Festivals & practices
Feast of Tabernacles
A seven-day festival after the harvest, spent in temporary shelters to remember Israel’s departure from Egypt.
Also called · Feast of Booths · Sukkot
What it means
The booths were temporary shelters made with branches. Leviticus sets the festival from the fifteenth day of the seventh month and requires native-born Israelites to live in booths for seven days. This teaches later generations that God made Israel live in shelters when he brought them out of Egypt.
Deuteronomy calls families, servants, Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows to rejoice together. Nehemiah describes people returning from captivity, building and living in booths, while the law was read each day.
How it appears in the Bible
In John 7, Jesus teaches in the temple during the festival. On its last day, he invites the thirsty to come to him and speaks of living water. John explains that this refers to the Spirit whom believers in Jesus were to receive.