In the past two months, I have enjoyed traveling to different states to visit friends.
In October, I flew to the state of Missouri. In November, I flew to the state of Tennessee. Both trips were a blessing.
My Dad was a pilot for United Airlines for over 30 years, and because of that, he still has some perks from his former job. One of those perks is standby airline passes for family members. My Dad is limited on the number of passes he gets, but he can change family members who use them each year. This year, my Dad put my name in the system. I had the blessing of flying to both states for free. The only downside of flying standby is that you have no guaranteed seat until the flight begins to board. To avoid standing inside the airport terminal only to watch your flight leave without you (which has happened before), we look at flights ahead of time to check for open seats. Certain times of the year, travel is quieter.
When I flew to Missouri in October, I took my sleeping bag with me. I don’t normally fly with a sleeping bag, but this time, I wanted it.
Usually, I travel with just one suitcase.
While packing my suitcase, I asked my Dad:
“I’m allowed two checked bags for free, correct?”
My Dad wasn’t sure about a second checked bag being free. I was relieved when the check in kiosk at the airport confirmed that I was allowed to check two bags for free, otherwise, I may have never seen my sleeping bag again.
“Can I get a plastic bag for my sleeping bag?”
I kindly asked the helpful check in agents.
“Sure.”
I watched them tie my sleeping bag shut inside a large plastic bag like it had been made for it. I knew those large, plastic bags at airports were available for more than just strollers.
Securing the second luggage tag on my sleeping bag, the kind check in lady asked:
“Where are you flying to tonight?”
To which I replied:
“Springfield, Missouri”
Curious, the check in agent asked:
“What’s in Missouri?”
Knowing that my sleeping bag had probably gotten her curiosity up, I replied:
“I’m going to celebrate the Biblical holiday of Sukkot with friends there.”
The Biblical holiday of Sukkot.
I’m sure that was an answer she didn’t hear often. I shared with her:
“That’s what my sleeping bag is for.”
She wished me a good flight, and we bade each other farewell, although that lady may still be wondering what the Biblical holiday of Sukkot is.
Some reading this post might be wondering the same. What is the Biblical holiday of Sukkot?
Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles.
This Biblical holiday is mentioned in the Bible in Leviticus 23. God told His people Israel to remember this holiday forever.
Leviticus 23:34 says:
“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.”
A few verses later, God says:
“And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.”
Leviticus 23:41
In the next verse, He says:
“Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths.”
Leviticus 23:42
The old English word for booth is a temporary dwelling. More simply put, a booth is like a tent.
God basically told His people, Israel, to live in something like a tent for an entire week.
Today, the Jews build a Sukkah, a temporary dwelling, outside with fabric all around it - like a tent. And as God told them, they put tree branches on top to cover it. Jewish people eat all of their meals inside of their Sukkah for a week.
Some also sleep inside of their Sukkah, but not all of them do. Some sleep inside their home and only eat their meals outside in their Sukkah.
Another fun way of celebrating this Biblical holiday is to eat in a Sukkah and sleep in a tent.
What is the meaning behind this Biblical holiday?
It points to a future time when Christ will literally come to dwell among His people again, and “tabernacle” among them.
This holiday is reminiscent of God’s Presence literally dwelling among His people, Israel, when they were in the wilderness with all of their numerous tents.
Some might think that this holiday is only for Israel to celebrate, not for anyone else.
God says in His Word, that someday, all nations will celebrate this Biblical holiday with Israel.
The prophet Zechariah says:
“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”
Zechariah 14:16
This Biblical holiday is for all nations. The nations that do not celebrate this in the future will not get any rain. Obviously, without water, things die.
“And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.”
Zechariah 14:17
These verses are clear. God has not done away with His precious, holy days, His holidays.
This holiday is very special to God! This holiday is for all nations.
This Biblical holiday is a time of rejoicing and of recognizing God as King over all the earth. The day is coming when all nations and all people will bow their knee to the God of Israel, the One true God, the only God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Hallelujah!
Sukkot is to be a joyful time! It was special for me to celebrate it with friends from my former church who now live in Missouri.
When I arrived at my friend’s home late one night, I could see their Sukkah outside along with many tents. So festive. So fun. So special.
Because I have no tent of my own, they gave me a room to sleep in inside their home. I brought along my sleeping bag just in case a tent became available. I will admit though, sleeping in a real bed was quite nice.
I enjoyed all of my meals with them outside in their Sukkah, and I loved seeing the many tents, friends of theirs, on their property.
I flew home the day before my birthday.
The following weekend, back in my own home, I did some special Scripture reading, Scripture reading that specifically mentioned a tent.
Several years ago, I wrote a post on a former blog. That post was titled: My Torah Portion.
Sadly, I no longer have that post because that blog is permanently gone. In that post, I shared how the Jewish people have a Bible reading plan that they follow.
The idea is similar to Christians who have a weekly Bible reading schedule or a weekly Sunday school lesson. Everyone reads the same portion of Scripture and then studies and discusses it at church on Sunday.
The Jewish people do the same thing, but on Saturday, the weekly Sabbath. Their Bible reading, called a Torah portion, is the same each year. They start in Genesis and read through the first five books of the Bible each year. They add in portions from the prophets and they also read various Psalms during the week.
Sadly, the Jewish people do not yet recognize Jesus as being the Messiah so they do not have or read the New Testament. But the day is coming when they will. Hallelujah!
Their weekly Bible reading is on a set schedule every year. I have done it, and it is a joy to follow. I grew up hearing Bible stories from those books of the Bible.
The Jewish people have chapters to read each week, in order, with a name for each portion of Scripture.
Many years ago, I was curious which portion of Scripture the Jewish people were reading during the week that I was born.
