Date of message: 01 June 2003
Subject: The Feast of Tabernacles - Sukkot
Shalom, Boker-tov (good morning),
The cycle of feast days in the fall season describes a progressive process
whose intent is to illustrate how God covers the Israelites spiritually
at Yom Kippur, and physically during the Feast of Tabernacles. There is
a marked contrast now, moving away from the solemnity of Yom Kippur to
the rejoicing attitude of Sukkot. Actually this is the only feast at which
the Israelites are commanded to be filled with joy. Deuteronomy 16: 14
say, "Be joyful at your Feast - you, your sons and daughters, your
menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless
and the widows who live in your towns." They understand the directive
to set aside all sorrow and take joy in the LORD.
The LORD told Moses in Leviticus 23: 34-43 (New International Version):
-
34. Say to the Israelites: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month
the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.
35. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work.
36. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on
the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to
the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.
37. (These are the LORD's appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim
as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the LORD by fire -
the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings
required for each day.
38. These offerings are in addition to those for the LORD's Sabbaths and
in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill
offerings you give to the LORD.)
39. So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you
have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD
for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also
is a day of rest.
40. On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and
palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your
God for seven days.
41. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year.
This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate
it in the seventh month.
42. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live
in booths
43. so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths
when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
The Israelites were directed to build a tabernacle (sukka) in which to
dwell for seven days. The week was to be a memorial of times past in which
God led His children through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised
Land; an attempt to relive the journey through the wilderness with the
children of Israel. The hope is that all of us will be able to apply these
biblical lessons to our lives.
The sukka (tabernacle or booth), consists of three walls, usually covered
on the sides with cloth. The inside is decorated with fruits of the harvest
and colorful hand-made items usually crafted by the children of the household.
In orthodox families, all meals are eaten in the sukka for the seven-day
period while for conservative homes, only some meals are taken in the
sukka.
The most interesting part of the sukka is the roof. People would scour
the city for tree branches. In fact the date farmers would take this holiday
as an opportunity to trim their date-palms and provide the palm branches
for roofing material. The rule is that the occupants of the sukka must
be able to see the stars through the branches of the roof.
In Israel, a large number of families would try to go to the desert by
the shores of the Dead Sea on the eve of Sukkot and build their sukkas
in the Qumran area. In the first few days of Sukkot, the usually hot weather
of the fall season and the moon always rising over the Jordan Valley and
the Dead Sea is simply majestic. The moon would almost always be a shimmering
orange and because the Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, Sukkot will
always fall on a full moon.
The Festival of Sukkot is designed to give the Israelites a platform in
which to give thanks to God for the last harvest of the year, similar
to the Thanksgiving holiday in America. It is also meant to be a reminder
of our frailty living here on planet earth. It is a replay, if you will,
of the time in the desert when the construction of the booth for shelter
from the hot sun was all one had. Bearing in mind the children of Israel
did not leave Egypt equipped with tents, they began that time in booths
with branches probably gathered from the rivers closer to Egypt where
there was an abundance of reeds. Tent making obviously matured while in
the wilderness.
Life indeed is frail and short. In fact the Psalmist put it very candidly
in Psalms 103: 15 - 16: -
15. As for man, his ways are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of
the field;
16. The wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it
no more.
But the LORD went further and stated that His love is with those who worshipped
Him and His righteousness on those who kept His covenant. Jesus Himself
reminded His disciples that their lives were worth much more than the
lilies of the valley and the birds of the air. If God took special care
to tend the lilies of the fields and to feed the sparrow, how much more
will He not care for His very own. Jesus will be coming back very shortly
to take His own flock back with Him to heaven.
Have you placed your faith in our Lord and Savior? Have you received Jesus
into your heart? It is not difficult. All that is needed is for you to
believe in Jesus and He will come into your heart and give you eternal
life. By believing in Jesus and receiving His Holy Spirit into our lives,
God confers on us the position of sons and daughters in His Family, special
positions reserved only for those whom He loves dearly (John 1: 12). Rejection
of what Jesus had done for us on the cross signifies the rejection of
God's gift of salvation and if one rejects the Gift, there is therefore
no more hope.
The Lord cannot lie. For Him, whatever He speaks come to pass and He had
promised us in the Bible that those who have put their trust in Him will
not be condemned but have passed from death into life (Romans 8: 1).
Pray this simple prayer of faith and invite Him into your heart and immediately
you will experience the peace of Jesus coming your way.
O God our Heavenly Father, thank you that You are ever merciful and so
full of love for us in that while we were still far away from You, You
loved us and sent Your only Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ into this
world, to take on a human life so that He can be the Sacrifice that You
had wanted all along. Thank you that You have prepared a new heaven and
You are waiting to show it to us.
Lord Jesus, thank you that You loved us so much that You were willing
to die for us on the cross. Thank you that You became that Sacrificial
Lamb for us and because of Your death, the judicial righteousness of the
Father had been satisfied. And now, because You rose from the dead, we,
who believe in You as our Lord and Savior, will no longer have to die
but we receive Your eternal life. Thank you for coming into my heart and
making my heart Your home.
Thank you that what You have accomplished for us on the cross has qualified
me to become a child of God the Father. Thank you that I am now eternally
forgiven, greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved and completely
protected in the Lord and in Your most precious Name, Yeshua Ha' Mashiah,
I pray. Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer for the first time, welcome to the Family
of the Father (and it is a very large universal family). It is important
that you are not alone facing your personal trials but that you can obtain
good help wherever you are. Why not take the time to find your own local
Christian family (local church) and worship the Father together? You will
be greatly encouraged when you meet together to worship the Father, for
fellowship and for the study of the Word of Christ.
Start receiving the blessings of the Father as you walk with Him in faith.
It is your inheritance in Christ and He wants you to start enjoying these
blessings right now and there is more from where they come from.
The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all
your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 -26
Have a blessed week ahead, Shavrou-tov
Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee
This and other archived messages can also be found
on the following URL
http://www.oocities.org/fibredrive/index.htm