Prof. M.M.Ninan

After Tabernacles comes a final Feast called  the "Last Great Day" on the Eighth Day

          The feast of the tabernacles or booths fell soon after the third harvest of wine, oils,  fruits and herds. Thus it is the final harvest festival in the cycle of the year.

Tabernacles is a festival of great joy and celebration when all Israel came down to Jerusalem in the Autumn season. This was seven days after  wine harvest began and fell on the 15th of Tishri during the full moon. (Every month starts at the new moon. 15 days after that will be a full moon).   Jews made booths made of sticks and leaves called sukkah. The festival is therefore called succoth. The roof was to be made of leaves leaving enough space so that the sky can be seen though. It was therefore a family camping out - a great picnic.  The whole family lived and slept in huts or shelters called Booths. This was to commemorating the experience of Israel in the wilderness.

Dwelling in tabernacles is also a symbol of faith that God will fulfill His promises:
Heb 11: 8-10     By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Everyone ate in the open and in accordance with the Eastern custom, any passerby can join the meal without regard to who it is: rich, poor, friend, or foe. The money will not be a problem because the family can use the tithe money for these expenses. They were to give it to the poor, the widows and the orphans along with the Levites.

The First day of Assembly

During the First day was a Holy gathering when all adult male presented themselves before the temple.

During the worship special Psalms were used normally these were
(1) The fifteen "songs of degrees," or "songs of ascent," Psalms 120-134, were sung by pilgrims on the way up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast. The Levites sang these psalms as they ascended the 15 steps in the Temple from the court of women to the court of Israel. and

(2) The "Hallel (Praise God) Psalms," Psalms 113-118.  

All congregation also went down to the pool and drank the water. All through the seven days  there was a sacred procession led by the priests around the altar singing "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you."   (Ps. 118:24-28)

  'The fruit of the goodly trees' was interpreted as aethrog, or citron, and 'the boughs of thick trees' as the myrtle with plenty of berries  and the palm branches  not taken from any idolatrous grove. Every worshipper carried the aethrog in his left hand, and in his right the lulav, or palm, with myrtle and willow branch on either side of it, tied together on the outside with its own twig.  The lulav was was carried by every worshipper and vigorously shaken in celebration with the flute and the trumpet.

Ushpizin

Days from the second day through the sixth day are called Ushpizin (which means guest). This is the time people visited friends, relations and eating together. All Israel who came from all over the country gets an occasion to get to know each other.  The idea is that the whole of Israel is one family.  Traditionally it also was an occassion for young people to find their mades.  On the Third day, Ecclesiastes is read.

The Sixth day, is a cry for salvation - a procession shouting "Hosanna" which means "Save us now"

Shemini Atseret

The Last day is another Sabbath, called Shemini Atseret (final Sabbath day). .John 7:37-39.  On that day the sacred procession went round the altar with the worshippers carrying the palm leaf lulav seven times instead of one time and the trumpets were sounded in a reenactment of the Jericho incident.  Here was a new Canaan to possess which is given by the Lord again.  It is no more physical Canaan, but spiritual. 

At the end of this the libation ceremony was held. Both libations of wine and water were made. 

While the morning sacrifice was being prepared, a priest, accompanied by high pitched flute music, went down to the Pool of Siloam, and filled a golden pitcher with its water.  ( On  Sabbaths since they cannot travel it was stored inside the temple the day before)   Another procession  from Siloam   went to  the Kedron valley, (called Motza) and    brought willow branches.  These were used to decorate the altar of sacrifice. The jug of water from Siloam will enter through the  'Water-gate as the sacrifice is complete.   It is received with the traditional threefold blasts. The priest then went up the rise of the altar   where there were two silver basins with narrow holes-- one for the wine offering and the other for the water offering. The priest will then ceremoniously pour the wine and the water into these holes which wend down to the bottom of the altar.

The temple music of the Psalms of ascention played in accompaniment of the high pitched flute.  When the choir come to certain points in the worship the lulavs were shaken as praise and prayer for thanksgiving and expectation of the long awaited salvation from God.  (The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, Alfred Edersheim  Chapter 14 The Feast of Tabernacles )

During this time special prayers were also made for good rainfall during the coming season. This Water Pouring Ceremony commemorated three factors:

1.  Dependence of Israel on God for their daily living.  As the feast of the weeks was the last harvest festival and since the harvest depends on the rain, the libation of water indicated the supply of water and hence the fruitfulness of land and the life to come.

2 . The water from the golden jar represented the water that flowed from the smitten rock and the rock that followed Israel in their wandering period.  Paul asserts that the rock was indeed Jesus.

Ex. 17:5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 1 Cor. 10:3 - 4 They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

3. It looked forward to the coming of the Mesia  and to the Millennial River of Living Water that flows from His throne.

Zechariah 14:16-19, "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left . . . shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. . . . This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep theFeast of Tabernacles."

