Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Leviticus 23:33-44 comments: feast of tabernacles

 

Leviticus 23:33 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 34  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. 35  On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36  Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37  These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38  Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. 39  Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40  And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. 41  And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42  Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43  That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 44  And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

 

At the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles also called the Feast of Ingathering (see Exodus 23 and chapter 34) there was a Sabbath of rest on the first day with seven days of burnt offerings then another Sabbath of rest, with no work allowed.

A booth is a temporary shelter. It may be sort of crude and is not necessarily comfortable. It could be in common parlance in 1611 a tent or a stall where things were sold at a fair. During the American Civil War or War Between the Southern States and the Federal Government there was a slang word for a hut or shelter called a ‘shebang’ which you normally had to share with others but if you got the ‘whole shebang’ you were fortunate. We use that phrase today, the whole shebang, for when we get it all or have everything in your possession regarding a matter as in, “I just gave you the whole shebang.”

Three main feasts, three times Hebrew males appear before the Lord.

 

Deuteronomy 16:16  Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

Christ is our Passover Lamb for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the uncorrupted Resurrection of Christ as some commentators have it, the Resurrection of Christ and the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost for the Feast of Weeks, and the harvest of the Saints at the end of human-centered history called home to the beautiful dwelling place prepared by Christ for the Feast of Tabernacles. There are many ways to compare and contrast the meaning of these feasts, these appointed times, with Christ.

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