Fall Celebrations

"Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your Feast--you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.." (Deuteronomy 16:13-15)

Fall is the completion of the farming cycle. During growing season, farmers had to tend their fields so they would produce. After the fall harvest and the first frost, the life of the farmer becomes less hectic. Farmers can finally take a rest and celebrate.

Fall is the time of harvest festivals. One example of these festivals is found in the County and State Fairs which are held around the state at this time of year. Farmers can show off their produce and hopefully take time to give thanks to the God who brings forth the produce.

Jewish people celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) in the fall. This holiday was a celebration of the fall harvest. During this time God’s people also remember their redemption from Egypt’s slavery and God’s protection for His people while traveling forty years in the desert. Instructions for the Feast of Tabernacles are found in Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:33-36; Deuteronomy 16:13-15.

Moses instructed the children of Israel to gather for a reading of the Law during Sukkot every seventh year (Deut. 31:10-11). King Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem on Sukkot (1 Kings 8; 2 Chron. 7). Sukkot was the first sacred occasion observed after the resumption of sacrifices in Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 3:2-4). Jesus and his family would have celebrated this festival in Jerusalem (John 7).

Temporary dwellings are constructed as a reminder of the sojourn in the wilderness. These booths are built so you can see the stars through the roof (a reminder of God’s creation). Fruit is hung from the ceiling as a reminder to give thanks for the good things that God gives. These dwellings are temporary, as a reminder that as the sojourn in the wilderness was temporary, so is our sojourn on this earth. We must give thanks to our Maker.