In an earlier section we read that this mitzvah is only for Jews (natives) even though it did in fact include the “Gar” which are those who “sojourns among you”, Deut.16.14. However this still does not include the Goyim (Gentiles). There is one place however were the Goyim (Gentiles) are mentioned and this is in Zechariah 14.16-19 where it refers to those who “survive” of the Goyim (the Nations). This is after Yeshua returns and not before; so why is this Mitzvah valuable then? We suspect the answer lies in Acts15. Here we find that Mitzvoth, even good Mitzvoth, can be a great burden for those not raised in the Law (not to mention it can lead to legalism if not careful, see the letters of Paul).
So does this mean that absolutely no one who was not raised Jewish can keep these Laws even if they want to? This seems to be the lean to Paul’s letters, but even he admits that these words were solely for the “uncircumcised”. He also explains the reason he (as led by the Ruach) forbid Mitzvoth for the Goyim is that they were so far from Mitzvoth that when they did try to keep them they ended up using what they did as a means for salvation and not faith- we are saved by faith not works of the Law. However, not all believers (particularly devote Catholics) are like these early Goyim believers who were devoid of any fences, in fact on this site we are always showing Catholics how the Jewish traditions often overlap in tradition with some of our own. An example would be that Jews place Tzitzis under their clothes to remind them of HaShem’s Mitzvoth and Catholics put their scapulas there for much the same reason. Lastly, this first mitzvoth is to collect the first future fruit of the Tree of Life; might this not be those in HaMoshiach whom the L-rd leads us to teach them through our example in hopes that they desire to build one next year when they see how much fun and how fulfilling celebrating Succoth is? And one last point, maybe the Goyim will build their succah only after He returns because they will only listen to HIM.
This Law was made, not only for the Jew but also for the Gerim, those who identify with the Jewish traditions even if they may not have the blood of our father Av’raham within them (or be aware of this blood within them). As it says in Zechari’ah 8.23: “Thus says YHVH of hosts: In those days ten men from haGoyim (the nations) of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Judite, saying, ‘Let us go with you, we have heard that El-heim (G-d, plural) is with you.” There is absolutely nothing wrong with abiding the traditions of Torah if you feel so called, so long as you do not treat this obedience as a means to salvation. And doing this may even be the fulfillment of prophecy.
For the dry bones came to life after the sinews came unto the bone and then the flesh came upon the sinews, Ez.37.7-10. That is E’phraim returned to His Ways “Precept upon statute, precept upon statute, line upon line, here a little, there a little” (Is.28.10, 13) and not all at once; and by the witness of an “alien tongue” and “strange lips”, (11) which we sees as the righteous Roman Catholic Church. It was not by the hand of Judah, even if one and ten from the righteous Church sought out one from Judah to teach us again the ways of our fathers. This was after John Paul said we could return back to our traditions and by the dictates of Vatican II that made these things possible. Yet the word above in Isaiah is repeated twice, why? For this we need a little history of the passages that precede the first time the words show up:
Most of the tribe of E’phraim “ceased to be a nation” and was broken up “as a people” 2700 years ago, Is.7.8. This occurred when they were taken into exile by Assyria, an exile they did not return from when the Tanakh was formally written down in Babylon, 2Kgs.17.23. And we saw that when Judah returned from exile in Babylon, they built succah of sticks (Neh.8.15) whereas Hosea stated that E’phraim would dwell in tents, Hos.12.8-9 after their “Egyptian” exile. And when we consider that Yeshua said neither one “dot” nor one “iota” from the Tanakh would change (Matt.5.18), how much more so are the actual words to remain unchanged! Therefore, even if Judah and the Messianic Movement say that E’phraim has returned, they are mistakenly looking at the remnant that was still in Samaria when Babylon struck Judah, however these are a small fraction of the original tribe as we explained above. Yet all through scripture we are told E’phraim will return to Judah and when they do they will have righteous believers of the nations with them. In Isaiah 28, which we quoted above, it gives some in our Church an even greater reason to seriously consider succah building and Succoth keeping.
E’phraim, 2700 years ago, staggered in sin and evil like drunken fools full of wine. So HaShem threw them into the world and they joined to those who shared their sins. Then He asks, “To whom will He teach knowledge”. The word whom is preceded with the particle “at” which in Hebrew denotes “the essence” of the thing it relates to. Yet all true knowledge come from YHVH and no one else. Therefore, the only One with YHVH’s knowledge was His Son Yeshua and He possessed His essence. For these reasons we see this first question is about Him. The next question has no particle of “essence” before the question, thus it only reads, “To whom shall He explain the message? Ones being weaned of milk, ones taken from the breast.(?)” If the one He sent with perfect knowledge was Yeshua, then isn’t it most probable that the ones with His message are the disciples and early Church? These He weaned of milk through persecution and taught Mitzvah to them “precept by statute, precept by statue”, creating our Canon Law and traditions of our Church after the persecution had refined this Church into gold. He did this “line by line” The Canon grew not all at once, but doctrine by doctrine, “a little here and a little there” which reflects to us how the early Church’s views changed and evolved. A good example would be Christmas, which was all over the winter solstice before it settled on December 25th in the third century. HaShem taught through His Ruach, yet human hearing is imperfect so is it any wonder it took time to refine what was heard. In fact, is in any coincidence that the Christian holidays and traditions resemble their brethren’s in Torah, especially when they were given by the same Father?
