Sukkoth or The Feast of Tabernacles, sometimes called Booths, celebrated the time when the Children of Israel, newly liberated from Egypt, dwelt in the desert in tents and huts. It was the third of the three great annual feasts. It was considered by the Jews the greatest and most joyful of the feasts. The Feast of Tabernacles commemorates the Lord's blessings to the children of Israel during their travels in the wilderness. Every Jew was to build outside of their house a hut to dwell in for that week. The roof of the hut was to remain partly uncovered so one could see the stars. It was to remind them that Jehovah had led Israel with a pillar of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.
Sukkoth (Tabernacles) was a feast which concerned itself with light. Anciently the Israelites would build bonfires on the hilltops during Sukkoth. The light would spread through all of Israel. Even during the Babylonian captivity they built fires on mountaintops that spread from village to village - a sign of unity for all the Jews in captivity. When they returned to Palestine, the practice spread to Hanukkah after the Maccabees took back the temple from the Greeks. But Sukkoth was the original feast of lights. During the Feast of Tabernacles, the temple in Jerusalem was illuminated by the flames from four enormous candelabra, 75 feet high, filled with the best, first press of olive oil. The wicks for these huge lamps were made from the pants or pantaloons of the High Priest. These flames could be seen throughout the city. The light reflected through the white stonework of the buildings and illuminated the entire city. The Talmud says that "if you have never seen Jerusalem lit up at Tabernacles you have never seen beauty". It is in this setting that Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).
Nothing attracts the eye like light. We are drawn to it. Light is truth for it reveals things as they are. Christ is the light of the world, "in him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not...and that true Light, lighteth every man that cometh into the world"(John 1:4-5;9). Every person born into the world brings some light with him. It is the Imago Dei (the image of God) in which we were created. The light of Christ shines in every one of us. And every person will be exposed to light and truth in the days of their testing. The test is to see what we will do with that light -- will it be kindled and fed, or will it be blown out. B.H. Roberts said, "Your very nature is to respond to the truth, the light. If you reject it, it can only be by suppressing your own ultimate divine nature - for that you are under great condemnation." To whom much is given, much is required. We are to share the light that we receive. I watched my baby son lay in the bassinet, kicking and playing. The room was dark so I opened the curtains and pulled open the blinds. He responded by quickly turning toward the light. It attracted his attention immediately. We are to be light to those around us. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). Our light will attract attention to the Author and Source of light.
We can only shine if we expose ourselves regularly to the Light of the World. Like the moon in the night sky, we only shine in the darkness if we are reflecting the greater light. I am reminded of the story of the couple who found a beautiful set of bedroom furniture while traveling in France. They were all the more impressed when the shop-owner turned off the light in the storeroom and they could see that the furniture gave off a lovely glow in the dark store. The woman decided that they simply must have them. So the items were shipped back to America and the old furniture was replaced with the new. But she soon found that the furniture did not glow in her room as it had back in the shop. She fired off an angry letter demanding satisfaction as she felt she had been taken. The shopkeeper wrote back that she needed to expose the furniture to light during the day for only then would it shine in the darkness.
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