Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #18 in Genesis 33, and we are continuing to look at Genesis 33:17 where we were told that Jacob made booths for his cattle, and as a result, the name of the place was called Succoth.  And the word “booth” is the same word for “tabernacle.”

At the close of our last study, we were looking at Leviticus 23, so let us go there and pick up in 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:

We discussed how on the spiritual level this is pointing to those that become born again, and one of the figures of being born again is to have “inward circumcision,” the circumcision of the heart or soul.  And that would point to the “cutting off” of the sins of an individual as that person is given a new resurrected soul. 

Only the elect of God are qualified to properly observe the feast of Tabernacles when it comes to its spiritual fulfilment, and God brought that to pass at the time of the end of the world, our present time period.  We are not going to get into that relationship, except I will just note that the feast of Tabernacles was a feast designed by God for a remembrance, as we will read in the next verse in Leviticus 23:43:

That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am JEHOVAH your God.

So the feast of Tabernacles was instituted by God to bring to mind Israel’s wilderness sojourn, which we know was 40 years.  It began at the point of their great deliverance in coming out of Egypt, and they dwelt in booths throughout that 40 years, and, finally, they crossed the river Jordan and entered into the Promised Land.

And we have a like period of time that started with a like grand event in 1994, a Jubilee year that identifies with the deliverance of the captives, just as all the Israelites that were captive in Egypt were delivered.  From the Jubilee year of 1994, which was the beginning of the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit, until the year 2033 is 40 inclusive years.  Over the course of this time, the Bible is bringing to pass the spiritual fulfilment of the feast of Tabernacles.  So the 40-year period is fitting, as it marks a time that is 40 years long in Israel’s history.

Let us also go to the book of Nehemiah as we look into the word “booths” from Genesis 33:17, where Jacob made booths for his cattle.  We have already seen that the cattle are a “purchased possession,” and they can represent those that Christ has saved.  I would recommend that you read the earlier verses in Nehemiah 8, as there is a very heavy emphasis on reading the book of the Law, which is the Word of God, the Bible, and there were 13 men that caused the people to understand what they heard, the Scripture that was read.  And that fits in with the time of the end because after 13,000 years of history, God caused His people to understand as He was opening the Scriptures to reveal the many truths we have come to know over the last few decades, including the entire Great Tribulation, and now into Judgment Day.  We are going to pick up in verse 13 because this is where it really starts to focus on the feast of Tabernacles.  It says in Nehemiah 8:13-14:

And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which JEHOVAH had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:

Notice again that the children of Israel are the ones that are to dwell in booths, and that would tie in with what we were talking about regarding “spiritual Israel.”  You must be born again. 

You know, a booth is a temporary shelter, let us say, for professed Christians who just think they are a Christian, but it is all “intellectual understanding” because nothing has changed in their hearts, as they still have a hardened heart of sin.  And they are not going to be able to dwell in the booth that God has made only for His elect.  We will see that the “booth” that God has made identifies with the truth of His Word.  The booth or tabernacle is the truth of the Word of God, the Bible.  The doctrines that the Lord has opened up at this time of the end are the “shelter” in the Day of Judgment that will protect us.  And these doctrines or truths are the very things that are troubling the ungodly unsaved people that are still natural-minded, and they are clinging to the idea that they are true believers.  And yet, they are troubled by these doctrines, and they come out from under the “booth,” and when they do so, there is the hot, burning sun coming down upon them, or there is a storm that comes like the storm that came against the house built on a rock and the house built on the sand, and the house built on sand was destroyed.  The only protection in the “day of evil” is to be under the booth, the one God has designed for each one of His people.

But let us continue by reading Nehemiah 8:15:

And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.

I believe there are five different types of branches mentioned, so that would point to the atonement.  Of course that is the ultimate safety and protection.  One cannot be an “Israelite born,” an elect child of God that has been circumcised in heart, without the atonement having been accomplished for you.  So, again, that would point to protection for spiritual Israel.

Then it goes on to say in Nehemiah 8:16-18:

So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.

This passage (and this chapter) is outstanding because it teaches us the relationship between God opening up His Word (at the time of the end) and causing His people to understand, and about the feast of Tabernacles at the time of the end, and, especially, the intense and heavy focus on the Bible.  They read the Bible.  They understood the words of the Law, the reading of the Word: “Let him which readeth understand,” as it says in Matthew 24, concerning the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.  And God did cause His people to understand the spiritual situation at that time.  The Holy Spirit had left the corporate body of the church, and Satan had entered in, and a great many other things that God’s Spirit opened up to the understanding of His people over the course of the spiritual fulfilment of the feast of Tabernacles, which dates back to the beginning point in the Jubilee year of 1994. 

It is almost a dual picture because just as the Israelites dwelt in booths in the wilderness, they were also being fed manna from heaven, a miraculous bread.  And Christ is the “bread.”  Christ is the Word.  It is His doctrine and His teaching that the Lord has been bringing forth in the Day of Judgment over a like time period (40 years) to spiritually feed and nourish His people.

So, again, the “booth” is that which identifies with God Himself, and with the Word of God, the Bible, and its truths, and the doctrines that the Lord brought forth at the time of the end.  And these things serve to protect Christ’s saved people from the wrath of God that is being poured out, first on the churches, and now on the world.

Let us go to Isaiah 4:3-5:

And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:  When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And JEHOVAH will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.

I should mention that in verse 5, this is a reference to the time that Israel was in the wilderness because it was at that time that God led them by a cloud by day and by a fire by night.  And that was the time that Israel was dwelling in booths.  So we have a tie-in where God is telling us through that language to look back and remember Israel’s wilderness sojourn, and then He says in Isaiah 4:6:

And there shall be a tabernacle(booth) for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

It is the booth that God was going to give – it would be there, and it would be available to the people of God, the “Israelite born.”  And it would serve as a shadow in the daytime from the heat, just as Jonah built a booth for that reason.  And it would also serve as “a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain,” and the storm and rain would also point to the storm that assails (the furious anger of God), first against the corporate church, and now against the world.

We are told that the tabernacle was for a place of refuge, and that is what I want to concentrate on now, and as we look further at this, it will help us understand the tabernacle or booth a little bit better.  Let us begin by going to Isaiah 25:4:

For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

You see, it is God who has been a strength to the poor and to the needy in their distress, and He is also a refuge from the storm, and a shadow from the heat, which are the very things we read in Isaiah 4:6.  God is our refuge and strength, the Bible tells us, and yet, God says the “tabernacle” will be a refuge.  The “tabernacle” will be a shadow from the heat, which are both things that God Himself does for His people.

Let us see if we can understand a little bit better by looking at the word “refuge” in a few different passages where this word is used.  Let us go to Isaiah 28:14-17:

Wherefore hear the word of JEHOVAH, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Here, it is really picking up some of the same language and the same picture we saw back in Isaiah 4:6:

And there shall be a tabernacle(booth) for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

It is a hiding place, is it not?  It is a hiding place where you can find refuge and protection.  In Isaiah 28, God is speaking of those that have made lies their refuge and they have hidden themselves under falsehood.  It is like a booth that they think is protecting them.  They think that the doctrines they have devised and the gospel they have developed will serve to protect them from the heat and from the storm of the wrath of God.  But it is not so.  It requires the truth.  It requires a tabernacle, or booth, that God has made in order for it to be actual protection from the wrath of God.