God
loves his people, and desires their happiness. But He wants their delight and
obedience to be in Him and His Torah (statutes, instructions). This can be done
when His people desire to walk in uprightness by following His desires (Psalm 1:2, 119:174). This rejoicing is
a foreshadowing of the echo which will be heard in the Kingdom of our God and
His anointed. If you are not a rejoicing person, then I suggest you take some
time to reflect on what it means to be full of the joy of our God.
There
are many symbols and metaphors in the Scriptures. Water is a major one, which is
not only vital in the pages of the Scripture, but also has been the foundation to
any civilization ever in existence. It is sad and agonizing to see water taken
for granted in our present day, both metaphorically and physically. In the Scriptures,
most of the story unfolds in dry desert regions. Water in those parts is more
of a scarcity and something not as easily taken for granted (as in our western
type civilization, or other technologically advanced cultures).
There
was not always fresh water available. Digging wells and cisterns was costly and
very labor intensive, so it can be observed how this phenomenon of water became
a major cultural picture that God used to illustrate a very significant
spiritual reality about Himself, and what He desired to “pour out”.
As
referenced above, there were various aspects of water. While the properties of
water did not change according to where it was taken, or where it was stored,
there were varying aspects of perspective, and thus the picture. Water in a
well or cistern had to be put there, or could come from rain- water that
dripped into these hollows that had been carved out of the rock. Many of these
holding tanks where even plastered to prevent the precious commodity from
seeping away. Water that would be stored and used in this fashion was called
“cistern water”. It was not the most desirable water, as it was often times
dirty and had many undesired “floaters”. But nonetheless, in this region there
was not much of a choice, it was water.
“Living
water” was different however. This is water that would be moving or flowing on
its own initiative, and would generally be spring fed at its source. This water
was fresh, life-giving and rejuvenating. To have a source of water of this
nature was invaluable. The most important aspect of this “living water”, is
that it was widely known to be provided by God Himself. Where does the water
get its life to be animated, and how does it move on its own accord? “I am who I am”; everything has its
source in Him.
Everything is animated and has its very essence as a direct link to His life
giving breath and sustaining qualities. It is God who provides this moving,
vibrant, living water (Heb. mayim chayim).
It is not unreasonable then, that God describes what He is and provides as “living
water” (passages like Psalm 107:9, Is
35:6-7, 58:11, Jeremiah 2:13,17:12-14, Ezek 47:1-12, Zech 14:8 and more).
Living
water was used in the ritual bath called mikvah,
which was for cleansing before coming into the presence of God, among other
functions. The stipulation was that it could not be water from a cistern, but only water that came on its own; living,
thus bringing with it life (in the spiritual sense of course). It is most
likely for this reason that John the Immerser chose the Jordan as his place to
call people to repentance.
With
these pictures in mind, it would have been quite the proclamation for Jesus
then to step up and describe himself as “living water”. The people of his
culture would have understood his description well. It was during the festival
of Sukkot that Jesus made his most dramatic proclamation of who he was
specifically in relation to “living water”.
God
had given the Hebrews seven festivals that He instructed to be celebrated. Seven
is a very symbolic number and relates to God. For example, the seventh day was
to be observed and commemorated on a weekly basis, the seventh year, and also
the end of seven “sevens” were also set apart.
There
were three festivals in the spring; Passover, which was a commemoration of the
exodus from Egypt. Unleavened bread, and Firstfruits (reishit katzir, yom habikkurim) were celebrations of praise for
God’s provision of the land they inherited and for His blessing in providing
harvest (specifically barley). Fifty days after Passover and the counting of
the omer, comes Shavuot (also known to some as Pentecost, meaning fifty). It
was also a Firstfruits celebration and thank-offering to God (for the wheat
harvest). It was also traditionally a celebration of Sinai and the giving of
Torah.
There
are also three fall festivals. The first of which is Yom Teruah (day of
trumpets) (more recently and traditionally called Rosh Hashanah, meaning head
of the year because it is the civil new year).
