And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
In Leviticus 23:33 a fresh word from the LORD to Moses opens the last of the yearly feasts, the feast of tabernacles, or booths. It is the closing picture in a series that shows the ways of God with His people.
This opening phrase divides the chapter into groups of feasts. It gives the last feast a section of its own.
There is another way of dividing them. Take the words "And the LORD spoke to Moses" as the title of each part: the sabbath, the passover, and the unleavened bread (vv. 1-8); the firstfruits and Pentecost (vv. 9-22); the feast of trumpets (vv. 23-25); and the day of atonement (vv. 26-32). Last comes the feast of tabernacles (v. 33 to the end). This second way of dividing them gives us the moral distinction of the feasts; that is, the ways of God in them.
Three feasts fall in this seventh month. One writer traces what they picture for Israel.
In this last feast we have Israel's great day of rejoicing in the kingdom. These last three feasts all fall in the seventh month, and they picture the nation's last deep searching of heart. The prophetic Word will go out to them. It will wake them and give them life, and they will come to own their sins. When the nation repents, God will forgive the nation and restore them in public as the people of the LORD. In that day they will look back over all God's ways with them. They will begin at their rescue from Egypt and end with the kingdom of God set up in power.
This feast waits until the whole year's produce is in.
The feast of tabernacles is the joy of the thousand-year kingdom, when Israel have left the wilderness where their sins put them. So we find that it took place after the increase of the earth had been gathered in. As we learn elsewhere, it came not only after the harvest but after the vintage as well. That is, it came after separation by judgment, and after the final execution of judgment on the earth, when heavenly and earthly saints should be all gathered in. Israel was to rejoice seven days before the LORD.
This feast could only be kept in the land, yet it looked back to the wilderness. Forgetting that past spoiled how they kept it.
Israel could not keep the feast of tabernacles in the wilderness. To keep it, the people had to be in the land, as is plain. Notice too that from Joshua until Nehemiah they never kept it as the law directed (Neh. 8:17). Israel had forgotten that they had been strangers in the wilderness. Joy, without the memory of this, tends to ruin; the very enjoyment of the blessing leads to it.
The feast runs seven days, and then the chapter adds one more. One writer sees heaven in that extra day.
By bringing in the eighth day here, God shows us how the earthly blessing connects with the heavenly glory of resurrection. Resurrection points to heaven, and nothing but heavenly places can satisfy it. So God hints here at a link with glory on high. At the same time the chapter fully recognises a day of rest and blessedness for the earth and the Jewish people.
One writer takes the promise about this feast literally.
Surely, Jerusalem means Jerusalem; nations mean nations; and the feast of tabernacles means the feast of tabernacles. Is there anything incredible in this? Surely nothing, except to man's reason, which rejects all that lies beyond its narrow range. The feast of tabernacles will yet be celebrated in the land of Canaan. The nations of the saved will go up there to share in its glorious and holy celebrations.
By the time of the Gospels the name of these feasts had changed hands.
In the Gospel of John, they are called "feasts of the Jews." They had long ceased to be the LORD's feasts. He was shut out. They did not want Him. There is a solemn lesson in this. Man's hands soon spoil what God sets up. But what a blessing to know this: the thirsty soul who feels the barrenness and drought of empty religious form has only to flee to Jesus and drink freely.
- New word: The opening line of verse 33 starts a fresh section, setting the feast of booths apart as the last of the feasts.
- After repentance: The seventh month moves from awakening, to owning sin, to forgiveness. Only then comes this feast of joy.
- After harvest: Israel keeps it when the whole crop is in, after both harvest and vintage, once judgment has run its course.
- Booths remember: The booths keep the wilderness in view. Joy that forgets its past tends to ruin.
- Eighth day: One more day ties earth's rest to heaven's resurrection glory. And writers expect the feast itself to be kept again.
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths seven days to Jehovah.
Leviticus 23 lists the appointed times God gave Israel, and verse 34 names the last one: a seven-day feast of booths, also called the feast of tabernacles. This feast closes the list, so why did God set it at the end of the year, why shelters of branches, and what was it picturing?
Three appointed times fall in the seventh month, one after another. This one is the third, and it starts when the moon is full.
On the first day of the seventh month there is the feast of trumpets. This is the day of the new moon, speaking of a weak testimony raised up by the Lord. This testimony will grow until the day of atonement, kept on the 10th of the month in repentance. After that, the feast of tabernacles starts on the 15th of the month — at full moon, speaking of a full testimony. This feast foreshadows the millennial blessing into which the remnant will enter.
The harvest is already in when this feast begins. Commentators link that timing to judgment, and to the joy that comes after it.
The feast of tabernacles took place after the produce of the earth had been gathered in. As we learn elsewhere, it came not only after the harvest but after the vintage too. That is, it came after separation by judgment, and after the final execution of judgment on the earth, when heavenly and earthly saints will all be gathered in. Israel was to rejoice seven days before Jehovah.
The order of these last three feasts carries its own message, and the end it points to includes the nations, not Israel alone.
