Prayer
– Lord, blessed be Your name—from the rising of the sun to its setting,
Your name is to be praised! Jesus, You are my Lord and Savior—the light of the
world and the source of living water. I rejoice in Your love and care.
Jesus, may our shelters stand firm and may You continue to provide protection
from the storms of life…hurricanes, tornados and showers of bullets.
And
the LORD said to Moses, "Give the following instructions to the people of
Israel. Begin celebrating the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the
appointed month—five days after the Day of Atonement. This festival to the LORD
will last for seven days. On the first day of the festival you must proclaim an
official day for holy assembly, when you do no ordinary work. For seven days
you must present special gifts to the LORD. The eighth day is another holy day
on which you present your special gifts to the LORD. This will be a solemn
occasion, and no ordinary work may be done that day. (These are the LORD's
appointed festivals. Celebrate them each year as official days for holy
assembly by presenting special gifts to the LORD—burnt offerings, grain
offerings, sacrifices, and liquid offerings—each on its proper day. These
festivals must be observed in addition to the LORD's regular Sabbath days, and
the offerings are in addition to your personal gifts, the offerings you give to
fulfill your vows, and the voluntary offerings you present to the LORD.)
Remember that this seven-day festival to the LORD—the Festival of
Shelters—begins on the fifteenth day of the appointed month, after you have
harvested all the produce of the land. The first day and the eighth day of the
festival will be days of complete rest. On the first day gather branches from
magnificent trees—palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows that grow
by the streams. Then celebrate with joy before the LORD your God for seven
days. You must observe this festival to the LORD for seven days every year.
This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed in the appointed month
from generation to generation. For seven days you must live outside in little
shelters. All native-born Israelites must live in shelters. This will remind
each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters
when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 23:33-43
Meditate.
Consider your own joyous celebrations.
Do you
know much about Jewish Festivals? Is it time to learn about them?
The
Feast of Tabernacles. This festival is from the 15 to the 22 of Tishri or
October 16-23 this year. The Feast of Tabernacles or Booths is one of the true
God ordained Festivals for the Jews. Its main activity seems to be to build a
shelter to commemorate those forty years in the wilderness on their way to the
Promised Land and the shelters that the Hebrew people lived in as they
traveled. The Jews have done this ever since Moses gave God’s instruction for
this as recorded in Leviticus. The “shelter” or sukkah has been built by each
family. It is here in the above passage of Leviticus that the tradition and
Festival of the Booths is initiated. Originally it was a Pilgrimage Festival
which required the Israelites to travel to the Temple—just as with Passover and
Pentecost. Jews today still celebrate this festival. It is a week of
rejoicing—a harvest festival to commemorate the successful harvest and to
remember the Israelites wandering and living in temporary shelters in the
desert after their exodus from Egypt. There is a tradition of using local
branches or things like cornstalks for part of their sukkah providing an
agricultural element to the shelter. It is important that the structure not be
permanent, but that it be sturdy enough for the family to enter and enjoy
spending some time there eating, studying and visiting. Sometimes families even
sleep out in their shelters and enjoy looking up through the roof at the stars.
Using the sukkah for the first night of the Festival of Tabernacles for the
family meal is an important element of the tradition. It is a meal often shared
with extended family and friends and is a time of rejoicing and hospitality. At
this first dinner of the festival they recite a traditional blessing…
Praised are you, Lord our God,
Ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us through His commandments,
commanding us to live in the sukkah. (From The
Jewish Holidays by Michael Strassfeld.)
Branches
from four species of “godly” trees: the palm, myrtle, willow and citron or
lemon used during the week of celebration are lifted up and shaken during the
blessing, after reading specific scripture passages. The ritual that involves
four species of plants which reminds the Jews of the bounty that God provides.
The branches are the palm trees, willows, myrtle and citron. This Feast of
Booths is joyous compared to the time of repentance that the Jews have just
completed. The important thing is to be hospitable to the poor and homeless, as
well as friends, extended family and neighbors that may visit. 
Lemons on a tree at ConCafe in Lisbon, Portugal
In
modern times a nice custom has been established to invite honorary guests, like
Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, Leah, Miriam, Abigail and Esther, women of the Old
Testament, and create an ornate chair for them. Unlike other holidays there is
not a specific food that is associated with the meals served in the Sukkot
shelter although wine and cake would be served to guests as the people within
the neighborhood visited each other’s Sukkot shelters.
Eat,
drink. It’s all part of the “banquet.” Jesus spoke the words in the scripture
passage, John 7:37-38, on the last day of the great Feast of Tabernacles.
During that festival water was an important part of the daily ceremony, except
on the last day. It was on that day that Jesus offered Himself as the Living
Water. “Come to me and you will never thirst again.” Each of the first
seven days during the festival it was the tradition during the second Temple
Period for the priests to carry water from the Pool of Siloam to the silver
basin by the altar of burnt offerings in the Temple. People would line the
street to the gate of the Temple and sing the Hallel, Psalms 113-118 and wave
palm or willow tree branches. At night huge menorahs were lit that could be
seen from all over Jerusalem. At daybreak the priests would face the sun and
then turn and face the Temple, proclaiming the Lord as Light and declaring Him
as the one true God. The Lord was the light and living water. Jesus, the Light
of the World (John 9:5), was right there, but they were not illuminated by Him.
Are we now?
Few
Christians seem to celebrate or even recognize this festival. Prophetically it
is seen as when Christ has His Millennium Reign. The time for that is known
only by the Father. So we can just celebrate along with the Jewish people—a
time of thanksgiving and remembrance for what the Lord has done for us.
This is the day which the LORD has
made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24.
This week
of the Feast of Tabernacles is a week that the Lord has declared for rejoicing.
Are you feeling His love, provision and protection? The choice is yours—celebrate!
Verse
of Salvation ~ But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness
in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, "The LORD is
great!" Psalm 40:16
© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
Revised and reused from October 5, 2020 Banquet With The King blog
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
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