"Adonai said to Moshe, 'Say to the Israelites: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.'"
Leviticus 23:33-34
It is in this portion of the Torah that we read of the Jewish high holy days of Sukkot. It is in this season we find two distinct purposes. The first derives from Leviticus 23 where Adonai speaks concerning the fall harvest. Sukkot was to be a time of bringing in the latter harvest; a Jewish Thanksgiving so to say. A second purpose of Sukkot lays within the command to dwell in booths as a memorial of Isra’el's wilderness experience. To quote Barney Kasdan, "We know from the Torah that God dwelt with his people in their forty-year wilderness camping trip. Yet, as we camp in booths today, we should be reminded that this same faithful God watches over our lives."
A sukkah is a temporary hut in which one is to live instead of in a permanent home. At the very least, one is expected to eat a minimum one meal per day within the sukkah as a remembrance. Since it is only temporary, it serves that the exterior three walls would seem flimsy. It is the roof that bears the utmost importance as it should consist of anything grown from the ground, be it corn stalks, branches, or palm branches. Likewise, the interior also fits in with the harvest theme as fruit decorates the inside of the sukkah. As the feast then begins when the sun falls, the kiddush is said over the wine and a blessing pronounced over the challah.
With the remembrance of Sukkot being the memory of Adonai dwelling with us, it serves true that the season of Sukkot could indeed be the true time of Yeshua's birth. Whether we take the three and a half years of Christ's ministry to subtract from Shavout, or we consider the shepherds would not have been outside with sheep in the cold of winter, we still would come to rest that sometime in the late fall, Yeshua was born. This adds to show us that Yeshua was born in the season on Sukkot. It is Sukkot that is known as the holy day commemorating Adonai's dwelling with His people, and how fitting that it would be fulfilled in this season.
But more so, how does Sukkot apply to us today? The sukkah is a guideline illustrating Adonai's desire to dwell with His people. Perhaps the true question that should be asked in this season is more straight forward. Is Yeshua dwelling with you? There are many Jews who this season will set up a sukkah and thank Adonai of the latter harvest. But as this is just a demonstration, perhaps we need to focus more on you personally. Is Christ able to dwell in you? Have you opened yourself up and received Him as Lord of your life? Are you going through the motions and confessing only for the security of 'life insurance', or do you truly worship Adonai? Yes, this is a season of celebrating the harvest, but there are many that have not been harvested (Matt 9:37-38). Adonai wants to dwell with all His children; He wants to sukkah with them. Isn't it time we ask ourselves if He has a place to dwell in us? And then, isn't it time we invite others into our dwelling as well? The 'yes' response to this question is what gives reason for a festival.
Leviticus 23:23-32
Leviticus 23:33-44
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