By Cool Siloam – Part three

Of all the feasts of the Lord listed in Leviticus 23, there is one that stands apart from the others, for various reasons. Principally because it was intended to be a happy festival, a holiday festival, coming as it did, at the end of the year’s agricultural toil in the late summer. Rather like an American Bible School one of which I remember as having enjoyed immensely. The feast that stands out is, of course, the feast of tabernacles.

The Jewish calendar of festivals is very like a parabolic profile of the history of the kingdom of God. After alluding briefly to the sabbath (vs 3), the model (of 7000 years ?) on which the history is based, the schedule deals with passover and the closely associated feast of un­leaven (vss 4-8) which is the place, in the sacrifice of Christ our passover, where the kingdom of God might properly be said to have begun. For when that foundation was laid then the rest must follow inexorably. Jesus did not stay dead, but was raised as the firstfruits of them that

sleep. So it might be expected that the Jewish Calendar should next deal with the firstfruits. And so it does (vss 10­14). After this came the establishment of the Church at Pentecost, which bears a one to one relationship to the feast of weeks (vss 15-21). All of the above took place in the first month and in the

The Law of Gleaning Benefits the Poor

immediate few weeks following. There is now a break in the calendar until the seventh month. The hiatus is passed over in silence except for a single verse (22). This, curiously, does not deal with a feast at all, but with the law of gleaning. But if our model of Leviticus 23 is valid, it is a significant addition, for it tells of the times in which we live when by gleaning here and there, we who are, strictly speaking, “strangers” from the Israelitish system of things, and therefore to that extent, “poor,” by gleaning in the field of God, can gather a harvest which will spring up to eternal life.

The seventh month opens with the feast of trumpets (vss 23-25), surely a harbinger of the time of the end when the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised. This is closely followed by the day of atonement (vss 26-32) when everyone was to afflict their souls in token of the (still future) time of trouble such as never was which will immediately precede the return of Christ. Very soon after this came the feast of tabernacles (vss 33-36), by this account, then, a figure for the kingdom itself. At this point the catalogue ends with a summary in verses 37 and 38. But so important is the feast of tabernacles in relation to the others that an epilogue is added emphasizing (vss 39-44) the joy with which that feast should be observed.

The Feast of Tabernacles Had a Holiday Atmosphere

The feast of tabernacles has many special features. First notice that it took place, “when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land” (vs 39) — a clear reference to the consummation of God’s purpose in the kingdom. Second, notice the holiday atmosphere—”ye shall dwell in booths” (vs 42) — virtually a camping holiday. Then, perhaps most significantly of all, in Numbers 29:12-34 where the schedule of offerings to be made during the feast is specified, while certain offerings remain constant, showing the continuing mortality which will be a feature of the kingdom, there is a diminishing of the number of bullocks required to be offered, showing how sin’s grip is to be steadily loosened as the kingdom progresses, so that on the eighth day, that last great day of the feast, only a memorial of the original total of offerings is left — significant of the time which follows the kingdom. Furthermore, the way in which sevens and multiples of seven occur in the schedule of Numbers 29 is nothing less than startling. Seven in Hebrew is the word “sheba,” which also means “covenant.” Thus, in the feast of tabernacles we are invited to see the time when the covenants of promise are brought to fruition.

The Exodus is a Model of the Kingdom

Again, Leviticus 23 makes it clear that the exodus from Egypt is modeled by the feast of tabernacles (vs 43) and thus, to that extent, the exodus is itself a model of the kingdom. It is said that the branches taken on the first day were not used to build booths, at least in later times, but were to be held in the hand as the children of Israel went in procession, representing the various stages of the exodus. Thus the willow or myrtle, a Palestinian evergreen, could represent the well watered land to which they had come, the boughs of goodly trees, or citron, the fruitfulness of the promised land, while the palm was for the wilder­ness left behind.

Whatever the significance of the branches, it was patiently appropriate that Solomon’s temple should have been dedicated during the feast of tabernacles for it was then (2 Chron. 5:3, cp 2 Chron. 7:8,9,10) that “the priests brought in the ark of the Lord to his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cheru­bim” (2 Chron. 5:7). It was then that the staves of the ark were withdrawn (vs. 9), signifying that God had entered into his rest, which, of course, answers to the kingdom. What a grand procession that would have been. And appropriate, too, that the feast which commemorated Israel’s wandering, with the ark in their midst, should be that in which the same ark should finally, in type, come to rest, with a rather more glorious procession.

One interesting comment is implied in Nehemiah 8, which is a description of the great revival following the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Jeremiah. That has to do with the fact that although the feast of tabernacles had been kept since that time, the dwelling in booths had never been done since the days of Joshua! How typical of humanity. We would never dream, perhaps, of omitting the weightier, rather more rigorous aspects of our worship. But when God tells us to take a spiritual break, and enjoy it, we don’t bother! Yet, to dwell in booths, and rejoice in the dwelling, was as much a command to observe, as was rigorous compliance with the schedule of sacrificial offerings. There is a lesson here for us, somewhere. How often is it said, and with justice, that our worship lacks life and vitality. Well, if it is so, then it is because we do not put the vitality and life into our worship that we ought. And if our worship lacks vitality, it is probably because our lives are, themselves, somewhat short in spiritual vitality. Which is hardly the fault of the Truth!