The Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths, is one of the Lord’s feasts described in Leviticus 23.  It’s also known as Sukkot, meaning “booths.”  Although Leviticus 23 told the people how to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, this might be one of the most oft-mentioned feasts in Scripture.

How to Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles According to Leviticus 23

The instructions regarding Sukkot comprise a pretty lengthy segment of chapter 23 — verses 33-43:

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.

‘These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day— besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.

‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for 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 for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ ”

There’s a little sidebar tucked in the middle there that’s a bit out of place, but for the most part, this section gives us the instructions for keeping this Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles).  The feast begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, which is the Jewish month of Tishrei.  It roughly corresponds to our September/October.  Sukkot comes on the heels of the Day of Atonement (the tenth day) and the Feast of Trumpets (the first day), and all these together are considered the “High Holidays” in Judaism.

The first and eighth days of this feast (the fifteenth day of the month and the twenty-second) are considered holy convocations, sacred assemblies, sabbath-rests.  No ordinary work was to be done on these days.

They were also to spend the entire seven days “rejoicing before the Lord,” making sacrifices, and dwelling in booths as a memorial to the temporary nature of the Israelites’ dwellings during the exodus from Egypt.  The first day includes making preparation, by gathering “the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook,” in order to carry out the instructions for the rest of the week.

All native Israelites were to dwell in booths, which makes this sound like a celebration that excludes Gentiles, but other passages call that into question, as we’ll see in a bit.

Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem

The Feast of Tabernacles is one of the three harvest festivals of the Lord.

And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. (Exodus 34:22)

And it’s one of the three feasts the men of Israel were called to go to Jerusalem to observe.

Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God. (Exodus 23:14-17)

In these passages, it’s referred to as the Feast of Ingathering.  (Remember the Leviticus passage said this is to be kept on the fifteenth of the seventh month, “when you have gathered in the fruit of the land”?)

More About How to Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles

Numbers 29:12-39 explains in detail what offerings are to be made throughout the Feast of Tabernacles.  The Feast begins with a holy convocation, and each day for seven days, sacrifices are made — 2 rams, 14 yearling lambs, and a goat kid as a sin offering, plus a decreasing number of bulls daily: 13 on day one, 12 on day two, 11 on day three, etc.  Each of these was to be accompanied by the proper grain offerings (and the regular daily sacrifice with its corresponding drink and grain offerings).

On the eighth day there was, again, a sacred assembly.  On this day, they were to sacrifice 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs, and the 1 goat kid as a sin offering.

The feast is also recapped in Deuteronomy 16:13-17:

You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

For the most part, this simply reiterates what we learned from the previous passages, but note the emphasis on its being after “you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress,” and that it makes clear that the men were to appear “before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses” for this feast.  They were to bring offerings as part of this celebration.

And note that this passage tells us it is not only the native Israelite who is to rejoice in this feast, but “you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow” — everyone who is within the gates of the nation!

Still More About the Feast of Tabernacles in the Old Testament

It was at the Feast of Tabernacles that, every seven years, the law was to be read to all the people, “men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates.”  (See Deuteronomy 31:10-13.)

This charge to read the law to all bears a striking resemblance to Paul’s charge in Romans 10.

“…that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 31)

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?…So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10)

In 2 Chronicles 8, we read about Solomon’s observation of the Feast of Tabernacles (along with the other feasts).  And in Nehemiah 8 and Ezra 3, we read about the keeping of the feast after the restoration of the temple.  This passage is interesting because there’s a little extra information to flesh out things we’ve read in other passages.

[T]hey should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” (v. 15)

Where Leviticus refers to “the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook,” Nehemiah refers to “olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees,” which helps us place “beautiful trees” as likely olive trees.  We also see here that the branches were for the making of the booths.

Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. (v. 16)

And here we see that they built these booths wherever they could fit them: on their roofs, in their courtyards, or in common areas.

The Feast of Tabernacles in the Day of the Lord

Perhaps the most interesting Old Testament passage, though, about the Feast of Tabernacles, is Zechariah 14.

