Ex 23: 16 Also you shall observe… the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.
In one simple verse, God ordained from that time forward an annual celebration for the Jews to offer their gratitude for the bounty Yahweh had abundantly and graciously provided during the harvest. Clearly, Thanksgiving began way before the Pilgrims. This Feast of Ingathering, later referred to as Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, parallels very well with our November feast. Leviticus 23:40 tells the reader the Jews were to celebrate this time joyfully and 23:43 offers that this time is an opportunity to remind the Jews of the temporary dwellings during the Exodus. Later in Zechariah 14:16-19 the prophet warns of the consequences for those who refuse to pay homage to God—no rain and plagues. In short, the Feast of Tabernacles was a time of year where to the Jews traveled to the Temple to celebrate God for an entire week. They cried out to God, thanking Him for His provision and pleading with Him to provide again for the next harvest.
Fast forward. John 7. Enter Jesus. The beauty of this passage is staggering.
In John 7, Jesus enters Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles and offers words and a promise to the Jews never heard before. These men and women would have been celebrating all week long the bounty of Yahweh and would have been beseeching Him to provide a blessing. And, it is in this backdrop that Jesus, on the last day—after all the beseeching, praying, celebrating, and yearning—made this declaration:
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
Jesus, in this short but powerful phrase turned this entire Feast on its head. No longer would the Jews need to long for the provision of Yahweh, He had come. No longer would the Jews need to yearn for rain, living water had come. No longer would the Jews need to travel to the Temple, the Word was now dwelling among them.
Yet, despite the fact that Jesus completely changed the content of this Feast, its purpose remained: give thanks. And so we will. But, let us give it like those who have read John 7, and who gush living waters.
God, thank you for your Son, and for the sacrifice He made on the cross, may we never forgot what you’ve done and who you are.
