Sukkos [Feast of Tabernacles]

Sukkos is a unique Yom Tov in so many ways, one of which is its karbanos (ritual offerings). While the number of rams and sheep sacrificed on each of Sukkos' seven days remained constant (2 rams, 14 sheep), the bulls were offered in varying quantities. Specifically, 13 bulls were sacrificed on day one, 12 on the second day, 11 on the third day, and so on. Over seven days, 70 bulls were sacrificed.

Chazal, our Sages of blessed memory, offer a fascinating insight into the "diminishing bulls." There are, according to the Talmud (Sukkah 55b), seventy nations of the world. The seventy bulls correspond to those seventy nations, and it was in the merit of these bulls that the nations flourished and succeeded. Regarding this, the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Bamidbar 684) quotes the verse (Tehillim/Psalms 109:4), "In place of my love - they hated me." "Rabbi Yehuda said: How foolish the nations are! They have lost, yet they know not what they have lost. When the Holy Temple stood, the Altar [with its seventy bulls] would bring them forgiveness. Now - who will bring them forgiveness? (Sukkah ibid.)"

Seemingly, the seventy bulls were a gesture of (largely unappreciated) generosity offered by the Jews on behalf of the nations. Yet Chazal (see Rashi, Bamidbar 29:18) also note that although the quantity of sheep (symbolizing the Jews) remained constant, the bulls were offered in diminishing quantities, which is a sign of weakness and vulnerability. How can we reconcile these two seemingly opposite ideas? ...

Amos 9:11 In that day will I raise up the sukkah of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:

12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.

13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

As an example of the feast days, for the day when they are no longer rehearsals and shadows of things to come, but being fulfilled and giving life to this Earth and what they represented and what occurs on them, and this conjecture is obvious to me at least when I read it, just thought I would share,

When I read Revelation Chapters 1 – 7 I see this:

Chapter 1 – Church
Chapter 2 – Church
Chapter 3 – Church

“After these things” (after the church)

Then it turns very much to Israel in the use of Idioms from Chapters 4 until 19 when the Church reappears, but look who she shows up with, in very good company I’ll say,

Chapter 4 - Feast of Trumpets - references to a trumpet, a loud voice like a trumpet, a door being opened,

Chapter 5 - Yom Kippur – the judgment is set, the court is in session, this was the day of Atonement, the books were opened, God has a book in his right hand and who can take it? No one is worthy to take the book, or open it, or even look at whats written inside, its over for the Earth and everything living on it, (but wait) this is a future Jubilee, the time of the restitution of all things, legally it requires it be declared on the 10th day of the seventh month following 49 years.

Chapter 6 – the book is taken and opened, by the only one that is found eligible to do so, our Kinsman Redeemer, our Boaz, the seals are now being opened and events are loosed on the Earth by this legal action, this cannot be turned back or undone, it had been restrained until this moment,

Chapter 7 – Feast of Tabernacles - they wear robes and carry palm branches, and it is one of the three feasts, the others being in the spring, Unleavened Bread, and in Summer, Pentecost, that required any able bodied person to appear in person, also in the millennium the gentiles have to appear in Jerusalem to celebrate it, which is interesting as here they are now in this chapter, everyone is showing up, coming out of tribulation, but events are just getting started on the Earth, you don’t want to be counted with the Earth dwellers after this point,

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.