The Festival of Booths Part 6

We will spend today and tomorrow finishing our study of the Feast of Booths. Have the lessons affected your life in some way? If they have not, then according to Hebrew thinking, you have learned nothing. To the Hebrew, knowledge was acquired only when it impacted your life. With that reminder, we continue our study. The Feast of Booths came to be so important in the ancient Jewish community, that it was known as "the feast of ADONAI," and was even called "the feast." The Hebrew word hag translated "feast" literally means "to dance or to be joyous," and comes from a root meaning "to dance in a circle, i.e., to march in a sacred procession, to observe a festival, by implication, to be giddy: celebrate, dance . . . reel to and fro" (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, #2287). Have you felt like dancing lately? If not, this is the time to celebrate Sukkot!

This final harvest celebration, coming on the heels of the fall harvest, was a special time of joy for the Jews. The rabbis gave it the name, Zeman Simhatenu, which meant "the season of our rejoicing." It was a high point in the year for all the people of Israel. That is why it was called "the feast!" Mitch and Zhava Glaser state in The Fall Feasts of Israel: "If the theme of Rosh Hashana is repentance, and the theme of Yom Kippur is redemption, then most naturally the theme of Sukkot is rejoicing in ADONAI’s for- giveness. The gathering of the year's final harvest was a confirmation of His blessing upon the Jewish people for their obedience to His law. Salvation and obedience to ADONAI always leads to joy" (p.162).

There is a compelling reason to remember the Biblical feasts. "The specifics of the Jewish harvest festival were designed to protect the Israelites from the pagan influences they would encounter once they entered Canaan. While heathens worshipped nature itself, the Jews were to worship the Creator and Renewer of nature. While the pagans celebrated with excess and debauchery, the Israelite pilgrims were to focus on the moral significance of the festivities. "The purpose of rejoicing was not sensual abandon but to honor and thank ADONAI for His blessings, spread good fortune, and act with sensitivity.”
As we conclude today, I ask one question: “What are you doing to protect you and your loved ones from pagan influences?” Keeping the Biblical feasts is ADONAI’s suggestion; Do you have a better one?