The final feast began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. It is the feast which comes after the sin of Israel has been removed... The feast of tabernacles foreshadows the coming glory of the millennium, Israel's glorious inheritance, and the Gentiles gathered with redeemed Israel in the kingdom... How beautiful is the order in these three last holy gatherings! The blowing of the trumpets — the remnant of Israel called and gathered. The day of atonement — Israel in national repentance, looking on Him whom they pierced, when He comes the second time. The feast of tabernacles — the millennium.
This feast points to a real future for Israel in the land. Commentators warn against explaining that promise away.
What a scene! Who would want to strip it of its beauty by a vague system of interpretation wrongly called spiritualising? Surely, Jerusalem means Jerusalem; nations mean nations; and the feast of tabernacles means the feast of tabernacles. Is there anything incredible in this?... Israel will rest in the cool shade of their vines and fig trees. And all the earth will rejoice in the government of "the Prince of Peace."
Israel built these shelters in the middle of plenty, and the point was memory.
The Feast of Tabernacles took place at the end of the harvest, a time of plenty and rejoicing. It was a faint picture of the type being fulfilled in the days to come. During it, the Israelites by birth were to live in booths, to remind them how God had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They might forget this in the comfort of the land, and in the joy of the generous reign of their Messiah, with all that comes with it: peace and plenty never known before in the world. We must not forget the pit we were dug out of. With all the wonderful blessings that are ours, we are still sinners saved by grace.
One short phrase keeps coming back through these verses. The older translation quoted here prints God's name, Jehovah, where the ESV has "the LORD."
We read in Leviticus 23 it "shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to THE LORD [JEHOVAH]" (v. 34). Verse 36 tells us, "Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to THE LORD [JEHOVAH]."... Verse 40, "You shall rejoice before THE LORD [JEHOVAH] your God."
The command was clear. Israel's record of keeping it is poor.
They forgot that they had once been strangers and pilgrims, and so they neglected this feast for a long time. From the days of Joshua down to the time of Nehemiah, the feast of tabernacles had never once been celebrated. The weak group that came back from captivity in Babylon did what no one had done, even in the bright days of Solomon.
- Date. The feast opens at full moon, on the fifteenth of the seventh month. Trumpets sounded on the first day, atonement came on the tenth.
- Order. Gathering, then repentance, then joy. This feast comes last, after sin is gone and the vintage is past. It pictures the millennium, with the nations gathered in beside Israel.
- Booths. Israelites lived in branch shelters in a week of plenty. Comfort was not to erase the memory of Egypt.
- Owner. Seven days "to the LORD" — the rejoicing is His feast before it is theirs.
- Neglect. From Joshua to Nehemiah no one kept it. A weak group back from exile recovered what Israel's best days had let slip.
On the first day there shall be a holy convocation no manner of servile work shall ye do.
The last feast of Israel's year opens with a day of assembly and a day off work. Both details carry meaning. Why does God stop a whole nation's work on the day He calls them together? And what is the feast pointing forward to?
Its place at the end of the list is part of its message.
Look at Leviticus 23 and you will see that the feast of tabernacles completes the cycle of feasts. So it sets out the end and result of all God's ways with His earthly people. They have forfeited everything under responsibility. Yet by His grace, and through the work of Christ, He will set them in perfect blessing in their own land, "after the harvest and the vintage." So joy through the perfect period of seven days will be the fitting expression of their sense of Jehovah's goodness and grace.
The phrase is not religious decoration. It describes an action.
Chapter 22 ended with a solemn reminder to Israel of the holiness of Jehovah, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt to be their God. Chapter 23 opens with the fact that He wanted to have the people He had redeemed assembled before Him. A "convocation" is a "calling together," and this was to mark the feasts of the Lord.
The word "holy" is not spare wording either.
"Holy Convocations." These suggest collective gatherings. It seems our God delights to have His people together with a single thought in their minds — to minister to Him together. He would guard them from any intrusion of the fleshly mind of man by reminding us that they are "HOLY"!
The ESV says "ordinary work." Older translations read "servile work," the phrase these writers use. The ban falls on the first day and again on the eighth.
Twice over we get the words, "You shall do no servile work in it." On the first day, and on the eighth day, there must be no servile work at all. The first day would tell us of the entry into that feast; this speaks of the Kingdom. The eighth day speaks of a new beginning, and reaches on to the eternal state. Whether it is entry into the Kingdom or our part in eternity, our right of entry is the same. It is only by the precious blood of Christ.
Set against Israel's own history, the rule reads as a correction.
They were to do no servile work. In that day God's people will know for sure that all their blessing depends on the goodness of God, not on their own efforts. Under the bondage of the law of Sinai, Israel had been trying to gain blessing on the principle of works. Their failure and sins only brought God's judgment on them. Now, under the New Covenant, God is not demanding from them. He pours out His blessing freely through the work of Christ on the cross.
One writer ties the seven days to a still-future age of blessing for Israel, the Millennium.
That feast of seven days was a time of great rejoicing after the harvest had been gathered in. Israelites were to make booths of branches of trees and live in them during that week. This teaches us that Israel will have wonderful safety as well as pleasant weather during the Millennium.
This feast does not stop when the seven days end.
In this one feature the Feast of Tabernacles stands distinct from all the others: it has an eighth day. No other feast mentions one. The seven days, we said, were glory for the earth, but there is the "eighth day" too. This opens heavenly and eternal glory! So it is not "days" now, but this one "day," "the eighth day." It has a beginning, but it will never have an end.
