Should Christians keep the “Feast of Tabernacles”?
By Bob Thiel
The Feast of Tabernacles’ is a 7-day Biblical pilgrimage festival, also known as the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Tabernacles, or Tabernacles (it is immediately followed by an eighth day, so normally it is considered to be a pilgrimage of at least 8 days).
Should Christians keep it? What are some of the reasons why?
In the 7th day Church of God groups, the Feast of Tabernacles is one of the most important holy days as it lasts the longest and normally requires a great deal of preparation and travel to be able to attend. But it is normally the physical and spiritual highlight of the year for those that do observe it.
This article covers this subject from a Christian perspective and includes quotes from both the Old and New Testament.
The Hebrew Scriptures
The Hebrew scriptures (otherwise known as the Old Testament) discuss this Festival in many places.
The Book of Leviticus states:
2… ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. …
34… ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. 35 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. 36 For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. 37 ‘These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day — 38 besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord. 39 ‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. 40 And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.'” (Leviticus 23:2, 34-43. NKJV throughout, unless otherwise noted)
Christians have interpreted the statement about dwelling in booths to include temporary dwellings, hence most stay in hotels, motels, or tents to observe it today (the idea that palm branch dwellings are not the only option which is consistent with Leviticus 23:43 for Christians per Hebrews 9:11-15; 13:10). And Christians normally observe it on the same days that the Jews celebrate Sukkot (which is based on the same verses in the Hebrew Bible).
The Bible teaches that the children of Israel were to have offerings for every day of the Feast. While we in the Continuing Church of God do take up offerings on the First Day of the Feast and the Last Great Day (which are times of holy convocations), we do not take up financial offerings on the other days. But one way for you to fulfil what God expects is for you to attend church services each day.
Notice something that the Apostle Paul wrote:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)
Attending services each day is a way for you to offer yourself as a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service.
More information on this Feast is in the Hebrew scriptures, notice some others:
2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. 4 You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things.
5 “But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today — every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes — 9 for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you… 11 then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13 Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. 18 But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all to which you put your hands. 19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. (Deuteronomy 12:2-9, 11-19)
Christians have cited the following passages from Deuteronomy 14:22-27 (which has similarities to chapter 12) to explain how this festival attendance should be financed and to show that others are to be assisted with this financing:
22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. 23 And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27 You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you..
Most Christians who observe the Feast of Tabernacles save 10% of their income (normally referred to as second tithe or simply festival tithe) to finance this. They also point to those verses in Deuteronomy to show that they are to feast and rejoice during this time, which they feel points to the time when Jesus will reign on the Earth for a thousand years (the millennium). A time they say will be filled with great prosperity–a glimpse of which they get when they spend approximately 10% of their annual income for an eight-day (plus travel time) festival (sometimes, portions of that 10% are used for the other biblical holy days).
Christians who observe this festival believe that part of the reason that there will be peace is that people will all be taught the law of God, as teaching the law of God was an important part of this feast during the days of the children of Israel:
10 And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 31:10-13).
Christians who observe this festival sometimes point to the following in Zechariah, which they believe provides evidence that it has not been done away with:
16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16-19)
Since it is clear that the Feast of Tabernacles is to be kept in the future, this is another reason why Christians should be keeping it now.
How often should it be kept?
The Feast of Tabernacles is to be kept every year (Zechariah 14:16; Deuteronomy 16:16).
Where is the Feast of Tabernacles to Be Kept?
Some have wondered where is it to be kept.
The Bible teaches “in the place which He chooses.”
Since God does not physically speak out loud to humans the physical locations for every year, the responsibility for this falls on His ministry (cf. Leviticus 23:1,4,37). In modern times, generally this will be near the area where enough Christians live or can travel too.
While some falsely claim that the Feast of Tabernacles from the past through current times must only be kept in Jerusalem, this is in error as the children of Israel were not even in Jerusalem for centuries after the commands for its observance in Leviticus 23 were recorded–hence Jerusalem was not possibly an initial option for them.
