Feasting with Our Lord: The Feast of Booths

(Leviticus 23:34–43 ESV)

By Rev.Thomas Messer

Last time, we took a look at the Feast of Passover and saw how that feast finds its fulfillment in Jesus and the ongoing Feast of His Holy Supper.We now fast forward to the last of the feasts on the liturgical calendar appointed by God for the Israelites to observe annually: the Feast of Booths.

The Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles as seen in Leviticus 23:34–43) was a seven-day feast. Israelites went on pilgrimage to gather around the sanctuary of the Lord (first the tabernacle, later the temple).They made temporary shelters in which they would dwell for the seven days.These shelters (called booths or tabernacles) were meant to bring to their remembrance the time of the Exodus from Egypt when the Israelites dwelt in tents and makeshift shelters for forty years until God finally brought them into the Promised Land and established them there.

The Feast of Booths was perhaps the most joyous of all the Old Testament feasts. Each day, the pilgrims celebrated God’s enduring presence and His gracious activities toward them.They processed with bouquets of tree branches around the sanctuary and rejoiced over the salvation God promised and delivered.They brought offerings to the Lord, and sacrifices were made daily to atone for their sins (Numbers 29:12–40).This was also the time of the year when the Israelites gathered the first produce of the land and were thankful for the Lord’s gracious provision.

A holy convocation (i.e., Divine Service) was held on the first and eighth days of the feast. Additionally on the eighth day, the time of processions and booths was over.This was the day on which they held the closing ceremony of the feast and returned to their homes, which was not without special significance.

The Feast of Booths finds its fulfillment in Jesus, the Eternal Word of the Father who became Flesh and dwelt (i.e., tabernacled) among us (John 1:14).The Son of God left His place of glory in heaven to go on a pilgrimage to the wilderness of this sinful world. During that pilgrimage, He dwelt in the booth of our human flesh in order to fulfill the Law by living a sinless life in our place and to offer Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God on the cross to atone for all of our sins. He rose from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven in the permanent residence of His resurrected and glorified body to open the way to everlasting life in His Kingdom to all who believe in Him.

During His earthly pilgrimage, Jesus made it vividly clear that He was God in the Flesh, the very God who had delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and dwelt among them in the tabernacle and temple.Where Jesus is, there is the sanctuary for there is God dwelling in the midst of His people to save them.Thus, the Feast of Booths finds its fulfillment in Jesus. Indeed, as recorded in the Gospel according to St. John (John 7:1–52; 8:12–59), Jesus appears in the temple in the midst of the Feast of Booths and begins teaching the people that He is the Christ. On the eighth day of the feast, the “great day,” the Pharisees confront and challenge Jesus, which leads to a lengthy discourse in which we hear Jesus tell us that He is the source of “living water,” the “light of the world,” and the great “I Am.” Ultimately, what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees is that the old covenant is now giving way to the new covenant which He has come to usher in the Feast of Booths and all other Old Testament Feasts are reinterpreted by the One to whom they all pointed forward and in whom they all find their fulfillment: the One who ushers in the eighth day of the new creation, the eternal day that has no end!

Do we Christians still observe the Feast of Booths today? Yes, we do, but not in the Old Testament way of observance, since that way has been rendered obsolete by Christ. Our New Testament observance involves our gathering around the sanctuary for Divine Service where our Lord tabernacles among us in His Word and Sacraments, through which we receive forgiveness, life, and salvation. Each time we do so, the Word of God and the holy liturgy bring to our remembrance, and deliver unto us, the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. Like the Israelites of old, we, too, were held in bondage to Egypt (Hell) and Egypt’s pharaoh (Satan) because of our sins. But we have been delivered from that bondage and brought into the Lord’s kingdom through the Red Sea of the baptismal font, and we make our journey through the wilderness of this sinful world, feasting with our Lord where He promises to be present among us, on our way to the Promised Land of His eternal kingdom. As we make this journey, we dwell in the temporary shelters of the corruptible bodies we now inhabit, looking forward to our Lord’s glorious return on the Last Day.Then, these bodies shall be raised incorruptible and glorified to be our permanent residences in which we shall dwell eternally with our Lord in His kingdom, which has no end, the eighth day of the new creation in which we already live spiritually by faith but long to experience bodily by sight (2 Corinthians 5:1–5; 2 Peter 1:13–14).Thus, we Christians continue to pray,“Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.” Next time: the Day of Atonement.

Rev. Thomas C. Messer serves as pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Alma, Michigan, and can be reached at pastormesser@gmail.com.

Schocken Bible. Bible with masorah magna and parva. Southern Germany, c. 1300. Jerusalem Schocken Library,