Sukkot — The Feast of Tabernacles

Temporary booths are constructed to remind Israel of wilderness wandering for forty years. A lulav of palm branches is waved, ushering the Kingdom (Leviticus 23:33–44).

Sukkot is observed seven days from the fifteenth day of Tishri to the twenty-first day. This places the annual festival in September or October, just five days after Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement. Unlike the Days of Awe with its mood of repentance and judgment between Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur, Sukkot is a time of festivity and celebration.

Sukkot was the third pilgrimage feast in which all men were to appear before the Lord at the Temple (Passover and Pentecost being the other two). As conditions permitted, pilgrims would travel from all over Israel to Jerusalem to celebrate colorful and elaborate Temple rites, which included a large number of sacrifices each day (Numbers 29).

Dwelling in Booths

To appreciate the past and future meaning of Sukkot, Jewry was commanded by God to build a hut (sukkah; plural sukkot) and to dwell in these temporary structures. “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days… on the eighth day hold an assembly and do no regular work” (Numbers 29:12, 35). “Live in booths for seven days… so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42–43).

Rabbinical Laws Governing the Booth

The sukkah must be temporary, not a permanent one—reminding Israel of forty years of wandering before Canaan.
The sukkah is treated as a home, with personal belongings brought in for eating, study, and reclining.
The roof is key: grown and detached from the ground (branches, lathing, bamboo). Enough shade, but not too much to block the heavens.
Sukkot is associated with beauty; creative decoration is encouraged.

The sukkah is a humble dwelling that a family enters from an otherwise solid home. It teaches that even strong shelter is temporary: storms can strip away homes in seconds, proving how vulnerable life can be. Lasting security is not found in wood, walls, and roofs, but in the shelter of the Everlasting Arms. Earthly homes are temporary tabernacles in the wilderness; we must not be rooted to a world that will soon pass away.

As Paul said, Abraham “lived in tents… for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” The saints are “aliens and strangers on earth… longing for a better country—a heavenly one… for He has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:9, 13, 16).

Sukkot, Harvest, and the Ingathering

Sukkot is also the festival of the future reign of Messiah in the new earth. All nations will gather to the New Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles each year (Zechariah 14:16). In a symbolic manner, Sukkot concludes the story of the Israelites’ journey which began with the Exodus from Egypt at Passover and the giving of the Law at Sinai on Shavuot fifty days later.

Like the other pilgrimage feasts, Sukkot has an agricultural element: it marks the final ingathering before winter— hag-ha-asif, the festival of ingathering (Exodus 23:16). The three pilgrimages foreshadow the choosing, maturing, and ingathering of the 144,000 “firstfruits” to God (Revelation 14:4): choosing at Passover/Firstfruits, maturation at Pentecost, and ingathering beginning at Tabernacles.

The Liberation of Water

In Biblical times during the Feast of Tabernacles, a daily ritual called nisukh ha-mayim—the liberation of water—was performed. The celebration was called simhat beit ha-sho'eivah, “the rejoicing at the place of the water-drawing.”

Each morning a procession followed a white-robed priest carrying a golden pitcher through the Water Gate to the Pool of Siloam, where he filled it. The crowd returned singing, waving palm branches, and dancing. On the final day, sacrifices lay upon the bronze grating of the altar, with blood poured out to fulfill atonement: “It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). The priest then poured water alongside a wine offering through silver funnels at the altar’s base.

“Behold, God is my salvation… Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2–3)

The prophets foretold a day when the thirsty soul would be satisfied and human nature would be regenerated—this being the work of the Holy Spirit. God would take away the stony heart and give a new heart and spirit (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:25–28), making God a reality to believers (Jeremiah 31:31–34). But before regeneration, Messiah must perform His redemptive work (Isaiah 53; John 3:1–7; Titus 3:4–7; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Messiah and Living Water

John wrote, “the Word became flesh and lived (tabernacled) among us” (John 1:14). Jesus used the feast days to reveal His Messianic role. During Tabernacles He cried: “If a man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink… streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37–39), speaking of the Spirit later given to believers.

Jesus compared future tribulation to drinking a cup and undergoing a baptism (Matthew 20:22–23, KJV). As Christ fasted in the wilderness for forty days after baptism, so the 144,000 elect will experience a baptism of tribulation, entering the time of Jacob’s trouble which lasts forty days (The Kingdom Calendar Pt. 19).

The Watery Birth of a Nation

Prophets describe Israel’s final deliverance in childbirth imagery. Jeremiah 30 speaks of Jacob’s trouble, yet salvation follows. Jesus said wars, disasters, and demonic phenomena are “the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:8). Isaiah describes Jerusalem’s upheaval, the Lord repaying enemies, and Zion giving birth (Isaiah 66:6–10).

Sukkot marked Christ’s birth from Mary’s water-filled womb and also His watery baptism. Likewise, Sukkot will mark the end-of-age moment when the righteous nation is brought forth. Paul wrote that “all Israel will be saved” after the full number of Gentiles comes in (Romans 11:25–27). Revelation 12 depicts the pregnant woman giving birth and then being protected for 1,260 days, while the dragon makes war on the rest of her offspring (Revelation 12:1–6, 17).

The holy days—designed by God over 3,000 years ago—connect Israel’s conception, maturing, and ultimate birth as a righteous nation. At Sukkot, in watery childbirth imagery, the 144,000 sealed for protection will be delivered purified into the arms of the Living God.