It was in this climax point of the worship  that Jesus shouted with a loud voice:  

'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.'

John 7:37-40  "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet glorified.) Many of the people therfore, when they heard this saying, said, 'Of a truth this is The Prophet.'"

No wonder the temple authorities were worried.  It was a direct announcement of his mesiaship.  So the Sanhedran ordered Jesus to be arrested for disturbing a sacred ceremony. But the temple police were afraid to arrest him.  They replied, "Never a man spoke like this Man." 

The wine ceremony commemorated the new era that was to come with the mesia.  Jesus referred to his gospel always as the mew wine - a message of gladness and joy.

A Festival of Lights.

In fond memory of the guidance and eternal presence of  Yhwh in the desert as the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, this festival is also celebrated as a festival of lights - a Deepavali.  As the evening of the first day of the feast draws near the entire dwellings and the booths are illuminated by the seven pronged candlebra fed from the rich fresh olive oil.  In the Court of the Women,  four enormous golden candelabras fifty cubits high  each with four golden bowls were filled ceremoniously with ten gallons of oil  was lit and the whole land was covered with the light of the lamp competing with the full moon. It was here Jesus shouted, "As long as I am in this world, I am the light of the world"..  The priests and Levites used their own worn-out liturgical clothing for wicks. The light emanating from the four candelabra was so bright that the Mishna says, "There was no courtyard in Jerusalem that was not lit up with the light at the libation water-well ceremony" (Succah 5:3)

People  danced   with flaming torches in their hands, and sang  hymns and songs of praise.   Levites, with harps, and lutes, and cymbals, and trumpets, and instruments of music  stood upon the fifteen steps which led down from the Court of Israel to that of the Women,  singing the   fifteen Songs of Degrees from the Book of Psalms. The trumpets sounded at every step until they reached the Beautiful Gate facing west.  There they acknowledged Yhvh as their God and repudiated the sun worship as they recounted these words.  : 'Our fathers who were in this place, they turned their back upon the Sanctuary of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped towards the rising sun; but as for us, our eyes are towards the Lord.'

In this festival Jesus tried to argue with the religious authorities trying to show them that he was the mesiah "I am the one I claim to be"  and he did miracles if front of them.  Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind using the water from the pool of Siloam.   The whole of the Johns chapters 7 to 9 illustrates how Jesus tried to persuade them to acknowledge Him as the mesiah then and there.  Instead they tried to arrest him and set up courts to try him of blasmphemy.

Special Sacrifices of Tabernacles and Last Great Day

Numbers 29:12-40

Also on each of the eight days, the meal offering was given, of flour mixed with oil, three tenths ephah flour with one half hin of oil with each bullock, two tenths ephah was one third hin per ram, and one tenth ephah with 1/4 hin per lamb. (See Numbers 15:1-10.) The total of ephahs of flour for all sacrifices is 336 (48 x 7). Also a kid of the goats was offered each day for a sin offering.

The Prophetic Significance of the Festival

Feast Portrays the Second Coming of Mesia and the begining of Millenium.

Isaiah 25:6-8, And in this mountain [Zion, where God will reign, Isaiah 24:23 and 2:2-3] shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory . . . wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Joel 2:23-29, Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former [spring] rain, and the latter rain in the first month [of the civil year]. And the floors shall be full of wheat . . . . And I will restore . . . that the locust hath eaten . . . . And ye shall eat in plenty . . . . . [Living Bible, verse 28:] After I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out My Spirit upon all of you! Your sons and daughters will prophesy; your old men will dream dreams, and your young men see visions. And I will pour out My Spirit even on your slaves . . . [Compare John 7:37-39.]

Zechariah 14:1-21 A day of Lordis coming when your plunder will be divided among you. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then Lordwill go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then Lordmy God will come, and all the holy ones with him. On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime--a day known to Lord . When evening comes, there will be light. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the Eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter. Lordwill be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord , and his name the only name. The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure. This is the plague with which Lordwill strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day men will be stricken by Lordwith great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other. Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected--great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps. Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, LordAlmighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, LordAlmighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. Lordwill bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. On that day HOLY TO Lordwill be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in Lord 's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to LordAlmighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of LordAlmighty.


Was Jesus born on The Feast of the Booths?

Many believe that Jesus was born on the Feast of the booths. Zachariah was of the course of Abijah .(Luke 1:5 ) and had to serve every year five times. If in one year he was selected (which is done by casting lot) to officiate as Priest to enter into the temple to serve at the incense table during the first term during the tenth week starting Nissan, then Elizabeth conceived John almost immediately and Mary conceived Jesus on the sixth month. This will lead us to a probable date of birth of Jesus during the first few weeks of Tishri. If ths is true Messiah, the "light of the world", was conceived on the festival of lights (Chanukah)!
was born the Feast of Tabernacles. This will give some meaning to John's statement