Unlike the first two of the Fall Feasts, Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is a harvest celebration. But it gets its name from the biblical command to dwell in a booth or tabernacle (Hebrew sukkah) for the seven day length of the Feast, in remembrance of the temporary dwellings during the exodus from Egypt. It is also one of three times a year the children of Israel were called to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was right at Sukkot that King Solomon dedicated the first Holy Temple
Furthermore, immediately after the Temple dedication and celebration of Sukkot, God spoke to Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14 promising to “heal their land,” if the nation of Israel would seek Him and turn from their wicked ways. The Lord was actually responding to the powerful prayer of the king during the dedication ceremony.
Over the following centuries, the Jewish religion added a couple of dramatic rituals in observance of the Feast. One of them was the Temple illumination. Likely associated with the literal anniversary of the Temple dedication, huge bonfires blazed every night lighting up the limestone walls. Since the Temple stood on a hill, it could be seen for miles.
The day after the week long illumination of the Holy Temple, Yeshua made an astounding proclamation which challenged the ritual. As recorded in John 8:12, He said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
We believe He was telling the people to stop looking to the Temple for holiness, because He was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Ezekiel 37:27, “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Take note that the Ark of the Covenant was not present in the second Temple of that day. Additionally, Jesus knew the destruction of the Temple would occur within the next few decades, announcing it in Matthew 24:2.
The other significant Sukkot ritual was the water pouring, or water libation, ceremony. With only two rainy seasons, Israel was dependent on the former rain of the fall, which would come shortly after Sukkot, to fill its cisterns and ensure the successful planting of new crops. Thus the ceremony was an expression of anticipation, thanking God for the rain.
Extra biblical writings describe the ceremony as one of intense joy. It included a massive parade from the Holy Temple to the pool of Siloam and back during which there was dancing, singing, musical instruments and even acrobatics. Since this Feast was one of three pilgrimages, the other two occurring in the spring, there were many more people in Jerusalem than usual.
A priest led the procession carrying a special vessel which was used to scoop up water from the pool, then, upon returning to the Temple, poured out into a bowl with holes in the bottom so the water would flow onto the altar. As with the Temple illumination, the libation ceremony was commemorated every day of the Feast.
John 7:37 starts, “On the last day, that great day of the feast.” That could have been the seventh day of Sukkot, or possibly the next day since in Leviticus 23:36 God called for an extra day of observance. Either way, it was after the completion of the water pouring.
The verse continues, “Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” Again, this was an astounding statement, and He spoke it with authority, crying out. That means He passionately raised His voice. His message was poignant: stop looking to the sky for rain when your problem is not dry parched earth, but dry parched hearts.
In verse 38 He qualified the requirement saying, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” First and foremost, faith in Messiah Yeshua. That in turn allows us to be vessels of spiritual living water, as explained in verse 39, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit.”
Now it was almost exactly to the day about 1,000 years earlier, after the dedication of the Holy Temple, the Lord promised King Solomon, as cited above, to “Heal the land.” Jesus’ pronouncement explained how that would happen - give it rivers of living water. But this healing is not for the physical earth, but the spirit of man.
Revival by the Holy Spirit flowing forth from believers in Yeshua like rivers of living water . . . wow! This is God’s desire. And He used the Feast of Sukkot to make the point.
Solomon’s Temple, the First Temple, was long gone by the time Yeshua came to the earth. It had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia in 586 B.C. However, it played a crucial role in our Messiah’s ministry, connecting two of the most powerful Scriptures from the Tanakh and the New Covenant.
God used one of His appointed Feasts, Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, as the setting for this important revelation which Jesus would provide. It was a pilgrimage feast, one of three times a year the Lord required the men of Israel to return to Jerusalem to worship Him.
To be sure, while we often refer to the Feasts as Jewish, the Book of Leviticus relates in 23:2 that God specifies they are His: “The Feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My Feasts.” Even so, these instructions were given to the children of Israel.
King David originally wanted to build the Temple, but the Lord said no. The King explained God’s alternate plan in 1 Chronicles 22:7-9, “And David said to Solomon: ‘My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house to the name of the Lord my God; but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight . . .’”’
Then in verse 10, God ordained Solomon to oversee the construction of the Temple. That construction took seven years, and was completed in the eighth month on the Hebrew calendar. That’s verified in 1Kings 6:38, “. . . in the month of Bul (Cheshvan), which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.”
Take note, the building of the Temple was completed in the eighth month, but it wasn’t dedicated until 11 months later, in the seventh month of Tishri on the Hebrew calendar. That put the major festivities of the Temple dedication right smack in the middle of the Fall Feasts. Indeed, the Temple dedication was a really big deal. Remember, Israel, despite its spiritual problems, was the only nation which followed the Most High God. Although it had a king, he was subject to following the Lord.
At the ceremonies, Solomon made it clear God was his King. In 2 Chronicles 6, he humbled himself before the throng of Israelites who were in attendance by kneeling down on a raised platform and spreading his hands out toward Heaven as he prayed. Summarizing and oversimplifying his powerful prayer (we know it was powerful because when he finished, fire came down from Heaven, and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple), the King basically asked God if He would forgive the sins of Israel if the people repented, turning back to Him.
God’s answer to that prayer came at the end of the 14 days of celebration, in one of the most famous Scriptures from the Tanakh. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, the Lord told Solomon, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
That promise was prefaced in the preceding verses by the Lord’s referencing some of the issues the King addressed. In other words, the promise to conditionally “heal the land” was clearly in direct response to Solomon’s great prayer. As previously mentioned, God directed the timing of all this for His purposes. The details of the interaction of the Feast of Sukkot and the Temple inauguration are included in the continuing verses of 2 Chronicles 7:8-10.
“At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt. And on the eighth day they held a sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents.”
By identifying an eight day observance ending on the 23rd day of the seventh month, we know it had to be Sukkot. And since Sukkot is a pilgrimage Feast, that explains why there were so many Jewish people in attendance from one end of Israel to the other (Hamath to the Brook).
While we know it was in the eleventh year of King Solomon’s reign, there is no certainty, and indeed significant disagreement, about the actual year in which the First Temple became a part of Jewish worship. However it seems likely it was somewhere in the decades preceding 950 B.C.
Therefore, it was awfully close to 1000 years later, almost to the exact day of the year on the Hebrew calendar, the events described in John Chapter 7 took place. Verse 2 sets the time frame, explaining, “Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.” Then verse 37 narrows it to the day, “On the last day, that great day of the feast . . .” Depending on interpretation, that day is either the 22nd or 23rd day of the Hebrew calendar seventh month.
There are only two rainy seasons in Israel, one of which is due right after Sukkot. In ancient days, the rain was critical to re-supply drinking water, and plant new crops. So there was a ceremony involving water pouring at the Holy Temple during each day of the feast to thank God for the rain.
John 7:37 continues, “Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” He was saying, stop looking to the sky for rain, I have what you really need. The problem is not a dry parched earth, but dry parched hearts. He embellished His urgent plea in verses 38-39, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit.”
Matching the timing of Yeshua’s passionate invitation (He cried out) to the promise of God to Solomon, we can see the plan. To heal the land, give it rivers of spiritual living water; water that is available to those who believe Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.