The Feast of Tabernacles #1
How it was observed in Jesus' day
Part One
From the book "The Temple"
by
Albert Edersheim D.D. Ph.D.
CHAPTER 14 THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
'In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and
drink.' John 7:37.
THE most joyous of all festive seasons in Israel was that of the
'Feast of Tabernacles.' It fell on a time of year when the hearts
of the people would naturally be full of thankfulness, gladness,
and expectancy. All the crops had been long stored; and now all
fruits were also gathered, the vintage past, and the land only
awaited the softening and refreshment of the 'latter rain,' to
prepare it for a new crop. It was appropriate that, when the
commencement of the harvest had been consecrated by offering the
first ripe sheaf of barley, and the full ingathering of the corn
by the two wave-loaves, there should now be a harvest feast of
thankfulness and of gladness unto the Lord. But that was not all.
As they looked around on the goodly land, the fruits of which had
just enriched them, they must have remembered that by miraculous
interposition the Lord their God had brought them to this land
and given it them, and that He ever claimed it as peculiarly His
own. For the land was strictly connected with the history of the
people; and both the land and the history were linked with the
mission of Israel. If the beginning of the harvest had pointed
back to the birth of Israel in their Exodus from Egypt, and
forward to the true Passover-sacrifice in the future; if the
corn-harvest was connected with the giving of the law on Mount
Sinai in the past, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the
Day of Pentecost; the harvest-thanksgiving of the Feast of
Tabernacles reminded Israel, on the one hand, of their dwelling
in booths in the wilderness, while, on the other hand, it pointed
to the final harvest when Israel's mission should be completed,
and all nations gathered unto the Lord. Thus the first of the
three great annual feasts spoke, in the presentation of the first
sheaf, of the founding of the Church; the second of its
harvesting, when the Church in its present state should be
presented as two leavened wave-loaves; while the third pointed
forward to the full harvest in the end, when in this mountain
shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat
things.... And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the
covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over
all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord
God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of
His people (Israel) shall He take away from all the earth (Isa.
25:6-8; comp. Rev.21:4, etc.).
That these are not ideal comparisons, but the very design of the
Feast of Tabernacles, appears not only from the language of the
prophets and the peculiar services of the feast, but also from
its position in the Calendar, and even from the names by which it
is designated in Scripture. Thus in its reference to the harvest
it is called 'the feast of ingathering (Ex.23:16; 34:22), in that
to the history of Israel in the past, 'the Feast of Tabernacles;'
(Lev.23:34; and especially ver.43; Deut.16:13,16; 31:10;; 2
chron.8:13; Ezra 3:4), while its symbolical bearing on the future
is brought out in its designation as emphatically the 'feast;' (1
Kings 8:2; 2 Chron.5:3; 7:8,9) and 'the Feast of Jehovah.' (So
literally, in Lev.23:39). In this sense also Josephus, Philo, and
the Rabbis (in many passages of the Mishnah) single it out from
all the other feasts. And quite decisive on the point in the
description of the 'latter-day' glory at the close of the
prophecies of Zechariah, where the conversion of all nations is
distinctly connected with the 'Feast of Tabernacles.'
(Zech.14:16-21). That this reference is by no means isolated will
appear in the sequel.
The Feast of Tabernacles was the third of the great annual
festivals, at which every male in Israel was to appear before the
Lord in the place which He should choose. It fell on the 15th of
the seventh month, or Tishri, (corresponding to September or the
beginning of October), as the Passover had fallen on the 15th of
the first month. The significance of these numbers in themselves
and relatively will not escape attention, the more so that this
feast closed the original festive calendar; for Purim and 'the
feast of the dedication of the Temple,' which both occurred later
in the season, were of post-Mosaic origin. The Feast of
Tabernacles, or, rather (as it should be called), of 'booths,'
lasted for seven days -- from the 15th to the 21st Tishri - and
was followed by an Octave on the 22nd Tishri. But this EIGHTH
day, though closely connected with the Feast of Tabernacles,
formed NO PART of that feast, as clearly shown by the difference
in the sacrifices and the ritual, and by the circumstance that
the people no longer lived in 'booths.' The FIRST day of the
feast, and also its OCTAVE, or Azereth (clausura, conclusio),
were to be days of 'holy convocation,' (Lev.23:35,36) and each 'a
Sabbath,' not in the sense of the weekly Sabbath, but of festive
rest in the Lord, when no servile work of any kind might be done.
