Gospel of John, Part 2

Last month I posted my first assignment from the course I'm taking on the Gospel of John. Here is my second writing assignment.

Writing Prompt:
In what ways does Jesus fulfill the symbolism underlying the Feast of Tabernacles?

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First recorded in Exodus 23:16 as the Feast of Ingathering, The Feast of Booths—or Feast of Tabernacles as it’s called in John’s Gospel—was perhaps the greatest feast for the Israelites as a nation.[1] The first seven days of this feast included booths or “tabernacles” made from trees and branches from the surrounding area. They would also offer specific sacrifices for each day.[2] The eighth feast day was to be a day of rest in which the people also presented offerings to the Lord[3] and prayed for rain.[4] All Jewish men were required to attend the annual Feast of Booths[5] which started during the month of Tishri (September/October) during harvest season.[6] This feast time and festival served as thanksgiving to God for current firstfruits of the harvest, as well a time of remembrance for the forty years in which God cared for them in the wilderness.[7] Jesus would have been well aware of the customs and culture of His day regarding this feast, and in many ways, Christ fulfills the symbolism of the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles).

The temporary “tabernacles” made out of branches and trees[8] were used during the seven feast days as dwelling places for a reminder of God’s provision in spite of their sin.[9] In Jesus, God provided protection and eternal life when “the Word became flesh and ‘tabernacled’ among us”. [10] Christ didn’t leave them with the image of a temporary shelter for a feast day, but instead lived in human form and provided rescue from sin and an eternal home with God. [11]

In John 6, Jesus describes Himself as the Bread of Life. Perhaps the Jews would have remembered the bread that came from heaven while their ancestors wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Now standing before their very eyes was the One who was the sustaining and satisfying eternal Bread of Life.[12] The crowd demonstrated previously that they remembered the manna in the wilderness,[13] but yet the hearts of the religious leaders grumbled and disputed against Christ because of the emptiness of their outward religion.[14]

One of the specific ceremonies during the Feast of Booths was a water ritual. This was not a commandment given by God, but rather an important tradition of the religious leaders, and again it was a reminder to the Jews of God’s provision of water during the wilderness wanderings of their ancestors.[15] The priest drew water out of the pool of Siloam for each day of the feast, and then, along with a procession of others, the sounds of the trumpet, and the Hallel chorus, the high priest poured out the water as an offering to the Lord.[16] With this in mind and likely in the minds of the Jews, Jesus spoke these words: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”[17] Jesus was not merely a temporary quench of thirst to parched throats, as the waters in the wilderness were; rather, He was the eternal water from which no one would ever thirst again, if they would only come to Him and drink.

Jesus second “I AM” statement occurs in John 8, and it also held much rich symbolism for the Jewish[18] Perhaps as high as 75 feet high, these lamps were a visible reminder of the fire that led the Israelites by night through the wilderness and also of Yahweh’s promise to send the Messiah and redeem Israel’s glory among the nations.[19] It was likely that after this ceremony, in the physical darkness of Jerusalem, Jesus spoke these words to the people:[20] “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”[21] Once again, using the symbolism and ceremonies of the Feast of Booths, Jesus points out the spiritual darkness of the Jews and calls them to repent and “walk in the light, as he is in the light.”[22]

culture. Another ceremony practiced during the Feast of Booths was the Illumination of the Temple. Four huge golden candelabras or oil-filled lamps were lit in the Court of the Women.

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[1] Elmer Towns, The Gospel of John, 69

[2] Numbers 29

[3] Leviticus 23:33-43

[4] Joel Wilbush, Three midwinter celebrations: an exploration, 235-6

[5] Deuteronomy 16:16

[6] Elmer Towns, The Gospel of John, 69

[7]  Ibid.

[8] Nehemiah 8:15-16

[9] Elmer Towns, The Gospel of John, 76

[10] John 1:14

[11] http://www.jewishroots.net/holidays/feast-of-tabernacles/feast-of-tabernacles-holiday-page.html#Messiah (accessed February 4, 2016).

[12] Elmer Towns, The Gospel of John, 64

[13] John 6:31

[14] John 6:4152

[15] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: John 1-11, 312

[16] Ibid.

[17] John 7:37-38, ESV

[18] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: John 1-11, 334

[19] http://www.jewishroots.net/holidays/feast-of-tabernacles/feast-of-tabernacles-holiday-page.html#Messiah (accessed February 4, 2016).

[20] Leon Morris, Jesus is the Christ, 112

[21] John 8:12, ESV

[22] 1 John 1:7, ESV