The seventh of the Feasts of the Lord was observed in the fall of the year, right after the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:33-44). It was a joyful celebration which lasted seven days. It was, like the spring festivals, a pilgrim feast which brought Jewish families back to Jerusalem. There they gave thanks for the forgiveness of sins, for abundant blessings of good harvests and for God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises. It is said to be the most popular of the annual festivals.
The feast was called “tabernacles” because for that week the people erected and camped in temporary shelters, or booths. These shelters were made of leafy limbs and branches woven together. These temporary dwellings were to remind the Hebrews of their history as a pilgrim people. They remembered how the Lord had guided their ancestors through the forty year pilgrimage in the wilderness of Sinai. The Hebrews had lived on the move in temporary quarters all that time until they occupied the promised land.
“Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so that your descendants will know that I had them live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:42-43). Some observant Jews in Israel still make a practice of constructing booths for seven days in the middle of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar.
Jesus observed this festival by making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem (John 7:2, 14). He would have participated in the sacred assembly at the temple. He would have seen the grand procession of the priests who, accompanied by music and dancing and the sounding of the shofar, brought water from the Pool of Siloam to pour out as a libation to the Lord. He would have seen the lighting of four golden lamps in the court of the temple amid great rejoicing. He would have joined the crowds in singing “Hosanna” (Psalm 118:25).
The ceremonial pouring out of water was a symbol of how the Lord provided water for the Hebrew pilgrims in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6). The lighting of the lamps evoked memories of the pillar of cloud and fire by which God led his people in their journey (Exodus 13:21-22). Jesus knew this when he stood in the courts of the temple, raised his voice so the crowds could hear him, and cried, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water shall flow from within him” (John 7:37-38). He drew the crowd’s attention away from the literal water to himself, the spiritual water of life.
Then, with the inherent authority he had as the Son of God, he interrupted the lighting of the lamps in the temple to declare, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). This young itinerant rabbi from Galilee was inviting the congregation of Israel to come to him! He was saying that the Feast of Tabernacles pointed to him! He is the Messiah. He is the Savior.
When he comes again, the whole earth will rejoice under his kingly rule. At the climax of the Book of Zechariah we read about Israel’s national restoration (Zechariah 13:9). The Jews will cry out to God in repentance (Zechariah 12:10-11, 13:1). Messiah Jesus will reign as king in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:9, 8:3). The Lord will live among his people (Zechariah 2:10). Representatives of all nations will go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord in the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16).
The pilgrim feasts of the Lord are important witnesses to us. The Feast of Passover signifies Jesus’ past sacrificial death. Pentecost reminds us of the coming of the Holy Spirit who remains with us now. Tabernacles is a testimony to the future second coming and glorious kingdom of our Lord Jesus. Just as the Hebrew people rejoiced when they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in the past, so God’s people will rejoice when Jesus comes and his people reign with him in his kingdom in the future.
Pastor Randy Faulkner