There is yet another important point to be noticed. The 'Feast of
Tabernacles' followed closely on the Day of Atonement. Both took
place in the seventh month; the one on the 10th, the other on the
15th of Tishri. What the seventh day, or Sabbath, was in
reference to the Day of week, the seventh month seems to have
been in reference to the year. It closed not only the sacred
cycle, but also the agricultural or working year. It also marked
the change of seasons, the approach of rain and of the winter
equinox, and determined alike the commencement and the close of a
sabbatical year. Coming on the 15th of this seventh month - that
is, at full moon, when the, 'sacred' month had, so to speak,
attained its full strength - the Feast of Tabernacles -
appropriately followed five days after the Day of Atonement, in
which the sin of Israel had been removed; and its covenant
relation to God restored. Thus a sanctified nation could keep a
holy,feast of harvest joy unto the Lord, just as in the truest
sense it will be 'in that day' when the meaning of the Feast of
Tabernacles shall be really fulfilled.
(Between the 10th and 15th day of this 7th month is 5 days. The
number 5 in God's usage in the Bible stands for GRACE -
FORGIVENESS. Truly when the world is at one with God and Satan
chained and sent into the wilderness, represented by the feast of
Atonement, the world can fine GRACE with God and enter its 1,000
year Sabbath like rest - Revelation 20 - Keith Hunt).
THREE things specially marked the Feast of Tabernacles: its
joyous festivities, the dwelling in 'booths,' and the peculiar
sacrifices and rites of the week.
The FIRST of these was simply characteristic of a 'feast of
ingathering:' 'Because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all
thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore
thou shalt surely rejoice - 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.'
(The ideal was for all, not JUST the males to rejoice before God
- yet it was not near possible, and was never ever done to its
full scale, hence we have the verse in the laws of Moses about
the "males" appearing before God on the three pilgrim festival
seasons. Even then it was not always possible to have that
happen, for a number of reasons, which the reader can meditate on
in the light of Israel being an agricultural nation in the main,
and for other "family" reasons, or "health" reasons that would
prohibit some males from making their way to THE place where God
had placed His name, and that place was ever ONLY ONE city -
first Shilo and then later Jerusalem, which for some would be a
considerable distance to travel, on foot or by donkey and cart -
Keith Hunt).
Nor were any in Israel to appear before the Lord 'empty:' 'every
man shall give as he is able, according to the bless; of the Lord
thy God which He hath given thee.' Votive, freewill, and peace
offerings would mark their gratitude to God, and at the meal
which ensued the poor, the stranger, the Levite, and the homeless
would be welcome guests, for the Lord's sake. Moreover, when the
people saw the treasury chests opened and emptied at this feast
for the last time in the year, they would remember their brethren
at a distance, (Yes, some would be at a distance and would not
make it to the place where God's name was - Keith Hunt) in whose
name, as well as their own, the daily and festive sacrifices were
offered. Thus their liberality would not only be stimulated, but
all Israel, however widely dispersed, would feel itself anew one
before the Lord their God and in the courts of His House.
There was, besides, something about this feast which would
peculiarly remind them, if not of their dispersion yet of their
being 'strangers and pilgrims in the earth.' For its SECOND
characteristic was, that during the seven days of its continuance
'all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths; that your
generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell
in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt'
(Lev.2342,43).
As usual, we are met at the outset by a controversy between the
Pharisees and the Sadducees. The law had it: (so correctly in the
margin) 'Ye shall take you on the first day the fruit (Lev.23:40)
of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick
trees, and willows of the brook,' which the Sadducees understood
(as do the modern Karaite Jews) to refer to the materials whence
the booths were to be constructed, while the Pharisees applied it
to what the worshippers were to carry in their hands. The latter
interpretation is, in all likelihood, the correct one; it seems
borne out by the account of the festival at the time of Nehemiah,
when the booths were constructed of branches of other trees than
those mentioned in Leviticus 23; and it was universally adopted
in practice at the time of Christ. The Mishnah gives most minute
details as to the height and construction of these 'booths,' the
main object being to prevent any invasion of the law. Thus it
must be a real booth, and constructed of boughs of living trees,
and solely for the purposes of this festival. Hence it must be
high enough, yet not too high - at least ten handbreadths, but
not more than thirty feet; three of its walls must be of boughs;
it must be fairly covered with boughs, yet not so shaded as not
to admit sunshine, nor yet so open as to have not sufficient
shade, the object in each case being neither sunshine nor shade,
but that it should be a real booth of boughs of trees. It is
needless to enter into further details, except to say that these
booths, and not their houses, were to be the regular dwelling of
all in Israel during the week, and that, except in very heavy
rain, they were to eat, sleep, pray, study - in short, entirely
to live in them. The only exceptions were in favour of those
absent on some pious duty, the sick, and their attendants, women,
slaves, and infants who were still depending on their mothers.
