The Moedim – Sukkot – Festival of Tabernacles

If the Day of Atonement speaks of ‘the sufferings of Christ’, Tabernacles speaks of ‘the glory that should follow’ (1 Pet. 1:11). It is the greatest season of rejoicing in the Jewish calendar following the sombre Days of Awe. The Scriptures confirm the duty to rejoice in the blessings that the Lord had bestowed on the nation (Deut. 16:14-15).

But it was also a time of remembrance – that the nation had lived in ‘booths’ or temporary structures (sukkah, pl. sukkot) for 40 years in the wilderness after the Lord had brought them out of Egypt (Lev. 23:43).

Prophetically, it points forward to the Millennial reign of Messiah (Isa. 4:5-6; Amos 9:11). But these are choppy waters! In the 16^th century an Anathema was pronounced by CofE Articles on those ‘peddling Jewish myths’ of an earthly Kingdom, in which Israel would be the head of the nations, ruled by Messiah.

Reminder – What are the Moedim?

Moed	Prophetic significance	Fulfilled?
Passover/Pesach	Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us	Y
Unleavened Bread	To dedicate a holy people to the Lord	Y
Firstfruits	Christ is raised the firstfruits of them that slept	Y
Pentecost/Shavuot	The coming of the Law/Holy Spirit	Y
Trumpets/Yom Teruah	The regathering of Israel	N
Yom Kippur	The conversion of the nation of Israel	N
Tabernacles/Succot	The Messianic Era	N

When are they?

Jewish Month	Approximate  Date	Festivals of Lev. 23	Farming season
Nisan/Abib	March–April	Pesach / Unleavened Bread / Firstfruits	Latter rains; Barley harvest
Iyar	April–May	(Counting the Omer 50 days)	Hot desert winds; first figs
Sivan	May–June	Shavuot (Latter Firstfruits)	Wheat harvest
Tammuz	June–July
Menachem Av	July–August
Elul	August–September		Date harvest; summer figs
Tishrei	September–October	Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Sukkot	Start of civil year Early rains; Fruit and Olive harvests
Heshvan	October–November		Ploughing/sowing
Kislev	November–December	(Chanukah)

What’s it all about?

The third pilgrim festival

• Thanksgiving and rejoicing on completion of the harvest
• Associated with the early rain (Deut. 11:13; Joel 2:23-24), which speaks to us of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28; John 7:37; Acts 2:1-8; 14-21)
• To remind them of the nation’s wanderings in the wilderness
• To point to the coming reign of Messiah at the end of the age (Rev. 21:6; 22:1-4, 17)

Lev. 23:33-36 – the timing

SUKKOT AND THE EIGHTH DAY
TISHREI 15	TISHREI 16	TISHREI 17	TISHREI 18	TISHREI 19	TISHREI 20	TISHREI 21	TISHREI 22
Sukkot 1	Sukkot 2	Sukkot 3	Sukkot 4	Sukkot 5	Sukkot 6	Sukkot 7 Hoshana Rabbah	Eighth Day Shemini Atzeret
Yom Tov							Yom Tov

Numbers!

Seventh and last of the set festivals – although the calendar is lunar, there are 364 days from Sukkot to Yom Kippur (timing varies in leap year, but it still works). In that period there are:

52 Sabbaths, 7 Set feasts and 11 New Moons – 70 celebrations in total

Seventy:

• 70 bulls
• 70 people in Jacob and his family (Gen. 46:27)
• 70 nations in Gen. 10 (Deut. 32:8)

During the week of Sukkot (Tabernacles), 70 bullocks were offered on the altar.

When Jacob and his family went to Egypt, there were 70 people who went, and it was there that they became a nation. The nations of the world are associated with Sukkot in 1 Kings 8:41-43 when Solomon dedicated the temple during Sukkot. For this reason, the festival is also called the Feast of the Nations.

