“You are to keep the festival of Sukkot for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and winepress. Rejoice at your festival — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the L’vi’im, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you.”-Deuteronomy 16:13-14
From today we are going to be discussing the festival of SUKKOT.
In English, the festival of SUKKOT can go by the following three names:
“The Feast of Booths”
“The Feast of the Ingathering”
Or…
“The Feast of Tabernacles”
Now one thing you should know is that each and every one of the seven Biblical Feasts reflects a certain tone or atmosphere.
Sometimes the tone may be one of deep seriousness and other times it may be one of exhilarating happiness.
For example, the tone of BIKKURIM or FirstFruits is one of edgy anxiety and anticipation as the people wait to see what the results of the current year’s harvest might be.
This may be similar to waiting to hear news of whether your favorite football team won the game or not or waiting to get the results of a job interview that you think you performed well on but won’t know for sure until the final answer comes in.
This is why the focus of FirstFruits is to wave a sheaf of not yet ripened grain that is still green and petitioning the Lord to send a good harvest.
On the other side of the spectrum, SHAVUOT or the Feast of Weeks reflects a long sigh of relief and rest.
Why?
Because the Barley and Wheat harvests have concluded and the results (hopefully good results!) by that point in time are now known to everyone.
In addition, the rushed pace of the fieldwork to bring in the harvest before it goes bad pauses for a rest for the time being.
So what tone or atmosphere do you think is reflected in the Biblical Feast of SUKKOT?
Let me give you a big hint.
Although, I gave you a list above of the three different names this festival goes by in English, there is yet another name SUKKOT goes by.
This festival is also known…
…”the time of our rejoicing”.
That’s right!
SUKKOT represents unbounded joy and celebration!
The next time we meet, let’s discuss why that is.
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