This is our fifth day in Chapter 23 and we'll be concluding this section today by looking at the final festival mentioned in our chapter: the Festival of Tabernacles.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord's Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present food offerings to the Lord, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord. It is the closing special assembly; do no work.'" (Leviticus 23:33-36) This holiday begins with a sabbath-like day and ends with a sabbath-like day.
"(These are the Lord's appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the Lord---the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord's Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the Lord.)" (Leviticus 23:37-38) The people can't bring a "two for one" offering during these festivals. They can't let their regular burnt offerings or freewill offerings count as the offerings they are to bring during a festival. During a festival they are to bring more to the Lord than they bring at the regular times.
We could think of it like this: we should be giving thanks to the Lord every day, but there are times when we focus our gratitude upon Him even more than normal. An example of this would be Easter. There tends to be more gratitude than normal in our praise on Easter Sunday than during our regular weekly Sunday services because we are deeply focused on the great work Christ did for us on the cross. Christmas is another example of a high holy day for Christians, a time when we think even more intently about the great gift of God's only Son coming into the world. Just as we tend to offer more praise on these particular days, the Israelites are to bring more offerings to the Lord during the appointed festivals.
"So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day is also a day of sabbath rest." (Leviticus 23:39) By instituting mandatory holidays from work the Lord is helping the people to build a stronger relationship with Him and with each other. They come together in sacred assemblies on those days to honor the Lord and, in doing so, their bond with each other is strengthened. A sense of community and of having a common goal and of participating in a common practice helps to unify them as a people.
The following is another way the people come together as a community. They are all to live in temporary shelters during the week of the Festival of Tabernacles. "On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees---from palms, willows and other leafy trees---and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed festivals of the Lord." (Leviticus 23:40-44)
These temporary shelters (tabernacles) commemorate the years the Israelites lived in tents as they traveled in the wilderness. In those days the Lord's house also was a movable tent known as the tabernacle. But He was leading them to a permanent land where they could build homes and eventually build a temple at which to worship. Long after they took possession of the promised land, they were to keep observing the Festival of Tabernacles to remind themselves of how God took care of them in the wilderness and to remind themselves that an even more permanent home awaited them in the promised land and how an eternal home awaits them after this life on earth is over.
We must remember that our sojourn on this earth is temporary. We are living in "earthly tabernacles" as the Apostle Paul put it when speaking of our mortal human bodies. (See 2 Corinthians 5:1-10.) Someday we will enter the promised land---our permanent home with the Lord---and we will be given immortal bodies like Christ's. This world is not our home and we must live with eternity in mind. While we dwell in these temporary tabernacles we are to serve our Lord and share His gospel in every way we can: by word and deed and attitude. We are going someplace---someplace so wonderful that no human mind can begin to fathom it (Isaiah 64:4, 1 Corinthians 2:9)---and we want as many people as possible to go there with us. So let's make the most of our time while we dwell in these tabernacles on earth.
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