For 40 years, the Israelites had been wandering in the Sinai wilderness. While the oldest segment of the nation had teenage memories of life in Egypt, life in the wilderness was all that the vast majority of the Israelite population had ever known. Now the nation was encamped on the plains east of the Jordan River, preparing to enter the land that God had originally promised to their ancestor Abraham centuries earlier.
The Sinai wilderness is a very inhospitable area. It is arid, with very little in the way of water or grazing areas for herds and flocks. In fact, conditions were such that if the Almighty had not directly intervened to miraculously provide the Israelites with food and water, they would have died during those years of wandering. Now, they were preparing to enter a land that stood in stark contrast to where they had spent their lives previously. The Promised Land was well watered, and had verdant pastures, forests and croplands along with vast mineral deposits (Deuteronomy 8:7–9). God called it a “land of milk and honey.” It even had dwellings already constructed, and much of the land was fenced and under cultivation (Deuteronomy 6:10–11).
After years of wandering, the people of Israel were finally at the point of entering into the “rest” Moses had promised many years earlier. Moses told the people that he would not actually be the one to lead them into the Promised Land; rather, he would die before entering the land, and his assistant Joshua would lead them the rest of the way. Joshua was the one who would give them rest (cf. Deuteronomy 3:28; 31:7–8, 23). The Apostle Paul, commenting on this many centuries later, explained that the rest Joshua gave was not the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise, but that the ultimate rest for the people of God was yet future (Hebrews 4:8–9). Paul demonstrated this by quoting Psalm 95, which David had written centuries after Joshua led Israel into the land of Canaan. Paul’s point was that the real rest for God’s people still lay ahead. As we gather at the Feast of Tabernacles, we look back to the years that Israel was in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:42–43), and we also look forward to Christ’s millennial reign, when the entire world will finally know rest (Isaiah 14:7).
Entering into rest is directly connected with obedience according to Scripture. That is why God emphasized to ancient Israel the importance of teaching His law during the festival period. The Feast of Tabernacles is far more than a vacation for God’s people. It is a time for us to remember, year by year, the “rest” of the Kingdom of God that lies ahead—and the importance of learning and practicing here and now the laws upon which that Kingdom will be based. We need to understand more deeply the lessons that God anciently taught Israel in the context of the fall festivals, and also those matters that should be very much on our minds as we prepare for the 2002 Feast of Tabernacles.
The Rest Given by Joshua
In Hebrews 3 and 4, the Apostle Paul drew a comparison between the Christian Church and the people God brought out of Egypt. Both received God’s promises. However, Paul emphasized, those who do not respond to God’s promises by faith and obedience will not enter into His rest. It is important to understand that faith and obedience are inseparable. If you truly believe God’s word, you will obey it. In fact, the only kind of obedience that will endure and stand the test of time is that which flows from a heart that truly loves and trusts God!
The Israelites were promised rest from their slavery, and from their subsequent wandering in the wilderness. However, virtually the whole adult population that came out of Egypt died in the desert as punishment for its lack of faith and subsequent disobedience to God. From Numbers 13, we find that Moses selected leading men from each of the 12 tribes, and sent them into the Promised Land on a reconnaissance mission. This event occurred in the summer of the second year of the Exodus. Numbers 1:1–2 describes a census carried out at the beginning of the second month of the second year, slightly more than one year since they had left Egypt behind at the Red Sea and entered the Sinai wilderness. Numbers 13:20 states that the spies entered the land at the very beginning of the grape harvest. This generally starts around the end of July. They spent 40 days investigating the land (Numbers 13:25); therefore they returned and made their report to the assembled nation around mid-September, probably just before the beginning of the fall festival season. As the people of Israel stood on the brink of celebrating their second Feast of Tabernacles, they were confronted with a decision about whether they would believe their Creator and enter into His promised rest.
Most are familiar with the story of the 12 spies returning and giving their report. The nation succumbed to fear, and chose to doubt the promises of the Eternal God. Hearing stories of the difficulties that lay between their present condition and their actually receiving God’s promises, they became frightened of the future and accusative toward God and His true servants. As a result, the Creator decreed that an entire generation of Israelites would spend their lifetimes wandering in the wilderness, and that their children would be the ones to finally enter the Promised Land. This, by the way, is the basis of understanding why Revelation 21:8 says that the fearful will not be in the Kingdom. The fearful are afraid to follow where God leads and to do what He says. They are in desperate need of the perfect love of God, which will cast out fear (1 John 4:18) and enable them to truly keep the commandments of God (1 John 5:3).