The pattern of the day still shapes how believers come together.
We come now in this feast to "a holy convocation." Whatever we go through in our own life in this world, we must never forget the pleasure God has in gathering His people together. What a privilege to come together, free from lawful everyday tasks — that is, from servile work — and to enjoy the circle of blessing that is ours in Christ. We are not to take up that service for Christ as servile work. We are not to worship God in a servile way. Instead, in the liberty of sonship by the Spirit, we praise and worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.
- Called together. A convocation is a calling together. God wanted His redeemed people gathered before Him, and He marked the gathering "holy."
- Called from work. The ban on ordinary work says the blessing rests on God's goodness, not on what His people can produce.
- Called by blood. Entry into the Kingdom and entry into eternity rest on one ground: the precious blood of Christ, never our own work.
- Called to joy. As the last feast, it sets out the end of all God's ways with Israel: safety, harvest gathered in, and rejoicing in their own land.
- Called beyond. The eighth day belongs to this feast alone. It has a beginning but no end, and it opens heavenly and eternal glory beyond the seven.
Seven days ye shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah; on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah it is a solemn assembly; no manner of servile work shall ye do.
Israel's last yearly feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, runs a full week and then adds one more day. Why that eighth day, with its own gathering, its own offering, and its own name — a solemn assembly?
Scripture spells out the daily sacrifices elsewhere. Each animal pictured Christ.
There were to be special sacrifices each day of the feast. In Numbers 29:12 to 40 we get a detailed account of these sacrifices. The burnt offering included bulls, telling perhaps of the value and worth of our great Sacrifice. The rams told of His devotedness even to death. The lambs told of His gentleness, and of the special way in which He came as the Lamb of God. All the sacrifices had to be without blemish. All declared His spotless purity. All were a pleasing aroma to the LORD. The sin offering is specially mentioned for each of the seven days, and specially noted for the eighth day (Num. 29:38).
Leviticus 23 uses two different phrases for the day after a Sabbath. The difference matters.
"The eighth day" in Scripture seems to have a special significance. Seven days completed the week, ending with the Sabbath on the seventh day. The following day was "the morrow after the Sabbath," or the first day of a new week. But here it is not called the first day, or "the morrow after the Sabbath," but "the eighth day." In verses 11, 15 and 16 we read of "the morrow after the Sabbath." These verses tell in type of the resurrection of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. But when we come to verses 36 and 39, we do not get "the morrow after the Sabbath," but "the eighth day." In these verses we have, in picture, an entirely new beginning.
The seven days picture the coming reign of Christ on earth. The eighth day reaches past it.
Now just a word about the eighth day. It is connected with the seven, yet distinct from them. It carries our thoughts on to the beginning of that time of blessedness which will follow the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the eternal state, when the tabernacle of God will be with men. He will tabernacle not then over them, but with them (Rev. 21:3). As the eighth day, it was the start of a new week, a stretch of time which, as far as the picture goes, never ended. We come to the start of a new week, but we never reach its close. So it symbolises the eternal state, which will begin, but never end.
One writer connects that same day with resurrection.
By bringing in the eighth day in this remarkable way, God shows us how the earthly blessing is joined to the heavenly glory of resurrection. Resurrection points to heaven, and can never satisfy itself except in heavenly places. So this day hints at a link with glory on high. At the same time there is the fullest possible recognition of a day of rest and blessedness for the earth and the Jewish people.
John's Gospel records this day. The ceremonies were at their height, and the One they pictured stood in the crowd.
Everything earthly comes to an end — even the Millennial Kingdom has a time limit… In picture, "the eighth day" is Eternity. The bliss and glory of the millennial age is only the entrance hall into the kingdom which will know no end. This was the day when the rejected Messiah stood in Solomon's city and cried, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37). The ritual of the Feast of Tabernacles, all pointing to Himself, was in full swing, but HE was unwanted. It was true then, and it is true still. Hearts that religious ceremony cannot satisfy find full satisfaction and rest in Christ.
The day has two commands: come together, and do no ordinary work. Older translations call that "servile work."
We come now in this feast to "a holy convocation." Whatever we each go through in our own life in this world, we must never forget the pleasure God has in gathering His people together… What a privilege, free from legitimate things — servile work — to come together and enjoy the circle of blessing which is ours in Christ. We are not to take up service for Christ as servile work. We are not to worship God in a servile way. Instead, in the liberty of sonship by the Spirit, we praise and worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.
- Seven days. The week of offerings pointed to Christ. The bull spoke of His worth, the ram of His devotion to death, the lamb of His gentleness. All were without blemish.
- Eighth day. The wording matters. Earlier the chapter says "the morrow after the Sabbath." Here it says "the eighth day" — a picture of an entirely new beginning.
- A week without an end. The eighth day starts a new week the picture never finishes. It stands for the eternal state, which begins but never ends.
- Beyond the kingdom. The seven days picture Christ's reign on earth. The added day links that earthly blessing to the heavenly glory of resurrection.
- The invitation. On this very day Jesus stood and offered drink to the thirsty. The ceremony pointed to Him, yet the crowd wanted none of Him. Hearts still find rest in Him, not in ritual.
