Feast of Tabernacle: Pilgrimage (Part I)
You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. (Exodus 34:22 - 23)
It is the time of the year in which we see the three final feasts of YHWH. Divine celebrations made to be celebrated at their appointed times, the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Atonement have been covered in previous articles of Thinking Twice, Devos and Bible 101. In association with Thinking Twice, we will cover the final feast, a week long celebration of the Tabernacle!
Last year, we covered the Feast extensively in another two week event with Thinking Twice. This year, we will focus on an aspect that we did not cover as much in the previous crossover event: pilgrimage.
Before we enter entirely into the subject of today’s readings, there must be a quick reiteration of the Feast of Tabernacles as a whole. The term “tabernacle” isn’t the only term used for the Feast; it’s interchangeable with terms such as “booths” and “shelters”. The book of Leviticus presents why this feast is lived, saying:
You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt
- Leviticus 23:42 - 43
While this was held in memory of all of the good that the Father had done for them by saving them from slavery, it was meant to remind them as well of their forty years in the desert - a punishment for their unwillingness and lack of faith (Numbers 14:30). Finally, this also served a basic agricultural use of celebrating the harvesting of what were essential things for the Ancient Israelites, which included the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook (Leviticus 23:40).
The children of Israel continued to live this feast for many years, when they followed the Laws of the God of their fathers (Nehemiah 8:13–18, Zechariah 14:16–19 and Leviticus 23:34–44).
When YHWH talks about the Feasts that we are supposed to have in His honor, He presents three feasts in particular that we are supposed to go present ourselves to Him: those being Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacle (Exodus 34:22 - 23). This pilgrimage was made to the temple, in Jerusalem, as understood by a reading of Isaiah 33:20. This was their duty and responsibility if they wanted to live this feast in its entirety.