Almost 40 years after the Exodus, Moses spoke to the second generation about entering into rest (Deuteronomy 3:20; 12:9–10). God did temporarily fulfill this prophecy, and the nation of Israel was given rest (Joshua 21:44), after the nation had spent six years subduing the pagan inhabitants of the land. The length of time is made clear by a careful reading of Joshua 14:6–10. We saw earlier that the spies went through the land and made their subsequent report to the people during the second year after the Exodus. Caleb and Joshua were the two spies who brought back a report based upon faith in God. While the rest of that generation died during the years of wandering, Joshua and Caleb were promised an inheritance in the land of Israel. When Caleb came before Joshua to lay claim on the inheritance Moses had promised him, it was 45 years after he and Joshua had brought back the faithful report, and was therefore 46 years after the Exodus. This means that six years after crossing the Jordan under Joshua, the land was finally “subdued” and the people were ready to enter into rest. This marked the beginning of the first sabbatical year, proclaimed at the fall festival season at the beginning of the seventh year.
Scripture gives us still more information on this occasion of Israel entering into rest. In Deuteronomy 12, Moses passed along God’s instructions to the people that when they had entered into the Promised Land and God had given them rest, He would then choose a place for His name to dwell—where they were to appear before Him with their tithes and offerings, and where they were to celebrate His festivals (vv. 7–12). Joshua 18:1 tells of the fulfillment of this command, when the people gathered at Shiloh and the tabernacle was erected there. Assembled with the people at Shiloh, Joshua cast lots before the Lord and the remaining tribes were allocated their inheritance. Also at this time, Joshua announced to the representatives of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh that God had now given rest to their brethren as He had promised, and that they were then free to return to the inheritance that Moses had allocated them east of the Jordan (Joshua 22:1–4; cf. Numbers 32:18).
It is interesting to reflect upon what was foreshadowed by the assignment of inheritance to the various tribes of Israel at that great Feast of Tabernacles in Joshua’s day. Christ’s return will usher in the “times of refreshing” and the “time of restitution of all things” (Acts 3:19–21). A part of what will be restored is that each nation will return to its God-intended inheritance protected by God’s law of the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8–13, 23). There will be no more sad cases of the weak dispossessed by the strong. The land distribution that took place at that joyful Feast under Joshua is a type of what will occur on a far grander scale when Jesus Christ returns. The Feast of Tabernacles points to a time when all humanity will be given an opportunity to enter into rest. There is a time coming when all will have their own vine and fig tree in the land of their inheritance and none shall make them afraid (Micah 4:4).
Solomon’s Reign—Israel at Rest
The great festival celebration of Joshua’s day saw Israel enter into the rest that God had promised. At the conclusion of that seventh year, when the people gathered at Shiloh for the Feast of Tabernacles, Joshua and Eleazar the priest presided over services throughout the seven-day festival in which the entire book of the law was read in the hearing of the men, women and children present. We know this took place because it was part of Moses’ parting instructions to Joshua and the children of Israel (Deuteronomy 31:9–12) and we are told that Joshua did not fail to carry out any of the instructions given by Moses (Joshua 11:15). As the first sabbatical year ended, the people were reminded that to be eligible to partake of the rest that God offered was contingent upon obedience to His law.
As the story of Israel’s life in the Promised Land continues throughout the book of Judges, it becomes quickly evident that the rest and tranquility given by God was soon disturbed. By the time Joshua and the elders who served with him had died, Israel began to depart from God’s law (Judges 2:7–12). The period of the judges was a turbulent period, during which Israel’s rest in the Promised Land was disturbed by invasion and warfare on a regular basis—all because of its failure to obey the Creator and His laws.
It was only during the reign of King David that all of Israel’s enemies were finally subdued. At the end of David’s life, his son Solomon was crowned as his successor. Solomon’s name is derived from the Hebrew word for peace, and his reign was prophesied to be a time of peace and rest for the nation. Notice the record preserved in 1 Kings 4:20–21, 24–25: “Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the [Euphrates] River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.… For he had dominion over all the region this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every side all around him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.” Clearly the reign of King Solomon was a type of the millennial reign of the Messiah.
