The Feast of Booths

Across the ages, God has sought out His people Israel, in order to bless them and make them a blessing to many peoples (Genesis 12:2,3). He has also entrusted Israel with a sacred trust – to bear His Name and be the nation from which His redemptive plan for the world would go forth (John 4:22).

This redemptive plan is illustrated in the annual feasts of Israel that the Lord ordained. The feasts are called moedim in Hebrew, meaning “appointments”, because they make up God’s appointment calendar with His redeemed people.

Holy Convocations

A discussion of Israel’s worship would not be complete without a catalog of these seven annual feasts. Within the seven feasts (holy convocations, mikrah-kodesh) there are three that are regarded as Pilgrim Feasts. These three Pilgrim Feasts: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles required all the men to come “before the LORD” three times a year at the Tabernacle, and later at the Temple in Jerusalem (Exodus 23:17; 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16). The Feast of Tabernacles is a harvest feast also called the Feast of Ingathering. In sharp contrast to Yom Kippur, five days earlier, this eight-day harvest festival is occasionally referred to as Z’man Simkhateinu, the “Season of our Rejoicing”.

Seven days of continual, joyous celebration are followed by a solemn assembly on the eighth day. The eighth day is called Shemini Atzeret, or “the assembly of the eighth.” The Sukkot festival is the culmination of all the feasts on God’s redemptive calendar. Leviticus 23:41-43 says that Israel is to live in booths each year, to remind us of the wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. As a harvest feast, it reminds us of our Sovereign God’s wonderful provision for our lives. Both these ideas prophetically point to the end-time harvest ingathering of the Lord. Because of its place in the biblical calendar, by the time Solomon became king centuries later, this festival had become the most important festival and is called “the Feast” in 1 Kings 8:2, 65.

Elements of Sukkot

In the contemporary Sukkot service, there are many festive celebrations. These include waving the lulav (a combination of palm, myrtle, and willow branches) toward the four corners of the earth, acknowledging the Lord as sovereign, and reciting the Hallel Psalms (Psalm 113 through 118 hallel means praise). The very word for booth or tabernacle is sukkah, which means covering or protection. Although to the casual observer, it would not appear to offer much protection at all. A sukkah is a frail, three-sided booth that is built both at the synagogue, and at homes throughout the community. For the eight days of Sukkot, those who celebrate the holiday pray, eat, and sleep in their sukkah.

God is our Sufficiency

When Israel came out of Egypt, we were weak, vulnerable, and dependent upon God, just like the frail appearance of the sukkah. In the wilderness we appeared easily conquerable by the desert tribes living there (Exodus 17:9-16), but the Lord was the secret resource for Israel’s wilderness victory. As Israel was redeemed from Egyptian bondage by God’s power, so they are kept through the wilderness trials by God’s power. Just as there were no works of your own to redeem you, there are no works that can keep you. It is all the sovereign work of God.

Today, along our ‘wilderness journey’, reliance on Him is still our hope and protection. Sukkot teaches that the people of God can never live as if we could manage spiritually on our own (Lev. 23:43). We need the Lord. He is our sufficiency, and in Him we have the protection of God. There is an additional reason God wants future generations to remember the wilderness experience. Sukkot testifies to the transitional nature of this world and helps us remember the temporary nature of this life. There was no true rest in the wilderness. The booth itself had to be a temporary dwelling, we are to “dwell in a temporary abode” (Lev. 23:43).

When you live in booths you testify to your neighbors that this world is temporary and is not your home; we are all just passing through. Whatever you and I own now will one day pass away. My certain hope is to one day be with God in the true Promised Land of Heaven. Even the Patriarch Abraham had this hope (Hebrews 11:9,10).

The Best is yet to Come

Therefore, we were not to live as permanent residents of the wilderness, so let us not live as though this temporal world is our permanent home. Like Abraham, we also look forward to our Heavenly home, which our Lord has gone ahead of us to prepare: “Yeshua said, ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; so that where I am, there you may be, also’” (John 14:2-3).

Our Eternal Sukkah

One day we will be in the very presence of the Lord, and still Sukkot will be pictured as the eternal hope of all who believe in Yeshua. Rev. 7 states, those “from every nation” will be standing before the throne of God and waving ”palm branches in their hands” (Rev. 7:9). There will be no more hunger, thirst, or weeping because “the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17). Why will this be so fulfilling? We will be covered by “the Lord’s tabernacle [sukkah]” (Rev. 7:15).

Every nation, tribe, people, and language will give honor and praise to Yeshua, the Lamb, the Lord of hosts, “when He comes, in that day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe” (2 Thess. 1:10). This will happen because Messiah, our Sukkah will dwell among us: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and be their God” (Rev. 21:3).

Sukkot pictures and promises what a glorious time this will be, when the biblical hope of “peace on earth” will finally be realized internationally and forever. Join us as we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles on Sept. 11th at 7:00 PM and Sept.12th at 10:30 AM, 2026 at Hope of Israel Congregation in Charlotte, NC.