Beth Yeshua Messianic Congregation Boston

Pasach (Passover) 2024
2024-04-22 - 2024-04-30 | BYMC Boston, #187 Church St, Newton, MA, 02458, United States
The-Moedim-Passover-Unleavened-Bread-Transcript
The following is a direct script of teaching that is intended to be presented via video, incorporating relevant text, slides, media, and graphics to assist in illustration, thus facilitating the presentation of the material. In some places, this may cause the written material to not flow or sound rather awkward. In addition, there may be grammatical errors that are often not acceptable in literary work. We encourage the viewing of the video teachings to complement the written teaching you see below.”
The Mo’edim: Passover & Unleavened Bread
In the Bible, God gave his people special days to remember and celebrate every year. In Hebrew, these holy days, or holidays, are called mo’edim, which means “appointed times.” The purpose of these days is to remember what God has done in the past and anticipate the fulfillment of his promises for the future. These holidays are described in numerous places in the Bible, but there is one chapter that conveniently lists all of them: Leviticus chapter 23. In that chapter, God makes it clear where these days come from:
Leviticus 23:1-2 (NASB)
The LORD [YHWH] spoke again to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’s [YHWH’s] appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:
God calls these holidays “my appointed times.” Many people call these days “Jewish holidays,” which is understandable since Jews are, by and large, the only people who keep them now. However, this passage makes it clear that these days are not just “the Jews’ appointed times,” but they are God’s appointed times, God’s mo’edim. These appointed times are valuable for everyone who believes in God, Jewish or otherwise. As we will see in this teaching, these holidays are packed with symbolism and moral lessons that are highly relevant to Christians. In this teaching, we’re going to focus on the mo’edim of Passover and Unleavened Bread. We will look at why these festivals were celebrated, how we can keep them today, and how they fit into Bible history and prophecy.
Why Are Passover and Unleavened Bread Kept?
Let’s start our discussion of Passover and Unleavened Bread by looking at what these holidays are, and why they are kept. Here’s how these festivals are described in Leviticus 23:
Leviticus 23:5-8
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s [YHWH] Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD [YHWH]; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the LORD [YHWH] for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”
So, Passover is observed on the fourteenth day of the first month, and Unleavened Bread is celebrated for seven days, starting on the fifteenth day of the first month. Also, the first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread are days of rest on which work is not to be done.
It’s worth noting from the outset that the “first month” is not referring to January. Our modern calendar is based on the calendar that the Romans used, which did not exist when the book of Leviticus was written. In the Biblical calendar, the first month was in the spring, around April, after Israel’s cold and rainy winter had ended.
So, we know when Passover and Unleavened bread are celebrated, but why are we commanded to celebrate them? Well, the reason for these festivals goes back to the Exodus when God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and inflicted ten plagues upon the Egyptians. The tenth and most devastating plague brought death upon all of the firstborns in the land. However, there was a way to escape this death: every family that slaughtered a lamb and put the lamb’s blood upon their doorposts was “passed over,” and their firstborn did not die. This is described in Exodus chapter 12:
Exodus 12:5-13
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s [YHWH] Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD [YHWH]. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
So, the Passover memorial commemorates this event, when God passed over the houses that were covered by the blood of the lamb. The seven days that follow Passover are called the festival or feast of Unleavened Bread, in which no leaven is to be eaten. That festival is described in the verses that follow:
Exodus 12:14-17
This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD [YHWH]; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day, you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.