The great event that set the stage for Solomon’s magnificent reign is described in 2 Chronicles 5–7. It was the dedication of what was undoubtedly the most beautiful and magnificent building of the ancient world, the Temple of God at Jerusalem. According to 2 Chronicles 7:8–10, this dedication took place at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. Consider what happened: “Therefore all the men of Israel assembled together with the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month. So all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark.… Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim” (2 Chronicles 5:3–4, 7).
The religious significance of the ark was enormous. It contained the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed, and was covered by the mercy seat, symbolic of the very throne of God. When the ark was placed in the temple, an awesome event occurred. Fire descended from heaven and ignited the offering on the altar, and the glory of God spread like a cloud to fill the temple so that the priests were awestruck and unable to enter (2 Chronicles 7:1–2). King Solomon made a special prayer dedicating the temple to God, and God responded to him in a miraculous way. This lavish Feast of Tabernacles in the time of King Solomon centered upon the dedication of the site where God had placed His name and from where the Messiah will ultimately rule all nations.
In the midst of this celebration, during a time of peace and plenty, God reminded Solomon that the continuation of these blessings was dependent upon heartfelt obedience to Him. The abundance pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles can only be enjoyed by those who walk in God’s ways. Again, obedience is necessary to enter into God’s rest. Sadly, once again Israel’s rest proved to be short lived. In his old age, Solomon’s heart turned away from God, and God raised up adversaries against him. After Solomon died, his kingdom became divided and was subjected to recurring warfare and invasions. Finally, fewer than 375 years after that magnificent dedication ceremony at the fall festival season early in Solomon’s reign, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and destroyed both the city and temple that Solomon had built. God’s glory, which had filled the temple in Solomon’s day, had finally departed from both the temple and the city (cf. Ezekiel 10:18; 11:23). God will not continue to dwell in the midst of uncleanness!
God’s Glorious Rest
Seven decades after Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the temple and deportation of the Jewish people to Babylon, God finally opened the way for them to return and rebuild. Zechariah was one of the prophets who accompanied Zerubbabel, the newly appointed Persian governor, and encouraged him and the people in the rebuilding of God’s temple at Jerusalem. Looking around at the devastated city of his day, Zechariah foresaw a future time when God would yet choose Jerusalem (Zechariah 1:17). That will be a time when many nations will become joined to God and will be His people. It will also be a time when the God of Israel will actually dwell in Jerusalem (Zechariah 2:10–11). His throne will be located in a yet-future temple that is described in the final chapters of the book of Ezekiel (cf. Ezekiel 43:1–7).
This glorious future time will see all nations of the world come up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles and to worship the Lord of Hosts (Zechariah 14:16). It will be a time when God’s law will go forth from Jerusalem and the knowledge of His ways will cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. It will also be a time of rest—real rest—for all of mankind.
Isaiah 14:3 promises that a day is coming when the Eternal will give “rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve.” Sorrow, fear, and hard labor have their origin described in Genesis 3 and are the result of sin. It was only after he had sinned that Adam became afraid and hid himself. He and Eve were each told of the sorrows and hard, strenuous labor that would pervade their lives as part of the curse of sin. Fear, sorrow and hard bondage have been the universal lot of mankind ever since that fateful day in the garden. The time is coming when mankind will finally be given rest; indeed the whole earth will be at rest (Isaiah 14:7).
Only those who believe and obey God’s word will be able to enter His rest, as Paul explains in Hebrews 3 and 4. The Feast of Tabernacles reminds us of the time when the world will finally know peace and rest, and the Eternal God will make a “feast of choice pieces” (Isaiah 25:6) for the whole world. There were dramatic periods of rest that were inaugurated for the people of God in times past at the Feast of Tabernacles. However, what God gave during the days of Joshua and the days of Solomon proved to be short lived. Because of disobedience, the people forfeited that rest, which God had given.
As we gather at the Feast of Tabernacles this year, we should be deeply mindful of the events that we are picturing—the time described in Isaiah 11:9–10: “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (KJV). Let us obey God with our whole hearts, so that we might enter into His rest!