Jewish feasts

[angels4u]

I know we discussed this before, but it would be nice for the new Worthy board people and for us old members to refresh what the feasts are all about..

Thanks,Angels

[traveller]

(this article is copied from another website)

The Feast of Tabernacles (or Shelters, or Booths, or Gathering)

Speak to the children of Israel, saying: "The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD" (Lev. 23:34).

Five days after the Day of Atonement, the last of the fall feasts begins. Sukkot (Hebrew for booths) is known by many different names: the Feast of Tabernacles, the Festival of Booths, the Feast of the Ingathering (Ex. 23:16), the Festival of the Lord (Lev. 23:39), and the Festival at the inauguration of Solomon's Temple (1 Ki. 8:2). Each title reflects a unique aspect of this annual observance. As we will see, this feast presents a beautiful picture of how God provided for His people in the past, provides in the present, and will provide in the future.

Sukkot Of The Past

Historically, Sukkot is a holiday that remembers in symbolic and colorful ways the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness living in makeshift shelters. For 4 decades, the Hebrew nation relied entirely on the provision of God Almighty. Their clothes and shoes did not wear out (Dt. 29:5), and they and their flocksdid not lack for food or water (Neh. 9:15,20-21). God provided everything.

In remembrance of this miraculous expression of provision, the Lord God commanded the Jewish people to camp outside in temporary shelters to remember how He had provided for their forefathers:

You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God (Lev. 23:42-43).

As one of the three pilgrim festivals, along with Passover (Pesach) and Pentecost (Shavuot), the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) was the third appointed time for all Jewish males to come to Jerusalem with their tithes and offerings. At this time of year, and for the 8 days of Sukkot, Jerusalem would have been overflowing with people. By Tishri 15, the normal population of about 600,000 people swelled to between 2 and 3 million.

Amid the throngs of people and the din of activity, the priests of the temple had their own endless jobs to do. Behind the scenes of temple life, they meticulously carried out instructions given to them in the Torah. Part of their duty was to sacrifice a total of 70 bulls during the festival of Sukkot (Num. 29:12-39). Jewish teachers and rabbis apply great relevance to this instruction.

In the sacrificial system, bulls were offered on behalf of a nation or nations. On Yom Kippur, the high priest sacrificed a bull for his own sins as he represented the nation of Israel. During Sukkot, many rabbis assert, the 70 bulls represented the 70 nations that descended from Noah, the ancestors of all the Gentiles of the world. These bulls, according to Hebrew scholars, were sacrificed for the peace and well-being of the Gentiles, that they might one day acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was doctrine for hundreds of years and, though many Jews remain unaware of it, their prayers were answered: Gentiles who believe in the Messiah of Israel have been faithfully grafted in (Rom. 11:17-24) and have become adopted children of Abraham (Gal. 3:29).

Sukkot Today

Today the booths of Sukkot take on many forms and features. In Israeli cities like Jerusalem, Tiberias, Tel Aviv, or in the Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York, you might see wooden shelters (sukkahs) built onto high-rise apartment patios. In residential areas, they are often constructed directly onto one's back door. They are elaborately decorated with colorful lights and vines. Fruits and treats hang from a chicken-wire roof that is covered by palm fronds (in tropical regions) or corn stalks. In most sukkahs, some picture or reference is made to living water, because Sukkot is the festival that ushers in the rainy season in Israel.

The annual traditions of Sukkot remain a festive, realistic reminder of how good God was in taking care of His people as they circled for 40 years in the barren wilderness of Sinai. It is a pause in an otherwise busy world, for 1 week out of 52, to remember God?s faithfulness to provide for His people and to give Him the honor He deserves.

The colorful object lessons of the Feast of Booths have an application for everyone who has come to know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The application goes beyond the Jewish people. Believers in Jesus are inclined, especially in times of prosperity, to forget that everything we have comes to us from the hand of God. It is good to remember that God provides for us at every step on our way, just as He did for the children of Israel in the wilderness. In our wanderings through life, He has been the unseen Provider who has been faithful to us even when we have forgotten Him. He is the One who says, I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).

In a remarkable similarity to ancient Israel, we live and breathe and walk in temporary shelters. In the transient tents of our own bodies, we wander through life's wilderness relying on the provision of the Most High. He is the One who provides for us as we make our way on our own amazing journey.

Sukkot In The Future

In the future, the Feast of Tabernacles will be an international holiday. According to the prophet Zechariah, in the last days this feast will be a global holiday:

It shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zech. 14:16).

During the millennial reign, when the Messiah King of Israel is enthroned in Jerusalem, the institution of Sukkot will be more than a metaphor. It will be an annual reality. In fact, it will be so important that a grave warning is given to the nations who do not keep the Feast of Tabernacles:

It shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zech. 14:17-18).

At the Feast of Tabernacles in the last days, the whole world will celebrate what was hidden in the Messiah in the days prior to His death and resurrection. God will live among us in theperson of Jesus Christ. He will be honored not just by the people of Israel but by all the world as the Provider who has given us life so that we could know Him.

