The Straight and Narrow

A Series on Old Testament Festivals and Sacred Days – Festival of Tabernacles

(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Leviticus 23:33-44

[Many of the festivals and sacred days from the Old Testament don’t seem to be relevant for us today. In this series, we’re going to take a closer look at them to learn what the significance was for the people of Israel at the time. And to learn what the significance is for us today.]

  

During the summer of 1969, while I was washing dishes at a Jerry’s Restaurant in Morehead, Kentucky, a historic festival called Woodstock attracted between 450,000 - 500,000 young people. The organizers had planned on 50,000! Needless to say, they weren’t prepared for the crowds.

 

Despite heavy rain, traffic jams, and a lack of food and adequate sanitation, the festival went on. People camped out wherever they could. Many had tents, some had sleeping bags, others a blanket. But lots of people just laid out in the open air.

 

The Lord chose Israel to be his people. It started with the Lord’s covenant with Abraham and continued through his son Isaac, followed by his son Jacob. During a famine, Israel moved to Egypt only to be enslaved later. After 400 years the Lord freed them, but he needed to prepare them for the Promised Land.

 

This would present many new challenges for Israel. The Canaanites, who already lived there, worshipped pagan gods who they believed blessed their farming. On the other hand, the Israelites had never owned land, let alone farmed it. It would be a monumental change for Israel, filled with temptations to disobey the Lord.

 

That’s why at Mount Sinai, in addition to the Law, the Lord gave Moses festivals and sacred days for Israel to observe. These would give them an infrastructure, so to speak, that would help keep them on the straight and narrow with the Lord.

³³ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁴ “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.                         NIV

The Festival of Tabernacles was one of three pilgrimage festivals where every Jewish man was to travel to the tabernacle in order to be in the presence of the Lord. It was a seven-day festival that followed the fall harvest to give thanks for God’s provision. But it also served a third purpose.

 

Like the people who attended Woodstock, the Israelites who came to the Festival of Tabernacles were to live in temporary housing. Here’s why.

⁴² You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, ⁴³ that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”                                                                                           NKJV     

  

The tabernacle was the dwelling place of God providing Israel with the Lord’s presence as they wandered through the desert. A booth was a temporary shelter where Israelites would stay during the Festival of Tabernacles when they would be in the presence of God. Both words point to being in the presence of the Lord.

 

The world we live in is not so different from the world that Israel was about to enter. Today, there are still many gods to tempt us to disobey the Lord. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” 

 

The Lord provided the Festival of Tabernacles to help keep the people of Israel on the straight and narrow. We also need to find ways to keep on the straight and narrow; to live in the Lord’s presence.

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

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