Furthermore, the Bible shows that the Feast of Tabernacles can be kept in cities other than Jerusalem (Nehemiah 8:15; cf. Deuteronomy 14:23-24). It may also be of interest to note Polycarp of Smyrna in the 2nd century and certain others in Asia Minor in the late 4th century (some of whom were called ‘Nazarenes’) kept the Feast of Tabernacles in Asia Minor, not Jerusalem.
In the 21st century, Christians have kept the Feast of Tabernacles on all inhabited continents as well as various islands.
The New Testament Examples
Christians point out that Jesus kept the Feast of Tabernacles. This is discussed in detail in John chapter 7:
10 But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. 11 Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” 12 And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” 13 However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews. 14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” 20 The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?” 21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. 22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” 25 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill? 26 But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? (John 7:10-26)
Jesus kept the Feast and taught on what we tend to refer to as “the Last Great Day”(John 7:37-38).
The Apostle Paul, after the Christ’s death and resurrection indicated that it was important to keep the Feast in Jerusalem–and this may have been the Feast of Tabernacles. As it is noted in Acts 18:21:
21 I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing.
Notice some statements from the Apostle Paul:
17…Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers (Acts 28:17)
4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6)
Since Paul kept the customs of his people, he, too, kept all the Fall Holy Days including the Feast of Tabernacles. If not, he could not have made that statement which is in Acts 28:17 nor the one being blameless in the law in Philippians 3:4-6.
Paul taught Gentiles to follow him as he followed Jesus:
1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Jesus and Paul kept the feasts. Are you following their example?
Notice that Paul does commend those in Thessalonica (which is located in Greece) for imitating the church in Judea:
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. 14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 2:13-14).
The church in Judea kept the Feast of Tabernacles, etc. And those in Thessalonica were commended for receiving the word of God and imitating the practices of the church in Judea.
Basic Interpretation
The basic Old Testament understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles is that it was a seven-day celebration of the annual fall harvest and was observed by living in temporary dwellings for the duration of the Feast. (Leviticus 23:33-43).
The basic New Testament understanding is that it pictures the Millennium, the 1000 year period when the earth will be ruled by Jesus Christ and His saints.
Millenarianism (a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth, often called the millennium) was taught by the early Christians. The Bible teaches that the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth “as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).
During the millennium, Christ will rule as King of kings, and His saints will rule with and under Him for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6). God will restore Israel and will bless all nations that learn to worship Him. The Bible shows that there will be peace and prosperity throughout the earth (Amos 9:11-15, Isaiah 19:24-25). It will be an abundant time for all people and all nations (Micah 4:3-4, Ezekiel 36:33-37) who obey (there will problems for those who stubbornly will at first refuse to obey ). Sickness and disease will be cured (Jeremiah 30:17; Malachi 4:2). Various problems will be removed from the earth (Isaiah 51:11-13; 35:4). The true worship of God and His truths will be taught throughout the world (Isaiah 30:21; Ezekiel 11:19-20, Hebrews 8:11-12; Revelation 20:1-6). The Feast of Tabernacles essentially helps picture God’s kingdom on this earth. The Bible teaches that Christians are to pray, “Thy Kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). That kingdom will usher in the time when the promise described in Revelation:
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in this first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be the priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
The millennial kingdom is part of the utopia that will come.
The Feast of Tabernacles and the Millennium
The idea that the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the millennium is not a new one. Real and professing Christians have long realized the connection.
As mentioned earlier, Church of God leader/bishop Polycarp of Smyrna in Asia Minor kept the Feast of Tabernacles. This is seemingly alluded to in at least one post-biblical document (Pionius. Life of Polycarp, Chapters 2 & 19. Translated by J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 3.2, 1889, pp.488-506).
It should also be pointed out that those in Asia Minor also taught the millennium, in contrast to those in places like Alexandria Egypt, which were dominated by Gnostic and other heretics who do not seem to observe the Feast of Tabernacles (Danielou, Cardinal Jean-Guenole-Marie. The Theology of Jewish Christianity. Translated by John A. Baker. The Westminister Press, 1964).
