Verse: Lev 23:42-43 All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I
made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord
your God. ESV
One of the most noticeable traditions associated with the Feast of Tabernacles is the construction of a
“booth” or “sukkah” in which families are to live for the duration of the Feast. In Israel, people come
from all over the world and they build flimsy, but often well-decorated wooden structures in which the
people eat and sleep. The structures are to be made from “branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm,
and other leafy trees to make booths” (Nehemiah 8:15). In practice today, sukkahs are made from “pleasant” branches and boards. The sukkah is to have at least
three sides which may be constructed from fabric, wood, or branches. The roof is to remain open, and it can be covered with branches of slats of wood, but you are to be able to see the stars in the heavens as you sit in your “booth”. When you live in your sukkah, your need to see the heavens while you are seated and still living on the earth.
Wood is a type and symbol of “man” or “mankind” and it is important that the sukkah is not made from steel or other manufactures materials. Wood is the instruction and man is the message. From the very beginning, YHWH has desired to make His habitation INSIDE of man.
The construction of the Tent of Meeting had very specific and detailed instructions, nothing was to vary from YHWH’s pattern (see Exodus 25:40). Some people may deduce from this that God is very demanding and that He is not the God of freedom, but the demanding God of performance. The Tabernacle was indeed a tent that “housed” the Presence for a period of time, but His purpose in reminding the people of God to build it “after the pattern that was shown on the mountain” was that God was communicating types and shadows of the operation of His kingdom and detailing how their covenant relationship was to work.
Hebrews 8:5-6
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the
tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern
that was shown you on the mountain." ESV
The sukkah on the other hand has only very general
specifications for its construction, and as you can see
from some of the examples in this article, sukkahs can
be as ingenious and as individual as all the people in
the nation. There is great liberty here. God has
created billions of individuals and He desires to live in
each one of us as we were originally created!
The sukkah offers no “real” protection from the elements. I live in
Minnesota and the season of the Feast of Tabernacles is sometimes
accompanied by snow. I remember one feast some four years ago
where we woke up to a fresh two inches of snow on the ground.
This drives home the point that our humanity (wood) offers no real
protection and no real provision in our lives. The only stability we
really have is the presence and covenant companionship of God with us. His promises are our provision,
and He is the reason we celebrate and can express joy during the feast and during our days. He is our
protection and our power and this is the picture we need to keep in the forefront from the beginning of
our days (as in the desert) to the end. He is the Author and the Finisher, the Aleph and the Tav.
Psalm 31:19-20
Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which
you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in
you, in the sight of the children of
mankind! In the cover of your presence
you hide them from the plots of men; you
store them in your shelter from the strife
of tongues. ESV
Psalm 32:7
You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah NKJV
Psalm 31:17-20
Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. KJV
Isaiah 4:2-6
The Branch of the Lord Glorified
In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and
glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and
honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion
and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who
has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord
shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem
from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole
site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire
by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the
heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain. ESV
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