“Tabernacles” or the festival of “Booths,” occurs for seven days, from Tishrei 15 to 21.  There is a quick transition from the high holidays, with their somber mood of repentance and judgment, to a holiday of rejoicing and celebration, for which the people are commanded to build a hut and make it their home.  The Torah identifies the booth with the temporary dwellings in which the Israelites lived in the wilderness after they left Egypt on their way to the Promised Land (Lev. 23:42).

 The same time period marks the beginning of the construction of God’s sanctuary in the desert (Ex. 25:8-9).  In Ex. 25:9, the word tabernacle is the word mishkan in Hebrew.  According to tradition, Moses again ascended Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights to receive the second set of tablets and descended on Yom Kippur, carrying them as a sign of God’s forgiveness of Israel for the sin of the golden calf, and as a symbol of the lasting covenant between God and Israel (Ex. 24:12-18; 34:1-2,27,28).  The following day Moses relayed God’s instructions for building the mishkan - a dwelling place.  material for this portable structure was collected during the days before the Feast of Tabernacles, and work was begun on the tabernacles.

 The booth or shelter reminds us of the clouds of glory that surrounded Israel during their wandering through the desert on the way to the Promised Land.  Everybody then saw the special Divine protection that God bestowed on Israel during those difficult years.  Ex. 13:21 says, “And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.”

 Spiritual Application.  God desired that the tabernacle in the wilderness be built because He wanted to dwell with His people (Ex. 29:44-45).  Spiritually speaking, this physical tabernacle was given by God to teach and instruct us that He desires to live and dwell with His people by means of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:1).  The clouds represent the believers in Jesus (Heb. 12:1; Rev. 1:7).

UNDERSTANDING THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES

 The Feast of Tabernacles completes the sacred festivals of the seventh month.  In contrast to the somber tone of Rosh HaShanah and the Day of Atonement, the third feast of Tishrei was a time of joy.  Israel had passed through the season of repentance and redemption.

 Sukkot (Tabernacles) is called the “Season of Our Joy.”  One reason it was a time of joy was that after the season of repentance and the redemption of Yom Kippur came the joy of knowing your sins were forgiven and the joy of walking with God, knowing God, and being obedient to God.  Historically, Tabernacles commemorates the days in the wilderness of Sinai after coming out of Egypt.  According to all natural laws, they (the Israelites) should have perished, but were instead divinely protected by God. Prophetically, Tabernacles is the festival that teaches on the Messianic Kingdom and the joy of that Kingdom.

 As mentioned earlier, the Hebrew word chag comes from the Hebrew root word chagag, which means “to move in a circle, to march in a sacred procession, to celebrate or dance.”  The joy of Tabernacles was so great that it became known as “the Feast.”  In non-Jewish circles it is known as the Feast of Tabernacles.  The word tabernacle refers to a temporary dwelling place, which is the purpose of the “booth.”

 Spiritual Application.  The sukkah or booth, symbolizes man’s need to depend upon God for his provision of food, water, and shelter.  This is true in the spiritual realm as well.  The booth is the physical body, which is a temporary dwelling place for our souls and spirits (1 Cor. 6:19-20).  We need the food that the Word of God provides (Matt. 6:11; 4:4; John 6:33-35), the cleansing, rinsing, and washing that the Word of God brings to our lives (Eph. 5:26), and the shelter of God’s protection over our lives from the evil one (Matt. 6:13; Psa. 91).  Our physical needs will be provided for by God if we seek Him spiritually.

THE COVERING OF THE BOOTH

 The Feast of Tabernacles is a remembrance of the time in the wilderness when God protected, led, and sustained the children of Israel in the wilderness.  The wilderness experience was a picture of the Millennium because there was a supernatural environment for the people in the wilderness.  The covering was the cloud (Ex. 13:17-22; 14:16-20; 16:10; 19:1,9,16; 24:12-16; 40:1-2,35-38).  The cloud was a covering shelter and protection by day, and was a pillar of fire by night.  It was warmth, light, and protection.

 Spiritual Understanding.  The cloud was seen as a chupah, a wedding canopy.

 In Isa. 4:5 it is written”.....over all the glory shall be a canopy.”  Isa. 4:2-6 connects the branch in verses 2-3 with the cloud in verses 5-6 and the duty that is performed in the wilderness.  Isaiah is taking about how this would happen during the Messianic Kingdom. Read Isa. 2:2-4; 4:2-3.  Those written among the living in Jerusalem actually have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 20:12,15; 21:27; Phil. 4:3; Dan. 12:1; Psa. 69:28; Ex. 32:31-33).

 Isa. 4:2 speaks of the fruit of the earth and those who have escaped.  Tabernacles is known as the festival of ingathering and the fruit harvest.  In Rev. 7:9-17, we can see those who have come through the great tribulation period and who became believers in the Messiah during that time (Rev. 7:14).  In Rev. 7:15, the “dwell” with them.

 This Greek word sk’enos, means “tabernacle, booth, shelter, or covering.”  This also appears in Rev. 21:3.  This same word sk’enos, which means “tabernacle” or “booth” in Greek, is used to speak of Jesus during His first coming (John 1:14).  Notice the protection provided in Rev. 716, corresponding to Isa. 4:5-6, and the fountain of living waters in Rev. 7:17 and 21:4.  In Isa. 4:3, it is written “And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy...”  (also see Zech. 14:4,6-9,16-17,20-21).  Those who are called “holiness unto the Lord” in Zech. 14”20 are the same people in Isa. 4:3 who are called holy.

 The clouds in the wilderness are called “the clouds of glory” and the wilderness experience is a picture of the future Messianic Age, the Millennium.  The tabernacle was built to teach and understand the thousand year millennial reign of the Messiah, the Messianic Age, the Millennium. (cont'd on next page)