Finally, the rule was that, 'whatever might contract Levitical
defilement (such as boards, cloth, etc.), or whatever did not
grow out of the earth, might not be used' in constructing the
'booths.' (Succ.1.4).
It has already been noticed that, according to the view
universally prevalent at the time of Christ, the direction on the
first day of the feast to 'take the fruit of goodly trees,
branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and
willows of the brook,' was applied to what the worshippers were
to carry in their hands. The Rabbis ruled, that the 'fruit of the
goodly trees' meant the AETHROG, or citron, and 'the boughs of
thick trees' the myrtle, provided it had 'not more berries than
leaves.' The aethrogs must be without blemish or deficiency of
any kind; the palm branches at least three handbreadths high, and
fit to be shaken; each branch fresh, entire, unpolluted, and not
taken from any idolatrous grove. Every worshipper carried the
aethrog in his left hand, and in his right the LULAV, or palm,
with myrtle and willow branch on either side of it tied together
on the outside with its own kind, though in the inside it might
be fastened even with gold thread. There can be no doubt that the
lulav was intended to remind Israel of the different stages of
their wilderness journey, as represented by the different
vegetation - the palm branches recalling the valleys and plains,
the 'boughs of thick trees,' the bushes on the mountain heights,
and the willows those brooks from which God had given His people
drink; while the AETHROG was to remind them of the fruits of the
good land which the Lord had given them. The lulav was used in
the Temple on each of the seven festive days, even children, if
they were able to shake it, being bound to carry one. If the
first day of the feast fell on a Sabbath, the people brought
their lulavs on the previous day into the synagogue on the Temple
Mount, and fetched them in the morning, so as not needlessly to
break the Sabbath rest.
The THIRD characteristic of the Feast of Tabernacles
was its offerings. These altogether peculiar. The sin-offering
for each of the seven days was 'one kid of the goats.' The
burnt-offerings consisted of bullocks, rams, and lambs,
with their appropriate meat - and drink-offerings. But, whereas
the number of the rams and lambs remained the same on each day of
the festival, that of the bullocks decreased every day by one -
from thirteen on the first to seven bullocks on the last day,
'that great day of the feast.' As no special injunctions are
given about the drink-offering, we infer that it was, as usually,
1/4 of a hin of wine for each lamb, 1/3 for each ram, and 1/2 for
each bullock (the hin = 1 gallon 2 pints). The 'meat-offering' is
expressly fixed at 1/10 of an ephah of flour, mixed with 1/4 of a
hin of oil, for each lamb; 2/10 of an ephah, with 1/3 hin of oil,
for each ram; and 3/10 of an ephah, with 1/2 hin of oil, for each
bullock.
THREE things are remarkable about these burnt-offerings. FIRST,
they are evidently the characteristic sacrifice of the Feast of
Tabernacles as compared with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the
number of the rams and lambs is double, while that of the
bullocks is fivefold (14 during the Passover week, 5 x 14 during
that of Tabernacles). SECONDLY, number of the burnt sacrifices,
whether taking each kind by itself or all of them together, is
always divisible by the sacred number SEVEN. We have for the week
70 bullocks, 14 rams, and 98 lambs, or altogether 182 sacrifices
(26 x 7), to which must be added 336 (48 x 7) tenths of ephahs of
flour for the meat-offering.
