Sukkot - the Feast of Tabernacles

 

The Feast of Tabernacles is one of three times in a year that all Jewish males are to appear before the Lord at the Temple in Jerusalem. (Because the Temple is destroyed, they no longer can keep this commandment.)

“Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:" - Deuteronomy 16:16 KJV

"Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee." - Deuteronomy 16:17 KJV

The Jews call the Feast of Tabernacles "Sukkot." This 7-day holiday began this year 2020 at sunset October 2.

Sukkot is described as the most joyous of the three Biblically mandated festivals. It is described as the 'Season of our Rejoicing."

"And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates…because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice." - Deuteronomy 16:14-15 KJV

It commemorates the miraculous protection God provided for the Israelites during the 40 days they were in the wilderness after God brought them out of Egyptian bondage and before God brought them into the Promised Land.

The feast of tabernacles also celebrates the gathering of the harvest. (Leviticus 23:39).

Every day of the feast (except the Sabbath) they are to take of the “Four Kinds.”

"And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days." - Leviticus 23:40 KJV

The name for the feast "Sukkot" comes from the word “sukkah.” A sukkah is a hut of temporary construction with a roof covering of branches. For 7 days and nights Jews celebrating the feast eat all their meals in the sukkah they build. They do this in obedience to the commandment in the Law:

"Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." - Leviticus 23:42-43 KJV