Tishrei 16 – And they kept the Feast of Booths…

Tishrei 16, 5785; from sunset October 17, 2024, to sunset October 18, 2024

(The sixteenth day of the seventh month)

This is the name “Ezra” (עֶזְרָא) the Scribe as seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls; written by a scribe over two thousand years ago.

Ezra 7:10 tells us that Ezra, while still in exile, had prepared his heart to seek the Torah of the LORD, to do it, and to teach it. On the first day of this month, he read the Torah to the people standing in the square, near the Water Gate. The Levites came alongside him and helped the people to understand what they were hearing. After this, the people set about doing what God had instructed them. Their repentance had begun and was displayed in their actions. They resumed the daily offerings and kept the Feast of Booths…

When the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings upon it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. And they kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinance, as each day required. – Ezra 3:1-4 (RSV)

This is an image of a portion of the wall rebuilt by Nehemiah and company.

The book of Nehemiah also makes a record of the observance of the Feast of Booths by the returnees of the Babylonian exile…

They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters”– as it is written.

So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. The whole company that had returned from exile built temporary shelters and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.

Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days… – Nehemiah 8:14-18a (NIV)

Just like those who returned from the Babylonian exile; many of us today are “finding” the LORDs commandments written in His Torah. We may experience the same emotions that they had when they realized that they had not been keeping His Feasts. And, with the help of our modern-day “Levites,” we, too, are beginning to understand. Like Ezra, let’s prepare our hearts to seek the Torah of the LORD, to do it, and to teach it.

Just a reminder that it’s tradition to read Psalm 27 daily through the Feast of Tabernacles. You can find it by clicking on the link.

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