Booths

Booths (sukkot) were the temporary shelters of leafy branches — constructed from palm fronds, willow, myrtle, and other foliage — in which Israelites were commanded to dwell for seven days during the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:39-44). All native Israelites were to leave their permanent houses and live in these booths, commemorating the forty years their ancestors dwelt in temporary shelters in the wilderness following the Exodus from Egypt (Lev. 23:43). Nehemiah's restoration of the feast after the exile — for the first time since Joshua's day — involved the people constructing booths on rooftops, in courtyards, and in the temple precincts (Neh. 8:14-17).

The feast began on the fifteenth of Tishri, immediately following the Day of Atonement, and was accompanied by water-libation ceremonies and great illumination of the temple courts in Second Temple practice. Jesus's attendance at the feast (John 7:2, 14, 37) provided the occasion for his declaration on the great day of the feast that rivers of living water would flow from those who believed in him (John 7:37-39). Zechariah's eschatological vision requires all nations to come to Jerusalem annually to celebrate the Feast of Booths, and any nation that refuses will receive no rain (Zech. 14:16-19) — anchoring the feast in the final restoration of creation.