In this dramatic day of Messiah's presence, the Feast of Tabernacles will be the ultimate fulfillment of the first six feasts. As God lives among His people, all the world will make its way to Jerusalem to worship the Lamb of God, who will be revealed as the Lion of the House of Judah.

The Great Day Of The Feast

(Hossanah Rabbah or Sh'mini HaEretz)

On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it (Lev. 23:36).

Sukkot is an 8-day festival ending with what has traditionally come to be known as the Hossanah Rabbah, translated in most English Bibles as that great day of the feast. Remarkably, though it is celebrated among the Jewish people, you won't find that name in the Hebrew Scriptures but only in the New Testament gospel of John (7:37).

During the second temple period, Hossanah Rabbah developed into a day when the Jewish nation came to the temple waving palm fronds, willow and myrtle branches, carrying citron fruit, and praying for God to usher in the rainy season. The fruit harvest of grapes, pomegranates, and citrons had come to an end. Now Israel needed rain for the next growing season, the grain harvest that coincides with Passover and Pentecost.

On this great day of the feast, the high priest would gather living water (i.e. ceremonially clean water from the Pool of Siloam that was fresh and not stagnant) into golden vessels. Amid the blowing of the temple shofars, these golden vessels were carried up to the holy altar. There the water was poured out with new wine, as priests and people prayed for God to send the latter rains. As the water and wine were poured out, they read passages from the Hebrew Scriptures about rain to remind God to pour out His Spirit, who was associated with rain in the Jewish mind. For example:

Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain (Zech. 10:1).

I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring (Isa. 44:3).

It was at this service, as the water and blood (of grapes) were being poured out, as the people prayed for God's Spirit, that Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (Jn. 7:37-38).

He who poured out water and blood from His side (Jn. 19:34; 1 Jn. 5:6) promised that living water would flow from those who believe in Him. In this He was referring to the Spirit of God.

One of Judaism's most honored rabbis, Rashi, states that this observance of mingling water and wine was the most joyous of all Israel's festivals and was a direct fulfillment of Isaiah 12:3, Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

As in the other holidays of God (the Lord's appointed times), we once again encounter Jesus, for in this verse the Hebrew word translated 'salvation' is none other than Jesus' Hebrew name'Yeshua. Isaiah 12:3 could then be translated, With joy you will draw water from the wells of Yeshua.

[Guest carljoe]

Greetings to all:

The true feasts of scripture are not Jewish holidays, Scripture clearly states that they are Yah

[angels4u]

Carljoe,

Gods Holy feast are to be observed forever? I agree, they should be observed by the Jewish people.

By whom do you think they should be observed?

[Guest carljoe]

Carljoe,

Gods Holy feast

[angels4u]

Hi Carljoe,

The commandments were given to the people of Israel, not to Gentile believers in the church. The only things that were incumbent upon the Gentile believers are those listed in Acts 15:19, 20.

Christ is the fulfillment of the law according to Galatians 2:16. He met forever all the requirements of the Law. Since we are in Him, and He is in us, God reckons that through Him, we have met our observance obligations -- past, present, and future. See Matt. 5:17 and 18, and compare with Romans 7:7 through 8:17.

[Guest carljoe]

Angel4u:

The commandments were given to the people of Israel, not to Gentile believers in the church. The only things that were incumbent upon the Gentile believers are those listed in Acts 15:19, 20.

A rhetorical guestion then is it ok for the grafted in gentiles to murder,commit, adultry, steal,lie, of corse not the law still aplies today.The law was given to Isreal first and then to the converted Gentiles

Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

well we are still here on earth

The only things that were incumbent upon the Gentile believers are those listed in Acts 15:19, 20.

well then let throw out the rest of the bible

Then one that Created all things has an absolute standard That applies to all.

Rom 2:9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

Rom 2:10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

Rom 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with Elohim.

Rom 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

[angels4u]

Don't we if we are really born again have the law written in our heart?

Jesus has made us a new creation, His own people and He had given us His Holy Spirit to teach us and in Him we are bought free from the law.

Of course if we love the Lord ,we don't want to do all the things the old creation wanted to do.(old flesh)

Do you really think you can keep the law?

[Guest FishMan]

CarlJoe - I agree with you that the current holidays of Xmas and Easter (Ishtar) are failed attempts by man-made religion to draw us closer to God. Keep preaching it, brother.

But...please consider the book of Galatians before you begin to make assertions that believers need to keep the physical holy days. Those days are not required for salvation, and as the book of Galatians brings out, we should not pressure or require otehr believers to observe them when the Lord is looking for what's in our heart.

I like to look at Abraham and other patriarchs that lived before God introduced the holy days to Israel. The scripture says that Abraham simply "believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness". And that's what God requires of us, to believe!

FishMan

[Guest Yhudah]

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