Themes of the Feast of Tabernacles

​The third of the fall feasts begins at sundown on Monday. Called Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles, its main message is that God desires to dwell with His people. Jesus/Yeshua is the consummation of the holiday as He "tabernacled" among us. Sukkot is the pinnacle of the Jewish calendar and is referred to by God as "The Feast." The week-long feast commemorates a time when God dwelt with His people in the desert. Moses reviewed the commandments for the Feast of Tabernacles with the Israelites before he left them. Here is how it is written 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. 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. Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice." (NKJV)
 
There are several themes to the festival of Sukkot that we will review:
Joy - God commanded that the Jewish people take four species (Leviticus 23:40) and wave them together before Him in rejoicing. The Jews use an etrog (large lemon-type citrus fruit), a palm frond, a willow and myrtle branch, and tie them together into what is called a lulav.
 
Ingathering - Sukkot is the celebration of agricultural harvest. This gathering of the harvest represents what will occur when the fullness of the Gentiles comes to faith in God and makes room for the return of the Jewish people to faith in their Messiah.
 
Dedication - In 1 King 8:2 we can read how King Solomon selected Sukkot as the time to dedicate the temple and bring the ark of the covenant into the inner sanctuary of the temple.
 
Light - During Sukkot four huge golden candlesticks were set up on the court of the Temple. Four young priests would climb ladders placed by the candlesticks as they carried about 7.5 gallons of pure oil to light the bowls at the top candlesticks. The light from those four candles lit the entire courtyard in the temple in Jerusalem. Many would dance in the night, holding bright torches and singing songs of praise to the Lord.
 
Water - In the last day of the festival the priest would go to the Pool of Siloam to draw water. They brought it back through the Water Gate and poured it on the altar. Prayers thanking God for the harvest rain would then be prayed. It was during this ceremony that Jesus declared, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." (John 7:37, 38)
 
Nations - Through the prophet Amos, God promised that He would raise up the fallen tabernacle of David. "In that day I will restore David's fallen shelter. I will repair its broken wall and restore its ruins, and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all nations that bear my name." (Amos 9:11, 12) The theme of Sukkot will be fulfilled according to Zechariah 14:16. "Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, The Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles." 
 
As the Jewish people are building their Sukkahs, or temporary booths, and live in them to remember their ancestors' journey through the desert, we must pray for them to be awakened to the truth of their Messiah who came to tabernacle with us.