The Feast of Tabernacles

The season of Biblical High Holidays has just ended, culminating in the Feast of Tabernacles. This is a very significant Feast, and in this teaching, I will guide you through each important point.

The New Testament translation of Tabernacle is Schina, or Shechinah in Hebrew, which means the Glory. The origin of the idea of Tabernacle, or the tent, was given to the Jewish people in the wilderness. Its meaning comes from God’s Glory. The main idea is God dwelling with man.

When God took Israel from out of Egypt , their first destination was Succoth: “Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children." Exodus 12:37

This was the first place where the children of Israel stopped after leaving Egypt . The name of this place was Succoth, which means Tabernacle.

The idea was that, immediately after their liberation from slavery, God would dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.

In Exodus 13:20-21, we also read: "So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people." Later, at Mount Sinai , God instituted the Feasts of the Lord, and commanded the Israelites to observe them all. There is a great deal of significance attached to these Feasts:

1. Cultural significance
2. Historical significance
3. Thanksgiving
4. Prophetic significance
5. Spiritual significance

Cultural significance,because there are three harvests involved.

1. The firstfruit of the first harvest right after Passover is the grain offering – Yom Ha Bikkurim (Firstfruit)
2. New grain offering – Shavuot (Pentecost)
3. Gathering the fruits of the land – Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles)

Historical significance, because God told Israel to remember how He took them out of Egypt , and how they dwelled in tents in the wilderness.

Thanksgiving, because we are to remember what God did for us when He took us out of the slavery of Egypt , sin and death, and gave us a land to dwell and a new life in the Messiah.

Prophetic significance that reveals God’s great plan for man, from salvation through Yeshua the Messiah to the Messiah’s second coming, when He will return to reign on Earth.

Spiritual significance is revealed through the Feasts celebrating salvation, resurrection, receiving the Holy Spirit, the rapture of the believers, the salvation of Israel as a nation, and the millennium.

Succoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles, is the last of the seven yearly Feasts. The scriptures say that the cloud of God’s Glory was following Israel in the form of the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. In Leviticus 23:43, we read:” …that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt : I am the LORD your God.”

The true meaning of this passage is that we must remember our dwelling in the wilderness under the cloud of God’s Glory! It is under the Glory of God that we are protected and looked after.

Later on, when the children of Israel came to Mount Sinai , we find a great example that teaches us the importance of Succoth. It is a well known fact that, after the Children of Israel had sinned with the Golden Calf, the cloud of glory was re­moved from them, as we read in Exodus 32:25: "And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose", or more literally: "And when Moses saw that the people were uncovered".

This means that the cloud of Glory had departed, leaving the Israelites exposed in their disgrace. Only after the tenth day of the month of Tish­rei (September), after the Lord had forgiven them, saying to Moses: "I have forgiven as thou hast spoken",were the Israelites commanded to build the Tabernacle, and then the cloud of Glory returned to protect them.

It was on the eleventh day of Tishrei, the day after the Day of Atonement (Youm Kippur), that Moses first asked the children of Israel to bring offerings for the construction of the Tabernacle. For two days, the Israelites brought him their offerings, as it is written: “And they brought yet to him free-will offerings every morning – lit. "in the morning, in the morning" Exodus 36:3 – which means for two days; the twelfth and the thirteenth days of Tishrei. "On the third day - the fourteenth day of Tish­rei, all the "wise-hearted men" Exodus 36:8 took the offerings from Moses, and on the fifteenth day, they began work on the construction of the Tabernacle. It was on that day that the sheltering cloud of Glory reappeared.

Let me go back a little so that I can share this very important point with you. When God lifted the cloud from over Israel because of their abomination in Exodus 33:1-2, we read: “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.”

What the Lord was saying, literally, was that His presence was lifted and that He would send His angel to lead the children of Israel to the Promised Land. Sin made God lift His Glory from the Israelites. “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Exodus 33:3.

Moses was very much aware that, without God’s presence, they would suffer from the heat during the day and the cold overnight, and that their life would be in great danger in the wilderness, even though the Lord had promised to drive their enemies from before them and to bring them to the promised land.

That is what happens to us when we fall into sin. The Lord still leads us to our final destination, but His Divine protection is withdrawn. That is why we so easily experience sickness, poverty, failure, and so on.

Therefore, as we read in Exodus 33:12-17: "Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”

Moses was pleading with God to keep His presence with Israel .When God saw the repentance in the camp, He decided to keep His Presence in the midst of His children.

We also find an interesting example of this in the New Testament. Yeshua took three of His talmudim (disciples) onto the mount, and when He was transfigured there, Simon Peter was ready to build three tabernacles there to commemorate the event. The Glory of God was once again revealed before them through Jesus, and therefore, they were anxious to build the tents and stay there.

What can we learn from this interesting story? At that time, Israel was experiencing a spiritual drought throughout the land. Sin had once again separated God and His children. Isaiah 53 contains the prophetic message concerning this matter. “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.” Isaiah 53:1-2.

Messiah came to Israel in the time of a great spiritual drought – out of dry ground. This is another example of His Messianic Mission. The Glory of God was upon Him – the Shechinah.  Israel once again experienced the Power of God, teachings from heaven, and even resurrection of the dead. This is what happens when the Glory of Adonai is in our midst.

On the mount of transfiguration, Yeshua was literally in Glory, and His disciples saw it. It had been so long since the Glory of God had been revealed to this degree before the eyes of man. That is why Peter and others were trying to build three tabernacles there. They remembered what their fathers experienced in the wilderness and how the Shechinah, the Glory of Adonai, rested on the Tabernacle of Moses. Yeshua our Messiah brought the Glory of God back to Earth, and today, the Glory dwells in every born-again believer in our Messiah!

There was another interesting event in the New Testament that I believe is very closely connected to the Feast of Tabernacles:"The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! The King of Israel !” Then Yeshua, Jesus when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion ; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.” John 12:12-15.

There are two things that we can discover in this passage. In Leviticus 23:30-40, we see an explanation of how we are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, or Succoth. "Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days."

The palm branches are mentioned there. When Yeshua entered Jerusalem , thisprophetic event took place. People were welcoming Him with palm branches.

The second thought from this passage leads us to the time when Yeshua our Messiah will return to Jerusalem the second time, when all Israel will be saved. His return will be as a Day of Atonement for Israel , just before Succoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles. The first time Yeshua entered Jerusalem on a donkey, the second time will be on a white horse. What a prophetic scripture passage that is!

In the book of Revelation, chapter 21:3, we read: "And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God."

Youm Kippur (the Day of Atonement) comes before the Feast of Tabernacles. When the Jewish people, the remnant, see Yeshua coming down from heaven with all of the saints, just as it is written in the book of Zechariah 12-14, they will all repent and cry as one cries for the only Son.On that Day, the entire nation of Israel will repent and accept their Messiah Yeshua, Jesus.

God will establish His kingdom on Earth! His Glory will dwell with us forever and ever. What a glorious day that will be! And the Glory of the Lord shall fill the Earth from sea to sea. New Jerusalem will be there, and we will reign forever with our Messiah and Lord!

The Feast of Tabernacles is a Feast of a great joy! Now you know why!

Shalom

By: Messianic Rabbi Gennady Livshits