On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.
26th September 2026 (15 Tishrei)
Sukkot (Tabernacles): Leviticus 22:26-23:44, Numbers 29:12-16
A Bible-believing Christian from England was visiting Jerusalem for one purpose. He had already, on other occasions, been on several tours of the biblical sites, so he was familiar with the Land of Israel. This time he came to see how modern-day Jews lived. He came for the Fall Feasts with a thought that he might write a short book about the theology behind them; perhaps the book would cover all the Feasts. That’s how one’s mind can wander in this special city, among these special people, motivated sometimes naively, to achieve something of significance. But God sometimes has a different plan.
During this visit in the month of Tishrei, he had already been at the Western Wall several times among the massed worshippers. Especially moving was the Feast of Trumpets to usher in the succession of special feast days. With note-book in hand he had stopped to speak to some of the earnest Jews who gathered there to pray, but he had not yet reached the depth of what he was seeking. This was the very place where the Temple had stood, where Jesus Himself had walked. Yet, the man wondered why there was an unreality to the present day when considered alongside the Bible accounts. Had Jesus become more of a theological concept to him than a living Saviour? A new thought was arising.
The awesome silence of the day called Yom Kippur was deeply spiritual. Not a vehicle on the roads, not a sound in the streets. It briefly brought a reminder of Sundays in Britain before the change in law allowing Sunday trading, which caused the Christian Sabbath Day to quickly become like any other day of the week. But this Sabbath Day in Jerusalem was like no other.
Now the days had moved on to the preparations for Sukkot when, all over the City, on balconies and in open spaces, small temporary shelters were being constructed. From Moses until now, this was the time to spend a few days in a booth or tabernacle, camping outside with the family, rain or shine. The man was trying to relate this to what he had read of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Bible – a bit vague because this was considered a Jewish Feast rather than directly relevant to Christians. As he was pondering, an earnest, dark suited man wearing a Kippa approached. He was carrying a small bag containing his prayer shawl and was intently walking to the synagogue for prayer. With the good thoughts of the days of repentance leading to Yom Kippur in his mind, and recognising a stranger, he stopped to bid him good day and ask of his wellbeing. A short conversation ensued, including the expectation of happy family days at the upcoming Feast of Sukkot. Was this an opportunity for the man to glean something for his book?
Because they had talked about the days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur, the man asked his new Jewish friend, “When were the best times for the Jews? What period of Israel’s history would you want to return to if you could?” The immediate and firm reply was, “The wilderness days when our people came out of Egypt. With Adonai in our midst, we knew what it was to live with His daily presence and provision as pilgrims on this earth. It was then that the Feast of Sukkot had a very special relevance. We were pilgrims and strangers in a wilderness, away from the busying world, journeying together towards a Promised Land”. He was remembering 1 Chronicles 29:15:
For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers…….
The conversation ended. They bid one another, “Shalom”, and parted.
“Pilgrims and strangers”? Doesn’t that remind me, thought the man, of what Peter said in one of his letters. He later looked it up, finding it in 2 Peter Chapter 2. It was then that his mind opened to the relevance of the Biblical Feasts to him as well as to Jews, but his idea of a theology book soon disappeared. This was surely God beginning to show him the relevance of the Feast of Tabernacles to his own walk of faith, going beyond the bounds of theology which had encompassed his Christian life without his realising it, reminding him that he too longed for a living walk with a living God. He must investigate whether the link to Sukkot was more relevant to him than he had realised.
There is a convincing argument that Yeshua first came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem at the Feast of Tabernacles. Luke’s Gospel account (Chapter 1) covers the time when Yeshua’s birth was announced to Mary. At that time, she visited her relative Elizabeth, when Elizabeth was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, awaiting the birth of her son who was to be John the Baptist (Luke 1:36). The birth of his son had been announced to Zechariah when he was fulfilling his priestly service. Zechariah was of the priestly division of Abijah (Luke 1:5). This priestly division was appointed by King David to serve in the Temple as the eighth of 24 groups of Priests, who served in turn throughout each year (1 Chronicles 4:10). This would be calculated from the beginning of the biblical year at the month of Nissan. Though the entire priestly system was paused by the Babylonian captivity, Ezra reinstated it after the return from captivity, from records kept during the captivity and in accord with David’s commands (Nehemiah 12). Thus, we can assume that Zechariah was serving at the time of year appointed for his group of Priests, as inaugurated by King David all those years ago.
Using all this information, we can confidently place where in the biblical year John the Baptist was conceived, and also when Yeshua was conceived and born. It is with some confidence that one can deduce that John was born in the season of Pesach (the expected Elijah for whom a place is set by tradition at the family Pesach meal table?). Yeshua was born six months later in the season of Sukkot. This would explain why Bethlehem was so busy when Mary and Joseph arrived for the census, with massed pilgrims on their way to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.
It is surprising that the Gospel accounts give only clues to the time of Yeshua’s birth and much more prominence to His death, which we remember as the fulfilment of the sacrificial lamb at each Pesach.
Nevertheless, this gives great significance to that great day when He appeared at the Feast of Sukkot recorded in John’s Gospel, when Jerusalem would be flooded by lights over the city and a special ceremony of carrying water from the Pool of Siloam by the Priests was a great climax to the celebrations, with multitudes of pilgrims present.
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Just as Pesach was fulfilled by Yeshua when He became the sacrifice for sin on the Cross at Calvary, and the giving of the Holy Spirit became the fulfilment of Shavuot, so Yeshua showed Himself, during the time of His first coming, as the fulfilment of Tabernacles. He is both the Living Water and the Light to the World. The enormity of this would not be missed by those who celebrated Sukkot in Jerusalem that year when He made such compelling pronouncements.
Every Sukkot takes us back to profound days in the pilgrim journey of Israel.
First and most importantly, it takes us to the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, when God was in their midst as never before or since. Then, it takes us to such days as when Solomon dedicated the Temple, and to when Ezra inaugurated true worship in Jerusalem again after the Babylonian captivity:
Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem, that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the City of David, which is Zion. Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month. (2 Chronicles 5:2-3)
When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying:
“For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever.” (2 Chronicles 7:1-3)
And when the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. Then Jeshua the son of Jozadakand his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day. (Ezra 3:1-4)
The Seventh Month, the Month of Tishrei, is surely the month of new beginnings. Yeshua came to bring a new beginning, the New Covenant, and will return to fulfil the Feast, just as He has fulfilled the former Feasts.
Our man who visited Jerusalem had his eyes opened to the fact that Christians must consider themselves not through the eyes of theology alone, nor celebrate feast days that are out of step with Biblical Feasts, but through the same eyes as the devout Jew whom he met: pilgrims on a journey together, like the forefathers who set up their booths in the wilderness as temporary residents on this earth. For those who wait for the return of Yeshua HaMashiach to complete the work of Salvation and end our pilgrim journey in the Kingdom of Heaven, Sukkot is our joint celebration of who we are, and where we are going.
Dr Clifford Denton
Founder and Director
Tishrei Bible School
www.tishrei.org