The Feast of Tabernacles
(Sukkot)

The next annual festival of YHVH (the LORD) as found in Lev 23:33-36

Sukkot, usually translated as Tabernacles, or the festival of "Booths," occurs for seven days, from Tishrei 15 to 21 (usually September/October), followed by a special eighth day on Tishrei 22. There is therefore a quick transition from the high holidays, with their somber mood of repentance and judgment, to a holiday of rejoicing and celebration, for which the people are commanded to build a hut (Sukkot or temporary dwelling or booth) and make it their home. The Torah identifies the sukkah (singular of Sukkot) with the temporary dwellings in which the Israelites lived in the wilderness after they left Egypt on their way to the Promised Land [Leviticus 23:42].

Different names of Tabernacles:

The Season of Our Joy.

The Festival of Ingathering.

The Feast of the Nations.

The Festival of Dedication.

The Festival of Lights.

The Feast of Tabernacles completes the sacred festivals of the seventh month. In contrast to the somber tone of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, the third feast of Tishrei was a time of joy. Israel had passed through the season of repentance and redemption.

Sukkot is called the "Season of Our Joy." One reason is that after the season of repentance and the redemption of Atonment came the joy of knowing your sins were forgiven and the joy of walking with God, knowing God, and being obedient to God. Historically, Sukkot commemorates the days in the wilderness of Sinai after coming out of Egypt. According to all natural laws, they (the Israelites) should have perished, but were instead divinely protected by God. Prophetically, Sukkot is the festival that teaches on the Messianic Kingdom and the joy of that Kingdom.

Sukkot is the time when the produce of the field, orchard, and vineyard is gathered in. The granaries, threshing floors, and wine and olive presses are full to capacity. Weeks and months of toil and sweat put into the soil have finally been amply rewarded. The farmer feels happy and elated. No wonder Sukkot is "The Season of Rejoicing." While all of the three pilgrimages are times of rejoicing, Tabernacles is specifically designated as, the season of our rejoicing.

King Solomon dedicated the temple during Tabernacles (1 Kings 3). Therefore, this festival is also called the Feast of Dedication. It was celebrated after the Babylonian captivity [Ezra 3:1-4].

Another name for the Feast of Tabernacles is the Feast of the Nations. Tabernacles will be celebrated by all the nations on earth during the Messianic age, the Millennium [Zechariah 14:16-18]. The future observance of Sukkot by the nations of the world rests upon Israel's election and mission. The universal concern of God's plan for the Jewish people reaches back to the covenant with Abraham. In that agreement, God promised in [Genesis 12:3], that all families of the earth will be blessed through his seed. From Abraham, God would raise up a people, Israel, to be a blessing to the nations. That promise was fulfilled through Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah, as stated in [Galatians 3:8,14,16,29].

(Simchat Beit HaShoevah), the rejoicing in the house of the water pouring, is a ceremony included in the temple services not mentioned in the Torah, but given in the Mishnah. The water pouring became a focus of the joy that the Torah commands for Sukkot. On no other festival were the people commanded to be joyful, and as a result Tabernacles became known as "the season of our joy," just as Passover is "the season of our freedom" and Pentecost is "the season of the giving of the Torah."

It is written in the Mishnah, that the ritual became elaborated into a colorful and joyous, even riotous, celebration called Simchat Beit HaShoevah, "the rejoicing at the house of the water-drawing." This ceremony took place every day except for the first festival day of Sukkot. The Talmud describes this ceremony in detail, including a portrait of venerable sages juggling lighted torches and performing somersaults as part of the celebration. The Talmud states, "He who has not seen the rejoicing at the place of the water-drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life." So, the water pouring ceremony became the occasion for an outpouring of intense joy.

Another ceremony of the Feast of Tabernacles was the illumination of the temple. According to the Mishnah, at the end of the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests and the Levites went down to the court of the women. Four enormous golden candlesticks were set up on the court (50 cubits high) with four golden bowls placed upon them and four ladders resting against each candlestick. Four youths of priestly descent stood at the top of the ladders holding jars containing about 7.5 gallons of pure oil, which they poured for each. The priests and Levites used their own worn-out liturgical clothing for wicks. The light emanating from the four candelabras was so bright that the Mishnah says that there was no courtyard in Jerusalem that was not lit up with the light of the libation water-well ceremony.