While Passover commemorates God’s judgment passing over Israel, the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorates the departure of Israel from Egypt. So, why is unleavened bread eaten during this week? It’s because that’s what the Israelites ate when they left Egypt:
Exodus 12:33-34, 39
The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders… And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
Now, what is “unleavened” bread? What makes bread “unleavened”? Well, “leaven” is an additive that causes the dough to puff up and expand. At the time of the Exodus, people did not have modern leavening agents like baking powder. Their only leavening agent was yeast. To make bread that would rise, a sourdough starter containing yeast had to be added to the bread dough, and the dough had to be kneaded, and allowed to sit for several hours, to give the yeast a chance to grow. This growth of the yeast would cause the dough to rise, and once that dough was baked, it would produce a familiar puffed-up loaf of bread. When the Israelites hurried out of Egypt, they did not have enough time to knead their dough and let it rise. As a result, the bread they made was not light and fluffy, it was unleavened; it was dense and flat. So, during the week of this festival, unleavened bread is eaten to remind us of the bread that the Israelites ate when they were freed from Egypt.
How Can We Keep These Appointed Times Today?
So, how can we keep these appointed times today? Let’s start with Passover. As we’ve read, Passover was memorialized by each family sacrificing a lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month and then eating that lamb as part of a meal. We see this described in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 16:1-2
Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the LORD [YHWH] your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD [YHWH] your God brought you out of Egypt by night. And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the LORD [YHWH] your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the LORD [YHWH] will choose, to make his name dwell there.
Now, today, we cannot slaughter a Passover lamb. Why not? Because, as we just read, the lamb was supposed to be slaughtered “at the place that the LORD [YHWH] will choose, to make his name dwell there.” This is a reference to the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:20). The Torah is very clear that sacrifices are not to be offered unless they are offered at this particular place:
Leviticus 17:3-7 If any one of the houses of Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp, and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the LORD [YHWH] in front of the tabernacle of the LORD [YHWH], bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people. This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to the LORD [YHWH], to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD [YHWH]. And the priest shall throw the blood on the altar of the LORD [YHWH] at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat for a pleasing aroma to the LORD [YHWH]. So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
So, we cannot offer a Passover sacrifice anywhere other than the temple. Since no temple is available at which to sacrifice, no Passover sacrifice can be made.
So where does that leave us? If we can’t offer a lamb, how can we keep Passover at all?
Well, one thing we can still do, even without a lamb, is memorialize the events of the Exodus:
Exodus 12:14 This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD [YHWH]; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
So, how can we do this exactly? How do we hold a memorial? The Scriptures don’t say. They just say to have a memorial. Many people have a memorial by getting together for a meal where there is teaching and discussion of the events of the Exodus. The most popular way of doing this is a Jewish tradition called a Passover Seder. Seder means “order,” and the Seder is a meal that is eaten in a particular order. The elements of the meal are designed to remind people of the first Passover. The Seder is a great way, though certainly not the only way, to memorialize the Passover. Some Seders have elements that don’t have anything to do with Passover, and we don’t necessarily recommend incorporating all of those elements into your memorial. But, for someone just starting to keep the Biblical holidays, it’s pretty easy to start with a Seder or another tradition, and then customize the observance to meet your individual needs. Again, the only thing the Scriptures say is to have a memorial.
Now what about the week of Unleavened Bread? How can we keep that today? The Scriptures have seven basic commands regarding this festival:

Keep it for seven days, starting on the fifteenth day of the first month (Leviticus 23:6).
Eat unleavened bread during those seven days (Exodus 13:6).
Avoid eating leavened bread during those seven days.
Remove leavening from your house when the festival begins. These first four stipulations are all found in this one verse:
Exodus 12:15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
There are some very practical concerns when it comes to avoiding leavening, and we will address that issue in some detail after this list. For now, let’s continue:
Rest from your work on the first day and the seventh day (Leviticus 23:7-8).
Exodus 12:16, On the first day, you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.
Teach your children the reason you are celebrating this festival:

Exodus 13:8 You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD [YHWH] did for me when I came out of Egypt. Travel to the temple to appear before YHWH and give your firstfruits offering:
Exodus 23:17-19, Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD [YHWH]. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD [YHWH] your God.
Since there is no temple, there is no way to keep this particular command. There is nowhere to travel to to appear before YHWH. However, the other commands associated with the week of Unleavened Bread can be kept. We can remove leavening from our houses and we can eat unleavened bread. We can rest on the first and seventh days of the festival, and we can teach our children about what God did when he delivered Israel from Egypt.
If you’re wondering how to get unleavened bread to eat, it’s sold in some stores as “Matzah” (or “Matzos”), which is the Hebrew word for unleavened bread. The Matzah that is made today is a giant wheat cracker. You can also make your unleavened bread by baking bread without adding any yeast or other leavening agents to it.
On the topic of leavening, there are some practical questions about how to avoid it and how to remove it from our houses. For example, what counts as leavening? The only leavening agent the Israelites had at the time of the Exodus was yeast, specifically, sourdough yeast. So, is it only sourdough yeast that we should avoid during Unleavened Bread, or are there other substances we should avoid also?
In our opinion, this question comes down to the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law. Ancient Hebrew has no word for baking soda or baking powder, which are modern leavening agents because those substances were not used in ancient Israel. So, the Bible never technically prohibits eating those substances during the week of Unleavened Bread. The letter of the law only mentions se’or, the Hebrew word for yeast (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, H7603), and chametz, the Hebrew word for bread in which the yeast has fermented and risen (ibid. H2557). We see both of these words used here in Exodus:
Exodus 12:15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall remove leaven (se’or) out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened (chametz), from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
These terms, se’or and chametz, refer to the leavening agents and leavened products that were available at the time of the Exodus, which were sourdough yeast and the bread made from it. Again, by the strict letter of the law, only bread made with yeast would be prohibited during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
However, when we consider the spirit or intent of the law, there is an argument that we should avoid other puffy breads also. The unleavened bread is meant to be a reminder of what the Israelites ate when they left Egypt (Exodus 13:7-8). Their bread was flat; it was not made to rise with yeast, nor was it made to rise with baking powder or baking soda. So, while modern leavening products are not technically prohibited, the spirit of the command seems to be to avoid any kind of puffed-up bread regardless of what particular substance causes it to rise. Ideally, we want the bread we eat during Unleavened Bread to remind us of the bread that the Israelites ate. For the record, we don’t think that having baking soda in things like toothpaste or antacids counts as leavening, because those products have nothing to do with making leavened bread or memorializing the Exodus.
We discuss leavening in much more depth in our teaching, The Leaven of Heaven.
Passover and Unleavened Bread in Prophecy
While the explicit purpose of Passover and Unleavened Bread is to memorialize the Exodus from
Egypt, these days is also prophetically significant. Jesus, or Yeshua as he was called in Hebrew, was crucified on the fourteenth day of the first month—the same day that the Passover sacrifice was offered:
John 19:14-18, Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus [Yeshua], and he went out, bearing his cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus [Yeshua] between them.
So, Christ was crucified on the same day that the Passover lamb was sacrificed. The Passover lamb in Egypt was a foreshadowing of what the Messiah would do later on. Just like the blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from death in Egypt, Christ’s blood saves us from the death that is brought about by our sins:
1 Peter 1:18-19 …you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
John 1:29, The next day he saw Jesus [Yeshua] coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Passover is a yearly reminder of the salvation we have in Christ. It’s a time to reflect on the price that was paid for our salvation and the love that God showed us when he redeemed us from our sins and gave us new life.
Passover is also a good time to contemplate our commitment to YHWH. God required those who ate the physical Passover lamb to be physically circumcised (Exodus 12:43-49). They had to bear the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:11), a covenant of faith and commitment to God (Romans 4:11-12). As we memorialize the Passover and remember YHWH’s salvation—not just of the ancient Israelites, but also of the whole world through Christ—we should also remember that we must voluntarily partake in this salvation. We must put our faith in God, and follow where he leads, just like Abraham did. As Paul said:
Galatians 3:7-9, Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
This reminder of our commitment to God leads right into the symbology of Unleavened Bread.
Once we’ve been saved by Christ’s blood, which is symbolized in the Passover, we are then free from our slavery to sin and death, just like the Israelites were freed from their slavery to the Egyptians. Paul speaks about this in Romans:
Romans 6:4-11, We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once and for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus [Messiah Yeshua].
Now that we have gone through this spiritual Passover and have been freed from sin and death, we strive to keep ourselves unstained by the world (James 1:27), and to consider ourselves “dead to sin.” Paul also refers to this as symbolically being “unleavened” in 1 Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 5:7-8, Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Once we’ve been redeemed from our old ways, from our malice and evil and sin, we don’t want to return to those ways. We want to stay pure and true, “unleavened” as Paul says. We want to walk in obedience to God, not in disobedience as we did before we were saved. When we eat unleavened bread during this festival, it’s a yearly reminder for us to stay free from sin, and not enslave ourselves to the ways of the world again.
Passover and Unleavened Bread are not just celebrations of God’s salvation of Israel during the Exodus, they also symbolize the salvation we have in Christ. Far from being “done away with,” or “only for the Jews,” these festivals are more relevant today than ever. Christ, the ultimate fulfillment of these days, has come, and they remind us of the new life we have in him.
Conclusion
Let’s recap everything we covered in this teaching:

God gave his people mo’edim—appointed times—for them to keep as a reminder of his great works.
Passover is an appointed time during which we remember God saving the Israelites from the plague of death in Egypt when death passed over every house that was covered with the lamb’s blood.
We can keep Passover today by memorializing the Exodus from Egypt on the fourteenth day of the first month.
Passover is also a memorial of the salvation we have in Yeshua because that’s the day on which he was crucified. Christ’s blood saves us from death, just like the lamb’s blood did during the Exodus.
Unleavened Bread is a seven-day festival that memorializes Israel going free from their slavery.
The first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread are days of rest. The whole week is a time to avoid leavened bread and eat unleavened bread. The unleavened bread reminds us of the bread the Israelites ate when they went free.
Unleavened Bread also reminds us of the freedom from sin that we have in Christ. The leavening of malice and evil has been removed from us, and now we can be “unleavened,” full of sincerity and truth.

We hope this teaching has been a helpful introduction to these mo’edim. Keeping God’s holidays is a great blessing, and we would encourage you all to take Paul’s advice and “celebrate the festival” (1 Corinthians 5:8).
We pray you have been blessed by this teaching. Remember, continue to test everything. Shalom! For more on this and other teachings, please visit us at www.testeverything.net
Shalom, and may Yahweh bless you in walking in the whole Word of God.
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Rosh Hashanah
2024-10-02 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Please come to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with us on October 2nd, 2024 @ 6:30pm

Yom Kippur
2024-10-12 11:00 - 13:00
Please come to celebrate Yom Kippur with us on October 12th, 2024 @ 11:00am

Sukkot
2024-10-16 - 2024-10-23
The-Moedim-Sukkot-Transcript
“The following is a direct script of teaching that is intended to be presented via video, incorporating relevant text, slides, media, and graphics to assist in illustration, thus facilitating the presentation of the material. In some places, this may cause the written material to not flow or sound rather awkward. In addition, there may be grammatical errors that are often not acceptable in
The Mo’edim Series – Sukkot
What is the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles? What does this feast mean, and how is it relevant to believers today? Well, Sukkot is one of YHWH’s mo’edim, one of his holy days. Before we get into the specifics of Sukkot, it is worth giving an overview of all of YHWH’s mo’edim. We simply want to give a better understanding of these important days in the eyes of YHWH.
Quite often we receive questions asking about the mo’edim. YHWH’s holy days. What are the “mo’edim” and what is their point? While there are many opinions held concerning the holy days, we want to do our best to give a general overview of them. We simply want to help give a better understanding of these important days in the eyes of YHWH.
Many have looked at these days as just for the Jews. However, we also know the commandments surrounding the holy days are given to all who chose to follow YHWH regardless of whether they are native-born Israelite, or simply grafted in through faith.
Deuteronomy 31:12, Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD [YHWH] your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,
The mo’edim are given to the native-born and sojourners alike. (For example, Passover: Exodus 12:19, 48; Numbers 9:14; Shavuot: Deuteronomy 16:10-11; Yom Kippur: Leviticus 16:29; Sukkot: Deuteronomy 16:13-14. Because many do not understand that YHWH gave his holy days to all in the faith, many in mainstream Christianity today do not keep the mo’edim festivals. Sadly, the same also do not understand that the substance of these holy days is all about teaching us about the Messiah.
Colossians 2:16-17, Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or concerning a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
This teaching in particular will teach how to observe Sukkot and some of the exciting messianic prophecy attached to this feast. In review, there are eight mo’edim or appointed times. The first of the mo’edim is the Sabbath, in which rest occurs every seven days. The rest of the mo’edim are annual observations, which are:

Passover
Unleavened Bread
First Fruits
Shavuot (Pentecost)
Yom Teruah (Trumpets)
Yom Kippur (Atonement)
and Sukkot (Tabernacles)

Three of these mo’edim are specifically called feasts, meaning they are mo’edim that involve feasting.
Those are:

Unleavened Bread
Shavuot
And Sukkot

Sukkot, also known as Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths, is the last and final annual feast and is the focus of this teaching.
Leviticus 23:33-43, And the LORD [YHWH] spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD [YHWH]. On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD [YHWH]. On the eighth day, you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD [YHWH]. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD [YHWH], which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD [YHWH] food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, besides the LORD [YHWH] Sabbaths and your gifts and all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD [YHWH]. “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land,
you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD [YHWH] seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD [YHWH] your God seven days. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD [YHWH] for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD [YHWH] your God.”
From this, we learn that Sukkot begins on the 15th day of the 7th month of the Hebrew calendar. It lasts for seven days and then there is a set-apart bonus day called the 8th day. Both the 1st and 8th day are considered rest days.
So this is the 7th annual mo’edim, occurring for 7 days, in the 7th month.
The extra 8th day is sometimes referred to as “The Last Great Day.” This day is very interesting prophetically, and we will discuss that in the prophecy section of this teaching. During the seven days, all native Israelites are instructed to dwell in booths or temporary dwellings. Sometimes the mention of “native-born Israelites” in Leviticus 23:42 confuses people, as if all the other mo’edim are for everyone, except for Sukkot is only for native Israelites. Remember, in the faith, all are treated as native Israelites. Many are grafted in and are treated just the same…even the grafted in are the same as natives born before YHWH. For more on this, please see our teaching “Grafted In.”
Deuteronomy 31:12, Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD [YHWH] your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,
If the mention of native-born Israelites still compels you to believe that Sukkot might not be for all in the faith, we will mention one more point at the end of this teaching. Also, on the first day of this feast, we are to “take the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD [YHWH] your God seven days.”
Many times, these items are attached to a sukkah, which is the singular form of the Hebrew word Sukkot.
In observation of the feast, not everyone lives in a sukkah for seven days. In a literal sense, a sukkah is simply a temporary hut or dwelling. A sukkah traditionally has no roof or shielding from cold weather or rain. While a sukkah works well for a dry and warm climate like Jerusalem, many utilize tents or other temporary dwellings during this time outside of Jerusalem.
Deuteronomy’s account of Sukkot specifically mentions that we should rejoice, or be joyful during this
time. YHWH is literally commanding us to be joyful!
Deuteronomy 16:13-17, “You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord (YHWH) your God at the place that the Lord (YHWH) will choose because the Lord (YHWH) your God will bless you in all your produce and all the work of your hands so that you will be altogether joyful. “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord (YHWH) your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and the Feast of Booths (Sukkot). They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord (YHWH) your God that he has given you.
You may have also noticed that this feast, like the other two feasts, is to occur in Jerusalem and involve the temple, which is the place where YHWH put his name. Of course, there exists no temple today, so we cannot come before YHWH with gifts. As a result, many memorialize this feast by doing it the best they are able absent being able to go before YHWH at the temple. And of course, finally, this feast is about feasting! Eight days of eating in fact. At this time, in Jerusalem, the harvest was coming to a close. This feast is agricultural, taking advantage of all the food YHWH has blessed us with during the harvest. This also has a prophetic significance that we will discuss later in the teaching.
Sukkot is often the favorite of all the feasts. It is a time of focused fellowship with YHWH and all those in the faith, celebrating with worship, food, and all sorts of traditions. Sometimes Sukkot is observed in the backyard. Other times hundreds of families may Sukkot together for one large, amazing event. However you do it, it always proves to be a blessed and joyful time.
The Prophetic Meaning of Sukkot
The first time Sukkoth is mentioned in Scripture is found in Genesis.
Genesis 33:17, But Jacob journeyed to Succoth and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
After bowing 7 times in verse 3, and leaving Esau behind in verse 17, Jacob arrives at a place he names Sukkot.
The mention of a “seven” is connected with Sukkot. One of the things that YHWH mentions as the purpose of Sukkot is to remind us when Israel dwelt in booths after coming out of Egypt.
Leviticus 23:42-43, You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD [YHWH] your God.”
This is interesting because the first place they stop is at Sukkot:
Exodus 12:37, And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