Although he was not part of the Church of God, the Greco-Roman bishop and saint Methodius of Olympus in the late 3rd or early 4th century taught that the Feast of Tabernacles was commanded and that it had lessons for Christians. And he tied it in with the teaching of the millennial reign of Christ:
…these things, being like air and phantom shadows, foretell the resurrection and the putting up of our tabernacle that had fallen upon the earth, which at length, in the seventh thousand of years, resuming again immortal, we shall celebrate the great feast of true tabernacles in the new and indissoluble creation , the fruits of the earth having been gathered in, and men no longer begetting and begotten, but God resting from the works of creation…
For since in six days God made the heaven and the earth, and finished the whole world, and rested on the seventh day from all His works which He had made, and blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, so by a figure in the seventh month, when the fruits of the earth have been gathered in, we are commanded to keep the feast to the Lord , which signifies that, when this world shall be terminated at the seventh thousand years, when God shall have completed the world, He shall rejoice in us. For now to this time all things are created by His all-sufficient will and inconceivable power; the earth still yielding its fruits, and the waters being gathered together in their receptacles; and the light still severed from darkness, and the allotted number of men not yet being complete; and the sun arising to rule the day, and the moon the night; and four-footed creatures, and beasts, and creeping things arising from the earth, and winged creatures, and creatures that swim, from the water. Then, when the appointed times shall have been accomplished, and God shall have ceased to form this creation , in the seventh month, the great resurrection-day, it is commanded that the Feast of our Tabernacles shall be celebrated to the Lord , of which the things said in Leviticus are symbols and figures, which things, carefully investigating, we should consider the naked truth itself, for He says, A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: to understand a proverb , and the interpretation; the words Of the wise, and their dark sayings. (Methodius. Banquet of the Ten Virgins (Discourse 9, Chapter 1). Translated by William R. Clark. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886)
Comments by the historian Epiphanius and others in the late fourth century concerning the Nazarene Christians would also seem to support that those who kept the Fall Holy Days were located in several areas at that time.
Furthermore, in the late fourth century, John Chrysostom (of Constantinople) commented that people who professed Christ in his area were observing the Feast of Tabernacles (John Chrysostom. Homily I Against the Jews I:5;VI:5;VII:2. Preached at Antioch, Syria in the Fall of 387 AD. Medieval Sourcebook: Saint John Chrysostom (c.347-407) : Eight Homilies Against the Jews. Fordham University).
The Catholic saint Jerome reported that the ‘Nazarene’/Judeo Christians kept the Feast in the fourth/fifth centuries (Migne JP Argumentum Patrologia Latina Volumen MPL025 Ab Columna ad Culumnam 1415 – 1542A, pp. 922, 930).
A Catholic report interestingly stated:
St. Jerome (PL 25, 1529 & 1536-7) speaking of how the Judaeo-Christians celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles…tells us that they gave the feast a millenarian significance… (Bagatti, Bellarmino. Translated by Eugene Hoade. The Church from the Circumcision. Nihil obstat: Marcus Adinolfi. Imprimi potest: Herminius Roncari. Imprimatur: +Albertus Gori, die 26 Junii 1970. Franciscan Printing Press, Jerusalem, pp. 202,297,298).
Here is a translation from Latin to English of Jerome’s Commentariorum in Zachariam Lib. III. Patrologia Latina 25 that confirms this:
1529 Jews and Christian judaizers…Christian Jews…
1536 All, he says, those who remain survivors of the nations that come against Jerusalem, shall go up every year, to worship the King the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. These also shall hope in, through the hollow devotion of Jews, a thousand years old promise of the future kingdom, whose festival this is the beginning of.
There are reports that Christians kept the Fall Holy Days in the Middle Ages (LESSON 51 (1968) AMBASSADOR COLLEGE BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place …” Rev. 12:6) and other times (Liechty D. Sabbatarianism in the Sixteenth Century. Andrews University Press, Berrien Springs (MI), 1993).
Here is a more recent report from a Church of God related source in the 20th century:
We take for granted today, in the Church of God, the knowledge of the Millennium — the 1,000 years of God’s rule over the earth through His Son Jesus Christ. But there was a time when this great truth was not fully revealed.