These are the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present an offering by fire to Jehovah, a burnt-offering, and an oblation, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings, everything upon its day;
This verse closes the long list of appointed feasts that fills the chapter. It names them as the Lord's own and ties them to offerings brought on the day set for each, which raises two questions: whose are these feasts, and what is a "holy convocation" for?
This verse repeats what the chapter has said many times: the feasts are the Lord's, the convocations are holy, and the offerings go to the Lord. One writer draws a single conclusion from that repetition:
Verses 37 and 38 sum up these set times. Again they insist that these are "feasts of the Lord," and that the offerings go "to the Lord," all on the days appointed. Besides these there were gifts, vows and freewill offerings, which they were to "give to the Lord." The Lord was to be the Object of their lives.
The phrase describes people called together. One writer names what they gather around:
The idea of these feasts is the gathering of the people round Jehovah for some cause or other, a "holy convocation."
Another writer counts how often the chapter says it, and draws out what our gatherings mean to God:
Having completed the outline of this final feast, the Spirit of God sums the matter up in verse 37. This is the third time in the chapter that He draws our attention to the feasts being holy convocations (see also verses 2 and 4). He says it again as each feast is detailed (see verses 3, 7, 8, 21, 24, 27, 35 and 36). How essential it is for the saints to observe the important place their gatherings have in the thoughts of God. The writer of Hebrews realised this when he wrote, "not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25).
The verse names four offerings: burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings. Each carries its own meaning (older translations call the grain offering an "oblation"):
We learn from Lev. 23:37 what "an offering by fire to Jehovah" is. First there is the burnt offering, which tells of the acceptance before God of His saints in all the fragrance and efficacy of Christ's death. Then there is the oblation, which engages us before God with the perfections of His Son, shown in His holy life on earth. "A sacrifice" is doubtless a peace offering. In it the saints have communion with God about His Son, who glorified Him in death and brought them near in righteousness and peace. The offering by fire ends with "drink offerings," which, being in the plural, magnify the joy that comes through the work of the cross.
God fixes a day for each feast. The order itself carries meaning:
Each feast has its proper time and proper order in the chapter and we must take care to keep to this order. How could we know the blessing of the feast of Tabernacles if we did not begin with the cross of Christ? "In their seasons" would show a Divine order, worked out according to plan. Not like the world, which would gladly take up the Kingdom blessing but ignore the great necessity of founding it all on the DEATH of Christ. God has His own way and His own time in working things out, and we must work to this plan if the blessings of these things are to be ours.
What does this summary close off? One writer sets out the whole series, and where it starts and ends:
Looking at the feasts separately, we have the Sabbath, the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the first-fruits, Pentecost, the feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles. That would make eight in all. But the Sabbath clearly holds a unique and independent place of its own… So, strictly speaking, Israel's first great feast was the Passover, and their seventh was the feast of tabernacles. That is to say, once we look past the picture, we have full redemption; and, last of all, we have the millennial glory.
- His feasts. The closing sentence names them as the Lord's, not the people's; He is the Object the whole calendar points to.
- His convocation. A holy convocation is people called together around Him. The chapter repeats it so often that we cannot miss how much God values His people meeting.
- His offering. The burnt, grain, peace and drink offerings together set out Christ's death, His life, communion with God about Him, and the joy the cross brings.
- His order. Every feast has its own day and its own place in the order. The glory at the end rests on the cross at the start.
- His goal. From Passover to Tabernacles the list runs from full redemption to millennial glory — the whole span, summed up in one verse.
besides the sabbaths of Jehovah, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your voluntary offerings, which ye give to Jehovah.
The word "besides" in this verse points past the yearly calendar. It names the Lord's sabbaths, and the gifts, vows and freewill offerings Israel brought by choice. So why is the sabbath set apart from the appointed feasts? And what room is there for giving that no law commands?
The chapter opened by listing the sabbath among the feasts. Here it stands apart from them again:
This revelation begins with the sabbath, which is here grouped with the set feasts, the appointed times, though many see it as distinct from them... Although the seventh day was grouped with the appointed times, it also differed from them in important ways, and that appears from verses 4 and 37, 38 of this chapter. Putting it at the start of this chapter was surely meant to impress on the people that no set time of rejoicing, and no holy gathering, was to override the lasting ordinance of the sabbath day and its proper keeping. For it was a sign between Jehovah and Israel (Exodus 31:13, 17).
The reason for that fresh start is how often each feast came round:
The sabbath comes first, as the beginning of the feasts. Then we begin again, with the sabbath left out. Why? Because the sabbath has a character altogether peculiar to itself. As a plain matter of fact, Israel kept all the other feasts once a year, but the sabbath every week. So there is a clear line of separation, and the second beginning makes sense.
Why does the sabbath keep coming back? One writer points to where all God's ways are heading:
Whatever else comes out, God is never tired of bringing in the sabbath. The reason is good and plain. The sabbath, in its full meaning, is the final result of all God's ways... whatever He may work, He works to this end — the rest of God. I do not say rest for God, as if He needed it. It is His own rest. And it is not only a rest that God will bring about, a rest that will satisfy His mind and affections. It is a rest He will share, in one way or another, with all who are His.
