Commentaries:
A "tabernacle" or "booth" is a temporary dwelling. God commanded the ancient Israelites to live in temporary shelters made of tree branches (verse 40) while observing the Feast of Tabernacles. For God's people who attend the Feast of Tabernacles today, a tent, camper, motel or hotel room would certainly qualify as a temporary dwelling.
God intends the Feast of Tabernacles to separate and free His people from the world. Living in temporary dwellings for an entire week—away from their everyday surroundings, jobs, and most negative influences—God's people enjoy a tiny foretaste of the universal freedom, joy, and peace that will exist in the Millennium, when Satan is gone and the Spirit of God is leading all of humanity (Joel 2:28, 32).
These are days of continuous, genuine Christian fellowship and just plain good fun! Tens of thousands of God's people and their families gather at dozens of festival sites around the world. Christians at the Feast demonstrate now, by the way they live together in harmony, what today's sin-filled, unhappy world will become like after Christ returns.
But just as the Feast of Tabernacles is a physical feast filled with rejoicing, it is also a spiritual feast of education and preparation. Members of God's church receive daily instruction from God's ministers through inspiring sermons to help them further prepare to rule and teach with Christ during the Millennium.
Why Christians Should Keep God's Holy Days
To some, living in booths may suggest privation or a lack of amenities. But privation is not associated with rejoicing. Notice the wording in Leviticus 23:40: "fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook." This implies, not a ramshackle hovel, but the best and most beautiful shelter that could be constructed under the circumstances. Think of this in terms of hotels: We can hardly say hotels are austere, and we are in great privation. No, the first purpose of booths is to teach temporariness, impermanence, and vanity.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Preparing for the Feast
A spiritual lesson of booths is that despite the Israelites' weak position while wandering the wilderness, God supplied all their needs. The booths are a memorial of God's grace, care, and protection on our pilgrimage.
A stiff wind could flatten a booth or at the very least blow the leaves away, exposing the interior to the elements and leaving the inhabitants at their mercy. Even as the booth appears to be a symbol of privation, it also seems to be a symbol of weakness and vulnerability. However, the opposite is true because of what God did.
"And there will be a tabernacle [booth] for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain" (Isaiah 4:6). The context is a prophecy that shows Zion becoming a place of refuge, a secure retreat in time of trouble. A booth's use depends on the situation. In the wilderness, the booth provided adequate shelter because God was always overseeing the protection and care of His people. The booth thus symbolizes the plenteous fullness of God's providence.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Preparing for the Feast
Deuteronomy 16:15 uses an even stronger phrase in relation to rejoicing and the feasts: "so that you [shall, KJV] surely rejoice." The wording is so strong we might be misled into thinking it is to be one big blast! Make no mistake, He desires us to rejoice, but He wants us to rejoice with purpose. If we are not rejoicing with His purpose in mind, we will have merely titillated our senses.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Preparing for the Feast
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Deuteronomy 14:22-23
1 Kings 12:28-33
Library resources that contain this verse:
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