The connection of the 70 bulls to the 70 nations is taken from Deuteronomy 32:8; Genesis 46:27; and Exodus 1:1-5. Once again, the association of the nations of the world to Sukkot (Tabernacles) is found in Zechariah 14:16-19. [see also Rev. 21:24]

Eddie Chumney – The Seven Festivals of Messiah

Seven:

• Seventh month
• Seven days (third ‘seven’ of the seventh month)

Another fascinating thing about the sacrifices during Sukkot (Tabernacles) is that when the offerings are grouped or counted, their number always remains divisible by seven. During the week, there are 182 burnt offerings (70 bullocks, 14 rams, and 98 lambs; 7 divides into 182 exactly 26 times – the numerical ‘signature’ of J-H-V-H in Hebrew). Add to this the meal offerings, 336 tenths of ephahs of flour (48 x 7) (Numbers 29:12-40). It is no coincidence that this seven-day holiday, which takes place at the height of the seventh month, had the perfect number, seven, imprinted on its sacrifices.

Sukkot is a picture of the Messianic Kingdom (thousand-year reign of the Messiah) as the joy, and the number seven was connected to the sabbath, which was also seen as a picture of the Messianic Kingdom. The sabbath (shabbat) falls on the seventh day of the week.

Eddie Chumney – The Seven Festivals of Messiah

Historical celebrations

Traditional views of Sukkot

From Wikipedia (based on Chumney’s book?) – edited

Sukkot is a seven-day autumn harvest festival where believers are instructed to dwell in temporary dwellings (Lev 23). Although no specific harvest crop is noted in scripture, Jewish tradition associates wine and water with festivals at Temple rituals. The Hebrew word Sukkot is usually translated as “tabernacles,” or “booths” and is the plural form of sukka (sue’-kah)— a Hebrew word meaning tent or (temporary) booth that one lived in–not the Tabernacle (which was used for worship and was the portable sanctuary in the wilderness). The sukkah symbolizes man’s need to depend upon God for food, water, and shelter. Other translations translate the word more closely to its intended meaning of a tent or booth; hence the name “Feast of Booths”.

Meaning: Anciently the feast represented the wandering in the wilderness and the physical harvest. Sukkot has additional manifold spiritual meanings: it speaks of the harvest of souls at the end of the age (Olam Hazeh=”this world”) (Matt13:39; Rev.14:15; Joel 3:13),[20] while the 7 days and the Feast being the 7th appointment also foreshadow the millennial reign of Christ in the 7,000th year. The last day of the feast is known as Hoshana Rabbah.

Shemini Atzeret – the eighth day

The Hebrew word means “Eighth [day of] Assembly” (Lev. 23:36, 39 = see John 7:37) and immediately follows the Feast of Sukkot. Hebrew Roots adherents view this day in a different light than those in the Jewish faith in which the day is “characterized as a day when the Jewish people “tarries” to spend an additional day with God at the end of Sukkot”.

Meaning: There is no direct Scriptural indication for what the day means; however, clues may be determined in the use of the number 8 in scripture. The number 8 is widely accepted as meaning “a new beginning”. It is prophetic of the time after the 7000 year millennium when the White Throne Judgment is held. A new beginning, termed the “World to Come” (Olam Haba in Hebrew) will occur with the establishment of a new Heavens, new Earth, and a new Jerusalem as described in Revelation 22.

End of Wikipedia quote

Fulfilment in Christ to discuss

Fulfilment in the Future

After the fulfilment of Yom Kippur in Isa. 4:3, “Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a [sukkah] for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.” (Isaiah 4:5-6).

In the Messianic Era, all nations will be required to celebrate Sukkot by sending emissaries to Jerusalem for the festival. The nations “shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths” (Zechariah 14:16). If the nations do not do so, they will be punished with drought or plague.

The Prophet Amos alluded to the restoration of the kingdom and the monarchy of the Son of David when he said, “In that day I will raise up the [sukkah] of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11). This is one of the key texts of Sukkot, often cited in teachings, festive songs, and the Sukkot liturgies. It refers to the restoration of the kingdom of Messiah: “Master, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). The apostles understood Amos 9:11 to refer to the restoration of David’s kingdom through King Yeshua. They used Amos 9:11 as a prooftext regarding the inclusion of the Gentile disciples in the Messianic Kingdom (Acts 15:15-18), an interpretation that accords with the Sukkot theme of the Festival of Nations.

It points forward to the time when, as in the days of Solomon, “every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (1 Kings 4:25), in the future kingdom, again, “They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (Micah 4:4). See also Zech. 3:10