Sukkot (Tabernacles)

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Leviticus 23:33-44
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

Numbers 29:12-40
And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, [and] fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish: And their meat offering [shall be of] flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth deals to each ram of the two rams, And a several tenth deal to each lamb of the fourteen lambs: And one kid of the goats [for] a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. And on the second day [ye shall offer] twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot: And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner: And one kid of the goats [for] a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering thereof, and their drink offerings. And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish; And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner: And one goat [for] a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering. And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, [and] fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish: Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner: And one kid of the goats [for] a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, [and] fourteen lambs of the first year without spot: And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner: And one goat [for] a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering. And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, [and] fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish: And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner: And one goat [for] a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, [and] fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish: And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner: And one goat [for] a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work [therein]: But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish: Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner: And one goat [for] a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering. These [things] ye shall do unto the LORD in your set feasts, beside your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings. And Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the LORD commanded Moses.

Deuteronomy 16:13-17
Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that [are] within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: Every man [shall give] as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.

Biblical Holidays:

The Feast of Tabernacles is a week-long autumn harvest festival. Tabernacles is also known as the Feast of the Ingathering, Feast of the Booths, Sukkoth, Succoth, or Sukkot. The Feast of Tabernacles was the final and most important holiday of the year. The importance of this festival is indicated by the statement, “This is to be a lasting ordinance.” The divine pronouncement, “I am the Lord your God,” concludes this section on the holidays of the seventh month. The Feast of Tabernacles begins five days after Yom Kippur on the fifteenth of Tishri (September or October). It is a drastic change from one of the most solemn holidays in our year to one of the most joyous. The word Sukkoth means “booths,” and refers to the temporary dwellings that Jews are commanded to live in during this holiday, just as the Jews did in the wilderness. The Feast of Tabernacles lasts for seven days and ends on the twenty-first day (3x7) of the Hebrew month of Tishri, which is Israel’s seventh month. It is expounded in Leviticus 23:43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Feast of Tabernacles Fulfillments

Zechariah 14:16,17
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

We see here that all during the millennium, all the nations will have to keep the feast of tabernacles. I believe the ultimate fulfillment of this fall feast will be in eternity, when God tabernacles with men once again.

Revelation 21:2,3
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Second Coming Fulfillment?

There is another possible fulfillment before the millennium however, in the protecting of Israel in the wilderness during the second half of the 70th week of Daniel. As I understand it, the abomination of desolation will begin the time of Jacob's trouble in Judea. This unparalleled time of great tribulation by the dragon on Israel will be cut short when she is saved and taken to the wilderness to be protected from the man of sin for 3 1/2 years. Revelation 12:14-16

Hosea 2:14-15, 19-23
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. ... And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them which were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, [Thou art] my God.

Isaiah 35:1-7
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, [and] the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them [that are] of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come [with] vengeance, [even] God [with] a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame [man] leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, [shall be] grass with reeds and rushes.

So it is possible that while Israel is protected, she has her blindness removed as God reveals Himself to her in the wilderness as His wrath is poured out on the earth. There she is protected and provided for, the scriptures revealed that they had been blinded to so that they will come out of this time recognizing Yeshua as their Messiah and saying blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. They will be His people and He will be their God.

Sukkot is a seven-day feast that is a joyous time following the solemn Yom Kippur. If the fall feasts are fulfilled at Christ's second parousia as the spring feasts were in His first, then we should see the order of events line up with His arrival.

Matthew 24:29-31, Mark 13:24-27, and Luke 21:25-28 all place Christ's return just after the signs of the sixth seal of Revelation 6:12-17, which is the coming wrath of God. As His faithful bride is not appointed to wrath, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, and Israel is protected on the earth from the dragon for 3 1/2 years, Revelation 12:14-16, we see a distinct picture of the catching away of the bride and protecting in the wilderness of Israel around the time of the sixth seal coinciding with His coming. This is also shown in Revelation 7, where a vision of an innumerable multitude in heaven before the throne and the sealing of the 144,000 of the 12 tribes of Israel on the earth prior to the wrath being poured out.

In light of the fall feasts then, that same order can be seen where the unknown day of Yom Teruah and the blowing of the last trump would call up the faithful resurrected and living bride to meet Him at His coming, Israel would have just been taken to the wilderness and protected, recognizing the coming of the Messiah and being unblinded at the fulness of the Gentiles, and have a solemn assembly where they afflict their souls on the day of atonement, having just come out of the time of Jacob's trouble where many of Israel are broken off. Then comes Sukkot, where they are to rejoice before the Lord and live in booths reminding them of their time in the wilderness coming out of Egypt where God saved them from captivity.

In this way I believe the realization of their sins and true repentance will wipe away their sins and the Lord will teach them, perhaps through the 144,000, and they will have great reason for joy because when their time in the wilderness is completed, they will come into the Messianic kingdom with their Messiah for 1,000 years.

List of Dates

Sukkot will occur on the following days of the secular calendar:

• Jewish Year 5784: sunset September 29, 2023 - nightfall October 6, 2023
• Jewish Year 5785: sunset October 16, 2024 - nightfall October 23, 2024
• Jewish Year 5786: sunset October 6, 2025 - nightfall October 13, 2025
• Jewish Year 5787: sunset September 25, 2026 - nightfall October 2, 2026
• Jewish Year 5788: sunset October 15, 2027 - nightfall October 22, 2027
• Jewish Year 5789: sunset October 4, 2028 - nightfall October 11, 2028
• Jewish Year 5790: sunset September 23, 2029 - nightfall September 30, 2029
• Jewish Year 5791: sunset October 11, 2030 - nightfall October 18, 2030