The Essential Facts of the Feast of Tabernacles

 The Essential Facts of the Feast of Tabernacles A well-worn writing technique originated in ancient Greece with Aristotle. In this method, to ensure he has all the essential facts of a matter, a researcher, investigator, or reporter will use what is called "the Five Ws" or "the Five Ws and How." Rudyard Kipling made these elements memorable in a poem in his story, "The Elephant's Child": I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. We will employ these "serving-men" to learn the essential facts of the Feast of Tabernacles. What is the Feast of Tabernacles? The Bible calls this Feast Sukkot—"booths" or "tabernacles." A booth, sukka in Hebrew, is a temporary shelter made of boughs. When the Israelites traveled the wilderness, their condition was transitory and transitional. They moved from place to place at God's will;it was anything but a permanent state. The Hebrew root underlying these terms suggests fencing in, protecting, defending, and joining together. In this way, the Feast is a retreat from this world, a temporary shelter for those of like mind to fellowship and learn how to live godly lives. Modern Feast-goers also live in temporary dwellings—hotel or motel rooms, condominiums, trailers,or even tents—during the festival to remind them that they also live in a temporary, transitional state. The apostle Paul writes about human transience in II Corinthians 5:1, 4: For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. . . . For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened: not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality might be swallowed up by life. He compares our bodies to tents, emphasizing the brevity of life. We look forward to God replacing them with permanent, spiritual ones. Our Christian lives, then, mirror the Israelites' walk from Egypt to the Promised Land, during which theylived in booths or tents. They looked forward to a permanent existence in Canaan, while we hope for the same in God's Kingdom. In this way, we understand the Feast of Tabernacles to depict the conclusion of our journey, the thousand-year reign of Christ, theMillennium, when everyone will live in peace and prosperity. Who should keep the Feast of Tabernacles? In Leviticus 23:42-43, God says: You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORDyour God. All native-born Israelites must keep the Feast of Tabernacles in memory of God's bringing them out of Egypt. As such, Jesus kept it (John7:2, 10). Paul writes in Galatians 6:16 that God's elect are "the Israel of God," indicating that Christians must observe the same festivals. Zechariah 14:16-19 shows that all nations—Gentile and Israelite—will keep this Feast in the Millennium. God adds in Deuteronomy 16:14: "And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates." The whole family and anyoneelse for whom we are responsible is to participate in keeping the Feast with us. When should we keep the Feast of Tabernacles? The answer appears in Leviticus 23:34-36, 39-40: The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customarywork on it. . . . On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation . . .. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. . . . [O]n the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. And . . . you shallrejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. This Feast should be kept from the first holy day on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tishri, to its twenty-first day. On the eighth day, a separate but connected holy day Sabbath is observed on Tishri 22. Where should we keep the Feast of Tabernacles? God says in Deuteronomy 16:13, 15: You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. . . . Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORDyour God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all thework of your hands, so that you surely rejoice. (Emphasis ours.) Tabernacles was one of three commanded pilgrimage festivals for which God commanded the Israelites to travel to where He chose to dwell. God lived in His "House," the Tabernacle and Temple in the Promised Land, so these feasts were kept firstat Shiloh and then in Jerusalem. However, in John 4:21, Jesus says, "[T]he hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father." In fulfillment of Christ's prophecy, the Romans halted Temple worship in Jerusalem in AD 70 by razing God's House. Under the New Covenant, Jesus says God's spiritual people, "the true worshipers . . . worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John4:23). The church is worldwide in scope, not anchored to any central geographical locale. In faith, then, we observe the Feast where God has placed His name through the work of the church and its ministers. Why do we keep the Feast of Tabernacles? What is its relevance to us in the twenty-first century? In Leviticus 23, we saw that God made the children of Israel dwell in tabernacles on the way from Egypt to the PromisedLand. We, too, have been brought out of spiritual Egypt on the way to the Kingdom of God. Like them, we cannot put our hopes, dreams, and ambitions in the world God has called us from because this world is passing away (IJohn 2:15-17). We observe the Feast of Tabernacles every year as a reminder that our true, eternal homeland, one over which God rules, is before us (Hebrews11:10, 13-16), and this physical life is a brief time of testing and preparation for the time to come (Matthew6:33; John 14:1-4). How do we afford to observe the Feast of Tabernacles? Travel, accommodations, and food at a Feast site are not cheap. God has accounted even for this difficulty: Each year, from year to year, we are to save an additionaltithe of our income to cover expenses we may incur in keeping His holy days, primarily the Feast of Tabernacles. The main command about this appears in Deuteronomy 14:22-23, 26: You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make Hisname abide . . .. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires; . . . and you shall rejoice, you and your household. God blesses the works of our hands, and from that increase, we take ten percent to use to enjoy our stay at the Feast. Verse 27 urges us to share our blessings with others who have less for whatever reason. In this way, by our obedience to thiscommand, we rejoice before God and also learn to fear Him, that is, revere Him for His providence and kindness (verse 23). Unlike this world's holidays, there is a divine purpose for observing God's holy days: They are teaching vehicles detailing God's Plan for humanity. God desires that we "rejoice with purpose" on His feast days, learning more fully about Himand what He is doing to bring us and eventually all people into His Kingdom. As we celebrate this Feast, have a great time, but remember to be thankful for what God has provided and take time to serve the brethren so they can also rejoice. - John Reiss