We will not pursue the tempting subject of this symbolism of
numbers further than to point out that, whereas the sacred number
7 appeared at the Feast of Unleavened Bread only in the number of
its days, and at Pentecost in the period of its observance (7 x 7
days after Passover), the Feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days,
took place when the seventh month was at its full height, and had
the number 7 impressed on its characteristic sacrifices. It is
not so easy to account for the THIRD Peculiarity of these
sacrifices - that of the daily diminution in the number of
bullocks offered. The common explanation, that it was intended to
indicate the decreasing sanctity of each successive day of the
feast, while the sacred number 7 was still to be reserved for the
last day, is not more satisfactory than the view propounded in
the Talmud, that these sacrifices were offered, not for Israel,
but for the nations of the world: 'There were seventy bullocks,
to correspond to the number of the seventy nations in the world.'
But did the Rabbis understand the prophetic character of this
feast? An attentive consideration of its peculiar ceremonial will
convince that it must have been exceedingly difficult to ignore
it entirely.
............
TO BE CONTINUED
The Feast of Tabernacles #2
Last Day and the Last Great Feast
From the book "The Temple"
by
Alfred Edersheim PhD
FEAST OF TABERNACLES CONTINUED:
On the day before the Feast of Tabernacles - the 14th Tishri -
the festive pilgrims had all arrived in Jerusalem. The 'booths'
on the roofs, in the courtyards, in streets and squares, as well
as roads and gardens, within a Sabbath day's journey, must have
given the city and neighbourhood an unusually picturesque
appearance. The preparation of all that was needed for the
festival - purification, the care of the offerings that each
would bring, and friendly communications between those who were
to be invited to the sacrificial meal - no doubt sufficiently
occupied their time. When the early autumn evening set in, the
blasts of the priests' trumpets on the Temple Mount announced to
Israel the advent of the feast.
As at the Passover and at Pentecost, the altar of burnt-offering
was cleansed during the first night-watch, and the gates of the
Temple were thrown open immediately after midnight. The time till
the beginning of the ordinary morning sacrifice was occupied in
examining the various sacrifices and offerings that were to be
brought during the day. While the morning sacrifice was being
prepared, a priest, accompanied by a joyous procession with
music, went down to the Pool of Siloam, whence he drew water into
a golden pitcher, capable of holding three log (rather more than
two pints). But on the Sabbaths they fetched the water from a
golden vessel in the Temple itself, into which it had been
carried from Siloam on the preceding day. At the same time that
the procession started for Siloam, another went to a place in the
Kedron valley, close by, called Motza, whence they brought willow
branches, which, amidst the blasts of the priests' trumpets, they
stuck on either side of the altar of burnt-offering, bending them
over towards it, so as to form a kind of leafy canopy. Then the
ordinary sacrifice proceeded, the priest who had gone to Siloam
so timing it, that he returned just as his brethren carried up
the pieces of the sacrifice to lay them on the altar. As he
entered by the 'Watergate,' which obtained its name from this
ceremony, he was received by a threefold blast from the priests'
trumpets. The priest then went up the rise of the altar and
turned to the left, where there were two silver basins with
narrow holes - the eastern a little wider for the wine, and the
western somewhat narrower for the water. Into these the wine of
the drink-offering was poured, and at the same time the water
from Siloam, the people shouting to the priest, 'Raise thy hand,'
to show that he really poured the water into the basin which led
to the base of the altar. For, sharing the objections of the
Sadducees, Alexander Jannaeus, the Maccabean king-priest (about
95 B.C.), had shown his contempt for the Pharisees by pouring the
water at this feast upon the ground, on which the people pelted
him with their aethrogs, and would have murdered him, if his
foreign body-guard had not interfered, on which occasion no less
than six thousand Jews were killed in the Temple.
As soon as the wine and the water were being poured out, the
Temple music began, and the 'Hallel' was sung in the manner
previously prescribed, and to the accompaniment of flutes, except
on the Sabbath and on the first day of the feast, when flute
playing was not allowed, on account of the sanctity of the days.
