Leviticus 23:39–43

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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 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 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.

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!

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."

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.