THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
“THE FEAST!” There was no lack of festivals — festivals Mosaic and post Mosaic — in the Jewish Calendar, but at the mention of “ha-Chag” (the Feast), the mind of a Jew would pass by the Feasts of Pentecost, of Passover, of Trumpets, of the Dedication, and of Purim, and would rest upon one in particular — the Feast of Tabernacles. It was emphatically the Feast, sometimes even so designated in the Holy Scriptures,and commonly referred to by an Israelite under that name. By Josephus it is called “the holiest and greatest feast.” It was an occasion when the Jew gave himself up unreservedly to joy, tempered though that joy was by strong religious feeling. Indeed, it passed almost into a proverb, that “he who has failed to participate in the keeping of the Tabernacle festival at Jerusalem, has failed to taste real enjoyment in this life.”
“Succoth” (i.e., “Booths”), as the festival was shortly called, came in the month Tishri— an important month in the Jewish Calendar. On the first and second days the New Year’s Feast was celebrated; on the loth came the solemn Day of Atonement; then from the 15th to the list, fitly following the repentance, confession, and atonement of “the Day,” came the joy of “the Feast.” On the 22nd was a solemn convocation, reckoned as a separate festival. There was a two-fold source of rejoicing. On the one hand, it was a harvest-thanksgiving — “a harvest home,” as we may say — when the corn and wine, the ordinary tokens of abundance and joy, being gathered in, the presence of Jehovah was sought in the place where He had set His Name. Every male must go up thither, and none might go empty-handed. Of the abundance which God had given, they were to give to Him. But more than this, it was a remembrance-feast. “Forget not all His benefits” was a sentiment woven into the law of the festival. It spoke of the release from the “house of bondage” to the liberty bond the Red Sea. It spoke of the providential care in the wilderness. It was a reminder to all generations that Jehovah had made Israel to dwell in booths when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. So, with hearts made glad by the remembrance of the past, and by the bounty and plenty of the present, the happy people would troop up to Jerusalem, from far and near, not only from the parts round about Jerusalem, but away from the most distant districts of the Holy Land, and even from the countries of the Dispersion.
The Gospel of St. John is the only one which refers to the feast by name. We read that as the feast drew nigh, the Lord Jesus was in Galilee. In Judæa, the Jews were persistently seeking to kill Him. He came to His own, and His own received Him not. Nay, even among His brethren the same unbelief prevailed. “Depart hence and go into Judaea.... If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world.” But that was not the path of the Lord. Truly, if He had wished to win the popular applause, no time could be more favorable: Jerusalem thronged with eager, impulsive people, many of whom had heard of Him, and would fain see Him. But His time was not yet come. “Go ye up unto this feast,” is His answer; “I go not up yet unto this feast.” So He tarried, and His brethren, having no controversy with the world, left Galilee, doubtless with many other pilgrims, a happy company. They must reach Jerusalem by the 14th Tishri, to begin the feast on the morrow.
So they went, and in time the Lord followed, as it were in secret. Reaching Jerusalem, what a strange sight would greet unfamiliar eyes The streets and courts filled with leafy booths! With branches of olive, pine, myrtle, and palm, and branches of thick [leafy] trees booths were constructed upon the roofs, in the house-courts, in the Temple-courts, in Water Gate Street, and in the Street of the Gate of Ephraim, as in Nehemiah’s time. They must (according to the traditional law) be constructed from living trees; they must not wholly exclude the sunshine, nor might they be too open. They were the chief dwellings of the week, and in them eating, sleeping, prayer, and study must be carried on.
But more, the law said, “Ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick [leafy] trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord seven days.” These were not used to construct the booths, but were carried in the hands. The fruit of the goodly trees (said by the Rabbis to be the citron) was held in the left hand; the branches, tied together in a defined order, and termed the lulav, were held in the right. The palm ran down the center; on the one side the willow; on the other the myrtle, which (again according to the Rabbis) was the “thick” or leafy tree referred to. All persons, even children able to shake it, were bidden to carry the lulav.
The Temple services were, as always, very striking. Hundreds of white-robed priests and Levites took part in the services. At intervals the blast of silver trumpets or the chant of the Hallel filled the air. All day long the smoke of sacrifices ascended to heaven. No less than seventy bullocks, fourteen rams, and ninety-eight lambs were offered during the feast. It may have been that on the occasion referred to in the gospel there was that public reading of the Law, which the Law itself enjoined on every seventh year.