The appointed days had their fixed offerings. The gifts, vows and freewill offerings came from somewhere else:
These offerings were to come from hearts touched with a sense of Jehovah's goodness. They came from people who wanted to do what gave Him pleasure, as the burnt offering expresses. A vow would be a special mark of devotion to the will of God. A freewill offering was the simple desire to give God something back for His generosity and goodness. The solemn feasts stirred the hearts of God's people. They were fitting occasions for ministering to Him who kept ministering to them out of His endless resources.
Everything in the verse points one way:
Verses 37 and 38 sum up these set times. They insist again that these are "feasts of the Lord." The offerings were to be made "to the Lord," all on the days appointed. Besides these came gifts, vows and freewill offerings, which they were to "give to the Lord." The Lord was to be the Object of their lives.
Writers do not all weigh the vow the same way. One measures every legal vow against the sacrifice itself, and says grace has ended such vows:
In the light of that sacrifice, how petty are all legal vows! We may well bless God that grace has put an end to such vows. The only One fit to make them is He who has fulfilled His own vows and paid them in the presence of the Lord's people (Psalm 116:14-18).
Another keeps the vow as a living pattern of deliberate self-committal:
There are times in our lives when we feel a deep concern about matters that touch the things of God. Then we feel the need to give ourselves to the Lord in a settled way, so that we are available for His interests... It is not a duty. It is a privilege, open to anyone who really wants to commit themselves to God in a settled way, so that He can use them. It all rests on the free will of the giver; nothing here is required.
- Rest first. The sabbath opens the chapter, and this verse names it again on its own. It came every week; the other feasts came once a year.
- Rest last. That weekly sign points to the end of all God's ways — His own rest, which He shares with His people.
- Rest framed by gifts. Between the fixed days there was room for gifts, vows and freewill offerings that no command required.
- Gifts have a source. They rise from hearts touched by God's goodness. They give something back to the One who keeps giving.
- All of it to Him. Feasts, offerings, vows and gifts are all directed to the Lord; He was to be the Object of their lives.
But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the produce of the land, ye shall celebrate the feast of Jehovah seven days on the first day there shall be rest, and on the eighth day there shall be rest.
This verse sets Israel's last feast of the year — the feast of tabernacles — in the seventh month, after the harvest was in. Commentators read its timing, and its unusual eighth day, as a picture of what God has planned for His people.
The feast could not begin until the crops were in. That order matters, because harvest and vintage stand for judgment.
It was when they had gathered in the produce of the land, when the harvest was past, and the vintage over. God's dealings in judgment with the living will have taken this course. The harvest is the kind of judgment where the Lord separates the good from the bad. The vintage is where He will trample down wicked religion unsparingly.
The same order marks the moment God gathers in all His people, from heaven and earth.
The feast of tabernacles took place after the earth's increase had been gathered in. As we learn elsewhere, this was not only after the harvest but after the vintage also. That is, it came after separation by judgment, and after the final execution of judgment on the earth, when heavenly and earthly saints should be all gathered in. Israel was to rejoice seven days before Jehovah.
One writer traces the two rest days back to what God wanted from the start of the chapter.
The eighth day is always a new beginning… At the beginning of the chapter, God showed that He had set His heart upon a "Sabbath of rest". Now, at the close, He finds His rest, where His people can rest with Him, first, in the millennium, and finally in the eternal state.
That rest also has a present side.
How sweet to read of that first day of the feast! The Lord offers rest, even now, to all who come to Him, and to all who take His yoke (Matt. 11:28-30), but in the days to come there is to be a further rest, when the curse shall largely be done away, and the Prince of Peace shall reign.
This feast has one feature that none of the others has.
In this one feature the Feast of Tabernacles stands distinct from all the others; it has an eighth day. The seven days, we said, were glory for the earth, but there is the "eighth day" too. This opens heavenly and eternal glory! So it is not "days" now, but this one "day," "the eighth day." Therefore it has a beginning, but it shall never have an end.
Another writer links the eighth day to God's rest at creation, and to a rest His people still await.
The Eighth Day tells us of this long Sabbath of Eternity… In Genesis we read that "He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done" (Gen. 2:2). But sin soon broke in on God's rest. So the Son of God must say, "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (John 5:17)… But "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (Heb. 4:9). Sin has spoiled the rest of the seventh day, but there yet remains the rest of the eighth day.
God gave Israel this feast to keep, but for centuries they let it drop. Its best moment is still ahead.
They forgot that they had been strangers and pilgrims, and so they neglected this feast for a long time. From the days of Joshua down to the time of Nehemiah, Israel never once kept the feast of tabernacles. The feeble remnant that came back from the Babylonian captivity did what had not been done even in the bright days of Solomon… What a happy moment, when the heavenly and the earthly shall meet, as shown in "the first day" and "the eighth day" of the feast of tabernacles!
One writer connects the feast's closing day to a scene in John's Gospel.
It was the last day, the great one, of the feast; and the Lord in John 7:37 stood and cried, "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." But this He spoke of the Spirit, says the Evangelist — the Spirit whom those believing on Him were to receive. The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
- Harvest first. The feast starts only after the fruit comes in: joy follows the judgment that separates good from bad.
- Then joy. The seven days picture a full term of glory for Israel in the land, once God has gathered in His saints from heaven and earth.
