Sukkot is the final feast of ingathering. It is a prophetic picture of our eternal joy – z’man simchateinu. It follows just five days after Yom Kippur, the day when we approach the Lord in response to the sound of the Shofar, the Trumpet, in a posture of repentance set for the renewal in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus as our atoning sacrifice, our atonement. By His substitutionary sacrifice, we are hidden away in Him, protected until the day of the calling up of the saints of God, at the final Shofar.

As part of the celebration of Sukkot, Tabernacles, we gather a bouquet of four species as recorded in Leviticus 23:40: fruit of the lovely tree, palm branches, leafy branches and willows of the brook: the Lulav, estrog, hadassim and aravot. With them together: “ … and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.”

This bouquet, brought together is a symbol of the Bride of Messiah, the fruit of the harvest present in this final Feast of In-Gathering, a picture of the final harvest.

The root of Sukkot – סָכַךְ – means to entwine, to fence, to join together or hedge in. It is a representation of Revelation 7:9, “After this I looked and saw a great crowd which no one was able to count, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, and palm branches in their hands.”

This is all Sukkot imagery. We find in this final feast of in-gathering, not only a remembrance of 40 years of wandering in the wilderness; but also, a celebration of what is to come: the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, the Lamb joined to His Bride.

The rabbis teach that in the shadow of the Sukkah you are in the manifest presence of God. Why? In Song of Songs (Solomon) 2:3 we read, “Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste.”

It is widely understood that this is an allegory describing the love of the Lord for His people, and the lover says, “I sat down in His shade/shadow with great delight.” A shadow is produced by something blocking light; but for the shadow to be there, the what or who producing it must also be there.

Sometimes you only know something is there by its shadow; and the anxious lover waits in the shade of the Lord. This the rabbis find in the Sukkah, or the shadow made by it.

The essence of the Sukkah, or Tabernacle, is its shade, or shadow. A sukkah cannot have more sun than shadow. It must be open enough to allow the light of the stars through, while still blocking the light of the sun. If the sukkah has more sun than shadow, it is said that you are sitting in the unblinking eye of the sun, which denies the existence of the shadow, and the One creating it.

The sun then scorches us, burning up our faith, hope, and ultimately, love; which is why part of the promise of Revelation 7:16 was given, “They shall never again go hungry, nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.”

The sun will get hot, but not by natural means. The times during the great tribulation will become so desperate that Messiah says of faith, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Lk. 18:8).

In the unblinking eye of the sun, relentless in its scorching heat, those denying the shadow, refusing to “sit down in His shadow,” will deny Who and what they cannot see: no shadow, no One to create it.

When sitting in the Sukkah, the rabbis say that we are sitting in the “shadow of faith.” Faith is like a shadow, it’s the knowledge of somethings existence that we cannot see with the eye, as the author of Hebrews writes, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). As I have said several times before, hope takes hold and faith holds on.

Paul writes, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (II Cor. 5:7); but he also encourages us in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

In Revelation 7:9, the saints of God, the Bride of Messiah harvested out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, rejoice before the Lord and the Lamb, “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and guide them to springs of living water, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17).

Under the scorching, relentless heat of disbelief and denial of Yeshua our Bridegroom surrounding us, we will rest, because “the One seated on the Throne will shelter them,” He will become the Sukkah, and the sun will be no more (Rev. 21:23), “as the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

Then, as Paul writes, we will see Him “face to face,” פָּנִים אֶל-פָּנִים “panim el panim.” No more shadow, as we will be in His everlasting embrace. This is now but not yet joy of Tabernacles.

Be well. Shalom.

הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם, וַאֲדַבֵּרָה; וְתִשְׁמַע הָאָרֶץ, אִמְרֵי-פִי

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak! Let the earth hear the words of My mouth” (Deut. 32:1).

The ministry of Moses beings with a song after the crossing of the Red Sea, as recorded in Exodus 15; a song that praised the works of the Lord, and the victory that the children of Israel received by His hand. Now, Moses stands just outside the Promised Land singing a song of remembrance of Israel’s past and hope in her future.

Both songs of Moses are hopeful, expectant, and anticipatory of the life beyond the wilderness, the life that lay ahead in promise. This feeling of hope and anticipation as we wait patiently in the promise is certainly relatable. Moses reminds Israel of her past in order to prepare her and set her heart for the future. Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks writes, “To mend the past, first you have to secure the future.

As disciples of Messiah, must commit ourselves to what the Lord has ordained for us, even that which has yet to be revealed; while we learn from our past to understand how to navigate the times we are in. We must learn from history, and be careful not to repeat it.

Moses explains, “Set your heart on all the words with which I warn you today…” (Deut. 32:46). There is an interesting connection between “set your heart” and the chapter number of this portion, Deuteronomy 32, in Hebrew 32 is לב, which also spells “heart.” The Lord, we find, is speaking to our hearts through the words of Moses on what is perhaps his last day of life.

Life, as many of us experience it, is filled with twists and turns – the expected, the unexpected and at times, the unimaginable. We do not always arrive at the place we had planned in our youth, at times this is for the better, and sometimes it is not.

If we dwell too much on these issues, we can become paralyzed with sorrow, grief and anguish – looking to blame those who have put us in our predicament. After all, have we not been put upon in this life? Are we not just the product of the environment that we have found ourselves in? I say no, Heaven forbid!

The apostle Paul writes, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Ro. 3:28). All of us have been influenced by sin, which has had a direct impact on our actions, words and deeds.

However, something marvelous happens when we acknowledge this and turn from it, as John writes, “If we confess our sins, He is trustworthy and righteous to forgive us the sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

This is the process of repentance. The Lord says through Zechariah, “Turn back to Me,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘and I shall turn back to you” (Zech. 1:3).

Repentance, תשובה/teshuvah, brings with it the promise of new life, and it is a life of new and endless possibilities, as Paul writes, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Ro. 8:28-29). Only in Messiah is this possible, and Moses is singing this song to us.

Be well. Shalom.