Rains and Joy for Sukkot

​"Be joyful at your festival," it says in Deuteronomy 16:14 about the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot.  How could we not celebrate this festival that is a picture of the Lord sitting at our table of rejoicing with us? Some prefer to say that the Lord will tabernacle or dwell with us.  I find the details of all that happens during Sukkot particularly fascinating this year, because it is a Shemitah year—a year of rest.  Leviticus 25 shares how God's people are to live during the seventh year.  "When you enter the land, I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord.  For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.  But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord," (Verses 2-4)  "You may ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?'  I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years." (Verses 20-21)  Here we have God's promise to be faithful to us as we are faithful to His Word.
 
A report written by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz in Biblical News on March 16 explains an interesting application of this requirement as it pertains to the Pool of Siloam, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the water libation ceremony (Nisuch Hamayim) performed in the Temples in Israel.  The water libation ceremony is part of the oral tradition handed down from Moses.  Water was collected daily from the Pool of Siloam in golden vessels and brought to the Temple.  This ceremony was one of extraordinary joy as those who escorted the priests to the Pool would sing and play musical instruments.  When all the people returned to the Temple, water and wine were poured on the altar as a sacrifice that accompanied their worship of God.  When the libation ceremony was repeated by the worshipers every day, the excitement built until the seventh day when the joy and celebration was at its height.
 
It is significant that Tabernacles is celebrated at the end of the dry season.  Israel has no rain for approximately six months.  The pouring out of the water on the altar is a significant sacrifice every year.  Prayers asking for the rains to come during the next six months are part of the libation ceremony. Those prayers were answered by God in a dramatic way this past year.  It is reported that two years ago a contingent of Kohanim (priests), Levites, and Jews descended to the Pool of Siloam in the Old City of Jerusalem to collect water for the libation ceremony.  They were shocked that there was barely enough water to fill their golden vessels.  The good news is that after six years of drought, God blessed Israel with such an abundant rainy season that the Pool of Siloam is overflowing.  The Sea of Galilee was also at its lowest level in many years and has recovered to such an extent that it is within 12 centimeters of being full.
 
Bountiful crops cannot occur in the sixth year without bountiful amounts of water.  Here is where God made good on His promise:  "I will send such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years." (Leviticus 25:21)  We can count on the faithfulness of God.  He is a promise keeper who loves to bless us with "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." (Ephesians 3:20)
 
God is beyond understanding!  He is faithful to His promises and made that clear to His people when He was teaching them not to worry.  "Consider the ravens:  They do not sow or reap; they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them.  And how much more valuable you are than birds." (Luke 12:24)  Our world is in turmoil with cataclysmic and destructive events, evil agendas to destroy our families and our nation, and increases in sickness and death.  Israel is in the thick of a battle for her life, and yet God provided rain for the Pool of Siloam.  How much more does He care about us?  Be joyful!  One of the Hallel Psalms read at the Feast of Tabernacles is Psalm 118.  The end of this Psalm is so encouraging:  "The Lord is God, and He has made His light shine on us.  With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar...Give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good; His love endures forever." (Verses 27 and 29)