Leviticus 23:34

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,.... Giving them directions about keeping a feast, in which the whole body of them had a very special and particular concern: the fifteenth day of this

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, The feast of tabernacles , [ chag (H2282) ha-Cukowt (H5521), festival of the booths (see the notes at Exodus 23:16; Exodus 34:22, where it is called, chag

Of tabernacles, i.e. of tents, or booths, or arbours. This feast was appointed principally to remind them of that time when they had no other dwellings in the wilderness, as it is expressed , and to stir them up to bless God as well for the gracious conduct and protection then afforded them, as for their more commodious and secure habitations now given them; and secondarily, to excite them to gratitude for all the fruits of the year newly ended, which were now completely brought in, as may be gathered from ,14. See an instance of this feast .

Leviticus 23:34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month [shall be] the feast of tabernacles [for] seven days unto the LORD.Ver. 34. The feast of tabernacles.] It signified, the prophet Zechariah being interpreter, that the remembrance of our redemption by Christ should be perpetuated with all spiritual gladness.

(34) The fifteenth day of this seventh month.—That is, the month Tishri, corresponding to the end of September and the beginning of October, and only four days after the day of Atonement. Shall be the feast of tabernacles.—How and where these tabernacles are to be erected the law here gives no directions. The details, as in many other enactments, are left to the administrators of the Law. From the account of the first celebration of this festival after the return from Babylon, the Jews, according to the command of Ezra, made themselves booths upon the roofs of houses, in the courts of their dwellings, and of their sanctuary, in the streets of the Water-gate and the gate of Ephraim. These tabernacles they made of olive branches, pine branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of thick trees (Nehemiah 8:15-18). The construction of these temporary abodes, however, was more minutely defined by Ezra’s successors. It was ordained during the second Temple that the interior of each tabernacle must not be higher than twenty cubits, and not lower than ten palms, it must at least have three walls, with a thatched roof partially open so as to admit a view of the sky and the stars. It must not be under a tree, nor must it be covered with a cloth, or with any material which contracts defilement. Only branches or shrubs which grow out of the ground are to be used for the covering. These booths the Israelites began to erect on the morrow after the Day of Atonement. On the fourteenth, which was the day of preparation, the pilgrims came up to Jerusalem, and on the eve of this day the priests proclaimed the approach of the holy convocation by the blasts of trumpets. As on the feasts of Passover and Pentecost, the altar of burnt-offering was cleansed in the first night watch, and the gates of the Temple, as well as those of the inner court, were opened immediately after midnight, for the convenience of the priests who resided in the city, and for the people, who filled the court before the cock crew, to have their sacrifices duly examined by the priests.

Verse 34. The feast of tabernacles] In this solemnity the people left their houses, and dwelt in booths or tents made of the branches of goodly trees and thick trees, (of what kind the text does not specify,) together with palm-trees and willows of the brook, Leviticus 23:40. And in these they dwelt seven days, in commemoration of their forty years' sojourning and dwelling in tents in the wilderness while destitute of any fixed habitations. In imitation of this feast among the people of God, the Gentiles had their feasts of tents. Plutarch speaks particularly of feasts of this kind in honour of Bacchus, and thinks from the custom of the Jews in celebrating the feast of tabernacles, that they worshipped the god Bacchus, "because he had a feast exactly of the same kind called the feast of tabernacles, σκηνη, which they celebrated in the time of vintage, bringing tables out into the open air furnished with all kinds of fruit, and sitting under tents made of vine branches and ivy." - PLUT. Symp., lib. iv., Q. 6. According to Ovid the feast of Anna Perenna was celebrated much in the same way. Some remained in the open air, others formed to themselves tents and booths made of branches of trees, over which they spread garments, and kept the festival with great rejoicings. "Sub Jove pars durat; pauci tentoria ponunt; Sunt, quibus e ramis frondea facta easa est. Pars sibi pro rigidis calamos statuere columnis; Desuper extentas imposuere togas." Ovid, Fast., lib. iii. Concerning this feast of tabernacles, See Clarke on John 7:37; and "John 7:38"; and for the various feasts among the Jews, See Clarke on Exodus 23:14.

23–36. Three festivals, the Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles (P).

Seven days - Like the Passover, the feast of tabernacles commenced at the full moon, on the fifteenth day of the month, and lasted for seven days.

THE FEAST OF , Leviticus 23:33-44. 34. The fifteenth day of this seventh month — This was the seventh month of the ecclesiastical, and the first of the civil, year. It corresponds to a part of our September and a part of October.