Behold, the day of the Lord is coming…
And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall 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 whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.  (vv. 1, 16-19)

The Feast of Tabernacles in the New Testament

There’s surprisingly little direct reference to the Feast of Tabernacles in the New Testament.  John 7 refers to the feast.  It opens by telling us that the “Feast of Tabernacles was at hand,” and we learn throughout the narrative that Jesus delayed His departure so that He arrived in Jerusalem after His brother did — somewhat discreetly.  Everything else in this chapter takes place during the feast, although that is, for the most part, incidental other than to tell us as readers what the timing of these events was like.

His message from the last day, however, ties back to Zechariah 14.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  (John 7:37-39)

At first blush, this doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Old Testament passage about Sukkot, but the religious leaders would have recognized the context of Zechariah’s words about the feast.

And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea…  (Zechariah 14:8)

Although we don’t have any further references to this feast, when Revelation talks about the new heavens, new earth, and New Jerusalem, it tells us that at that time, “the tabernacle of God is with man” — and references the “water of life.”

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.  (Revelation 21:1-6)

How is the Feast of Tabernacles Celebrated Today?

As with the other feasts, the sacrifices are, of course, no longer made.  However, Jews today still build booths.  Like in Ezra’s day, these are often in locations like roofs and balconies.  Each booth — or “sukkah” — is usually decorated with autumn harvest elements, such as winter squash.

The designated branches are waved as a wave offering.  Traditionally, these are know as the “etrog” — a citron fruit (similar to a lemon) — and the “lulav” — a cluster of palm, myrtle, and willow branches.  These are waved in celebration by the people as they walk in a procession around the temple.  It’s a little like a parade.

What Does the Feast of Tabernacles Celebrate?

We see in Leviticus 23 that the Feast of Tabernacles was originally a feast of memorial, reminding the people of the transient nature of their lives as they wandered in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land.  It was also, by implication, a celebration and feast of thanks to God for the year’s harvest.  Finally, every seventh year, it was an occasion for reading and remembering the law of God.

So what should it be for us as Christians?

The harvest element of this feast is, in some ways, very straightforward.  Not unlike our modern Thanksgiving, it’s a celebration of thankfulness for God’s provision.  Beyond that, though, as the third of God’s harvest feasts, it points to the ingathering of the saints.  “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37b-38) 

Likewise, the significance of the booths is multilayered.  The Israelites memorialized their wandering in the wilderness.  This is not insignificant for us, as all God’s works are worth remembering.  However, we also have the spiritual reality that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world, “wandering” while we await the ultimate Promised Land.

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.” (Hebrews 11:13-14)

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven…”  (2 Corinthians 5:1-2)

We also have the incarnation to celebrate as the tabernacling of God with man (“’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’”  Matthew 1:23), as well as the future consummation to look forward to, when God will permanently dwell with man.

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”  (Revelation 21:3-4)

The reading of the law, too, has its own spiritual fulfillment.

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”  (Jeremiah 31:33)

We ultimately will not require the reading of the law for remembrance — or understanding — because it will be in our minds and on our hearts.  The Lord Himself will “read” His law to us, internally, in the year of release…the year of sabbath-rest for the land and of freedom from slavery.

How You Can Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles

By now, the foundation of the celebration is probably obvious: build a tabernacle/sukkah/booth.  Traditionally, this is something that’s open to the sky, and it’s built outdoors.  But if you don’t have an outdoor option, you can also build something in your living room.

Or, for a similar-but-different approach, camp in the backyard in a tent.  The emphasis is on the temporary.

If you like, you can wave branches and have a mini-parade at the start.  And you can decorate your sukkah with symbols of the autumn harvest.

You might choose to have a Thanksgiving-like feast in gratitude for the harvest.

Although the reading of the law has been spiritually fulfilled, you could also read the law (perhaps in truncated form for the little ones’ sake — the ten commandments and perhaps the blessings & curses? — as a symbolic representation, and/or read Jeremiah 31’s promise of the law on our hearts.

As a merely fun activity, we’ve also made little graham cracker sukkahs in the past (think gingerbread houses).