How to Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles?
By
Rabbi Robert. O. Miller
“Yahweh had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkot. (Exodus 12:36)”
How do the Jews celebrate Sukkot? Since the dawn of time, people of every culture have gathered to celebrate the harvest, give thanks for the earth’s bounty and prepare for winter. To most Jews Sukkot is the Hebrew version of this universal festival. They also believe It honors the Children of Israel who lived in temporary shelters as they wandered the desert for 40 years, waiting to receive the 10 Commandments and to enter the Promised Land.
They celebrate by building a sukah the day after Yom Kippur, ideally outside in your backyard. The festival itself starts 4 days after the Day of Atonement. Their sukah resembles the shanties of Eatern Europe, a simple four-sided framework of wooden strips and decorate it with paper garlands, colorful paper cutouts, swaths of cloth and hanging fruits and vegetables. Lay tree branches or straw across the top to form the roof. Arrange them loosely so the moon and stars can shine through. They Eat dinner in their sukah every night of the 8-day festival; some also sleep in it, but that is not a must.
On the first and eighth day they meet at the synagogue for a special service. The four species are waved in the synagogue as part of the service during the holiday of Sukkot. Traditionally, they are not waved on Sabbath because bringing these items to the synagogue would violate the prohibition against carrying.
How do the Netzarim customs differ from our Jewish brethren? I believe that can best be summed up in answer to the question, “Why did Yahweh direct the Children of Israel to Sukkot as soon as they left Egypt?” Sukkot was literally a portable city of tents hence the name. I believe the reason the Children of Israel was brought to Sukkot was because the Children of Israel had lived 400 plus years in the limestone buildings of Egypt and they had forgotten how to live in tents. The people of Sukkot furnished both tents and the know how for the Children of Israel. Yahweh knew they would be traveling for 40 years and they would need to know how to live in tents. The people
How’s that relate to us? Well, as a people we do not know how to live in tents. So, once a year Yahweh commands us to learn how to live in tents.
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers (Children of Israel) were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 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 Messiah. Nevertheless, Elohim was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples…Now all these things happened unto them as examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come (1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 11).”
Everything the Children of Israel went through was chronicled for us, the potential Second Exodus Generation, so that we would not make the same mistakes as they did. We will need to know how to live in tents during the SECOND EXODUS. Allow me to give scriptural proofs of why I believe there will be a SECOND EXODUS, even Greater than the FIRST EXODUS:
Jeremiah 51:6-9,13; Mathew 24:16; Revelations 12:15,16; I Corinthians 10:11; Revelations 12:6; Micah 7:15; Hosea 2:1 & 15; Zechariah 2, 9, 10; Amos 9:11 Joel 2:28-31; Ezekiel 34:13 -25; Jeremiah 23:3,6 and John 10:16.
We have been told to “come out of Babylon” before its destruction. Whether we realize it or not our hearts, soul and mind are already in the midst of the SECOND EXODUS.
All our prophets speak consistently about the Ingathering of Yahweh people in the End-Time. Deuteronomy 32:21 Ezekiel 20:34; 34:11; 37:21; Jeremiah 23:3; Isaiah 11:11; 35:8; 65: 1I; Micah 2:12; Zephaniah 3:12; John 10:16; 1Peter 2:9,10.
A 2nd Exodus brings about this Ingathering. Jeremiah 23:3,6; 51:6-9,13; Ezekiel 34:13 –25; Hosea 2:1 & 15; Zechariah 2, 9, 10; Micah 7:15; Amos 9:11; Joel 2:28-31 Mathew 24:16; John 10:16 I Corinthians 10:11; Revelations 12: 6,15,16
“Then if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Messiah!’ or “There!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, “Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or “Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. (Matthew 24:23-27)”
At this point Israel and the righteous Gentiles must decide which side they are on. (Amos 5:4-15)
“For behold, Yahweh will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword Yahweh will judge all flesh; and the slain of Yahweh shall be many.
Those who set themselves apart and purify themselves, to go to the gardens after an idol in the midst, eating swine’s flesh and the abomination (food offered to the Golem) and the mouse, shall be consumed together,” says Yahweh .
For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Put (Jeremiah 46:9) and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to Yahweh out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says Yahweh , “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh . And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites,” says Yahweh . (Isaiah 66:15-21)”
As we gather in the Valley of Achor Yahweh betroths us.
“For Thy Maker is thine husband, Yahweh of Hosts is his name, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of (spiritual) Israel, the Elohim of the whole Earth shall He be called (Isa. 55: 5)
Hosea said “Therefore I will allure her and bring her into the WILDERNESS, and speak comfortably unto her will give her vineyards from there, and the VALLEY OF ACHOR as a door of hope; and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and AS IN THE DAY WHEN SHE CAME UP OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT. And it shall be, in that day,” says Yahweh , “That you will call Me “My Husband,’and no longer call Me “My Master,’” Hosea 2:14-16 written in 785 BCE for the End-Time. “I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. (Hosea 2:19)”
“…just as Messiah also loved the Assembly and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the Assembly in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:25-27)”
“For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Messiah I might present you as a pure virgin. (2 Cor. 11:2)”
The prophet Isaiah said. “And He (Yahweh ) shall set up an ensign for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel (10 tribes and their companions) and GATHER together the dispersed of Judah (the Jews and their companions) from the four corners of the Earth. (from all over the world)….And they shall spoil them of the East TOGETHER, they shall lay their hand upon EDOM and MOAB and the children of Ammon (Jordan) shall obey them.