After looking, I found it. The Torah portion that was read during the week that I was born is Noah. It is about the story of Noah and the great flood in Genesis 6-11.
The portion mentions the rainbow that God put in the sky as a promise that He would never flood the earth again.
Along with that portion of Scripture from Genesis, there is a section of Scripture that is read from the prophets called a Haftorah reading.
During the week that I was born, the Scripture from the prophets was Isaiah 54. That Scripture is always read with the portion of “Noah” because Isaiah 54:9 mentions “the waters of Noah.”
Isaiah 54:1 begins by saying:
“Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.”
At quick glance, it might appear like Isaiah is speaking to single, unmarried, barren women.
But that is not who the prophet Isaiah is speaking to or about. Isaiah 54 is not about single women.
The prophet Isaiah was speaking about and directly to the nation of Israel in this chapter.
When reading and studying the Bible, it is so important and imperative to understand who a Bible writer is speaking to and about, otherwise, the Word of God can be greatly misunderstood and taken out of context.
In this chapter, Isaiah is using a picture, a metaphor, an analogy of an unmarried woman with no children in comparison to a married woman with many children. The prophet is speaking to Israel and about Israel.
The nation of Israel had a total of 12 tribes. After the reign of King Solomon, God separated the tribes of Israel into two groups - 10 tribes in the north and 2 tribes in the south.
This is Bible fact and can be read in 1 Kings 12 where God told them not to fight each other.
Obviously, one group was much larger because it had more tribes in it. The 10 northern tribes were “the house of Israel.”
The 2 southern tribes were “the house of Judah” because the tribe of Judah was the main tribe.
Today, the house of Judah is the Jewish people.
It is easy to see how Judah got the nickname Jew. Jew is just a short form of Judah.
Like most people, I grew up believing that the Jewish people are all 12 tribes of Israel. Not true. The Jewish people are only the house of Judah.
Who are the 10 northern tribes of Israel today? They are not Jews, though the Jews are their brother tribes.
That topic is for another blog post. I will share though that our world has some big surprises coming in the future. If you knew who the larger “house of Israel” actually is today, it would totally blow your mind. It is beyond glorious!
God has indeed kept His promise to Abraham.
But going back to Isaiah 54.
Who is the unmarried woman in this chapter?
The unmarried woman is the house of Israel, the 10 northern tribes, whom God divorced. Israel was, sadly, no longer married to God because of her disobedience to God. The prophet Isaiah compares her to an unmarried, barren woman.
Who is the married woman in this chapter?
The married woman is Judah, the two southern tribes of Israel, who was still married to God then. At that time, the house of Judah was obedient to God and because of that, Judah was prospering.
Why would Isaiah tell the house of Israel to sing?
Sing because she is unmarried?
Sing because she is childless?
No.
Isaiah told the house of Israel to sing because she was going to have more children than she could imagine! The house of Israel was going to have far more children than the house Judah who was still married to God at that time.
That is why the prophet Isaiah told Israel to sing!
Sing, Israel, because lots of children are coming!
Not only did Isaiah tell the house of Israel to sing, he also told her to prepare for what was coming.
Consider the imagery he uses in the next verse:
“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.”
Isaiah 54:2
Isaiah was basically telling the house of Israel:
“Enlarge your tent!”
Tents. I saw many of them in Missouri the week before I read this portion of Scripture. I saw tents in all shapes and sizes, and each tent usually pictured the number of people inside.
Tents were common in ancient Israel, particularly when Israel was in the wilderness.
Isaiah was telling Israel to make her tent larger and to strengthen her ropes and stakes because she was going to need room for all the children!
The next verse confirms this.
“For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.”
Isaiah 54:3
But why? Why would God bless the house of Israel with so many children when the house of Israel was so disobedient to God?
It goes back to a promise God made to Abraham, a covenant God made with him.
Abraham and his wife, Sarah, walked with God. They were old and had no children of their own.
We know the story. God promised Abraham that he would have a son of his own, a son that his wife Sarah would give birth to, even in their old age.
When Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90, they had a son named Isaac. A miracle from God, the son God promised to Abraham.
God gave Abraham another promise as well. God promised Abraham that, through his son Isaac, his descendants would be so numerous, they would be like the stars of heaven!
“And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”
Genesis 15:5
In Genesis 17:16, God told Abraham that his wife Sarah would be a “mother of nations”.
“And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.”
Nations, plural, would come from Sarah, in Isaac.
In Genesis 22, God repeated the promise that He gave to Abraham by saying:
“And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore…
Because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
Genesis 22:15-18
Because Abraham obeyed God, and offered his son to God, God guaranteed that promise. No matter what, Abraham’s descendants, through Isaac, would be more numerous than he could count.
This meant that, even though His descendants would be in exile one day for their disobedience to God, God was still going to keep the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God also promised to bring them back home someday.
Consider these verses from Isaiah 54:
“For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.”
Isaiah 54:7
Isaiah 54 is all about God keeping His promises. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. Absolutely nothing will stop it from happening.
God has made so many promises in His Word, promises that He has kept and will keep.
For the nation of Israel, a promise was more children than they could count. Entire nations, plural, would come from Israel. Isaiah used a large tent as a picture of this.
God has given us exceeding great and precious promises. This should cause God’s people to sing!
For those who, like Abraham, have been given a personal promise from God…
Sing!
Sing because God always keeps His promises.
Prepare!
Prepare, in faith, for what God has promised you.
Like the prophet Isaiah told Israel, stretch forth your tent curtains, lengthen your ropes, strengthen your stakes. Why?
Because the promise is coming!
I also love another thing the prophet Isaiah told Israel in that passage. Spare not. His meaning?
Don’t hold back.
Enlarge your tent, in faith, because blessings more numerous than you can count are coming!
God always keeps His Word.
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