The Season of Our Joy

by

Dr. Sidney L. Davis, Jr.

The Festival of Tabernacles is a time when we are commanded to rejoice. No wonder it was called the "Season of Our Joy."

Succoth is the season of our Joy. It is a celebration of the Word of YHVH tabernacling in humanity in the Incarnation. It is a celebration of the time when YHVH Himself will make his Succah with men in the world to come. What a time of rejoicing that will be!

Succoth is a time of rejoicing for "all people." Anciently, during the time of the festival of Succoth, seventy animals were sacrificed according to the number of the nations that were divided from the families of Noah after the flood. Succoth like the Sabbath is a celebration belonging all people from all the nations of the world.

From childhood, I was taught by my parents about the biblical Feasts. I grew up celebrating all the Holy Days as outlined in Leviticus 23. From the perspective of a child, the celebration of these feasts represented an opportunity for fun. I enjoyed celebrating all the Holy Days; however, the Feast Day that I enjoyed the most, was the Feast of Tabernacles–the festival of Booths or Succoth. Succoth, to me, was a season of joy . . . Indeed, as far as I was concerned it was the season of joy. It was "Thanksgiving" and "Christmas" together all at once, and for eight days! It was like "Christmas" because in the inner city where I grew up, building a succah out doors was not permissible; so we decorated the walls of our home with branches which we cut from trees and bushes in the neighborhood. We would "deck the halls" of our apartment dwelling with flowers, branches, and even clustered grape vines. It was fun walking down the hallway of our apartment dwelling and grabbing grapes along the way!

When one "puts away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13) regarding Succoth and considers the deeper meaning of this Feast, it will be realized that its spiritual dimensions transcend the childlike "fun" associated with the "Christmas spirit" and the "Thanksgiving" of the Pilgrim Fathers. Yet, my childhood experiences of fun during the Feast of Tabernacles have prepared me for what I have learned about this Feast and why it is referred to as the season of our joy.

A Command to Rejoice

Did you know that there is a command for us to rejoice? Indeed, the one biblical holiday that emphasizes rejoicing with gladness to the utmost is Succoth; and this command to rejoice during Succoth is mentioned three times in Torah (the first five Books of the "Old Testament"):

1) "And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast. . . ." (Deuteronomy 16:14).

2) ". . . therefore thou shalt surely rejoice" (Deuteronomy 16:15).

3) ". . . and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days" (Leviticus. 23:40).

Thus, as with all the other Commandments which were given to us "for our good always" (Deuteronomy 6:24), no human circumstance should prevent the Believer from rejoicing at this appointed time. The Apostle Paul seems to suggest that this aspect of Succoth should pervade every moment of our everyday lives, when he says "rejoice evermore" (1 Thessalonians 5:16). From a scriptural standpoint, therefore, our joy will be full on a day-to-day basis when we willingly obey the command of Succoth; for it was the Saviour Himself Who said, ". . . if ye keep My Commandments. . . My joy [will] remain in you, . . . and your joy [will] be full" (John 15:10, 11).

It is in this context that one can see the emptiness of the pagan holidays that have stealthily crept into the Christian Church through the Greco-Roman influence on Christianity. Therefore Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and the like, can never bring real and lasting joy, for the simple reason that they were never commanded, and hence "His joy" is not in them to be received, with which one can be replenished to the "full."

The Saviour’s Birth at Succoth?

So instead of the Christmas tree being the symbol of the joy over the birth of a "messiah" that is steeped in Greek mythology it is the Succah that we see as the symbol of the true joy associated with the entrance of the Redeemer of mankind into this world because "the Succah is a living symbol of the Holy Temple."1 And hence this Succah becomes the symbolism of "the dwelling of the divine."2 

The Scriptures testify that everything that pertained to the our Jewish Messiah including His Birth, His Death, His Resurrection, and His glorious Return was and will be fulfilled "according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4), and that He punctuated human affairs with His incarnate Presence exactly on the schedule of biblical time ". . . for when the fulness of time was come, G-d sent forth His Son" (Galatians 4:4). And this "fullness of time" brought with it "joy to the full"– the joy of Succoth–to which the Angel Gabriel attested when he announced to the shepherds on the hills of Judea: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the L-rd" (Luke 2:10, 11). And in chronicling the typological descriptive of this scheduled Appearance of the Messiah among men, it is written of Him: "the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled ["succothed"] among us . . ."(John 1:14). See Margin, Revised Version.