This festival really does not have any celebration from a historical or
Biblical perspective, which tells many that it has yet to have its most
dramatic and important fulfillment. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) follows ten days
after Yom Teruah. The ten days of separation are known as “days of awe” and are
the last ten days of a forty day period called teshuvah meaning repentance.
It was the one time a year when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies
and offered the sacrifice on behalf of the people. It is/was also related to
judgment and escaping it.
The
last fall festival is the one I want to examine in this essay, called Sukkot, the
festival/feast of booths/tabernacles, or the festival/feast of ingathering.
This is the most joyous and celebratory festival and period of the entire year,
it is a huge party. God commanded His people to “rejoice before Him” (Lev
23:40). They had to party and have a great time whether they wanted to or
not; “you will celebrate”! They did.
This
time of joy and festivities lasted for seven days. The finality of the fall
harvest is what kicked it off (figs, pomegranates, dates and grapes among
others). According to Nehemiah 8, when
a number of “Jews”
returned from their exile to Babylon, the first festival observed was Sukkot.
They built ‘tabernacles’ from olive, palm and myrtle branches. These booths
were a commemoration and a remembrance of when they journeyed in the wilderness
(Deut 16). The booth or tabernacle is called a sukkah, (sukkot pl.) and gives the festival its name.
The
people were commanded to ‘dwell’ in booths for seven days. They ate, drank and
slept in these sukkot/booths (Lev 23,
Num 29). This was one of three festivals where all the males were to appear in Jerusalem before the Lord (Ex 23, 34, Deut 16). Thousands of
people came from all over to celebrate the Lord’s festival, to give thanks and
petition Him for the year to come. As the book of Nehemiah records, the people
built the sukkot “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.” They were everywhere.
There
is an extreme amount of detail that went into this festival (Lev 23, Num 29, Deut 16, Deut 31). God had specified what was to
be done on every single day, and how it was to be carried out (specifically
with the sacrifices). There were many traditions added over the years, some
added because of continuity of the festival, some added for celebration (such
as the lulav and etrog).
There were also things added because of what God had done in the past among His
people, which were then incorporated into their celebrations.
The
dedication of the Temple of Solomon is detailed in 2 Chronicles 5 and 7.
This took place on the festival of Sukkot. It was during this period of time
that the Hebrews rejoiced because of the House of the Lord was among them. The
ark (which was a representation of the seat of God’s glory) was moved into the
newly finished Temple. On the day of the dedication, God sent fire from heaven
and consumed more than 140,000 sacrifices, which were offered by His people.
Sacrifice has historically been very much a part of Sukkot. During the first
century (Jesus’ day), though the Temple of Solomon had long disappeared and the
Ark of God’s presence had vanished, the people still rejoiced in the same
location, which was the place God had chosen to make His name dwell/tabernacle.
After
the Temple of Solomon was desecrated by the Babylonians, the exiles upon their
return from the land of Shinar, reconstructed Solomon’s temple under the
leadership of Nehemiah and authority of King Artaxerxes of Persia. Because the
wealth was not there as it had been in the days of Solomon, it was not even
close to the grandeur displayed by the first, but the people’s devotion was not
second rate by any means. During this time, the festival of Sukkot was once
again instated and celebrated.
Another
historical piece that was a fundamental change in the way Sukkot would forever
be viewed, was in the time traditionally called the “four-hundred years of
silence.”
Believe it or not, God was still working and still speaking. Although this piece
of the Sukkot story is not directly mentioned in the pages of the Christian Canon,
much of it is captured by the now generally despised (by some) Apocrypha.
The
Greeks from Syria under the direction of the very abominable and blasphemous
Antiochus were determined to “Hellenize” the Jews. So he ruled that Torah
observance (including but not limited to, keeping Sabbath, Circumcision, and
even the study of Torah) was to be criminalized and punished. This king ordered
sacrifices to be made to himself in the Temple, and further desecrated it by
offering pigs on the altar. Then the entrails of the unclean animals were
dragged around the temple courts defiling every place they went. This king also
set-up a statue of himself in the Temple. The time was that of terrible agony
and suppression for the Hebrew people.