When the choir came to these words, 'O give thanks to the Lord,'
and again when they sang, 'O work then now salvation, Jehovah;'
and once more at the close, 'O give thanks unto the Lord,' all
the worshippers shook their lulavs towards the altar. When,
therefore, the multitudes from Jerusalem, on meeting Jesus, 'cut
down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way, and
... cried, saying, O then, work now salvation to the Son of
David,' they applied, in reference to Christ, what was regarded
as one of the chief ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles,
praying that God would now from 'the highest' heavens manifest
and send that salvation in connection with the Son of David,
which was symbolised by the pouring out of water. For though that
ceremony was considered by the Rabbis as bearing a subordinate
reference to the dispensation of the rain, the annual fall of
which they imagined was determined by God at that feast, its main
and real application was to the future outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, as predicted - probably in allusion to this very rite -
by Isaiah the prophet (Isa.12:3). Thus the Talmud says
distinctly: 'Why is the name of it called, The drawing out of
water? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according
to what is said: "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells
of salvation."' Hence, also, the feast and the peculiar
joyousness of it are alike designated as those of 'the drawing
out of water;' for, according to the same Rabbinical authorities,
the Holy Spirit dwells in man only through joy.
A similar symbolism was expressed by another ceremony which took
place at the CLOSE, not of the daily, but of the festive
sacrifices.
On every one of the seven days the priests formed procession, and
made the circuit of the Altar, singing: 'O then, now work
salvation, Jehovah! O Jehovah, give prosperity.' But on the
SEVENTH, 'that great day of the feast,' they made the circuit of
the altar seven times, remembering how the walls of Jericho had
fallen in similar circumstances, and anticipating how, by the
direct interposition of God, the walls of heathenism would fall
before Jehovah, and the land lie open for His people to go in and
possess it.
We can now in some measure realize the event recorded in John
7:37.
NOTE THIS CAREFULLY - Keith Hunt
The festivities of the Week of Tabernacles were drawing to a
close. 'It was the last day, that great day of the feast.'It
obtained this name, although it was not one of 'holy
convocation,' partly because it closed the feast, and partly from
the circumstances which procured it in Rabbinical writings the
designations of ' Day of the Great Hosannah,' on account of the
sevenfold circuit of the altar with 'Hosannah;' and 'Day of
Willows,' and 'Day of Beating the Branches,' because all the
leaves were shaken off the willow boughs, and the palm branches
beaten in pieces by the side of the altar. It was on that day,
after the priest had returned from Siloam with his golden
pitcher, and for the last time poured its contents to the base of
the altar; after the 'Hallel' had been sung to the sound of the
flute, the people responding and worshipping as the priests three
times drew the threefold blasts from their silver trumpets - just
when the interest of the people had been raised to its highest
pitch, that, from amidst the mass of worshippers, who were waving
towards the altar quite a forest of leafy branches as the last
words of Psa.118 were chanted - a voice was raised which
resounded through the Temple, startled the multitude, and carried
fear and hatred to the hearts of their leaders. It was Jesus, who
stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto
Me, and drink.' Then by faith in Him should each one truly become
like the Pool of Siloam, and from his inmost being 'rivers of
living waters flow' (John 7:38). 'This spake He of the Spirit,
which they that believe on Him should receive.' Thus the
significance of the rite, in which they had just taken part, was
not only fully explained, but the mode of its fulfilment pointed
out. The effect was instantaneous. It could not but be, that in
that vast assembly, so suddenly roused by being brought face to
face with Him in whom every type and prophecy is fulfilled, there
would be many who, 'when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth
this is the Prophet.' Others said, 'This is the Christ' Even the
Temple-guard, whose duty it would have been in such circumstances
to arrest one who had so interrupted the services of the day, and
presented himself to the people in such a light, owned the spell
of His words, and dared not to lay hands on Him. 'Never man spake
like this man,' was the only account they could give of their
unusual weakness, in answer to the reproaches of the chief
priests and Pharisees.
The rebuke of the Jewish authorities, which followed, is too
characteristic to require comment. One only of their number had
been deeply moved by the scene just witnessed in the Temple.
Yet, timid as usually, Nicodemus only laid hold of this one
point, that the Pharisees had traced the popular confession of
Jesus to their ignorance of the law, to which he replied, in the
genuine Rabbinical manner of arguing, without meeting one's
opponent face to face 'Doth our law judge any man before it hear
him, and know what he doeth?'
But matters were not to end with the wrangling of priests and
Pharisees. The proof which Nicodemus had invited them to seek
from the teaching and the miracles of Christ was about to be
displayed both before the people and their rulers in the healing
of the blind man.....