- Rest now. Christ offers His rest today to anyone who comes to Him, ahead of the wider rest the earth still waits for.
- Rest without end. The eighth day belongs to this feast alone. It begins, yet it never closes: heavenly and eternal glory beyond the seven.
- Come and drink. On the feast's greatest day Christ called the thirsty to Himself, and promised the Spirit to all who believe.
And ye shall take on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, palm branches and the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days.
Israel's last feast of the year ends with armfuls of branches and a command to be glad. Why did God name these exact trees? And what future was He picturing when He told a whole nation to rejoice for a week?
This is the last feast in the list. It comes after the day when the nation's sins are dealt with.
Here Israel sees her sins put away by Him whom she has rejected all through this present age, though He was offered long before. Once she has been called to repentance, they look on Him whom they pierced. That is how the way is opened for the feast of ingathering. Then the people can enjoy to the full the triumph of grace and see the completion of all God's ways with them in the great feast of tabernacles.
The palm comes first among the named trees. Scripture ties it to uprightness.
Palm branches are named here, and Scripture connects this tree with righteousness. Jeremiah 10:5 says, "They are upright as the palm tree" (an older translation), and Psalm 92:12 says, "The righteous flourish like the palm tree." During the reign of Christ on earth, righteousness will prevail. It will not only show in all the homes of Israel; it will fill the whole kingdom of the Son of Man.
Another writer links the palm to deliverance and to the temple of the coming kingdom.
"Palm branches" express the joy of complete deliverance (Lev. 23:40; John 12:13). God had brought them safely through their terrible time of appointed suffering, called "the great tribulation." Now they triumph in the triumph of their God. The palm is the only tree named in the building of the millennial temple. It is also named mainly in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles, the last and closing joyful feast of Israel.
The willow is an odd choice for a feast of gladness. Elsewhere it stands for something very different.
Its boughs were used at the Feast of Tabernacles, a season of joy; but at the captivity and since, it is a symbol of sorrow. The captives hung their harps on such trees during their exile, and the Psalmist spoke of it in prophecy.
The feast fell at the moment of greatest plenty, when the crops were in.
In the glad days of harvest, when they had gathered in the fruit of the land, it was their solemn admission that after their rescue from Egypt they had wandered so long in the dreary desert. It bore witness to thankful joy that those now in the promised land had once known the wilderness. They are indeed to keep the feast with rejoicing, but the memory of wilderness shame and sorrow is there to sober and yet deepen the joy.
The mix of trees is the point. No one branch makes a shelter.
The palm branches speak of victory and joy, the willows of the brook of trial and sorrow. These had to be woven together on the strong frame of the splendid trees and leafy trees, which speak to us of the infallible Word of the God who cannot lie. We must not leave out those splendid and leafy trees as we build our booths of palm and willow. No experience can bring us lasting profit if the Word of God has no place in it.
The same writer saw this at a graveside:
The other day I stood near an elderly Christian at the open grave of his beloved wife. I asked him, "How are you?" He replied, "I have a wonderful Saviour." He had gathered his palm branch in his sorrow, and he was a triumphant man.
Israel's record of keeping this feast is short.
They forgot that they had been strangers and pilgrims, and so they neglected this feast for a long time. From the days of Joshua down to the time of Nehemiah, no one ever kept the feast of tabernacles. The weak remnant that returned from exile in Babylon did what even the bright days of Solomon never saw… How refreshing it must have been to those who had hung their harps on the willows of Babylon to find themselves under the shade of the willows of Canaan!
- Cleansed, then glad. The feast follows the day when sin is dealt with; the rejoicing of this verse rests on that, not on Israel's mood.
- Palm. The branch of righteousness and of complete deliverance. It reappears in the millennial temple and in the hands of those brought through the great tribulation.
- Willow. The tree of the exiles' hung-up harps, now carried into a feast: sorrow is not left out of the shelter; it is built into it.
- Woven. Palm and willow only become a booth on a frame of splendid and leafy trees — the Word of God. Experience without it yields no lasting profit.
- Kept at last. No one kept it from Joshua to Nehemiah. A weak returned remnant finally did — this joy belongs to faith, not to prosperity.
And ye shall celebrate it as a feast to Jehovah seven days in the year [it is] an everlasting statute throughout your generations; in the seventh month shall ye celebrate it.
Leviticus 23:41 fixes the last of Israel's feasts in place. Israel must keep it for seven days in the seventh month, and every generation after them must keep it too. The instruction raises two questions — why a whole week, and why a feast that never expires?
It comes last in the chapter, and that position carries its meaning. The series traces God's dealings with His people from the Passover lamb onward. This feast stands at the end of the line.
Look at Leviticus 23, and you will see that the feast of tabernacles completes the cycle of feasts. So it sets out the end and result of all God's ways with His earthly people. They have forfeited everything under responsibility. Now, through the work of Christ, He will set them in His grace, in perfect blessing in their own land, "after the harvest and the vintage."
The length of the feast is not incidental. Commentators read the week as a measured picture of a coming age.
This closing feast, like the feast of unleavened bread, occupies a whole week. The seven days of unleavened bread signify the whole course of the Christian's lifetime in this world (1 Cor. 5:8); the seven days of the feast of tabernacles signify the whole millennial period of blessing for Israel.
