The Festival of Booths Part 2

...On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Sukkot, seven days for ADONAI -Leviticus 23:34

The Festival of Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur. It is a very drastic transition, from one of the most solemn holidays in the Jewish year to one of the most joyous. Sukkot is so unreservedly joyful that it is commonly referred to in Jewish prayer and literature as the Season of our Rejoicing. Historically, Sukkot commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Agriculturally, Sukkot is a harvest festival and is sometimes referred to as the Festival of Ingathering. The word "Sukkot" means "booths," and refers to the temporary dwellings that the Jews were commanded to live in during the holiday in memory of the period of wandering. The Hebrew pronunciation of Sukkot is "Sue COAT," ,

The name of the holiday is frequently translated "Feast of Tabernacles," which, like many translations of Jewish terms, isn't very accurate. This translation is particularly misleading, because the word "tabernacle" in the Bible refers to the portable Sanctuary in the desert, a precursor to the Temple, called in Hebrew "mishkan." The Hebrew word "sukkah" (plural: "sukkot") refers to the temporary booths that people lived in, not to the Tabernacle. Sukkot lasts for seven days. The festival of Sukkot is instituted in Leviticus 23:33 et seq. No work is permitted on the first and second days of the holiday. Work is permitted on the remaining days. This is a time of celebrating ADONAI's faithfulness to the Jewish people even though it was doubt and unbelief that brought them to the wilderness in the first place.

Today, celebrte ADONAI's faithfulness to you even though you have failed Him over the years. The beauty of this festival is its emphasis on ADONAI"S faithfulness to you, not yours to Him. Now that is something to celebrate! Take your time, it lasts for seven days and it begins at sunset on September 22 and ends at nightfall on September 29TH. Go ahead and have a Season of Rejoicing.