenham, The Book . . ., p. 306.]

Leviticus does not mention the Feast of Purim (lit. lots) that the Jews added to their calendar later in their history (cf. Esther 9:20-32). Neither does the Old Testament refer to the Feast of Dedication (Heb. Hanukkah) because the Jews instituted it much later in their history. Purim celebrates the Jews’ deliverance from the Persians in Esther’s time. Hanukkah, often called the Feast of Lights, commemorates the revolt and victory of the Maccabees (Hasmoneans) against Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria and the rededication of the temple in 165 B.C. [Note: For an interesting article giving the historical background, institution, and customs of this feast plus suggestions for using it as an opportunity to witness to Jews, see Charles Lee Feinberg, "Hanukkah," Fundamentalist Journal 5:1 (December 1986):16-18.] During the Babylonian captivity the Jews began to celebrate other fasts as well (cf. Zechariah 7:1-8)