And Yahweh shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea and with his mighty wind shall He shake his Hand over the RIVER and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod…And there shall be an HIGHWAY for the Remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11: 12-16)
We will be headed down a highway along the mountain tops of MOAB and EDOM, following the same exact path as our forefathers.
And along the way there shall be battles, the biggest of which will be at the entrance of Bozrah (Petra) in Idumea (Edom, Southern Jordan). We fight exactly as described in the Dead Sea Scrolls according to the “War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness.”
“Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it…For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment. The sword of Yahweh is filled with blood; it is made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs (martyrs) and goats (heathen), with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah (Petra), and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. (Isaiah 34:1,5,6)”
“The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Yahweh , the Excellency of our Elohim. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your Elohim will come with vengeance, with the recompense of Elohim; He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. (Isaiah 35:1-8)”
“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the spirits of those who had been slain for the word of Yahweh and for the testimony which they held.And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. (Revelation 6:9-11)”
“Oh that I had in the WILDERNESS, a lodging place of WAYFARING MEN (and WOMEN.. Jeremiah 9:2).
“…the woman (the bride, the Commonwealth of Israel, the called out ones) fled into the WILDERNESS, where she hath a place prepared of Yahweh that they should feed her there (literally) a thousand two hundred and three score days (3 ½ years or half of 7 years, that’s the same period of time as the 42 months of the holy city, Jerusalem, being trampled under foot and that the two witnesses minister) (Revelations 12:6)
“…unless those days were shortened (by 3 ½ years), no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:22)”
The Bride of Messiah flees from the serpent, the great red dragon, also called the Devil by going into the wilderness where we have ‘ a place prepared of Yahweh , that they (the angels) will feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days’ (1260 days = 42 months = 3 and ½ years) (Revelation 12: 6, 14).
“…the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of Yahweh and have the testimony of Messiah YahShua. (Revelation 12:14-17)”
“For thy shall not hunger nor thirst: neither shall the heat nor sun smite them (because Yahweh‘s cloud shall be over us once again) for He (Yahweh ) that hath MERCY on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them. (Psalm 23) And I (Yahweh ) will make all my mountains a Way, and my HIGHWAY shall be exalted. (Isaiah 49: 10,11)”
And as Micah in 710 BCE so apply stated, “According to the DAYS (or pattern) of thy coming out of Egypt will I show unto him marvelous things. The nations shall be confused at all their MIGHT. (For we shall be powerfull in Yahweh ), they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf…..they shall be AFRAID of Yahweh our Elohim (they will convert from Islam to Judaism), and shall fear because of Him. (Micah 7: 15, 16)”
How are we to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles?
“Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites: ‘”On the fifteenth day of the seventh month Yahweh’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to Yahweh by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to Yahweh by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work…Live in tents for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in tents so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in tents when I brought them out of Egypt. I am Yahweh your Elohim.’ “(Leviticus 23:33-36, 42, 43)”
“On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to Yahweh for seven days. Present an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to Yahweh…(Numbers 29:12, 13)”
(1) On the 15th of Tishri we come together in a worship service and worship. The first day is a Sabbath – we do no work.
(2) For seven days we offer incense to Yahweh.
(3) For seven days we live in tabernacles or tents.
(4) On the eighth day we come together in a worship service and worship. The first day is a Sabbath – we do no work.
“After the harvest from your threshing floor and your vineyards, you shall celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days. (Deuteronomy 16:13)”
Sukkot is known as hag-ha-asif, the Festival of Ingathering. The Torah says:
“You shall celebrate the Festival of Ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. (Exodus 23:16)”
Since Sukkot is a harvest festival, we celebrate by also waving something called a “lulav” and “etrog.” The commandment regarding the four species is found in the Torah. After discussing the week-long Sukkot festival, specific instructions for how to celebrate the holiday are given. Leviticus 23:40 instructs: “On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim seven days.” These are the four species that form the lulav and etrog. The four species are waved before Yahweh each evening.
Sukkot was actually referred to as ha-chag, the festival, (Kings 12:32). King Solomon chose Sukkot as the holiday during which he consecrated the Holy Temple. It was also the occasion every seven years for the ceremony hak’heil, the public reading of the Torah before the whole people (Deuteronomy 31:10-13). Sukkot is also said to be the festival of the future, when in the messianic period, all nations will come to Jerusalem and celebrate.
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which Yahweh strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16-19)”
King Messiah YahShua kept the Feast of Tabernacles. This is discussed in detail in John chapter 7:10-26: “But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews. Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Rebbe YahShua answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from Yahweh or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?” Rebbe YahShua answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill? But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Messiah?”
Rabbi Sha’ul even after the Messiah’s death and resurrection indicated that it was important to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. As it is noted in Acts 18:21: “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, Yahweh willing.”
We believe that the Sukkoth shows the righteous one-thousand-year reign of our soon-coming King YahShua, Zechariah 14:16. A time of peace, prosperity and happiness shall prevail when YahShua rules, putting into effect the laws of His Father Yahweh, which are especially studied during the Sukkoth, showing our faith in Yahweh’s eventual sovereignty over the entire earth. A commanded Assembly where Yahweh has placed His name, Sukkoth is observed seven days starting on the 15th day of the seventh month (Tishri 15 through 21), the first day is the sixth Annual Sabbath, Leviticus 23:34-36, and 43; Numbers 29:12. The Feast of Tabernacles lasts seven days, plus the Last Great Day, which YahShua the Messiah observed, John 7:37, making it an eight-day celebration.
I hope this answers your questions.
Chag Semeach! & Happy Holidays!
Rabbi Rob
Originally written by Rabbi Robert O. Miller on Oct. 14th, 2008
(Robert Owen Miller 1957-2021)
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