Not one of the prophets of old defined the length of the Messiah’s rule over the nations, bringing them salvation. They knew there would be a coming spiritual harvest of human beings. They prophesied the gentiles would seek the Messiah. They knew the Feast of Tabernacles pictured that coming day. But all they could say was that it would be fulfilled “in that day.”
Jesus’ apostles asked Him in their day if the time had come for the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Kingdom would be restored to Israel. Every Jew knew the week ended with the seventh-day Sabbath. They knew the Feast of Tabernacles fell in the seventh month of the year on God’s calendar. Moses and Peter were both inspired to compare a day to a thousand years with God (Ps. 90:4 and II Pet. 3:8). But it was not until Christ revealed to John the book of Revelation that the picture became clear (Rev. 20:4,6). The Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month pictures a millennial Sabbath (1,000 years) of rest from sin, following 6,000 years under the government of Satan.
This final revelation of the rule of Christ in the seventh 1,000 years of human experience came to the Church of God because it is a commandment-keeping Church and observes the Holy Days of God and His Christ! (Hoeh H. The Feast of Tabernacles – Its MEANING for New Testament Christians. Good News, August 1980)
In the 21st century, notice something from the official Statement of Beliefs of the Continuing Church of God:
The Feast of Tabernacles, which shows a time of abundance, helps picture the millennial reign (Revelation 20:4-5) of Jesus Christ and His saints on the earth (Zechariah 14; Matthew 9:37-38; 13:1-30; Luke 12:32; John 7:6-14; Acts 17:31; Revelation 5:10, 12:9). This future paradise, following the near total destruction that humanity will have brought upon itself through its activities and the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord (Matthew 24:21-31), will help show humanity the advantages of God’s way of life. Every seven years, the law is to be read during this festival (Deuteronomy 31:10-13).
The Feast of Tabernacles should be kept by all Christians today.
Keeping the Feast of Tabernacles
Jesus Himself attended the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:10-26) and the Last Great Day (John 7:36-37).
So how do people keep it in the 21st century?
Normally, attendees at the Feast go to church services for two hours most days (longer in parts of Africa), and sometimes have two services on one or more of the Holy Days (first day of the Feast, the Sabbath, and the Last Great Day). Sermons often focus on the Kingdom of God, the law of God, and the Millennial reign of Christ, though pretty much any topic of Christian interest can be covered.
The Church normally has some type of family day activity for one day, often also a dance or social event at least one evening, and sometimes organizes group activities.
The time not at services or church activities is essentially ‘free time.’ People tend to go to restaurants, go sight-seeing, view the creation, meditate, participate in local activities, fellowship with others and/or otherwise attempt to enjoy being away from most of the cares of their normal lives.
Those who can will travel (Deuteronomy 14:23-26) go to a Feast site.
Those who cannot travel to a site may wish to consider the possibility to not sleep in their houses during the time of the Feast. If they are physically and financially able, they may wish to try to sleep in some type of temporary dwelling like a hotel, motel, camper, or a tent (including perhaps one in one’s own home). In ancient Israel, those who did not travel (as well as native Israelites that did) made ‘booths’ of branches on top of their roofs (Leviticus 23:40) and slept in them for the seven days of the Feast (Leviticus 23:42), and some slept for the entire eight days (though the Bible only mentions seven days).
Staying in ‘temporary dwellings,’ of whatever sort, helps convey that this age is temporal and a new millennial age is coming.
The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles is kept like a Sabbath, as it is also a day of rest and a holy convocation as is the eighth day, also known as the Last Great Day (John 7:37). Christians should pray and attend services and/or watch messages on each of the eight days. An offering is normally also taken up on the first and eighth day (cf. Deuteronomy 16:16). But the other days are NOT kept like the Sabbath, meaning that one can engage in regular physical work on those days (unless one of those days is the weekly Sabbath, whereas it would be observed similar to other Sabbaths).
Starting with Jesus and continuing through the Apostle Paul and the more faithful throughout history, Christians kept the Feast of Tabernacles.
In 2015, it begins sunset on September 27th and runs until sunset October 5th.
Should you keep the Feast of Tabernacles? Or at least try to?