The joy of those days rests on something already finished, not on this year's harvest:
They were to keep this feast for seven days in a row. It is joy — full and complete joy. The joy is not measured by the size of the blessing, as at Pentecost. It is joy because God had blessed them in all the work of their hands. So of course they ought to rejoice. The spirit of that day belongs to us, although its fulfilment has not yet come.
Their gladness had a backward look at the desert years built into it.
In the glad days when they had gathered in the fruit of the land, the feast was their solemn admission of this: after God brought them out of Egypt, they had lived so long as wanderers in the dreary desert. Their thankful joy testified that the people now in the promised land had once known the wilderness… Now they are to keep the feast with rejoicing. But they keep it with the memorial of wilderness shame and sorrow, to chasten the joy and yet deepen it.
The verse does not just say "keep a feast." It says keep it to the LORD. That phrase runs through the whole passage, verse after verse.
We read in Leviticus 23 that it "shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to THE LORD [JEHOVAH]" (v. 34). Verse 36 tells us, "For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to THE LORD [JEHOVAH]."… Verse 40, "You shall rejoice before THE LORD [JEHOVAH] your God." Verse 41, "You shall celebrate it as a feast to THE LORD [JEHOVAH] for seven days in the year."
Israel later lost that sense. By the time of the Gospels the same feasts carried a different name:
At the close of our chapter we read, "And Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord." That was their true character and their original title. But the Gospel of John calls them "feasts of the Jews." They had long ceased to be Jehovah's feasts. He was shut out. They did not want Him.
Israel neglected this feast for most of its history. The reason given is a lost sense of being pilgrims.
But sadly, they showed little heart for entering into God's thought about this most delightful feast. They forgot that they had been strangers and pilgrims, and so they neglected this feast for a long time. From the days of Joshua down to the time of Nehemiah, Israel never once celebrated the feast of tabernacles. It was left to the feeble remnant that returned from the captivity in Babylon to do what had not been done even in the bright days of Solomon.
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The "for ever" still stands. Commentators point forward to a literal future keeping of it:
"Everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles."… Surely Jerusalem means Jerusalem. Nations mean nations. And the feast of tabernacles means the feast of tabernacles.
- Last — Tabernacles closes the cycle of feasts. It sets out the end and result of all God's ways with His people, "after the harvest and the vintage."
- Long — The seven days stand for a whole age of blessing. The joy is full and complete because God has already blessed them.
- Looking back — The feast kept the desert in view. The memory of wilderness shame and sorrow chastens the joy and deepens it.
- To the LORD — Every clause names Him as the one the feast is kept for. Israel forgot that, and the feasts became "feasts of the Jews," with God shut out.
- Lasting — The statute stands for every generation. Israel forgot they were pilgrims and let it lapse from Joshua to Nehemiah. Commentators hold that the nations will yet keep it at Jerusalem.
In booths shall ye dwell seven days; all born in Israel shall dwell in booths;
Once a year, after the harvest was in, Israel left their houses. For a week they lived under roofs of leafy branches. Two questions follow: why break up a settled life this way, and why limit the command to those born in Israel?
The booths were not tents or rough huts. Israel built them from what the land produced at its best, and the custom gave the whole festival its name.
It was this living in booths for seven days, not on the eighth, that gave this Feast its usual name. It was the Feast of Ingathering; but Israel lived in booths during it. Yet the booths were not made of tents. They were made of the fruit of beautiful trees, chosen freely, and of branches of tall palms, so typical of the land then. They were to use boughs of leafy trees or brushwood, such as myrtle, and willows of the brooks.
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The week fell at the height of plenty. That is when the shelters did their work. They put a reminder of the desert inside the celebration.
In the days of glad enjoyment, when they had gathered in the fruit of the land, this was their solemn admission: after their deliverance from Egypt they had been strangers for so long in the dreary desert. Then, sadly, came their rebellion in the day of testing in the wilderness. There their fathers put God to the test instead of walking in dependence, obedience and thankfulness — and that generation was ruined. Now they are to keep the feast with rejoicing, but with the memorial of wilderness shame and sorrow to chasten and yet heighten the joy. Such joy needs a reminder like this, in case joy on its own becomes a danger, even death.
Other feasts made room for outsiders. This one rests on something no one can arrange for himself.
Verse 42 of our chapter makes this even clearer. The right to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in the appointed way depends on birth, not on works. Even at the Feast of the Passover there is no hint that only Israelites by birth might put the blood on the door, and we know that a "mixed multitude" went up out of Egypt (Ex. 12:38). There is even provision for the stranger who wished to keep the Feast of the Passover (Ex. 12:48). But the Feast of Tabernacles depends on birth. And the right to enter the Heavenly Kingdom also depends on birth. "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). The new birth alone, without our slavish works, gives the right of entry there.
The limit fits what the feast recalls: Israel wandered in the desert, not the nations. Yet prophecy widens the circle.
The Jews, it appears, hold that only an Israelite by birth could keep the feast of tabernacles — that is, live in booths — however widely the joy was shared. There is a clear reason for this. Israel as a people had been in the wilderness, strangers and wanderers, as they are now. In Zechariah 14:19 the nations are to go up and keep the feast of tabernacles. The sin of the Jews was that they would not acknowledge mercy shown to the nations. The nations must bow and join in the joy of mercy shown to the Jews. If they do not, this will be their sin, and God will judge them for it, because they would not submit to Israel's grace.