But there was another ceremony of so great importance that it gave to the feast the distinctive name of “The Feast of the Drawing of Water.” At the time of the preparation of the morning sacrifices two pressions were formed — the one going to the Kedron Valley, from whence they brought willow branches, to adorn the altar of burnt offering, forming a leafy canopy over it, the trumpets of the priests meanwhile sounding a joyous blast; the other procession went down with strains of music to the pool of Siloam. The most important person in this company was a priest carrying a golden ewer. This having been filled with water from the pool, they returned through a gate, which hence received the name of Water Gate, greeted there by a three-fold trumpet blast. They timed their return so as to reach the Great Altar just as the officiating priests were laying the sacrifice upon it. At the left side of the altar were two silver apertures — the one into which the wine of the drink offering was poured; the other receiving the water from Siloam. This pouring out of water was so important, that, according to Josephus, the people on one occasion pelted the high priest with their citron fruit, because, to show his contempt for the Pharisees, he had poured the water upon the ground instead of into its receptacle. It may be asked, “Is there any Scripture warrant for this rite?” None at all, but the Rabbis ever make Scripture support their doctrines and customs. Hence the Talmud says (and the words are of the deepest interest in connection with the words of Jesus and the comment of the evangelist), “Why is the name of it called ‘The drawing out of water’? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said, ‘With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.’”
Then came the solemn chanting of Psa. 113-118. (commonly called the Hallel) to the accompaniment of flutes. As the choir gave out the words, “O give thanks unto the Lord!” and later: “Save now, I beseech Thee, O Jehovah!” [Hosanna]; and again: “O give thanks unto the Lord” shook their lulavs towards the altar, thus giving praise “with heart, and mouth, and hands.” The public service closed with a procession of priests round the altar, while again they chanted their Hosanna.
So day after day went on, a thousand voices from Temple, sacrifices, and services speaking of the Christ who was to come. He came. In the midst of that feast Jesus went up to the Temple and taught, and though some were moved by His words, the solemn tale is one of rejection and refusal. “Thou hast a devil!” “We know this man whence He is.” Did they know? They might have done so had they heeded His words; their own ceremonies might have spoken to them of Him. We cannot help wondering if the name “Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent,” did not, even in their dull minds, connect itself with the reiterated utterance of the Lord, when speaking of “Him that sent” Him. But, with all their assurance, they knew nothing.
Yet the compassion of Christ could not be limited; His love could not be hemmed in, and on “the last day, the great day,” He again presented Himself to the people, and gave what we may call articulate words to the voices which spake of Him. It was the seventh day, called by the Rabbis “the day of the Great Hosanna,” for upon it the pression of priests went round the altar seven times, chanting the Hosanna — “Save now I” of the Hallel. On that day, too, as the people left the Temple, they saluted the altar with thanks, shook off the willow branches from it, and beat their lulavs to pieces. On that afternoon the booths were taken down, and the feast closed. On this last day the unwelcomed Messiah would once more speak, if any would but hear. With all that outward joy, were there no weary hearts, no thirsty souls? Nay, did not their very Hosanna express a want? “Send now salvation, Jehovah, I beseech Thee!” And there He stood, who alone could satisfy such weary hearts, who alone could pour floods upon him that is thirsty. And He alone was “Jehovah-Salvation.” And so, doubtless when the water from Siloam was poured out, and when the prayer had again been chanted, His voice broke out with the cry: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” He gave, again we say, a voice to all that was going on around Him. As it has been well said: “He interrupted not the services, for they had for the moment ceased: He interpreted and He fulfilled them.” And the evangelist, as though alluding to the meaning attached by the Jews to the outpouring, adds: “This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.”
Very briefly is the result told. Some said: “Of a truth this is the prophet”; others: “This is the Christ”; while others “refused” that “Stone” of which the very Psalm just sung, had spoken.
Nearly nineteen centuries have passed, and with the centuries have passed the glories of the Tabernacle Feast. No longer can we hear the chant of the priests. The solemn music of the silver trumpets no longer rings through the Temple courts. No longer is Jerusalem thronged with happy worshippers. The sacrifices have ceased; the glorious Temple is razed to the ground. But there still remain thirsty ones, such as then trod those courts, and, blessed be His Name, the voice of Jesus still resounds with its tidings of blessing. “If any man thirst, let Him come unto Me and drink.” Are you, dear reader, thirsty? Still are those living waters to be had, if you do but “come” and drink. Nor is the blessing merely for your own refreshment and joy; the rivers of living water (no longer a pool, like Siloam) will carry blessing to others, fulfilling that word of old: “For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.”