Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #17 in Genesis 33, and we were looking at verse 17 where Jacob was going to Succoth, and we read Genesis 33:17:

And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

Last time, we discussed the building of the house.  Jacob is a type of Christ, and building the house would point to Christ building His own house of those He has saved, and they become His family.  Just as Noah built the ark to the saving of his house, so, too, Christ (through His atoning work performed for those He had predestinated to receive it) provided the eternal safety and security of the salvation of God for His family.  And that family is made up of everyone whose name was recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life, as God determined to save this one and that one, and so forth.

Again, it says in Genesis 33:17:

And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

Before we look at the word “booths,” we are going to look at the word “cattle.”  The Hebrew word translated as “cattle” is Strong’s #4735, and I would pronounce it as “mik-neh',” and it really means “purchased animals” or “purchased possessions.”  It would identify with livestock that is bought, as far as this verse is concerned.  But it is also translated simply as “possession” concerning Isaac’s possessions in Genesis 26:14:

For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds…

The word translated in English as “possession” is the same word for “cattle” in our verse in Genesis 33:17.  So Isaac had possession of flocks and possessions of herds, and then it goes on to say in Genesis 26:14:

… and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

Isaac had “cattle of flocks” and “cattle of herds.”  It sounds pretty awkward, so the translators translated it as “possessions.”  They were his purchased livestock.

We also find this word used in Genesis 49, where it has nothing to do with animals.  It says in Genesis 49:30-32:

In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

Here, the word “purchase” in verse 32 is the word we are looking at, which is Strong’s #4735, (mik-neh').  It is the possession or the purchase of the field from the children of Heth, and it became his possession.  So we can see that there is more in view here than simply cattle. 

Also, if we go to the book of Job, we read of Job in Job 1:3:

His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

The word “substance” is the word “mik-neh'.”  One thing we can see is that the word “cattle” does not refer just to cows.  It can be various animals or livestock.  They are purchased animals that became the possession of their owner.  It was Job’s substance.  It was his wealth.  They belonged to him.  They were his possession.

There is also a related word, Strong’s #4736, and I would pronounce it “mik-naw'.”  The only difference is the vowel pointing.  It has identical consonants to #4735, but it has slightly different vowel points.  The ending is the only difference.  Strong’s #4735 has “neh” ending, and this word, Strong’s #4736, has a “naw” ending, and the vowel points were added later, so it is basically the same word.  And this word, Strong’s #4736, is translated as “bought,” or “price,” or “possession,” or “purchase.”  So we can see that it is very similar in its use as the word we are looking at, and this related word is used in Genesis 23 when Abraham bought the cave for a buryingplace.  It says in Genesis 23:17-18:

And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.

Let us look at just one other place where this related Hebrew word is found, in Genesis 17 where God gave the Law of circumcision to Abraham.  It says in Genesis 17:12-13:

And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

Here, the word “bought” is used twice, and that is our related word.

So as we read that Jacob made booths for his “cattle,” we can understand that as saying he made booths for his “possessions.”  And this would point to the truth we read in 1Corinthians 6:19-20:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

That is, God owns those He has bought and purchased.  We are His, and the purchase price was the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He has bought us.  He has redeemed us, and we belong to Him.  We are His servants and His people.  And just as these cattle belonged to Jacob, and they are his possession.  So we can see that the “cattle” are a representation of those the Lord has redeemed by granting His mercy in salvation.

And that is why he built his cattle “booths,” because we normally see booths in association with the feast of Tabernacles.  That is what we are going to look at next in our verse in Genesis 33:17:

And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

And Succoth means “booths.”  So Jacob, a type of Christ, made booths (plural) for his cattle.  That is, God has designed and built the booth for His elect people that will shelter us, especially at the time of the end when the Lord is bringing the fulfilment of the feast of Tabernacles to pass.  He is fulfilling the feast of Tabernacles in a similar manner to his fulfilling of the feast of Passover, or with the feast of firstfruits, with the outpouring of His Holy Spirit on that day in 33 A. D.  So God has designed and made a booth for you, for me, and for each of His truly elect people. 

So that is one helpful bit of information we can see.  It is not that we are making the booth, although that figure of the feast of Tabernacles was instituted to remember Israel’s wilderness sojourn for 40 years when they dwelt in booths.  They were make-shift tents, and they would take sticks or boughs they had found, and they would build structures to protect them from the heat of the day, or from storm or rain, and so forth.

Yes, it is true that the Israelites observed the feast by going forth and finding branches and such to make their booths, but what it points to is something God has done on behalf of His people, especially at the time of the end when there is spiritual fulfilment of this feast.

Let us go to Leviticus 23, and we will see the Law of God concerning the observing of the feast of Tabernacles.  It says in Leviticus 23:33-34:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto JEHOVAH.

Then let us go down to Leviticus 23:39-42:

Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto JEHOVAH seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before JEHOVAH your God seven days. And ye shall keep it a feast unto JEOVAH seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

I want to stop here for a moment because we just read something significant in Leviticus 23:42, which would tie in with the spiritual meaning of this feast.  Again, it says, “Ye shall dwell in booths seven days.”  Who are to dwell in booths?  All that are Israelite born shall dwell in booths or tabernacles.  Historically, the children of Israel would be the ones observing this feast.  No problem.  But spiritually, who are those that are Israelite born?  Remember that God said this concerning the physical descendants of Abraham in Romans 2:28-29:

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

The “true Jew” is circumcised in the heart, in the spirit, inwardly, and the only way that is possible is with the spiritual circumcision that only God can perform.  And that is speaking of being born again and receiving that new heart and new spirit.  That individual – whether they be Jew or Gentile –becomes “spiritual Israel.”  They have become circumcised, and they have received what the Law of circumcision pointed to, which was circumcision of the heart.  It is inward circumcision in which their sins are “cut off.”  The physical descendants of Abraham experienced outward physical circumcision, yet most of them never had their sins “cut off.”  That is, they never became saved.  Christ did not die for them.  Christ did not save them, and they were never born again.  Therefore they are not a “true Jew” in God’s sight.  They are not of spiritual Israel, and they are not an Israelite born, in that sense.

So when we read Leviticus 23:42, God is telling us regarding the spiritual observance of the feast of Tabernacles is to dwell in booths, but those that will dwell in booths must be born again.  You must be born again.  That is what Christ said to Nicodemus, and Nicodemus was stunned.  He had never heard such a thing.  And yet, that is the teaching of the Bible from beginning to end – we must experience the new birth in the spiritual realm, or we will die in our sins, and we will not be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven, the Promised Land.  God’s promise was to Abraham and his seed.  The seed is Christ, in the first instance, but all those that are counted for the seed in Christ are “spiritual Israel,” and they are all circumcised in heart.  It does not matter if they are male or female.  They are children of God, and they have received the spiritual circumcision performed by God upon them.  And they, alone, are qualified to dwell in the booth, like the booths that Jacob made for his cattle, and which Christ has made specifically for each elect child of God.