The third and final pilgrimage feast on Tishrei 15, all the males had to appear in front of the Lord in Jerusalem and bring their tithes and offerings Deuteronomy 16:16: "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty" and Exodus 23:17 "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.". Also known as the Feast of Sukkot, and Feast of Booths, can be called the Feast of Nations, the Feast of Ingathering. It is celebrating the harvest and lasts for 7 days, during this feast the Israelites are supposed to dwell in booths, this is to remind them of the exodus from Egypt. In Israel this is the harvest of the grapes, pomegranates and fruits and they have been rehearsing this feast for the last 3500 years. We are also going to be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles in the Millennial Reign of the Messiah, Zechariah 14:16-19,
16: And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17: And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18: And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19: This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Then Revelation 21:3 "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."
So we will be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles during the 1000 year millennial reign of Jesus on the earth and also when the Holy City, the New Jerusalem descends onto the new earth. So a couple of points here, would it make good sense to find out what happens and what we are expected to do whilst we still have the chance to practice the feasts before we get to the real thing. Notice also, if any man does not attend then there is no rain on his nation for a whole year and there is the possibility of a plague as well.

This current earth and our bodies are only temporary dwelling paces, the whole concept of this feast is to remind us that we and the earth are only temporary. The end times harvest and the Kingdom of God is coming on this Feast in the future, when Jesus taught he used the different harvests as a reference point, Matthew 13:38-41
38: The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39: The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40: As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41: The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
and Revelation 14:18 "And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe" the clusters of the vine are grapes, so the angels are going to be doing the harvesting

We are remembering the forty years that the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt, we remember they lived in booths all that time, that their clothes and shoes never wore out, they had food and water for themselves and their animals, provided by God, God provided everything. Hence the reason a lot of Jews today will build and live in booths for the 7 days of this feast.

God's ultimate plan has been to tabernacle with men. On the very first Feast of Tabernacles this is five days after Yom Kippur, Moses starts to build the Tabernacle. Exodus 35 describes the building of the tabernacle and all the furniture and clothing that goes into it.

Leviticus 23:39, "Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath." 7 days long but here we have 8 days, so what is this 8th day.

If you continue to read the next verse 40: "And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days." You are commanded to Rejoice, you have to be happy. The descriptions in the ancient writings by people such as Josephus give you an idea about the extent of this feast some of the writings from those times give the number of men at the feasts as 2.5 million, they only counted the men so you also have all the women and children and they are all in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles was known as the Light of the World because of the 4 candle lamp stands in the Womens court in the Temple. These were 75 feet high, they would fill them with oil from 7 gallon buckets, the wicks in these lamp stands was made up from the cloth of the priests old clothes, there was not a court yard in Jerusalem that did not glow with the light from these lamp stands. You could see the light from the Mediterranean coast over 20 miles away. In this women's court are 15 steps leading up to the gate, the door into the inner part of the temple where the altar was. As the priests climbed up these steps they would sing the songs of ascent, the Psalms was there hymn book, the songs of ascent are Psalms 120 thro to 134 there is also the Hallel where we get the word Hallelujah from, these are Psalms 113 thro to 118. As the women sang the men danced juggling flaming torches The party, yes party, lasted all night, no one left early. The water libation offering was part of this feast, the water used had to be living water from the pool of silom. John 8:12, this was at the feast when Jesus shouts out about living waters coming out of our bellies.

Remember the adulterous woman who was brought to Jesus in the Temple and it says Jesus was writing in the dirt on the ground, ever wondered what He wrote. Well, the day before was the Water Libation, the priests have rejected the fount of living waters, Jesus says he who is without sin can cast the first stone and they all leave one by one ashamed and the woman asks to be saved. Well read Jeremiah 17:13 and 14
13: O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
14: Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
So Jesus was writing the names of each of the Priests into the dust as they leave. Then once the Priests have all left, the woman asks for forgiveness and her salvation.

Deuteronomy 16:14 " And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates."

