In the 23rd chapter of the book of Leviticus, in the commandment about the Feast of Tabernacles, there are interesting verses that I would like to draw your attention to:
“Thou shalt live in tabernacles seven days; Every native Israelite must live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:42-43).
That is, the feast of Sukkot is connected with the Exodus, and not simply because the Lord commanded Moses at Mount Sinai to celebrate it. But this holiday is associated with specific historical events of the Israelites’ journey through the desert, with a time when the Israelites were actually defenseless on their own.
A striking example of this is described in chapter 17 of the Book of Exodus. Usually this episode of the war with the Amalekites is considered separately, autonomously, but in fact, the entire 17th chapter must be viewed as a whole passage. This attack by the Amalekites was preceded by the fact that the Israelites complained to the Lord: “There is no water,” and so on. The Lord commanded Moses, and Moses gave the people water from the rock. But pay attention to the very fact of murmuring against their God. And understand correctly, in the mentality of that time, every people, every clan, every family had their own patron gods. The whole society was religious. There were no atheists in the modern sense of the word. And the peoples, apparently, very carefully followed the Israelites, their Exodus from Egypt, their crossings through the desert, because what God did with Egypt had no analogues either then or so far since. Another striking example is described in chapter 2 of the book of Joshua. The Israelites approach Jericho and Rahab tells them, “We have heard rumors…” (see Joshua 2:9-10). That is, the glory of God spread ahead of Israel, and the nations watched over Israel and its spiritual condition.
In this case, in the example of the Amalekites, the Israelis grumbled against their Patron (God protect us from this!), and the Amalekites decided: “Yeah, we’ll take advantage of this now” and attacked the Israelis. But it was not there. Even if the Lord is angry with His people and punishes Him, this does not mean that He rejected His people. Regardless of the spiritual state of His people, the Lord Himself will deal with His people, and He deals with us, He deals with Israel. But it is not worth rebelling against God’s people.
And, returning to chapter 23 of the book of Leviticus, in the commandment to celebrate Sukkot, we see the Lord’s command to the Israelis and to us to remember this transition through the desert, to remember that on our own without the Lord we are simply, to put it mildly, unfulfilled. When you don’t have to rely on yourself, on your own protection, you can only rely on God’s protection. It’s about trusting the Lord.
In modern Jewish tradition, there is an instruction for those who build tabernacles that it is impossible to build a tabernacle or hut in such a way that there is a solid roof; it must be full of holes, as they say, so that the sky can be seen. This is a very good symbol, reminding us to fix our gaze on the Lord so that nothing comes between us and Him. Because there is nothing between the Lord and us, no barrier, a barrier appears between us and the Lord only if we erect it ourselves.
The holiday of Sukkot is associated with specific historical events, with Israel’s journey through the desert. It so happened that this journey dragged on for 40 years, but nevertheless, the Lord did not abandon His people and accompanied them, as we know, during the day in a pillar of cloud, at night in a pillar of fire. And God’s presence was evident to the Israelites day and night.
One more note. When it comes to the fact that the Israelites lived in the desert in tents, it is worth remembering that a tent in the ancient and, I think, modern East is a very complex structure. It’s not just like putting up a tent and hammering in stakes. This is indeed a very complex structure, so that if there is a dust storm, the sand will not become swept up, and so that no living creatures, especially poisonous ones, will crawl in. And we read that the Israelites followed God’s presence, the pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire. And it happened that when the pillar of God’s presence stopped for a long time, the Israelites camped. But they did not know when this pillar would move and move on. It could be several months, it could be a week, or it could be a day. Here it was not always possible to open a tent. Therefore, it is difficult to understand what it looked like – a sukkah, tabernacle, or tent of the Israelites during their journey through the desert.
Igor Rusnyak, director of the KEMO Messianic Bible School
Based on materials from the seminar “One Hundred Questions about the Holiday of Sukkot” / t.me/messianicrabbi
Source: https://ieshua.org/sukkot-kto-my-bez-gospoda.htm
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