This
is where the story of Hanukkah comes into play. There was a priest named
Mattathias, who rebelled by refusing to make a royal sacrifice in his small
town outside of Jerusalem. The son of this priest was known as Judah Maccabee,
and he led a group of freedom fighters (patriots and God fearers) against the
much superior Greek/Syrian military. God’s hand once again worked through His
people when up against a great and much stronger adversary. They defeated and drove
the army out reclaiming the city of Jerusalem. Judah then ordered a cleansing, re-dedication
of the Temple and rebuilding of the altar that had been desecrated.
While
the Syrians controlled and ravished Jerusalem, the Menorah in the Temple had
been extinguished. There was only a small amount of oil left that was still
sealed and left untainted, so Judah ordered the lamp to be lit. As it is told
to this day, the lamp miraculously burned for eight days and nights, which was
the entire time of rededication, and also the time it took for new oil to be procured
and purified. This celebration of the great deliverance and victory of God
though His people became known as the Feast of Dedication, Festival of Lights
(because of the miracle of the oil) or also called Hanukkah (which Jesus did
celebrate, although not one of the seven festivals in Lev 23).
Because
of what Sukkot represented, the leaders of Israel were concerned due to the
fact that through the course of battles and fighting with Syria that year,
Sukkot had gone without celebration and observance. It was a solemn thing to
them because Sukkot represents God’s goodness and the time when prayer was
offered for the future blessing of that year, especially for the much needed
rains. Even though the time had gone by for quite a while, Judah still commanded
that Sukkot be celebrated anyway, because God had given them rest from their
enemies all around (2 Maccabees 10).
Sukkot was very meaningful in a new way because of the course of events that
had just transpired. This is why there are several events and customs found in Sukkot
and Hanukkah which resemble each other.
Another
thing that was done as a remembrance of the deliverance and the miracle of the
oil, was the placing of four great menorahs (over 75 feet high) in the women’s
court.
Sukkot was a time of immense joy for all those who were partakers. One of the
Rabbis once said, “Whoever has not seen Sukkot has not witnessed real joy.”
Back
to talking about living water since you now have a better feel for the
historical background of this great festival. There is a part of Sukkot that
involves “living water”. Part of Sukkot was a petition to God to send rains
that would ensure a harvest in the following year. Sukkot took place at the end
of the regions dry season, so the people by this time were ready to see some
water. Rain was the means of sustaining life. This actually has quite a
prophetic implication with the festival of Sukkot in the “age to come” (at
least in the prophecy). There were a couple parts to the ceremony, specifically
on the last glorious day when everything climaxed.
One
of the parts was what we just examined in connection to rain, or living water.
A procession of priests (with a band of flute players) marched from the Temple
to the Pool of Siloam (living water which was fed by the spring of Gihon).
This tradition is possibly taken from a few passages, such as Isaiah 12, “drawing water from the wells of salvation”, or Isaiah 11 “earth will be full
of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea” among others. One
of the priests would fill the golden pitcher with water and then the procession
would head back to the Temple. The sacrifice would be laid on the altar, the
priest would enter through the Water Gate, a shofar would sound, and he would
come to the altar. He would walk around the altar (the procession would walk
around the altar seven times on the seventh day, commemorating the defeat at
Jericho – see my article Yom Teruah, A Story of Resurrection and Salvation?).
There were two silver funnels on the stone altar for the daily drink offerings.
There would be three blasts from a shofar, the people would be silent, and then
the priest would pour the water into the funnel as the people would shout/sing/chant
the Hallel .
It must be remembered that there were thousands upon thousands gathered in this
place for this event.
The living water was a way of recognizing that God was the one who brought the
rain, and thus sustains life. The singing of, “O Lord, save us”, “O Lord,
grant us success” meant “save us” by sending rain and preserving us. Also
it would be implored, “Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord.” The lulavim
would be waved before the Lord and beaten on the ground until there was
nothing left of them.