Soloman's Temple is dedicated on the feast of Tabernacles. 2 Chronicles 5:1, 3, 12-14 then 2 Chronicles 7:1-2
2 Chronicles 5:1: Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God.
2 Chronicles 5:3: Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month.
2 Chronicles 5:12: Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)
2 Chronicles 5:13: It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;
2 Chronicles 5:14: So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
2 Chronicles 7:1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.
2 Chronicles 7:2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house.

Leviticus 23:36 "Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein." The answer for the 8th day is found in Deuteronomy.
Deut 31:10-12 not just the males but everybody has to come to Jerusalem for the Torah to be read the Torah.
10: And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
11: When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12: Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:

Now let me ask you, when was Jesus born? The Bible tells us how to work it out if we know how to interpret what we are reading.

1 Chronicles 24:1 "Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar." Now read down to 1 Chronicles 24:10 "The seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,", I can hear you saying, what has that got to do with anything about the birth of Jesus, Thats ok, just keep reading and keep in mind that last bit of verse 10 "the eighth to Abijah"

There are 24 courses, each runs for 2 weeks, which gives us 48 weeks, in the Hebrew calendar there are 51 weeks those 3 weeks are the pilgrimage feasts. So the various courses run for one week each and then they start again with all the priests working over the 3 feasts, so in verse 10 above Hakkoz serves for week 7 and Abijah serves during week 8. Now turn to Luke 1:5 "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth." Abia here is the same as Abijah above, all we need now is to work out what the week is that Zacharias is serving in the Temple. We start with course 1 on the 2nd Nissan, but course 2 is not the next week because it is Passover week so the second course starts on Nissan 16 each week then starts a new course, so course 8 starts on Iyyar 28, Zachariah is ministering in this week but then the next week starting on Sivan 6 is Pentecost week so again all Priests serve during the week including Zachariah, this is when the angel appears and tells him about John. Because Zachariah questions the angel he is made deaf and dumb until after the birth. The multitude are astonished that he opens his mouth but no words come out, Zachariah should have been pronouncing the Priestly Blessing over the people, but all is silent. The multitude are all the men because this is a pilgrimage feast, all men are required to attend. As the week finishes and course 9 begins he goes home and Elizabeth becomes pregnant, you can read the full account in Luke chapter 1. 6 months is approx Kislev 22 (Mary is told by the angel Gabriel about Jesus) then 9 months gives us John the Baptist born around Passover, approx Nissan 14, add another 6 months and we are approx Tishrei 15 which is Tabernacles. But hold on a moment, when Mary goes to stay with Elizabeth, did you read the bit about the Baby John leaping in the womb of Elizabeth as Mary arrives. Luke 1: 41 "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost" So a six month old foetus can recognise a two or three week old foetus in another womb and they are both filled with the Holy Spirit, wow, in my head that cancels out any argument for an abortion at any time.

We can work out the dates because we know a full-term pregnancy is a pregnancy that lasts between 39 weeks, 0 days and 40 weeks 6 days.

Jesus is born on the Feast of Tabernacles 3 months later in the stables, because The place is packed with people attending the Feast, it is a pilgrimage feast, he was laid in a manger the food stalls for the animals and wrapped in Swaddling clothes, these are the strips of Priestly cloth that were used as the wicks for the lamp stands in the womens court. Luke 2:21 his name was Yashua, the circumcision is the shedding of his blood in the temple on the 8th day confirming the covenant with Abraham, remember the 8th day when the Torah is read aloud to the gathered nation of Israel. Now Leviticus 12 says that you are supposed to bring a lamb, but if you cannot afford a lamb then 2 turtle doves or pigeons will suffice, all the sacrifice lambs are bread in Bethlehem, but Mary had actually brought the Lamb.
Do you recall the Census that has been decreed, would it not be wise to collect the tax when everyone comes to you and all are in the same place straight after the harvest because every man has to be in Jerusalem for the feast and they are to pay their annual tithe into the Temple, or would you say, nah let us wait for three months before we make them come and pay us.
Nazareth is 44 miles north of Bethlehem, with the mountains of Samaria between
It snows in those mountains and usually in Jerusalem as well in the winter, are you when you are 9 months pregnant going to ride a donkey through snow drifts, just to pay your tax that you obviously do not have, remember they could not afford the required sacrifices to take to the Temple.