SUKKOT 2024 OR FEAST OF BOOTHS
Third Fall Feast
By Sondra Markwardt
OEUSA Intercessor
It is said that in Israel, as the Yom Kippur day of prayer and fasting is ended, one can hear the sound of hammers as families begin constructing their temporary dwellings or booths for the third Fall Feast called Sukkot or Feast of Booths. It is a week of shared meals, singing, and dancing in their booths festively decorated with fruits and lights.
The feast of Tabernacles is called The Great Feast, or the Feast of the Ingathering of the Harvest. The Torah puts great emphasis on rejoicing during this feast (Deuteronomy 16:15), even saying that there should be only rejoicing. Jerusalem was filled with thousands of pilgrims exuberantly celebrating highly symbolic events in the Temple. Huge menorahs lit up the Temple Court that could be seen for miles.
On the last day of the Feast there was a jubilant ceremony. The High Priest would lead a procession to the Pool of Siloam to draw a golden vase of living water.
As they reached the gates, the shofar would blow and all would be quiet. The vases were poured into the bowls on the corners of the altar. A hush would fall over the crowd as they could hear the water being poured out. In John 7:2, 37-38, we read that it was at this moment when Jesus called out dramatically, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, streams of living water will flow from his innermost being.”
This Feast reminds us of Israel’s wilderness time and God’s faithfulness to them. It looks BACK to the forty years when the children of Israel wandered in the desert living in temporary shelters.
The Feast of Tabernacles also looks FORWARD. God promises an even greater rest in the future when He will come and live among mankind permanently. In the New Heaven and New Earth, “the tabernacle (tent) of God is among men and He will dwell among them.” Rev. 21:2-3 NASB. There will be great rejoicing as God wipes “every tear from their eyes, there will no longer be any death,” mourning, crying, or pain. Rev. 21:4 NASB
God commanded in the Torah that during this week-long Feast, 70 bulls would be sacrificed. Since the number seventy represents “the Nations”, for thousands of years, as their blood was being spilled on the altars, those sacrifices were a priestly, intercessory prayer for the nations of the world. Num. 29, Deut. 32:8
The Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled at the beginning of the Millennial Rule, or Messianic Kingdom, on earth. The nations will come to Jerusalem to worship. All those who remain from “all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of armies, and to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.” Zech. 14:16 NASB
The feast of Tabernacles is called The Great Feast, or the Feast of the Ingathering of the Harvest. The Torah puts great emphasis on rejoicing during this feast (Deuteronomy 16:15), even saying that there should be only rejoicing. Jerusalem was filled with thousands of pilgrims exuberantly celebrating highly symbolic events in the Temple. Huge menorahs lit up the Temple Court that could be seen for miles.
On the last day of the Feast there was a jubilant ceremony. The High Priest would lead a procession to the Pool of Siloam to draw a golden vase of living water.
As they reached the gates, the shofar would blow and all would be quiet. The vases were poured into the bowls on the corners of the altar. A hush would fall over the crowd as they could hear the water being poured out. In John 7:2, 37-38, we read that it was at this moment when Jesus called out dramatically, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, streams of living water will flow from his innermost being.”
This Feast reminds us of Israel’s wilderness time and God’s faithfulness to them. It looks BACK to the forty years when the children of Israel wandered in the desert living in temporary shelters.
The Feast of Tabernacles also looks FORWARD. God promises an even greater rest in the future when He will come and live among mankind permanently. In the New Heaven and New Earth, “the tabernacle (tent) of God is among men and He will dwell among them.” Rev. 21:2-3 NASB. There will be great rejoicing as God wipes “every tear from their eyes, there will no longer be any death,” mourning, crying, or pain. Rev. 21:4 NASB
God commanded in the Torah that during this week-long Feast, 70 bulls would be sacrificed. Since the number seventy represents “the Nations”, for thousands of years, as their blood was being spilled on the altars, those sacrifices were a priestly, intercessory prayer for the nations of the world. Num. 29, Deut. 32:8
The Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled at the beginning of the Millennial Rule, or Messianic Kingdom, on earth. The nations will come to Jerusalem to worship. All those who remain from “all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of armies, and to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.” Zech. 14:16 NASB
Sondra Markwardt
Teacher of The Word
OEUSA Intercessor
