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by Olivier Melnick
We just finished celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Next is a big celebration for the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths or Sukkot in Hebrew.
The Feasts are special yearly convocations listed in Leviticus 23, also called the Feasts of the Lord. They divide into two groups: the Spring Festivals and the Fall Feasts. They all have biblical, rabbinic, and prophetic significance.
Another critical aspect of the festivals is that all the yearly convocations found in Leviticus 23 have a prophetic significance as they pertain to the redemptive career of Yeshua the Messiah. As they are listed on the calendar chronologically throughout the year, they help us understand the order of end-times events.
Sukkot will be fulfilled by the Millennial Kingdom or the Messianic Kingdom, also known as the 1000-year Kingdom on Earth. Back in biblical days, it was an agricultural feast at the time of the fall harvest. It was also one of the three mandatory festivals that you find in the Bible where Jews had to go back to Jerusalem to celebrate at the Temple along with Passover and Pentecost.
Sukkot is found in the Bible. In the Torah in Leviticus 23:33-43; Exodus 23:14-17; Numbers 29:12-38; Deuteronomy 16:13-16; Deuteronomy 31:9-13. In the Prophets, in 1 Kings 8:1-66, 12:25-33. In the Writings, in II Chronicles 7:8-10; Nehemiah 8:13-18, and in the New Testament, in John 7:1-10:21.
In Exodus 23:14- 17, we read: 14 “Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 16 Also you shall keep the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.”
This confirms that Sukkot was one of the three festivals that required a physical trip to Jerusalem from wherever you were in Israel. When you look at Leviticus 23:33-43 you find out more about the Feast of Sukkot.
“Again the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the sons of Israel saying on the 15th of the 7th month is the feast of booth for seven days to the Lord on the first day is a holy convocation ….it is a solemn assembly, you shall do no laborious work. These are the appointed times of the lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations to bring offerings by fire near to the Lord ….on exactly the 15th day of the 7th month when you have gathered in the produce of your land you shall celebrate the feast of Yahweh for seven days with a rest on the first day and a rest on the 8th day and on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and bows of leafy trees and willows of the brook and you shall be glad before the Lord your God for seven days.”
So, we find out that it takes place on the 15th of the 7th month, which is the 15th of Tishrei. It lasts seven days, and then there’s another festival right after that for one day. There is no laborious work, meaning it’s to be treated like a Shabbat. And back in the day, the offerings were supposed to be presented at the temple.
Four species are mentioned in Leviticus 23: 40, which states, “On the first day you shall take for yourselves no the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches, and bows of leafy trees, and willows of the brook.”
These four species are known as the Arba minim. They symbolize the final harvest and are presented in thanksgiving to the Lord. They are held and shaken in all directions because God is everywhere.
They are held in both hands and waved East, South, West, North, upward, and downward. This is done to thank the Lord for his current provision and continue to ask him for future provision. The lemon-looking fruit known as etrog symbolizes the promised land. The palm symbolizes something that has fruit but no fragrance. The myrtle has fragrance but no fruit. The willow has neither fragrance nor fruit. The etrog has both fragrance and fruit. They all symbolize Jewish unity despite diversity.
In Jewish tradition, this is when we build a sukkah or a dwelling or tabernacle or a booth, and people traditionally eat and even, in some cases, sleep in the booth for the whole week. There’s also a tradition of offering hospitality to the less fortunate during that festival and inviting them in. Something somewhat similar to a Jewish version of Thanksgiving. The booths can be built on the ground, sidewalk, or on the grass. In Israel and some Jewish communities around the world, you see them also built on balconies of people’s homes. They are to be flimsy, have three walls and one opening, and have leafy branches on the roof with enough holes to see the stars through the roof.
Now when we go back to the biblical practice of Sukkot, especially in the New Testament time or the Second Temple period (515 BC-AD 70), there were two misapplications of that feast. The first one was the transfiguration when the disciples saw Yeshua with Moses and Elijah, and they were convinced that He was inaugurating the Kingdom, and because they knew scripture, they knew that in the Kingdom we would be celebrating the Feast of Sukkot. Matthew 17:1-4 17 And six days later Yeshua brought with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 And Peter answered and said to Yeshua, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three booths here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
The other misapplication was at the Triumphal Entry when people, seeing Yeshua coming into Jerusalem, thought that He was coming to inaugurate the kingdom. But in both cases, people were wrong, as they expected the inauguration of the Messianic Kingdom, but it was just the first coming of Yeshua. He would have to die as the ultimate sacrifice for all people in the world, including Jewish people, rise again and ascend to the Father before he could come back at the second coming and inaugurate the Kingdom.
Yet, two ceremonies were happening during that festival in biblical times. They were known as the ceremony of the outpouring of the water and the ceremony of the kindling of the lampstands. The outpouring of the water took place as the priests marched down from the Temple compound down to the pool of Siloam, filled water pots and jugs, and then returned to the Temple and entered through the Watergate. Water was poured on the altar to symbolize that the whole world would know God through his Messiah one day. It was symbolizing the outpouring of the spirit of God. Yeshua connected Himself to that scripture in John 7:37-39, “now on the last day the great day of the Feast, Yeshua stood and cried out saying if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink he who believes in me as the scripture said from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water but this was spoken of the Spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive for the Spirit was not yet given because Yeshua was not yet glorified.”
Then there is the lamp stand ceremony at the close of the first day of Sukkot the Levites would March to the Temple with torches to symbolize the coming of the Messiah to light the whole world, and again Yeshua connected himself to that event in John 8:12 “then Yeshua spoke again to them saying I am the light of the world he who follows me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
So, what’s interesting is that both events took place each year on the Feast of Sukkot when Yeshua walked the earth during His ministry. The priest and Levites would perform those ceremonies according to Jewish tradition with the great expectation of the coming of the Messiah one day in the future. Yeshua, both times, is saying, “Look, I’m here; I’m the Messiah you are waiting for!” as He connected Himself to the living water and the light of the, but of course, the vast majority of his people rejected him as we know the story from our perspective today.
So, prophetically, Sukkot will be celebrated in the Millennial Kingdom. It will be mandatory for Jews and Gentiles, and it will be celebrated every year and will result in the worship of King Messiah in His Kingdom. We learn about this in Zechariah 14:16-19.
16 Then it will be that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which Yahweh plagues the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
So we see in Zechariah 14 that the Feast is mentioned three times in five verses. It will be celebrated during the Millennial Kingdom and fulfilled by the Millennial Kingdom. It will be a time of rejoicing following the seven-year tribulation, as Sukkot was a time of rejoicing after Yom Kippur.
This raises an important question: “Should believers today celebrate the Feasts of the Lord?” I think there’s beauty in the Levitical Feasts. Incidentally, they are called the Feasts of the Lord and not the Feasts of Israel, so maybe we should have a broader view of their celebration. We should not celebrate them with a legalistic approach, as believers are under grace. So, anybody within the Body of Messiah can choose if they want to celebrate them or not. We also need to keep in mind that we can never celebrate them to increase our spirituality, because we cannot get “more saved.” Yet, it can be a beautiful thing to celebrate the Feasts as a memorial to Yeshua’s sacrifice on our behalf. Looking at them from this perspective can be beneficial and very enjoyable without being burdensome