Tabernacles, Feast of

Name.

—Biblical Data:

Third of the great festivals on which all males were required to make pilgrimages to the Temple at Jerusalem. The celebration of this festival begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Tishri). Originally it lasted seven days; but in the course of time its duration was extended to nine days. In the Bible it is variously styled

From the frequent notice of it, as well as from its designation as "the Feast," it would seem that the Feast of Tabernacles held the most prominent place among Israel's festivals. That it was agricultural in origin is evident from the name the "Feast of Ingathering," from the ceremonies accompanying it, and from the season and occasion of its celebration: "At the end of the year when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the field" (Exodus 23:16, 34:22, R. V.); "after that thou hast gathered in from thy thrashing-floor and from thy wine-press" (Deuteronomy 16:13,16, R. V.). It was more particularly a thanksgiving for the fruit harvest (comp. Judges 9:27); but coming as it did at the completion of the entire harvest, it was regarded likewise as a general thanksgiving for the bounty of nature in the year that had passed.

—Critical View:

Connected with the possession of the land, it may have had a Canaanitish prototype (see Judges c.). Early, however, it appears as an Israelitish festival, celebrated yearly at Shiloh with dances by the maidens in the vineyards (ib. 21:19) and with family pilgrimages and sacrifices (1 Samuel 1:3,7,21). Such even then was its prominence that it alone was celebrated at a central sanctuary, whereas the other festivals, it would seem from the absence of express statement regarding the question, were celebrated, if at all, at local shrines.

In early times the festival had no fixed date. Under the early kings it was apparently celebrated in the eighth month. In this month the Temple was completed (1 Kings 6:38); and it is most probable that the dedication followed immediately (ib. 8:2,65, would therefore be erroneous, as its dating involves a delay of eleven months). This date is further confirmed by the report (ib. 12:32) that Jeroboam "ordained a feast, in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah." But in the earlier laws no definite time is appointed. As in 1 Samuel 1:20, so in Exodus 34:22, the phrase is at the "revolution of the year," or "when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field" (Exodus 23:16). It is simply the "Feast of Ingathering," one of the three pilgrimage festivals, when all males are obligated to appear at the sanctuary (23:17, 34:23); no further directions as to the manner of celebration are given.

The Date.

No more definite is the date in Deuteronomy, where the festival is called "the Feast of Tabernacles" (16:13-16), and, as in Exodus, its celebration is observed "after that thou hast gathered in from thy thrashing-floor and thy wine-press" (16:13). Further particulars, however, are here added. The celebration is to take place only at the divinely chosen sanctuary. It is to be a joyous season, and, in the humanitarian spirit of Deuteronomy, the unfortunate and the dependent are to share in the festivity. The holiday is to last seven days (as already presupposed in 1 Kings 8:66). The dwelling in booths is here taken for granted—presumably as an existing practise going back to the custom of living in booths during the fruit harvest, a custom which has survived to this day in Palestine. Further, it is ordained that every seventh year—the "year of release"—the Law is to be read to the assembled multitude (31:10,11). It is also assumed that the Feast of Booths was the season for bringing to Jerusalem the first-fruits—a command for which Deuteronomy 26:1-11 assigns no time—as also for bringing the Deuteronomic tithes (see Cheyne, "Encyc. Bibl." s. "Tabernacles," § 4; Herzog-Hauck, "Real-Encyc." 304).

The older law contained in Leviticus 23:39-43 amplifies the Deuteronomic legislation. As in the latter, the festival bears the general dating "when ye have gathered in the fruits of the land" (the beginning and end of the verse do not seem original); its duration is likewise seven days; and it is to be a season of rejoicing. Unlike the Deuteronomic provision (Deuteronomy 16:14), its celebration is restricted to native Israelites (unless, as Bertholet supposes ["Die Stellung der Israeliten und der Juden zu den Fremden," pp. 171 et seq.], the text originally contained the words "and the strangers"). As a new provision occurs the command "And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook" (Leviticus 23:40, R. V.). The use to which these branches are to be put is not indicated; and this omission gave rise to divergent interpretations at a later time. The Sadducees and Karaites maintained that they were meant for building the booth, as would appear from Nehemiah 8:14-18, while their opponents contended that they were to be carried in the procession (see below, and see see LULAB). Originally these branches may have been used in the festal dances (Judges 21:19 et seq.), when it would be natural for those taking part in them to adorn themselves with sprigs and garlands (see also the passage from the Book of Jubilees quoted below); and here also their purpose was probably to be carried in the hand as was later the lulab. The dwelling in booths implied in Deuteronomy is in Leviticus expressly commanded. The booths themselves are, moreover, given a symbolic meaning, and are brought into relation with the wandering in thewilderness—"that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt." Significant in this new interpretation attached to the feast is the conversion of the harvest festival into a historical festival.

Date in Ezekiel.

When the Deuteronomic reformation had made the Feast of Tabernacles a general Temple festival, a more exact date became necessary; and this need is supplied by Ezekiel 45:25. He designates the holy day as the "feast" or the "feast of the Lord," and fixes the fifteenth of the month as the time for beginning its celebration. This date had already become customary, it appears (1 Kings 8:2). More definiteness is also introduced in the method of observance. The sacrifices that were formerly voluntary are now prescribed—every day a burnt offering of seven bullocks and seven rams and a sin-offering of a he-goat; and with each bullock and each ram a meal-offering of an epha, and a hin of oil (Ezekiel 45:23-24).

The last stage of legal evolution appears in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29:12-38. The date and duration of the festival are the same as in Ezekiel; the name, as in Deuteronomy. As in Ezekiel, the agricultural significance is altogether absent. Furthermore, an eighth day is added as a concluding festival ("'aẓeret"; Leviticus 23:36,39; Numbers 29:35), which has an independent character: like the first day, it is a "holy convocation"; on it no labor is permitted, in which respect, as also in the sacrifices, it differs from the intervening six days. Exact sacrificial prescriptions are given in Numbers 29:13-39, distinguishing this festival from the rest in the abundance of sacrifices. In addition to the daily regular offerings, there is to be a daily burnt offering of two rams, fourteen lambs, and bullocks—thirteen on the first day, twelve on the second day, and so diminishing by one daily on the other five days. In each case there is to be also the proper meal-offering of fine flour mixed with oil—three-tenths to each bullock, two-tenths to each ram, and one-tenth to each lamb. As a sin-offering a he-goat is to be sacrificed daily. On the eighth day the sacrifices differ, consisting of a he-goat as a sin-offering, and a single bullock, a ram, and seven lambs as a burnt offering—all of which are brought together with the meal-offering appropriate in each case.