Celebrating Sukkot

“Sukkot” is Hebrew for “Booths”. Sukkot is also called “Festival of Tabernacles”, “Festival of Ingathering” and “Season of Our Rejoicing”.  Sukkot is one of three required times per year for all Israeli/Jewish males to “appear before the Lord,” not empty handed (in other words, bringing offerings).  The other two required times are Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost) (Deuteronomy 16:16-17).

Once the Israelis entered the Promised Land, Jerusalem was THE place for “appearing before the Lord.” Since that time, temporary shelters (sukkahs/booths) are built and “lived” in for 8 days by Jews both in their homeland Israel and Jewish communities throughout the world during Sukkot.

King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem was dedicated on Sukkot – I Kings 8. Ezra restored the practice of publicly reading from the Torah (5 books of Moses) on Sukkot when the Israeli people returned from the Babylonian exile in the 5th Century BCE. 

During Sukkot Jerusalem Temple sacrifices were made for Israel as well as the seventy non-Jewish nations (Gentiles) as specified in Numbers 29. The first day thirteen bulls were sacrificed. Every day one less bull was sacrificed until a total of seventy bulls were sacrificed.  When prayers for rain were said, it was understood these prayers were not just for the nation of Israel.

In the past, we remember how God divinely provided everything- food, water, protection, and clothing that did not wear out during the forty years in the wilderness.  God’s Divine Presence (Shekinah) was dwelling with the Israelis in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  God was the divine sukkah; covering His people.

In the present, we acknowledge and celebrate the fruit and vegetable harvests of fall and the beginning of the rainy season in Israel which lasts until Passover.  We praise God as the creator and provider of all. We are thankful for bounty as well as divine protection. 

Looking to the future, we anticipate the Messiah’s return to earth to rule and reign, which is mentioned in Zechariah 14:16 “It shall come to pass that everyone 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” Zechariah 14:16. 

Holy Land Gifts has several items in a variety of prices which bring remembrance of Jerusalem and its priority with God.  Who knows when a simple keychain with the word “Jerusalem” or a beautiful Jerusalem statue or Jerusalem Wall plaque will spark a conversation?  These items are beautiful gifts for anyone, INCLUDING YOU!

"Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem" (Psalm 122:6)