SUKKOT
Lev 23:34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month [shall be] the feast of tabernacles [for] seven days unto the LORD.
Lev 23:35 On the first day [shall be] an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work [therein].
Lev 23:36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it [is] a solemn assembly; [and] ye shall do no servile work [therein].
It is the feast of the LORD!
We can read in this chapter too:
Lev 23:40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
Lev 23:41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. [It shall be] a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
Lev 23:42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
Lev 23:43 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: I [am] the LORD your God.
What do the Four Species (arba minim) mean? They mean:
- Beauty, splendour, magnificence, entirety (hadar; according to tradition it is etrog - a citrus fruit similar to lemon);
- the fruit (date palm tree);
- pleasantness, shalom (peace) (thick trees; according to tradition it is myrtle tree, hadass in Hebrew);
- to please (the brook).
Believer in Messiah Yeshua need have all these traits: to have spiritual beauty, the fruits, be a nice person, to keep shalom (peace), to please G-d and neighbor.
"But [let it be] the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, [even the ornament] of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." (1Pet 3:4)
"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." (John 15:16)
"And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive [it], and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred." (Mark 4:20)
"And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." (Jam 3:18)
"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;" (Col 1:10)
"We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please [his] neighbour for [his] good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me." (Rom 15:1-3)
Sukkot (the tabernacles, the tents, the booths) is reminding about G-d's protection, G-d's guarding. Tradition name them Clouds of Glory.
Torah tells us: to rejoice (in Hebrew "joy" is simcha) before Lord seven days.
We can read about this in Deuteronomy 16 too:
Deut 16:14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that [are] within thy gates.
Deut 16:15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.
In TaNaKh we read:
"And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as [it is] written. So the people went forth, and brought [them], and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day [was] a solemn assembly, according unto the manner." (Neh 8:13-18)
How do people build sukkah? "According to Halakha, a sukkah is a structure consisting of a roof made of organic material which has been disconnected from the ground (the s'chach). A sukkah must have at least 2-1/2 walls. It should be at least three feet tall, and be positioned so that all or part of its roof is open to the sky (only the part which is under the sky is kosher.) A sukkah can be built on the ground or on an open porch or balcony." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkah)
Too Sukkot is the feast of ingathering (the harvest), the feast of thanksgiving to God:
Exod 23:16 ... and the feast of ingathering, [which is] in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
What
does Brit Hadashah (the New Testament) tell us about Sukkot?
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Too this verse we can read so:
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in a sukkah among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Greek word “skenoo” is translated (accordiing to Strong’s Greek Definition) as “to dwell” or “to live in a tabernacle (or tent)”.
Metaphorically speaking, disciples of Yeshua lived under His tent. And we live under His tent, under His protection too.
In Tanach we read that God
stretches out the heavens like a tent. We all live under the big tent of God!
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the
heavens like a curtain: (Psalms 104:2)
22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants
thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: (Isaiah 40:22)
- - -
"And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard [it], they fell on their face, and were sore afraid." (Matt. 17:1-6)
- - -
John 7:2 Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.
John 7:8 Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.
John 7:9 When he had said these words unto them, he abode [still] in Galilee.
John 7:10 But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
Sukka is prototype
of Heavenly Temple as well as Mishkan (the tabernacle), the
First Temple (Solomon's Temple) and the Second temple were prototypes of
Heavenly Temple.
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God.
Hoshana Raba (the
last day, the great day of Sukkot) is culmination of this feast.
In TaNaKh we read: ''Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.'' (Isaiah 12:3)
There was the such tradition: during seven days of Sukkot kohens (the priests) were carring a water in the gold jug from the pool of Shiloakh (Siloam). Then kohens handed over this jug with water to other kohen who poured out it into the vessel near altar. This ritual symbolized a prayer about rain which the eight day began from, Shmini Atzeret, and this ritual pointed out outpouring of Ruach ha-Kodesh (the Holy Spirit) on Jewish people.
In the last day of Sukkot (when water was running, one could hear singing of psalms, the sound of shofars (the trumpets) which kohens blew in etc., Yeshua said:
John 7:37 In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.
John 7:38 He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
John 7:39 (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
The rivers of living water are blessings which we, believers in Messiah Yeshua, had received Ruach ha-Kodesh, have in order to bless people, to share the Good News with them.
Yeshua said in Hoshana Raba too:
John 8:12 Then
spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
In the courtyard of the Temple there were gold menorahs. People saw shine
of the light. Yeshua opened the spiritual sense of this light: "... I
am the light of the world..."
- - -
Now prophecy of Amos about the restoration of the
tabernacle (tent) of David which is fallen is fulfilled - the Jews began to
believe in Messiah Yeshua.
11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and
close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build
it as in the days of old: (Amos 9:11)
16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David,
which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set
it up:
17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles,
upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. (Acts
15:16-17)
- - -
Zech 14:16 And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zech 14:17 And it shall be, [that] whoso will not come up of [all] the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
Zech 14:18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that [have] no [rain]; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Zech 14:19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Jews, Christians and
the Word of God