Feast Of Booths (Tabernacles) Series

Feast of Tabernacles

Leviticus 23:23-33

April 10, 2022

As I was preparing for today’s message, I had this great AHA moment. It was one of those moments when you read the scripture and things simply fall into place and you get a grin when you see how God is working in the moment.

Hopefully, you’ll see that by the end of worship.

Today we’re looking at the last of the 7 feasts of Israel. It’s actually called by one of the 3 names - - - Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths, or Feast of Ingathering. In Hebrew it’s called Sukkot, which means booths.

So, let’s do a quick recap of where we’ve been over the past 6 weeks.

There were 7 feasts commanded by God for the Israelites. The feasts are typically broken down into three main seasons.

The Spring feasts are – Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits. They all occur in a few days period - - and coincide with the barley harvest and were fulfilled by Jesus at His first coming.

The 4th feast was the Feast of Weeks, which we call Pentecost. It coincided with the completion of the wheat harvest and. We also see that during the feast when people were in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and the church age began.

The final three feasts – the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Booths - occur in the Fall, and they’ll be fulfilled in full by Jesus at His second coming.

The primary instructions for the observance of the Feast of Booths, like those for the other feasts, is found in Leviticus 23 - - -

33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord.

35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.

36 For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord.

On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.

39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land,

you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.

40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees,

branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.

41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths,

43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 23:33-36, 39-43

So, that’s the Feast of Booths. Have you noticed how many days in these feasts and holy days are to be Sabbaths to the Lord. Days when no work is to occur. Instead the people are to intentionally draw closer to God on those days. There’s a really nice rhythm to the Jewish calendar as they look forward not just to a day off, but to time spent with God.

The final 3 feasts all occurred in the same month. Rosh Hashonah was on Tishri 1, Yom Kippur on the 10th, and the Feast of Booths on the 15th of Tishri. It lasted for 7 days, with the 1st and last days being Sabbaths - no work permitted.

There are 3 passages describing this feast. I just read from Leviticus 23, and we see how the sacrifices were to be structured in Numbers 29, and more in Deuteronomy 31.

The Feast of Tabernacles was one of 3 feasts which were pilgrim feasts. Three times during the year, all Jewish males were required to appear before the Lord in the Temple. The Feasts of Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Tabernacles were all pilgrim feasts because of the required pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

This feast is also called ingathering because this feast occurs at the time of the final harvests of the year, it’s the harvest of the vines.

The people were supposed to build booths or shelters made from branches. They did this as a remembrance of how they lived in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt - - - an prior to their entering Israel.