Only the first of the seven days of this feast was 'a holy
convocation;' the other six were 'minor festivals.' On each day,
besides the ordinary morning and evening sacrifices, the festive
offerings prescribed in Numb.29:12-38 were brought. The Psalms
sung at the drink-offering after the festive sacrifices (or
Musaph, as they are called), were, for the first day of the
feast, Psa.cv.; for the second, Psa. xxix.; for the third, Psa.
1; from ver.16; for the fourth, Psa. xciv., from ver.16; for the
fifth, Psa. xciv., from ver.8; for the sixth, Psa. lxxxi., from
ver.6; for the last day of the feast, Psa. lxxxii., from ver.5.
As the people retired from the altar at the close of each day's
service, they exclaimed, 'How' beautiful art thou, O altar!' All
the four-and-twenty orders of the priesthood were engaged in the
festive offerings, which were apportioned among them according to
definite rules, which also fixed how the priestly dues were to be
divided among them.
Lastly, on every sabbatical year the Law was to be publicly read
on the first day of the feast (Deut.31:10-13. In later times only
certain portions were read, the law as a whole being sufficiently
known from the weekly prelections in the synagogue).
On the AFTERNOON of the SEVENTH day of the FEAST the people began
to REMOVE from the 'booths.' For at the OCTAVE, on the 22nd of
Tishri, they LIVED NO LONGER IN BOOTHS, nor did they use the
lulav. But it was observed as 'a holy convocation ;' and the
festive sacrifices prescribed in Numb.29:36-38 were offered,
although no more by all the twenty-four courses of priests, and
finally the 'Hallel' sung at the drink-offering.
It will have been observed that the two most important ceremonies
of the Feast of Tabernacles - the pouring out of water and the
illumination of the Temple - were of post-Mosaic origin. and
According to Jewish tradition, the pillar of cloud by day and of
fire by night had first appeared to Israel on the 15th of Tishri,
the first day of the feast. On that day also Moses was said to
have come down from the Mount, and announced to the people that
the Tabernacle of God was to be reared among them. We know that
the dedication of Solomon's Temple and the descent of the
Shechinah took place at this feast (1 Kings 8; 2 Chron.7). Nor
can we greatly err finding an allusion to it in this description
of heavenly things: 'After this I beheld, and, lo, a great
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and
before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their
hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God,
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb' (Rev.7:9,10)...
...........
End of quotes from Edersheim
What MOST MISS (including Edersheim) is John chapter 8 and verses
1 and 2. Jesus departed from the Temple, went to the mount of
Olives and EARLY IN THE MORNING HE CAME AGAIN INTO THE TEMPLE!!
Jesus came AGAIN back into the Temple the NEXT MORNING, which was
the EIGHTH day, or as Edersheim put it, the OCTAVE. This was a
DIFFERENT FEAST, and NOT part of the Feast of Tabernacles. The
BOOTHS were dismantled on the afternoon of the 7th day of the
feast of Tabernacles, the last "great day" of THAT feast, as
Edersheim has rightly explained from Jewish recorded history.
The NEXT day was ANOTHER Festival altogether. Edersheim in his
book "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah" gives Biblical and
Jewish proofs that this EIGHTH day or OCTAVE, was indeed ANOTHER
feast and NOT a part of the feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus made every effort to be there in the Temple to teach and
preach and do the works of God, the VERY NEXT DAY AFTER the feast
of Tabernacles. This shows, contrary to what some would have us
believe, He was observant in keeping the Festivals of the Lord.
From John 8:1 to through to John 10:21 was ALL on this OCTAVE
day, the day AFTER the seven day feast of Tabernacles. Notice
John 9:14. There is NO "the" in the Greek. It should read: "And
it was Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his
eyes."
Yes, it was Sabbath of the eighth or octave day, the day AFTER
the last or seventh day of the feast of Tabernacles. See Lev.23
and how that day was to be a Sabbath of rest.
The whole account of what took place and the words of Jesus on
this day is very significant. It is the wonderful truth that
Jesus will give LIGHT and people will SEE the words of the Bible,
the books will be opened, and those who were in spiritual
darkness, never having been granted an insight and calling to
salvation in their physical life time, will be raised from the
dead and will have the books of the Bible opened to them and the
book of Life also. It will be an age when the great white throne
judgment will be given to the vast majority of mankind, who never
were given spiritual sight before (Rev.20).
All of this is explained in detail under the study called "The
Great White Throne Judgment" - the Last Great Feast of the Lord.
Keith Hunt
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