Such scriptural reference to the Messiah is too significant and coincidental to be ignored. To repeat: Just as it was commanded at Succoth, so too, we are commanded at His birth (which many believe occurred at this very Festival of Succoth) to be joyful, to wit: "And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth" (Luke 1:14).

Even today, Jewish messianic expectation is that the time of the Messiah’s coming is fixed,3  more particularly by Daniel in his prophecy of the "seventy weeks" (See Daniel 9:24-26). What may not be readily understood by many students of prophecy is that the prophetic times in the cyclic rhythm of sevens are inextricably tied to the cycle of sevens seen in the Holy Days themselves (See Leviticus 23). Thus "the fullness of time" for "joy to the full’ would of necessity find its fulfillment at the "appointed time" for all of Israel and the world to break forth with joy and gladness. And that is at the Holy Festival of Succoth: "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled [‘succothed’] among us" (John 1:14).

The prophet Haggai, looking down the ages, saw the very day when the "desire of all Nations shall come" to fill the second Temple with His Glory. See Haggai 2:3, 9. That ancient "seer" was given a glimpse of this glorious Event "in the seventh month, in the twentieth day of the month, when came the Word of YHVH by the prophet Haggai. . ." (See Haggai 2:1). And as Succoth was commanded to be celebrated from the "fifteenth to the twenty-second day of the seventh month" (See Leviticus 23:34-36), it is not coincidental that the Messiah announced the commencement of His Ministry during Succoth (See Luke 4:17-24).

And the fact that He promised the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when "in the last day, that great day of the Feast [of Tabernacles–Succoth] He stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink . . . and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (a symbol of the joy of the Holy Spirit, John 7:37-39), is further proof of the joy that Succoth brings with its celebration. Joy will flow freely from him. He will willingly and automatically share the love of the Saviour with every person with whom he comes in contact. It is this "last . . . great day of the Feast" that is called the Day of the Great Hosanna4 that climaxes Succoth with great rejoicing!

Rejoicing for All People

Succoth is a time of rejoicing for "all people." Anciently, during the time of the festival of Succoth, seventy animals were sacrificed according to the number of the nations that were divided from the families of Noah after the flood. This shows that Succoth like the Sabbath is not a celebration belonging solely to the Jewish people, for it is written: "And thou shalt rejoice in

thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates" Deuteronomy 16:15.

The Feast of Succoth is the preeminent Feast betokening the redemption and gathering of "the nations" in the glorious reestablishment of the restored Kingdom of Israel. The Talmud explains that the seventy bulls sacrificed during Succoth are offered on "behalf of the seventy nations of the world" and thus the festival was known as "the feast of Nations" and "the feast of ingathering."5 

Summary

Revelation 7:9-17 depicts a people redeemed from all nations waving the lulav or palm branches while shouting joyous praises of thanksgiving. This is distinctive to the festival of Succoth (Leviticus 23:40). Revelation 21 pictures the whole earth restored to its Edenic glory, becoming a Succah where YHVH will ‘succoth’ with and among His people (Revelation 21:3). Thus Succoth points to the great ingathering of the people who are saved and redeemed from among the nations of the earth, as well as the eternal dwelling of YHVH with men.

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of YHVH is with men, and he will dwell [tabernacle, booth, or succoth] with them, and they shall be his people, and YHVH Himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Revelation 21:3). This verse must be seen as an allusion to Succoth during the ultimate consummation of the Plan of Redemption.

Succoth is the season of our Joy. It is a celebration of the Word of YHVH tabernacling in humanity in the Incarnation; it is a celebration of the Ruach ha Chodesh (the Holy Spirit) making His Succah within us as symbolized by the "living water" flowing from within us. It is a celebration of when YHVH Himself will make his Succah with men in the world to come. What a time of rejoicing that will be!

Dr. Sidney L. Davis, Jr., a naturopathic physician and an ordained deacon of the Seventh-Day Adventist church, conducts Sabbath Seminars throughout the United States and Canada. His ministry advocates Sabbath reform and the restoration of the apostolic faith and practice. His present seminars and research focus on the African roots in Biblical Judaism and Christianity as a message of restoration to the African diaspora. Sidney lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Footnotes:

 1 Moshe Braun, The Jewish Holy Days (New Jersey, 1996), p. 126

 2 Ibid., p. 89

 3 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, vol. 98. 1. Vid. Jarchi & Kinachi in Isaiah lx. 22

 4 Kevin J. Conner, The Feasts of Israel, (Portland Oregon: Conner Publications, 1980), p. 101

 5 Samuele Bacchiocchi, God’s Festivals, Part 2 (Berrien Springs, Michigan), 1996, p. 224.

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