Sukkot
Leviticus 23:33-36
Again Yahweh, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to Yahweh, the Lord. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall not do any laborious work.
Sukkot, known in English as the Feast of Tabernacles, is an annual, weeklong celebration of Yahweh’s provision during Israel’s 40-year wilderness sojourn after escaping slavery in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 16:15
For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to Yahweh, the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because Yahweh, the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
Exodus 23:17
Three times a year all your males shall appear before Yahweh, the Lord God.
Exodus 34:22-23
And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your males are to appear before Yahweh, the Lord God, the God of Israel.
Sukkot is one of the three pilgrim feasts, along with Passover and Shavuot, during which all Jewish males were required to appear before Yahweh, the Lord in the temple. Thus, before the temple was destroyed, Jewish pilgrims used to flock to Jerusalem for Sukkot. Upon arrival they would build temporary shelters (Sukkots) along the streets, hills, and fields within a day’s journey of the temple. At sundown, the blast of the shofar from the temple would announce the arrival of the holiday.
Leviticus 23:40-43
Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and branches of trees with thick branches and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before Yahweh, the Lord, your God for seven days.
Another observance carried out each day of Sukkot, except Shabbat, is the Four Species: an citron, a palm frond, three myrtle twigs and two willow twigs. They are bound together in such a way that they can be held together easily.
The branches are first taken up with the right hand and then the etrog is taken with the left hand. A blessing is recited over the Four Species:
Blessed are You, God… who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to take the lulav.
Facing east where the Temple in Jerusalem once stood, the Four Species are then shaken in all six directions: right, left, forward, up, down and backward.
These items are held together in a bundle and waved as a symbol of the harvest and Yahweh’s presence throughout the entire world.
So you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh, the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh, the Lord, your God.’ ”
The sukkah, constructed with at least three walls and a roof sparsely thatched with branches, recalls Israel’s hastily built homes in the wilderness. The inside is decorated with colorful fruits and vegetables representing the harvest. During the Feast of Tabernacles, Jewish families eat their meals in their sukkah (some even sleep in it!) and it’s considered a good deed to invite others for a meal.
Isaiah 27:12-13
On that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, you sons of Israel. It will come about also on that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 11:11-12
Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover with His hand the second time The remnant of His people who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a flag for the nations And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.
Jeremiah 23:7-8
“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the household of Israel back from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”
When the Messiah sets up His millennial kingdom, He will gather the Jewish remnant back to Israel. In those days, the nations will come to worship Yahweh in Jerusalem and join in celebrating Sukkot. Nations who refuse will receive no rain upon their lands.
Zechariah 14:16-18
Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of armies, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of armies, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
During ancient times, every day of The Festival, except Shabbat, was characterized by music, song and dancing.
Even today, Jewish people gather near the Western (Wailing) Wall to dance, sing and rejoice before the Lord. People fill the synagogues and streets while singing and dancing with tremendous joy until the wee hours of the morning.
One of the names of Sukkot is the Festival of the Nations. And we certainly see signs of the nations embracing it today. People from all over the world gather in Jerusalem to it. It’s my hope to be in future also in Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot.
With Yom Teruah we celebrated the coming of Yeshua. With Sukkot we celebrate that He will sit on the throne of David and will reign His Kingdom forever. He will reign the whole world, not only Israel.
Symbolic is this the wedding. Yeshua marries His bride new Jerusalem. And we’re the invited guests on the wedding.
In the time that Yeshua was living there was a temple. And every year on the last day of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) priests brought bowls of water from the pool of Siloam to the Temple. While they were doing this they sung: Then with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation” That water was poured at the altar as a prayer for rain and for the Holy Spirit. They did this as remembrance of that Yahweh gave their ancestors water out of a rock when they were in the dessert.
It was on this feast Yeshua spoke the words that we are now going to read.
John 7:37-39
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
From now on it was clear that Yeshua was saying that He is the Messiah. And we have to put our hope on Him. Because He is the King that will bring peace. He is the King we are waiting for. Already so many years….