“Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. These are the appointed times of the LORD which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the LORD – burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, each day’s matter on its own day– besides those of the Sabbaths of the LORD, and besides your gifts, and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD. On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God’” Lev 23:33-43

The last of the seven great rehearsals is Sukkot, otherwise known as Booths or Tabernacles. It is known as the season of joy. This feast took place five days after Yom Kippur on the fifteenth of Tishri. All of the seven feasts are centred around the theme of harvest, and this one comes at the time of the last great harvest in the Fall of the year. It is a time of great rejoicing referred to by the Jews as “the season of our joy.” The dwelling in Booths or tents was a reminder of God’s presence with and provision for His people in the wilderness when he took them out of Egypt.  

The feast is a picture of the Millennial reign of Christ which will be ushered in five days after The Day of Judgment. The Messiah will set up his kingdom, after that last great harvest of the nations has been brought in, and will dwell among His people. It will be a time of great rejoicing and peace for Israel and the whole world. From then on it will be a requirement, not just for the Jews, but for the whole world to go up to Jerusalem and celebrate the feast every year. 

“Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.” Zech 14:16-19 

On the last day of Sukkot there was an interesting ritual that took place in Jerusalem. Water was drawn from the pool of Siloam and brought into the Temple area and poured out by the priest in prayer and thanksgiving for the early and latter rains of the coming year. Tishri, of course, is the month when the early rains are expected to begin and without the early and latter rains there would be no crops the next year. Rain, especially in Israel, was and is a very precious commodity indeed. It was a symbol of life and sustenance. The prophets spoke of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as rain upon dry ground (Joel 2:23,28-29, Is 44:3, Ez 34:26). Yeshua (Jesus) picks up on this in John’s gospel, perhaps as this ritual is underway.

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink, he who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-39

In the Millennium all the nations will know that He is the only one who can quench their thirst and satisfy their hunger. Each year they will go up to Jerusalem to celebrate Him and His presence with His people Israel. If they do not go up, they will immediately and swiftly discover their need. In that day, the rain will not fall on the righteous and unrighteous alike but only on the righteous. The Lord alone will be exalted on that day and Israel will be chief among the nations.  

“Now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.’ For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.’ Isaiah 2:2-4 

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