What is this Holy Day, anyway, you may be asking. Many of you know that our family has celebrated this Feast, actually all of them described in Leviticus 23 and other places, for over 10 years now. We are currently in Florida, in our booth, celebrating the first day of this wonderful Feast. I asked my husband, John, if he would write a post about this awesome time of the year! Here it is.
Hello from Florida. I wish you were all here with us at this great time of the year. Where to begin? I must say that this is an exciting topic for me to discuss with folks. Over the last several years there has been a resurgence in interest in the Eternal's holy days (I use the words Eternal and God interchangeably). I even hear them discussed on TV by televangelists. There are three family pilgrimage feasts among God's holy days described in the Bible. The week of Passover, the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).
This time of year there are people assembled together all across the globe, coming together to rejoice and celebrate God's holy days.
In years past we have attended sites with anywhere between 200 to 1600 people. I estimate this year we will have more than 1000 at the site we chose.
One of my favorite sets of passage about this time of year is located in the book of John the seventh chapter. In this chapter we have Jesus at the Temple of God during the Feast of Tabernacles. In verse 37 we read:
John 7:37-38 37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
What is so exciting about this verse is that Jesus is declaring the fact openly that he is the Messiah. A simple reading of the text here does not do justice to the culmination of events here and how all faces in the Temple on this day would have turned to Him in amazement. Basically what is happening here is the water pouring ceremony (hence his reference to living water as opposed to the literal water that they were using in the Temple ritual). This was a very boisterous time in the temple. The singing of the Levites and dancing made for a very great spectacle. There were also candelabras of immense size that would have been burning. For greater detail on what was occurring in the temple on this day I will include the following excerpt from Alfred Edersheim's The Temple:
"We can now in some measure realise the event recorded in #Joh 7:37. The festivities of the Week of Tabernacles were drawing to a close. ‘It was the last day, that great day of the feast.’ It obtained this name, although it was not one of ‘holy convocation,’ partly because it closed the feast, and partly from the circumstances which procured it in Rabbinical writings the designations of ‘Day of the Great Hosannah,’ on account of the sevenfold circuit of the altar with ‘Hosannah’; and ‘Day of Willows,’ and ‘Day of Beating the Branches,’ because all the leaves were shaken off the willow boughs, and the palm branches beaten in pieces by the side of the altar. It was on that day, after the priest had returned from Siloam with his golden pitcher, and for the last time poured its contents to the base of the altar; after the ‘Hallel’ had been sung to the sound of the flute, the people responding and worshipping as the priests three times drew the threefold blasts from their silver trumpets—just when the interest of the people had been raised to its highest pitch, that, from amidst the mass of worshippers, who were waving towards the altar quite a forest of leafy branches as the last words of #Ps 118 were chanted—a voice was raised which resounded through the temple, startled the multitude, and carried fear and hatred to the hearts of their leaders. It was Jesus, who ‘stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.’ Then by faith in Him should each one truly become like the Pool of Siloam, and from his inmost being ‘rivers of living waters flow’ (#Joh 7:38). ‘This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.’ Thus the significance of the rite, in which they had just taken part, was not only fully explained, but the mode of its fulfilment pointed out. The effect was instantaneous. It could not but be, that in that vast assembly, so suddenly roused by being brought face to face with Him in whom every type and prophecy is fulfilled, there would be many who, ‘when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ.’ Even the Temple-guard, whose duty it would have been in such circumstances to arrest one who had so interrupted the services of the day, and presented himself to the people in such a light, owned the spell of His words, and dared not to lay hands on Him. ‘Never man spake like this man,’ was the only account they could give of their unusual weakness, in answer to the reproaches of the chief priests and Pharisees."
Here is an artist's rendering of this ceremony from the Temple Institute. Click on it to enlarge.
Basically, we have Jesus vociferously crying aloud, the statements of John 7:37. The whole temple ritual would have been interrupted and silenced. All eyes turned to Him and heard Him declare His reign and His gift. How powerful is this imagery?
Quite exciting!! Let's celebrate this Feast with this excitement!!
This time of year there are people assembled together all across the globe, coming together to rejoice and celebrate God's holy days.
In years past we have attended sites with anywhere between 200 to 1600 people. I estimate this year we will have more than 1000 at the site we chose.
One of my favorite sets of passage about this time of year is located in the book of John the seventh chapter. In this chapter we have Jesus at the Temple of God during the Feast of Tabernacles. In verse 37 we read:
John 7:37-38 37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
What is so exciting about this verse is that Jesus is declaring the fact openly that he is the Messiah. A simple reading of the text here does not do justice to the culmination of events here and how all faces in the Temple on this day would have turned to Him in amazement. Basically what is happening here is the water pouring ceremony (hence his reference to living water as opposed to the literal water that they were using in the Temple ritual). This was a very boisterous time in the temple. The singing of the Levites and dancing made for a very great spectacle. There were also candelabras of immense size that would have been burning. For greater detail on what was occurring in the temple on this day I will include the following excerpt from Alfred Edersheim's The Temple:
"We can now in some measure realise the event recorded in #Joh 7:37. The festivities of the Week of Tabernacles were drawing to a close. ‘It was the last day, that great day of the feast.’ It obtained this name, although it was not one of ‘holy convocation,’ partly because it closed the feast, and partly from the circumstances which procured it in Rabbinical writings the designations of ‘Day of the Great Hosannah,’ on account of the sevenfold circuit of the altar with ‘Hosannah’; and ‘Day of Willows,’ and ‘Day of Beating the Branches,’ because all the leaves were shaken off the willow boughs, and the palm branches beaten in pieces by the side of the altar. It was on that day, after the priest had returned from Siloam with his golden pitcher, and for the last time poured its contents to the base of the altar; after the ‘Hallel’ had been sung to the sound of the flute, the people responding and worshipping as the priests three times drew the threefold blasts from their silver trumpets—just when the interest of the people had been raised to its highest pitch, that, from amidst the mass of worshippers, who were waving towards the altar quite a forest of leafy branches as the last words of #Ps 118 were chanted—a voice was raised which resounded through the temple, startled the multitude, and carried fear and hatred to the hearts of their leaders. It was Jesus, who ‘stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.’ Then by faith in Him should each one truly become like the Pool of Siloam, and from his inmost being ‘rivers of living waters flow’ (#Joh 7:38). ‘This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.’ Thus the significance of the rite, in which they had just taken part, was not only fully explained, but the mode of its fulfilment pointed out. The effect was instantaneous. It could not but be, that in that vast assembly, so suddenly roused by being brought face to face with Him in whom every type and prophecy is fulfilled, there would be many who, ‘when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ.’ Even the Temple-guard, whose duty it would have been in such circumstances to arrest one who had so interrupted the services of the day, and presented himself to the people in such a light, owned the spell of His words, and dared not to lay hands on Him. ‘Never man spake like this man,’ was the only account they could give of their unusual weakness, in answer to the reproaches of the chief priests and Pharisees."
Here is an artist's rendering of this ceremony from the Temple Institute. Click on it to enlarge.
Basically, we have Jesus vociferously crying aloud, the statements of John 7:37. The whole temple ritual would have been interrupted and silenced. All eyes turned to Him and heard Him declare His reign and His gift. How powerful is this imagery?
Quite exciting!! Let's celebrate this Feast with this excitement!!
1 comment:
That was a great statement about the Feast. Today (10/10) is the 1st day I have gone to the web site, lately.
Love,
Mother
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