So when we dwell in booths for Sukkot, we are to be reminded of the wilderness, when YHWH took His people out of Egypt and brought them into temporary dwellings in the wilderness. Sukkot is mentioned by our Messiah Yeshua as well.
John 7:37-38, On the last day of the feast, the great day (meaning the 8th day), Jesus [Yeshua] stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Yeshua may have been giving more understanding of Isaiah 55.
Isaiah 55:1, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and price.”
But here is what is rather interesting, specifically on the eighth day, Yeshua mentions “living waters.”
This commands attention to the New Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14:7-8, And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD [YHWH], neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
In the context of the New Jerusalem, we also read:
Revelation 22:1-5, Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Many believe the New Jerusalem will arrive after Yeshua reigns for 1,000 years. Following the story of creation, there are 6 days, and the 7th day is a rest. There is a Biblical principle that uses the days of creation, each day as 1,000 years. That is here will be 6,000 years of man, and then on the 7th day, Yeshua arrives and we rest and reign with him for 1,000 years, or one day, specifically the Sabbath day. After the 7th day, technically the 8th day, the New Jerusalem will arrive. For more on this, we would recommend the teachings of The Creation Prophecy, The Fourth and Seventh Day, and Hebrews 4: In His Rest Now or Later.
Meaning this, it was not likely an accident that Yeshua mentioned the “living waters” on the 8th day of Sukkot, as we are presented with the “living waters” from the New Jerusalem on the 8th day. This is why the feast of Sukkot groups the seven days together, and then mentions another 8th day as separate from the initial seven days.
In addition, the New Jerusalem arrives after the old Earth and old Heaven pass away and we are presented with a New Heaven and a New Earth. Thus, Sukkot also reminds us that this life and this Earth are temporary.
2 Corinthians 5:1, For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It should also be noted that all harvests will have occurred by then…the barley harvest, the wheat harvest, and the grape harvest.
That is the purpose of Sukkot, to feast on the completed harvest. There is a prophetic implication to consider here as well. Yeshua was referred to as the first fruit of the harvest, which is the barley harvest.
1 Corinthians 15:20. But Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
There is also the wheat harvest:
Mathew 13:24-30, He [Yeshua] put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’
Mathew 13:36-43, Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
The grape harvest is the rebellious:
Revelation 14:17-20, Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.
Sukkot follows the completion of all harvests and is also a feast of the harvests. Often it is proposed that Sukkot will be the timing of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.
Revelation 19:6-9, Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
So the reason that the marriage supper of the lamb is speculated to be at Sukkot is because all of the harvests have been completed and it is also found as the last and final feast. Another interesting connection is found in the timeline of the first temple dedication. The temple was dedicated on the 8th day of Sukkot.
2 Chronicles 7:8-10, At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. And on the eighth day, they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept 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 homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity that the LORD [YHWH] had granted to David and Solomon and Israel his people.
Likewise, this appears similar to the New Jerusalem in which the temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
Revelation 21:22, And I saw no temple in the city [New Jerusalem], for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
Those are simply the prophetic highlights related to Sukkot. There exist hours of prophetic depth in the context of Sukkot. We simply wanted to offer you a start on Sukkot prophecy. One last thing to note…after the Great Tribulation ends, the Antichrist is defeated, and we enter into the 1,000 years reigning with Messiah Yeshua…guess what…all nations will be observing Sukkot.
Zechariah 14:16-19, Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD [YHWH] of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD [YHWH] of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD [YHWH] afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.
This helps prove two things:

The holy days found in Leviticus 23 are not abolished like many Christians teach.
It is not just the native-born Israelites that are to observe Sukkot.

If you do not already observe Sukkot, consider and understand that YHWH gave us these days for a reason. …To teach us about our Messiah, to spend time in worship of YHWH, to get away from daily life and instead spend time with our family and those in the faith…We hope that this teaching has blessed you, and remember, continue to test everything.
Shalom
We pray you have been blessed by this teaching. Remember, continue to test everything. Shalom! For more on this and other teachings, please visit us at www.testeverything.net
Shalom, and may Yahweh bless you in walking in the whole Word of God.
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Sh'mini Atzeret & Simchat Torah
2024-10-24 16:00 - 18:00
Please come to celebrate Sh’mini Atzeret & Simchat Torah with us on October 24th, 2024 @ 4:00pm
