A Tale of Two Tabernacles
What image does “tabernacle” evoke in your mind?
That word transports me back to childhood memories of West Chazy Campground in Upstate New York. For two weeks each summer our family lived in a little cottage. After a week of “conference” (district pastors’ meetings my parents attended) came the week of “camp meeting.” A musical team would accompany the featured evangelists for morning and evening preaching services, which often ended with an “altar call.”
The gathered meetings were held in the central building, the Tabernacle. This vast (to a child’s eyes) old wooden structure was painted white. Its tin roof amplified the sound of any raindrops. Windows were propped open in hopes of a breeze to break the stifling heat.
When the bell signaling service time was rung, the Tabernacle’s pews were packed – mostly with earnest Christians ready to “amen!” the preachers. But seated among them were individuals, myself included, whose pew-gripping knuckles whitened when the invitation to come forward in repentance was given.
One evening from 1967 stands out. The convicting sermon had been delivered with force and the call to “get right with God while there is yet time” issued. Somewhere amidst the repeated verses of “Just As I Am” a low engine thrum was heard at a distance.
The rumbling grew louder, then rose to such a cacophony that no other sound could be heard. The building literally shook as a B-52 bomber from nearby Plattsburgh Air Force Base made a low pass right over the Tabernacle, all eight turbofan engines roaring!
The altar was filled with the repentant that night.[1]
Reading about the “Feast of Tabernacles” in Scripture is a bit confusing when we have an image of a large building in mind.[2] Likely that is a result of two Hebrew words each being translated “tabernacle.” The first, mishkan, has the root idea of a “dwelling place.” Following the exodus from Egypt, God instructed Moses concerning construction of a “tent of meeting”[3] to be placed in the center of the Israelite encampment for His abode.
The divinely-designed Tabernacle was skillfully constructed of fine linen, costly colorful materials, and precious metals.[4] It measured 15 by 45 feet. God’s presence dwelt[5] in this sanctuary[6] during Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness.
The Feast of Tabernacles, however, uses a different Hebrew word: Sukkot. The singular form, sukkah, is better translated “booth” or “hut.” In instructing the Jewish people regarding His appointed feasts in Leviticus 23, God includes this command: “You shall live in booths [sukkot] for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God” (23:42–43).
In marked contrast to the ornate mishkan, which was carefully packed and transported when God’s glory cloud lifted from the Tabernacle and moved to a new wilderness location, a sukkah is a rudimentary temporary shelter. Of note, God includes no instructions[7] in Leviticus 23 as to design or size of these makeshift dwellings. He does designate building materials: “foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook” (vs. 40).
Israel did not observe the Feast of Booths for many generations. We read in Nehemiah 8:14-18 of the revival under Ezra when Jewish hearts were being restored to the Torah:
They found written in the law how the LORD had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the feast of the seventh month. So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hills, and bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was great rejoicing. He read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day. And they celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance.
This year Sukkot will be celebrated beginning at sundown October 9, ending on the 16th. If you live near observant Jewish people, you will see booths beginning to be constructed after Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).[8] In Orthodox communities in Jerusalem or Brooklyn you will find families building a wide variety of pre-fab or homemade sukkot, constructed from cloth or canvas, wood or metal, but always having a leafy roof with the requisite four Talmudic elements: lulav (date palm frond), etrog (citron fruit), hadass (myrtle bough), and aravah (willow branch).
For us as believers, several principles may be drawn from the Festival of Sukkot:
First, we can rejoice with our Jewish friends for God’s supply for our food. God supplied manna in the wilderness but intended Sukkot to be an “ingathering festival” once Israel inhabited Canaan.[9] Even with current supply chain issues and increasing costs for groceries, most of us don’t lack for nutritional meals today.
Second, it’s good to remember God’s faithful presence in the tough times. Sukkot recalls the wilderness sojourn; the pillar of cloud/fire over the Tabernacle was a reminder that Israel’s God was in their midst. Remember the assurance given in Deuteronomy 31:8. “The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Third, Sukkot points us to God’s promise for the future. In the Millennial Kingdom “…any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths” (Zechariah 14:16).
How we long for that Kingdom of righteousness and peace which Yeshua (Jesus) will establish.
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them” (Revelation 21:3).
Happy Sukkot to you from the Life in Messiah family!
Written by Wes Taber, Life in Messiah Global Ambassador
Have you seen a sukkah? For a variety of images, see https://www.canstockphoto.com/images-photos/sukkah.html.
Sukkot is a joyous holiday – and a great time to wish your Jewish friend “Chag Sukkot Sameach!” (Happy Feast of Booths!). For more information, check out: Sukkot
What must it have been like to have God’s dwelling presence in the center of Israel’s encampment? How much we have to look forward to when Yeshua establishes His reign in Jerusalem! “Even so come, Lord Jesus!”
Endnotes:
[1] Cynics speculated the evangelist had paid the pilot and timed the flyover – but that was never substantiated.
[2] The Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York is perhaps the most famous of American “tabernacles.”
[3] Exodus 25-31 contains detailed instructions for the Tabernacle, which is often referred to as “the tent of meeting” [Hebrew ohel moed], where God met with His people.
[4] How were recently-released slaves able to contribute such expensive materials to construct the Tabernacle? As God had promised Abraham in Genesis 15, the Israelites “plundered the Egyptians” (Exodus 12:35-36) who handed over these treasures after the 10th plague.
[5] “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34-35).
[6] “Let them construct a sanctuary [Hebrew miqdash] for Me, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). Miqdash is related to the Hebrew word for “holy.” The Tabernacle is rightfully called a sanctuary because the Holy One dwelt there.
[7] The rabbis tell us the lack of detailed instruction here illustrates why the “Oral Torah” is necessary. As an example of how rabbinic tradition built up over the years, the Babylonian Talmud has an entire tractate, “Sukkah,” with two of its five chapters devoted to detailed discussions of the structure. E.g., https://www.sefaria.org/Sukkah.2a.
[8] This year Yom Kippur began on the evening of October 4.
[9] In Deuteronomy 16:13-16 Sukkot is identified as a “harvest festival” celebrating God’s provision of the ingathered crops. Sukkot, along with Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), were the three holidays which Jewish adult males were required to celebrate in the Lord’s chosen location (ultimately, in Jerusalem).