Sukkot and the rebuilding of David’s tent
Israel remains deeply engaged in a war for its survival following the brutal Hamas attack on Oct. 7, the deadliest massacre of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust. Meanwhile, antisemitism is surging to unprecedented levels in the West, leaving many in the Jewish nation grappling with how to fully observe the Sukkot holiday, where God commands them to rejoice, even in a time of such profound mourning.
When we look at all that Sukkot symbolizes and points to in the coming days, we are reminded of how the joy of the Lord and his presence with us brings us through times of trouble and grief, providing new hope.
Biblical background of Sukkot
Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles is considered the most important of the seven feasts of Israel and referred to as “The Feast.” It is a week-long, joyous celebration that takes place four days after Yom Kippur, on the 15th of Tishrei, to commemorate a time when God dwelt with the Jewish people in the desert. It also looks forward to a time when God will dwell with us again in the Messianic kingdom.
We come together with friends, family and the larger community to eat, drink, read, pray, and rejoice in the Sukkah (a flimsy, roughly built, hut-like dwelling commanded by God in Leviticus 23).
It’s also a time to invite guests, neighbors and even strangers to come and share a meal in the sukkah to celebrate God’s provision and blessing.
“You shall keep the Feast of Booths for seven days when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your wine press. You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.
For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful” (Deuteronomy 16:13-16).
Sukkot is rich with Messianic symbolism. When Yeshua the Messiah came into the world and dwelt or tabernacled among us, it was a prophetic fulfillment of Sukkot.
Sukkot has several themes:
- The Season of Our Joy
- The Festival of Dedication
- The Festival of Light
- The Festival of Ingathering
- The Festival of the Nations
The Season of Our Joy
It is the season of our joy because we have just completed a season of repentance during the days leading up to the Feast of Trumpets and Yom Kippur. It is a time when God commands us to rejoice before Him!
In Leviticus, God commanded the Jewish people to take the Arba Minim (Four Species): an etrog (citron), a lulav (palm frond), three hadassim (myrtle twigs) and two aravot (willow twigs), and rejoice before him.
“And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees (citron), branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees myrtle and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days (Leviticus 23:40).
The Festival of Dedication
Sukkot is also referred to as the Festival of Dedication. 1 Kings 8:2 recounts how Solomon intentionally dedicated the Temple during the holiday of Sukkot, reinforcing the nationalistic meaning that Sukkot already held for the Israelites. Similarly, in Ezra 3:4 the Second Temple was dedicated on Sukkot, and in Nehemiah 8:18, the celebration over the completion of the wall and the public reading of the Torah ends with a Sukkot celebration.
The Festival of Light and Living Water
Light and living water are both significant themes at Sukkot. Two important parts of the Festival of Sukkot in ancient Israel were the illumination of the temple and the water libation ceremony.
The priests and the Levites would go down to the court of the women in the temple. Four enormous golden candlesticks, each 50 cubits, or about 75 feet high, were set up on the court. Four golden bowls were placed upon them and four ladders were laid resting against each candlestick. Four youths of priestly descent ascended to the top of the ladders holding jars containing about 7.5 gallons of pure oil. They then poured the oil into each bowl. The light radiating from these four candles was so bright that it lit up every courtyard in Jerusalem. The mood was festive and joyous. Many would dance well into the night, holding bright torches and singing psalms of praise to God. Jerusalem shone like a diamond and her light could be seen from afar. This light represented the Shekinah glory that once filled the temple where God’s presence dwelt in the Holy of Holies (1 Kings 8:10-11; Ezekiel 43:5).
On the last day of the festival, the priests would draw water from the Pool of Siloam, go up to the temple through the Water Gate and pour the water over the altar. This would begin the prayers thanking God for the fall harvest rain.
It was at this climactic time when Jerusalem radiated with light and the people were celebrating with exuberant rejoicing when Yeshua stood among them and declared:
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38)
And “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12)
It was an incredible and undeniable moment of declaration of who he was- the Messiah! The religious leaders hated him for this because the temple was considered the light of the world, and in their eyes, he was elevating himself to a level only reserved for God. And yet, he was God. In the flesh.
The Festival of Ingathering
Sukkot is a celebration of the agricultural harvest which also symbolizes greater spiritual harvest. We know that while most of the religious leaders did not believe in Yeshua, many people did. The partial blinding of the nation of Israel was so the fullness of the Gentiles could come in (Romans 9-11) but today, we are seeing a great return of the Jewish people to faith in their Messiah. There are thousands of believers in Israel and hundreds of thousands around the world. That’s a big number considering the Jewish people only make up 0.2% of the world’s population. In this way, another theme of Sukkot is depicted- the Ingathering.
In these last days, Israel remains God’s chosen people and has a major role to play now and in the future which will bring riches for the world! (Romans 11:12-15). This is why it’s so important for the church and Christians to pray for the Jewish people and lovingly care for them as the “root that supports the branches” (Romans 11:18).
The Festival of the Nations
Through the prophet Amos, God promised to raise up the fallen Sukkah of David and rebuild it.
“In that day I will raise up the tabernacle (sukkah) of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this.” (Amos 9:11-12)
James, the brother of Jesus, quoted this passage when the first Jewish believers gathered in Jerusalem to discuss the falling of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles.
“‘After this, I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.” (Acts 15:16-18)
It is a beautiful picture of Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah, dwelling together in David’s tent or sukkah.
Looking to the future, the final theme of Sukkot will be fulfilled when the “survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.” (Zechariah 14:16)
In Israel and around the world this year, The Feast of Tabernacles will be bittersweet for Jewish people who are still mourning greatly every day, but for those who know Yeshua, there is hope and joy in God’s presence, and the living water from his spirit is available to overcome fear, trauma and grief.
Yeshua told us in John 16:33 that in this world we will have trouble, but he has come so that we would have peace. He overcame the world, and we will overcome too. He promised to never leave us or forsake us. He promised to bind up our wounds and refresh us through the living water of his spirit. This is why we can still rejoice!
This Sukkot, pray for God to “pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication,” so they will look to him and be saved! (Zechariah 12:10)
Pray for God to comfort and restore the Jewish people and cause them to come alive spiritually!
Pray for the Middle East region and all those bound by darkness to see the light of Yeshua!
