Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot Resources

Joyous Sukkot/Feast of Tabernacles from my family to yours! We will be celebrating Sukkot with a few like-minded believers in the wilderness mountains of Central Oregon.

To help you to celebrate the biblical festival of Sukkot with understanding, please check out the following Hoshana Rabbah resources—

For an in-depth teaching article on Sukkot, go to https://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/sukkot.pdf

Go to the Hoshana Rabbah YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/HoshanaRabbah?feature=mhee and check out the playlist on the Biblical Feasts and the Sabbath for many teaching videos on the subject of Sukkot.

 

A Feeding Trough, Manger or Sukkah?

Luke 2:7, Manger. (Gr. phatne) The Greek word phatne literally means “feeding trough” and according to the word’s etymology and lexicology as stated in The TDNT, there is no indication that this manger is anything but a standard feeding trough or manger.

Nevertheless, this manger may have been a sukkah or tabernacle, which is the flimsy little hut that Israelites build during the biblical Feast of Tabernacles (Heb. Chag Sukkot) as commanded in the Torah (Lev 23:33–43). We see the connection between a manger and a sukkah in Genesis 33:17 where Jacob built booths (or tabernacles; Heb. succot or sukkot is the plural form of sukkah) for his livestock showing us that the Hebrew word sukkah (pl. sukkot) can also mean “livestock barn or manger” as well as a temporary habitation where Israelites dwell during the biblically commanded festival of Sukkot.

This raises the possibility that Yeshua was born in a festival sukkah during the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot and not just in an animal barn as Christian folklore would have us believe.

The LXX Greek word for sukkah in Gen 33:17 is skenas meaning “habitation, dwelling or tabernacle” and is the same word used in John 1:14 and Rev 21:1–3 in reference to Yeshua tabernacling with his people.

Putting all the pieces together, Yeshua may have been born in a sukkah-manger prior to or during the Feast of Tabernacles with a human sukkah (or body, of which the physical sukkah during Sukkot is a metaphorical picture) in order to redeem man from sin, so that Yeshua might tabernacle with redeemed men forever in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:3).

 

Sukkot NW 2016 Praise Report

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We’re back from Sukkot NW 2016 on the middle Rogue River near Grants Pass in SW Oregon. Here is a quick review of the event.

This was our fifteenth and final Sukkot NW. My wife and I founded this ministry in 2002 and every year we have gone to a beautiful location in the state of Oregon in YHVH’s creation and away from the Babylon of the big city to meet with him and to join with those who hunger for the kingdom of Elohim and his righteousness.

When we planted Sukkot NW, there were no other events like ours in Washington State or Oregon. Over the years, we have helped  to transmit this vision to many people and to train them how to do a Sukkot event, and now there are many such events going on around us. We praise Yah for this. It is now time for my wife and I to pass the baton to someone else and focus our energies on other ministry areas that need our attention. To our excitement, YHVH has gone ahead of us and has raised up another family to receive this spiritual calling, and plans are already being made for next year’s Sukkot in the NW region of the United States.

This year, we again rented Griffin Park on the Rogue River. People came in from as far away as Alaska and southern California, as well as Washington State and Continue reading

 

Sukkot—the Feast of Tabernacles—2016 Is Here! Rejoice

Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret—The Historical Roots of Our Faith, Present Relevance for Believers & Prophetic End-Time Implications

Spiritual and Ceremonial Aspects of Sukkot

Overview of the Season

Sukkot (also spelled “Succoth”) or the Feast of Tabernacle/Booths or Ingathering is the sixth of the seven annual feast days in YHVH’s plan of redemption for mankind. It occurs in the early fall of the year on the fifteenth day of the seventh month on YHVH’s biblical calendar fifteen days after Yom Teruah (the Day of Shofar Blowing) and five days after Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). This festival lasts for seven days and directly following it is a separate festival called Shemini Atzeret literally meaning “the Eighth Solemn Assembly” and commonly referred to as “the Eighth Day.”

We see in the early fall a rapid succession of biblical feasts with one coming right after another. It is a time of great energy, excitement and anticipation both in the natural realm and prophetically.

We also observe a transition from the somber and repentant, even frightening, mood of Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur to the joyous and celebratory mood of the Feast of Sukkot, and no wonder, for the first two fall festivals of YHVH represent a very dark and ominous time in human history—the end of the age with the judgments of Elohim being poured out upon the earth (Great Tribulation, Wrath of Elohim, Battle of Armageddon, and Satan being bound and cast into the bottomless pit). But this same period culminates in the return of the Messiah, Yeshua, to rule the earth during the Messianic Age as King of kings and Master of masters. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures this glorious epoch in the history of humanity’s tenure upon this earth—a time of unspeakable joy and triumph of good over Continue reading

 

Sukkot NW 2016

Sukkot NW 2016 on the Rogue in Southern Oregon, October 16-24, 2016, http://sukkotnw.org

Visit SukkotNW.org

YOU ARE INVITED…DON’T DELAY!

There is still time to register for Sukkot Northwest 2016 on the wild and scenic Rogue River in warm and pristine Southwest Oregon. We have rented an entire campground with full camping and RV facilities, and several camp sites are still available.

After seeking YHVH Elohim, the theme for this year’s Feast is, “Get in the River of Life…Be a River of Life!” Our cornerstone scripture passages are:

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Yeshua stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:37–38)

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev 22:2)

We were led by the Spirit of Elohim to choose this theme unaware of its broader prophetic implications until Brother Bill who is from Washington State and is one of our speakers pointed out to us, “This is a wonderful theme to have this year, just having come off of last year’s theme of ‘Coming out of Babylon.’ Babylon is known by several names, one of which is the ‘Land Between Two Rivers.’ One river speaks of death, and the other river speaks of life. Babylon is a mixture of the two. ‘Come out of (the river of death)” was last year’s theme.  ‘Get into the River of Life!’ (and then be a river of life) is this year’s theme. A natural progression!” Thank you Bill for this encouraging confirmation.

Our primary motivation for choosing this theme is a response to the times in which we are living. Evil in the form of secular humanism, the rise in false and demonic religions, the moral and the spiritual decline of our society, the rise of the spirit of Antichrist, the rapid expansion of the police state and the move toward one-world government is coming upon us like a tidal wave! What should be our response? What can we possibly do about it? Very simply this: Do what Yeshua and the apostles did. Be a menorah on a hill boldly proclaiming the light of gospel message in the power of the Spirit of Elohim through our lifestyle and our words. This is the one weapon that we possess that makes all the powers of death, hell and darkness tremble. So, it’s time to saddle for battle!

A theme running through this year’s Sukkot will be learning to operate in the gifts of the Spirit to be a river of life to those around us as we help to gather in the lost sheep of the house of Israel in preparation for Messiah Yeshua’s second coming. Everyday, we will be having short teachings followed by group discussions (where we can learn from each other) on the gifts of the Spirit including prophecy, healing, deliverance, dreams and visions, signs and wonders, and the baptism of the Spirit. These will be followed by a workshop the following day in the prayer tent where we can learn to minister and be ministered to in these areas.

Nearly every day, we will have live praise and worship, Torah reading, and teachings from anointed speakers from several West Coast states.

We will also have workshops and several fun group activities including our annual erev Shabbat dinner, river immersion and water pouring ceremony.

For specific information and details on Sukkot NW 2016, please visit sukkotnw.org.

For a sense of what to expect at Sukkot NW 2016, we invite you to watch a fun video of excerpts from Sukkot NW 2015.