It
is with this picture in our mind that we come to John 7. We are told specifically about this day; it was the “last and greatest day of the Feast”.
What is amazing is that it was in this context of the water libation with the
menorah blazing in the sky, the prayers being prayed, the Hallel being recited, and petitioning God by offering Living Water,
that a Rabbi from the Galilee who had come to appear before the Lord in
Jerusalem stood in the mist of the people (who he had been teaching during this
time of Sukkot) and declared “If anyone
is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the
Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
What an amazing picture! What an amazing proclamation! What astounding timing!
We
also have another incident on the next day when Jesus claims to be the “Light of the world.” Remember the
menorahs towering above the courts bearing light to all Jerusalem? This is the
context of when he is saying this.
This would have been the “eighth day”, as Leviticus calls it. It was a Sabbath.
This is now called Shemini Atzeret (eighth day assembly). This day is also called
“Simchat Torah” (rejoicing with the Torah). The reasons for this name is that
it begins anew the yearly cycle of reading the Torah. Sukkot is such a great
joy.
One
of the fantastic things about this time of year, is that of its prophetic
implications. In Zechariah 14 we
read that all the nations that remain after a future devastation of Jerusalem
will be required to come up to Jerusalem year after year to celebrate the
Lord’s Sukkot. If they do not, they will not have any rain. Now isn’t that a
great picture? It is at very least part of which the celebration of Sukkot was
petitioning God.
So
many times we get this idea that certain things were “just of Israel”. No doubt
some were, but it was to be as a light to the nations to show them the proper
ways of God. There is no doubt that the seven festivals are an outline or shadow of not only the nation of Israel,
the Messiah himself, and a heavenly reality, but also something that includes
every person on the earth. Jesus died on Passover, and was buried on Unleavened
bread, who does this not affect? He was raised on the festival of First-Fruits,
who does this not affect? He commissioned his followers in the spirit of power
on the festival of Shavuot/Pentecost. I see no reason why these remaining fall festivals
are not pictures of a future manifestation of the same working power of our God
and His Messiah as has been done up to this point. I outline a few of these
details in other studies.
One
last detail is that I firmly believe that Sukkot is the time of Jesus’ birth.
There is more evidence to support this than for Dec 25. Think about it, “Living
water” being placed in a water trough (manger was not for food but water) at
this time of year. It also puts his conception at Hanukkah, the festival of
Lights (the Light of the World, and its relation to Sukkot). There are too many
evidences to enumerate at this point, so it will have to wait for another time.
The
festival of Sukkot is a time of rejoicing, and it makes me look forward to the
time when his kingdom will come in its fullness; chaos will finally be pushed
back and shalom, the new world order as
the Messiah, the second Adam, the new Lord of all creation takes his place on
the Davidic throne of God. Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashanah) a day that revolves
around the blowing of trumpets, (and in tradition the resurrecting of the dead)
Revelation, first resurrection, seventh shofar/trumpet, dead in Christ rising,
coming on the clouds and “all the holy
ones with you”, Daniel 7; you
figure it out. Yom Kippur, the judgment where the High Priest steps in on
behalf of his people, then 5 days later, it’s time for the biggest feast and
party the world has ever known, as we the people of the “ingathering” are
gathered to our Lord and participate in ushering in the Eden of the Lord!
Now that is a story worth celebrating!
Notes:
This is to be
distinguished from the religious year that God mandated which starts in the
month Nissan (Abib) (Ex 12, 13, 23, 34; Deut 16). For more information on this
day see my article titled “Yom Teruah, A Story of Resurrection and Salvation?”
It was the
Pharisees that had begun the custom of the Lulav (lulavim pl) which was an
olive, palm and myrtle tied together cluster of branches. The Etrog is a
citron. They carried these items in hand to the temple each of the seven days
of the festival (as today).