Israel ignored this feast for centuries. The reason given is that they stopped thinking of themselves as pilgrims.
Sadly, it seems they had little heart to enter into God's thought about this most delightful ordinance. They forgot that they had been strangers and pilgrims, so they neglected this feast for a long time. From the days of Joshua down to the time of Nehemiah, Israel never once kept the feast of tabernacles. The feeble remnant that returned from exile in Babylon did what had never been done, even in the bright days of Solomon.
Looking back was part of the joy of the week. And that looking back is not only for Israel.
It was a time of joy and rejoicing. Their hearts went back to the time when the Lord led them through the wilderness as pilgrims and strangers, with no house or home, and only booths to live in. The Lord would never have us forget our wilderness pathway. He says, "You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart" (Deut. 8:2).
- Birth — only those born Israelites kept this feast. Works gave no right to it, and entry into the kingdom comes the same way: by new birth.
- Booths — the shelters were palm, leafy branches and willows, not tents. They mattered so much that they gave the feast its name.
- Memory — the week put the desert inside the harvest joy. Remembering the wilderness both sobered and deepened their gladness in the land.
- Neglect — Israel forgot they had been strangers and pilgrims. So the feast lapsed from Joshua's day until the returned remnant kept it again.
- Reach — what began as Israel's own memorial ends, in prophecy, with the nations going up to keep the same feast. They share the joy of mercy shown to Israel.
that your generations may know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt I am Jehovah your God.
At Israel's last yearly feast, the people left their houses and lived for a week in shelters made of branches. This verse gives the reason: every generation was to know who had put their ancestors in those booths.
The Hebrew word behind "booths" gave the whole festival its name. One writer traces the plants used for the booths to the start and the end of the desert journey:
The feast was called Tabernacles, or booths — succoth — because for all seven days they were to live in booths, succoth (v. 42). The booths were made of palms, leafy branches, and willows from the brook, nachal, to remind them of their life in the wilderness (v. 43). At the start of that life they came to palm trees (Ex. 15:27), and it closed at the brook Zered (Deut. 2:14). They kept the feast after they had gathered in their grain, wine, and oil, resting and rejoicing when the year's work was over. This pictures the rest that still remains, and the joy that will come when all their troubles on earth are over and Messiah is reigning over them.
The feast came when the crops were in. God set a reminder of the desert right in the middle of that plenty:
In the glad days when they had gathered in the fruit of the land, they solemnly admitted that after God delivered them from Egypt they had travelled a long time in the dreary desert… They are surely to keep the feast with rejoicing, but with the memorial of wilderness shame and sorrow to chasten the joy, and so to heighten it. This was for Israel still on earth, for man not raised from the dead though in a day of glory. Joy then needs such a remembrance, in case joy alone should become a danger, if not death.
God does not say Israel chose the booths. He says He put them there:
In this second mention of the feast we are told that all Israelites by birth were to live in booths. It was a witness that God had made them live as pilgrims in booths under His shadow, in what was like a houseless, homeless wilderness. It was the feast of ingathering.
Not everyone could keep this feast. One writer explains why, and what comes later:
The Jews, it appears, hold that none but an Israelite by birth could keep the feast of tabernacles — that is, live in booths — whatever the shared joy might be. There is a clear reason for this. Israel as such had been in the wilderness, strangers and wanderers, as they are now. In Exodus 12:44, bought servants were to be circumcised and keep the Passover. They were redeemed members of the household, set apart to God by circumcision. Now in Zechariah 14:19 the Gentiles are to go up and keep the feast of tabernacles. The sin of the Jews was that they would not acknowledge mercy shown to Gentiles. Gentiles must bow and join in the joy of mercy shown to Israel; if they do not, this will be their sin.
Israel ignored this command for centuries. One writer links that neglect to a lost sense of having once been homeless:
They forgot that they had once been strangers and pilgrims, and so they neglected this feast for a long time. From the days of Joshua down to the time of Nehemiah, Israel never once kept the feast of tabernacles. The weak remnant who came back from captivity in Babylon did what no one had done even in the bright days of Solomon: "And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing" (Neh. 8:17).
Blessing makes it easy to forget where you came from:
The Israelites by birth were to live in booths to remind them how God had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They might forget this in the comfort of the land, and in the joy of their Messiah's generous reign, with all its peace and plenty never known before in the world. We must not forget the pit we were dug out of — that we are, after all, with all the wonderful blessings that are ours, sinners saved by grace.
- God's doing. He does not say Israel camped in booths. He says He made them live there, as pilgrims under His own shadow in a homeless wilderness.
- Remember, then rejoice. The booths went up after the harvest was in, so the memory of the desert would steady and deepen the joy of plenty.
- Memory taught. The aim reached past the adults to children who never saw Egypt. Every generation had to know it.
- Forgetting costs. Israel forgot it had ever been a stranger, and the feast lapsed from Joshua to Nehemiah. Solomon's splendour was no substitute for obedience.
- Rest ahead. The week in booths pictures rest and joy under Messiah's reign, and Zechariah 14 says the nations will go up to keep it too.