The mood was festive. Pious men, members of the San Hedrin, and heads of different religious schools would dance well into the night, holding bright torches and singing psalms of praise to God. Jerusalem glistened like a diamond that night and her light could be seen from afar.

Entering the Promised Land/Great Rejoicing.

Each day out of the temple, there was a special ceremony. The priests were divided into three divisions. The first division were the priests on duty for that festival. They would slay the sacrifices found in Numbers 29. At this time, a second group of priests went out the eastern gate of the temple and went to the Motzah Valley, where the ashes were dumped at the beginning of the sabbath. There they would cut willows. The willows had to be 25 feet in length. After this, they would form a line with all the priests holding a willow. About 25 or 30 feet behind this row of priests, allowing room for the willows, would be another row of priests with willows. So, there would be row after row of the willows.

The whole road back to the temple was lined with pilgrims as they went to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival as they were commanded by God to do.

There would be a signal and the priests would step out with their left foot, and then step to the right, swinging the willows back and forth. Meanwhile, a third group of priests, headed by the high priest, went out the gate known as the Water Gate. They had gone to the pool known as Siloam, which means "gently flowing waters." There the high priest had a golden vase and drew the water known as the living water and held it in the vase. His assistant held a silver vase containing wine. Just as the priests in the valley of Motzah began to march toward Jerusalem, so did the priests in Siloam. As they marched toward the city of Jerusalem, the willows made a swishing sound in the wind as they approached the city. The word for wind in Hebrew is Ruach. The word spirit in Hebrew is also Ruach. Therefore, this ceremony was symbolic or representative of the Holy Spirit of God coming upon the city of Jerusalem.

As each of the party reached their respective gates, a trumpet was blown. Then one man would stand up and play the flute (the flute represents the Messiah). The flute player is called "the pierced one." The flute is pierced, and Yeshua was pierced during the crucifixion [John 19:34-37].

The flute player led the procession. The pierced one blows the call for the wind and the water to enter the temple. The priests from Motzah swishing the willows come into the temple and circle the altar seven times. The priests that were slaying the sacrifices are now ascending the altar, and they begin to lay the sacrifices on the fires. The high priest and his assistant ascend the altar and all the people of Israel are gathered into the courts around there. The people start singing the song Mayim, saying, "With joy we will draw water out of the well of salvation" [Isaiah 12:3]. The high priest takes his vase and pours its contents on one of the comers of the altar where the horns are. There are two bowls built into the altar. Each bowl has a hole in it. The water and the wine are poured out over the altar as the priests who had the willow start laying the willows against the altar, making a sukkah (a picture of God's covering).

The Messianic Era/Millennium.

In this, we have a picture of Yeshua as He was on the tree. He was on the altar (tree) when His heart was pierced [John 19:34], then the water and the blood separated and they were poured out. God through Yeshua was providing a covering (sukkah) for all those who would believe in Him.

Wine is representative of marriage, blood, covenant, joy, and the Messiah in Scripture. The priests took the willows to the altar and set them upright on the side of the altar, forming a wedding canopy or chupah. The high priest will take his golden vessel and pour out the water on the altar. The assistant will pour out his silver vessel of wine on the altar. When Yeshua was crucified on the tree (a type of altar), His side was pierced and out of His heart poured water and blood. Yeshua said that He was the living water being poured out during this ceremony [John 7:37-38].

A daily rest in the Messiah and having the rest of His Kingdom in our hearts.

God desired that the tabernacle in the wilderness be built because He wanted to dwell with His people [Exodus 29:44-45]. Spiritually speaking, this physical tabernacle was given by God to teach and instruct us that He desires to live and dwell with His people by means of the Holy Spirit [1 Corinthians 6:19].

During the time of Yeshua, the Feast of Tabernacles set a magnificent stage for the preaching of the Messiah. Rain is essential to the growing of crops and Israel, an arid land, prizes rain greatly as a blessing from God.

Sukkot was given by God to teach us of the Messianic era, the Millennium, when the earth will experience the greatest outpouring of God's Spirit.

Many followers of Yeshua celebrate this eight-day festival by leaving their homes and journeying to a temporary place. The temporary tabernacle represents the physical body we live in as we await a spiritual body. It is a picture of the soon coming King Messiah and the start of His 1000-year reign. The eighth day is a separate festival and needs its own article.

Reference for this article, from the book.

The Seven Festivals of the Messiah
by Eddie Chumney