Daily Devotionals

Voice of the Lord

Devotional: 14th of Tishrei

Take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows.... You are to live in sukkot for seven days (Leviticus 23:40,42).

The Torah mandates two visual symbols for Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles): the lulav (the fruit and boughs of leafy trees) and the sukkah (tabernacle). These speak of opposite poles of our spiritual experience.

The lulav is the symbol that celebrates our entry into the Land of Promise. The Feast of Tabernacles is the season of our rejoicing, the Festival of Ingathering, the culmination of our year, of our labors, and of God's redemption.

The sukkah, in contrast, is a simple hut, the dwelling of the desert, of the barren wilderness. As the lulav signals abundance and completion, the sukkah evokes simplicity and transition. The lulav is the emblem of the Promised Land; the sukkah, the reminder of wilderness wanderings.

Even as we celebrate our finished redemption, we remember what we were before being redeemed. The God of Israel rescued us out of bondage and aimlessness to serve him; yet, we still have not arrived at the final redemption. Indeed, the presumption that Israel had arrived was one of the great pitfalls encountered in the Land of Promise. Further, our arrival is not complete as long as multitudes remain in bondage. So we "celebrate in the presence of ADONAI" our God (Leviticus 23:40) as Torah requires, but we also await the final ingathering when all nations will go up to worship the king, and keep the festival of Sukkot (see Zechariah 14:16).

...tell someone who is lost the good news of the Malchut HaShem (Kingdom of God) in Messiah.

RR