Feast of Tabernacles
The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths, or Ingathering, it is
one of the three great festivals of Israel. The Israelites were commanded to live in
booths (temporary shelter) made of palm and willow trees during the festival to
commemorate their period of wilderness wandering when they lived in temporary
shelters, their deliverance from Egypt by the hand of God. This festival is observed
on the 15th day of the seventh month to celebrate the completion of the autumn
harvest (Leviticus 23:39-43) “Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when
you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast of the Lord seven
days on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
And you 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 you shall rejoice
before the Lord your God seven days. And you shall keep it a feast to the Lord
seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations, you shall
celebrate it in the seventh month. You 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”.
This feast is one of the feast that God has requires all male to come to the place
where He puts His name, three times in the year, as stated in Zechariah 14:16-19
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came
against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of
hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come
up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts,
even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not,
that have no rain, there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the
heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the
punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not upk to keep
the feast of tabernacles”. As you see this requirement is for those of all nations.
The Bible says in Matthew 18:16 “that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every
word be established”. God gave these joyous festivals to His people, these are
called feast of the Lord in (Exodus 23:16, Numbers 29:12-32, Deuteronomy 16:13-
16, Ezra 3:4 as well as Leviticus 23:33-43, and Zechariah 14:16-19). Because these
are called feast of the Lord and there are to be observed from year to year, forever,
as a means of worshipping the King, the Lord of hosts; it appears that they are to
continue even now. Zechariah prophesied that in the last days even those who
fought against Israel, would be required to come up to worship, on this feast day.
So you see that this feast has been observed in the past by the Israelites, and in the
future Zechariah prophesied that this feast will be observed, even by the enemies of
Israel, and that all nations must come to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, or suffer
punishment of no rain. I take the Bible by it’s words, and understand this feast is
forever to be observed.
Sermon by: Harriet Bond
Date: October 6, 2006