I’m taking the month of September off from blogging (for the most part), so for the next 4 weeks, a few of my good friends, well-versed in word studies will be writing for the letters S, T, U, and V.
Today, please welcome Heather from Principled Academy.
My friend Marcy Crabtree here at Ben and Me invited me to participate in her “Blogging Through the Alphabet” series. My letter for this is ‘S’.
I’ve been missing blogging and wanting to get back into it; we’ve just had so much taking place that I haven’t had the time/energy. This is a nice way to ease back into it.
Well, Webster’s 1828 Dictionary does not offer the word ‘Sukkot‘, but this Feast of the Lord’s is also known as The Feast of Booths, The Feast of Tabernacles, or The Festival of Tents. So let’s look up these key words to see how they are defined:
Research
BOOTH, noun [Heb. beth, a house or booth a nest for birds.] A house or shed built of boards, boughs of trees, or other slight materials, for a temporary residence.
Original Photo Credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Lowlands_tents.jpg |
TAB’ERNACLE, noun [Latin tabernaculum, a tent, from taberna, a shop or shed, from tabula, a board; or rather from its root. See Table.]
1. A tent. Numbers 24:5. Matthew 17:4.
2. A temporary habitation.
3. Among the Jews, a movable building, so contrived as to be taken to pieces with ease and reconstructed, for the convenience of being carried during the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness. It was of a rectangular figure, thirty cubits long, ten broad, and ten high. The interior was divided into two rooms by a vail or curtain, and it was covered with four different spreads or carpets.
It is also applied to the temple. Psalms 15:1.
4. A place of worship; a sacred place.
5. Our natural body. 2 Corinthians 5:1. 2 Peter 1:13.
6. God’s gracious presence, or the tokens of it. Revelation 21:3.
7. An ornamented chest placed on Roman catholic altars as a receptacle of the ciborium and pyxis.
TENT, noun [Latin tentorium, from tendo, to stretch.]
1. A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of canvas or other coarse cloth, stretched and sustained by poles; used for sheltering persons from the weather, particularly soldiers in camp. The wandering Arabs and Tartars lodge in tents. The Israelites lodged in tents forty years, while they were in the desert.
TENT, verb intransitive To lodge as in a tent; to tabernacle.
Reason
These physical bodies are temporary tabernacles… dwelling places. Yeshusa/Jesus tabernacled (dwelt) among people during His ministry on earth. And one day again He will tabernacle with us in His Kingdom!
This Festival of the Lord’s is a reminder that we are temporarily dwelling here.
What do I mean that this holiday is the Lord’s? Oh please come read Leviticus 23:2-4 with me!
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” (Side note: when looking up “seasons” in Strong’s Concordance, we learn that it means “appointed times”… “appointed meetings”.)
If you continue reading in your Bible, you’ll read about the different feasts that are His! They are His! When reading in Leviticus 23:41, the Lord tells us that these statutes are forever in our generations. 🙂
Relate
This is an exciting time of year! We are leading up to the Lord’s Fall Feasts and Sukkot (sounds like Sue Coat) is a wonderful festival/holiday that Yahweh created and invites us to celebrate! It’s a time of remembering the Egyptian Exodus and Looking forward to Yahshuah’s/Jesus’ return. It reminds us of the shelter Yahweh gives His people. It’s beautiful for us as Christians because we have been grafted into Israel and it’s a time when we remember and teach our children about the Miracles of Yahweh (the One True God of the Bible) and for Yahshuah’s/Jesus’ return. Joy! Family! Friends! We congregate together for 7 days to celebrate!
Our Bridegroom is preparing. He is coming one day! Are you preparing with the wedding rehearsal?
It’s not some dry, dreary, why-bother-with-it, Old Testament thing. It’s found in the front of the Bible, yes. But it’s also found in the back of the Bible. Yeshua/Jesus went to this Feast and its’ prophetic! This Feast has not been fulfilled yet! It will be at His return!
And our King of Kings, and Lord of Lord’s invites us to join in these rehearsals! Are you excited, or what?!!