Bible Dictionary
Tabernacles, Feast of
The Feast of Tabernacles was Israel’s third great annual festival, held after the harvest. For seven days and an added assembly, the people lived in booths to remember the wilderness journey and give thanks for the harvest.
Definition
The Feast of Tabernacles was the third great annual festival of the Jews. Also called the Feast of Ingathering, it followed the harvest and lasted eight days. During it the people lived in booths made from branches of trees.
Biblical Usage
The feast commemorated Israel’s wilderness dwelling in booths and served as a harvest thanksgiving. Solomon’s temple was dedicated during this feast, and it was observed again after the return from captivity. Later practices included drawing water and lighting lamps as memorials of the wilderness.
Historical Background
The festival was held in the month Tisri, beginning on its fifteenth day. In Jerusalem, homes, streets, courts, and gardens were decorated with branches, making the feast a major autumn pilgrimage and celebration.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The third of the great annual festivals of the Jews (Lev. 23:33-43). It is also called the “feast of ingathering” (Ex. 23:16; Deut. 16:13). It was celebrated immediately after the harvest, in the month Tisri, and the celebration lasted for eight days (Lev. 23:33-43). During that period the people left their homes and lived in booths formed of the branches of trees. The sacrifices offered at this time are mentioned in Num. 29:13-38. It was at the time of this feast that Solomon’s temple was dedicated (1 Kings 8:2). Mention is made of it after the return from the Captivity. This feast was designed (1) to be a memorial of the wilderness wanderings, when the people dwelt in booths (Lev. 23:43), and (2) to be a harvest thanksgiving (Neh. 8:9-18). The Jews, at a later time, introduced two appendages to the original festival, viz., (1) that of drawing water from the Pool of Siloam, and pouring it upon the altar (John 7:2, 37), as a memorial of the water from the rock in Horeb; and (2) of lighting the lamps at night, a memorial of the pillar of fire by night during their wanderings. “The feast of Tabernacles, the harvest festival of the Jewish Church, was the most popular and important festival after the Captivity. At Jerusalem it was a gala day. It was to the autumn pilgrims, who arrived on the 14th (of the month Tisri, the feast beginning on the 15th) day, like entrance into a silvan city. Roofs and courtyards, streets and squares, roads and gardens, were green with boughs of citron and myrtle, palm and willow. The booths recalled the pilgrimage through the wilderness. The ingathering of fruits prophesied of the spiritual harvest.”, Valling’s Jesus Christ, p. 133.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>See FEASTS AND FASTS, I, A, 3.</p>