“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Mat 5:17).”

Today as I was going through the Gospel of John when I found three passages that seem to frame a section of scripture.  How sections of scripture are framed always intrigue me.  The first is, “now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand (John 7:2),” the second is, “About the middle of the feast… (Joh 7:14),” and finally, “On the last day of the feast… (Joh 7:37).”  There is a lot going on in this section of scripture but the first thought that came to my mind was what is this Feast of Booths?

The Feast of Booths is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:34, 43, Deu 16:13, 16, 31:10, 2Ch 8:13, and Ezr 3:4), the Feast of Ingathering (Exo 23:16), the Feast of Jehovah (Lev 23:39), or simply ‘the feast’ (1Ki 8:2, 2Ch 5:3, 7:8-9) (Edersheim 1874, 269-270).  It is still celebrated today in Israel as Sukkot which is Hebrew for ‘booths.’  Interestingly enough this year Sukkot will begin September 20^th and end on the 27^th making this blog both timely and relevant.  The Feast falls on the 15^th of Tishri which is the seventh month of the Jewish lunar calendar.  Because the date is determined by a lunar calendar it’s date on our solar calendar will vary.

The Feast would last seven days, or one week, and commenced with the people cutting palm, willow, and myrtle branches to be carried throughout the week (Clarke 1810-1826, 567).  They would take them into the temple and walk around the altar singing Hosanna which means roughly “save us” as trumpets sounded (Clarke 1810-1826, 567)!  The last day they would circle the alter seven times.

The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles gets its name from the booths that the people were required to construct and live in throughout the week.  “These booths, and not their houses, were to be the regular dwelling of all in Israel during the week, and that, except in very heavy rain, they were to eat, sleep, pray, study—in short, entirely to live in them (Edersheim 1874, 274).”  The booths were built from palm branches to commemorate God’s provision during their wandering in the desert in which they had to live in tents (Stern 1992, Joh 7:2).  I can see Adelynn and I celebrating this in the back yard in a not-too-distant year to come.

But the joy of the celebration occurred on the eighth day when, “a priest drew some water out of the pool Siloam, in a golden vessel, and brought it into the temple; and at the time of the morning sacrifice, while the… sacrifice [was] on the altar, he went up and poured this water mingled with wine upon [the sacrifice] (Clarke 1810-1826, 567).”  Simultaneously, all the people sang “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation (Isa 12:3) ” (Clarke 1810-1826, 567).  I know, I said it was a seven-day celebration.  Turns out the eighth day was set apart for sacrifices, to dismantle the booths, and the repeated singing of the Hallel (Psa 113-118) (Köstenberger 2013, 453).  ” Hence, by the first century many Jews had come to think of the Feast of Tabernacles as an eight-day event (Köstenberger 2013, 453).”

Now there is so much to look at regarding the history and the symbolism of The Feast that I can only really scratch the surface.  I would highly encourage you to really dig into it because I think the symbolism is going to point to Jesus in some astonishing ways.  It is the context in which John chapter seven occurs and if we really want to know what is going on it could be extremely helpful to try and grasp that context.  This was the feast that Jesus’ unbelieving brothers were inviting Him to attend.

But they weren’t just inviting him to attend a feast they were taunting Him.  It was the equivalent of saying to Him, “If you are really who you say you are then why don’t you come with us to the feast?”  Or “…show yourself to the world Joh 7:4).”  Or in the words of Little Big Man (Dustin Hoffman), “You go down there… if you got the nerve.”  The Feast of Booths was understood as Messianic by the people of Jesus’ day and their argument was that it would be the right time for Jesus to reveal Himself (Walvoord and Zuck 2004, 299).  i.e., Come on Jesus, “put up or shut up.”  Jesus responded, “My time has not yet come… (Joh 7:6).”

This got me thinking, The Feast of Booths is old.  God established it early and it had been celebrated for a millennium and yet when it was established it was established to point to the Messiah.  The people of Jesus’ day recognized that connection.  Today, people ask, “how do we know what God’s plan is for our lives?”  I have found the answer in the Feast of Booths, but not in the way we ask.  When I find these forms of detail in God’s word, that point to the institution of His plan a millennia before it would be executed, I am reminded of the insignificance of anything I could do except live my life in a manner that demonstrates I believe that He planned and executed my redemption.  What is left then is to live my life in any way in which my life reflects that belief.  There is both liberty and responsibility there.  The liberty in which you are free to live your life how you see fit and the responsibility to live it in a way that it reflects your belief in Christ to be true.

Anyway, even though it was not yet His time Jesus snuck down to The Feast.  At the moment when the water from the golden vessel was poured onto the sacrifice on the altar, “Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (Joh 7:37-38).’”  Jesus was connecting His ministry to the celebration of the Feast of Booths.  That moment was prepared for you and me, at least a millennium in advance, so that the Jews of Jesus’ time, His own disciples, and the crowds at The Temple would connect who He was claiming to be to their own expectation of a Messiah.

Only this is just a connection to the meaning of His ministry.  It is not yet time for the fullness of His ministry to be realized. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn (Zec 12:10).  …on that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness (Zec 13:1).”  At this point in the Gospel of John Jesus’ time had not yet come. 

Thank you for reading.  I wrote another blog on the significance of the living water that you might also find relevant here.  I haven’t touched yet on the connection between the living water, The Feast of Booths, and the giving of the Holy Spirit.  If you are interested don’t forget to sign up for my e-mail so you won’t miss that content.  There is so much detail in every word of the Bible I hope that these words are encouraging you to dig more into God’s Word.

Photo by Thomas Vogel on Unsplash

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

Edersheim, Alfred. The Temple: Its Ministry And Service. Public Domain, 1874.

Köstenberger, Andreas J. Encountering John: The Gospel in Historical, Leterary, and Theological Perspective. Edited by Walter A. Elwell. Grand rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.

Stern, David H. Jewish New Testament Commentary. Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., 1992.

Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Dallas: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004.