Yet some will cry, “what about the paganism within them?” This also was predicted for these were taught “then with foreign lips and strange tongues He will speak to these people (E’phraim above)”, Is.28.11. Thus the Mitzvah was woven with Goyish undertones to reach the Goyish children of E’phraim and those of the full number of the Goyim (Rom.11.25) whose names were written in the Book of Life. Thus also was prophecy (surprised?). But why would HaShem, who loves Torah and Mitzvoth compromise for anyone? We find the answer when He told the Church, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest and this is a place of repose . . .” There are many references about this starting from Acts 15 and throughout Paul’s Epistles. However, we also read, “but they will not be willing to listen.” When were they not willing to listen to this command? Well, if the Catechism, with its apparent “flaws” is what ultimately gave the people rest (it led them closer to the truth over two thousand years so there could be a gradual adaptation to greater Mitzvoth keeping) then we see this as those who condemned our Church’s Catechism (we’ll let others figure out just whom these might be).
And then HaShem seems to be repeating Himself, for He says, “So then He will become to them the Word of YHVH: Precept by statute, precept by statute, line by line, a little here and a little there.” What does He mean here? Well, if our Church’s Catechism is perfect for what was needed during the Messianic years, then why does Avinu need to teach us the same stuff again? After all, He upheld us during the Protestant Reformation, yet now we read that He will give us a new Law taught by His own mouth that it would cause us to “go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.” Why teach us something that will lead us into trouble?
The answer we suspect is in the scoffers He is seeking to reach (just below). They are of Jerusalem, therefore we believe they are members of Judah. Note that these are Jewish believers of Jerusalem that scoff at the changes with the Catholic Church. Not that we can get too hard them because their views and feelings are colored by many who became more “Jewish” solely to convert Jews. We on the other hand are becoming more Jewish because we are being called to by HaShem and we must suffer persecution to prove this change is real. They boast of a covenant of death and this is a covenant we see of keeping the Law without faith. Why would those angry at Messianic Jews not have faith in keeping the Law? We suspect this is a rubber band reaction because as Torah gets attacked by watered down devotion, they throw themselves in greater devotion and this blinds them to the root of this devotion.
What if from the root of the Catholic Christianity, a body comes forth that relearns perfect Mitzvoth (because they have the Ruach to expose exactly what YHVH meant when He gave it to Moshe thus they are taught by YHVH)? They will take one statue at time and bring this into their lives; “precept by statute”, and there will be no perfect order to which of the 613 Mitzvoth will be taken, but it will be “line by line,” and with many mistakes, but His grace covers all. So we must not lose heart and we need to endure to keep them, “here a little, and there a little” until we perfect our keeping.
These early Laws of Peter were steppingstones for us who had walked too far to go home by the normal way, so Avinu came out to meet us; and established a refuge for the righteous of the nations because Judah’s pinnacle was too high for them to reach. And why must these chosen of E’phraim’s lost sheep (of 2,700 years ago) suffer for their brother’s sake? This will come after we are fully Catholic and fully Jewish (thus we went through the learning “here a little, there a little”, not once, but twice) and thus a new creation for all the earth to see. Then we must “take up our cross” and follow after Him so that our conversion and faith will shine as the finest gold and prove true and not be a ploy to trap young Jewish children.
And it will be this gift of love that we have learned at the feet of our most precious Savior that will “sweep away the refuge of lies” because when they finally see E’phraim with His Church they will begin to see there might have been a reason He came and then left, only to return. It is to be our reformed Torah, its “waters” which “will overwhelm the shelter” of misunderstandings by showing that we can bring more “Goyim” to Torah and that our Torah is founded more deeply on the Word through our deep faith in the Catholic Moshiach. And it will be “sheer terror” for Judah to “understand” the “message” that Yeshua really was HaMoshiach (Moshiach Ben Yosif in fact). That He really did come to call back the lost tribes (those lost 700 years before He came) and it was by this method He would also draw in all those among the Nations whose names were written within the Book since the foundation of the earth. This was a foundation stone, a tested stone, a Precious Cornerstone, of a sure foundation and upon this stone He built His Church!
When this happens, this will not be the time that the Church should race out and give tracts because Judah’s conversion will come at the hands of G-d alone and Judah isn’t the only portion of the body in G-d’s kingdom that needs some level of conversion. This is why we must always teach a forgiving and compassionate L-rd who loves His children enough to take them at the pace they need to get back to Him, whether it be the Nations, E’phraim or Judah. And what was true, is still true now, that we do not see or believe that all the Church must embrace the Laws of Moshe as seen though the eyes of His beloved Son. The Laws of the Church are good and holy, but clearly some must embrace these Laws and these are from the root of E’phraim. Human eyes cannot reveal them, only the eyes of heaven can see through the ancestry of 2700 years of living within a foreign lands and peoples. Thus these must be taught “by Him” because only He knows whom they are, Rev.5.5.
So what we see is that Succoth is all about trust in HaShem and going into the unknown territory and celebrating with far fewer earthly “distractions” (greater faith). We need to place ourselves completely in His control and presence. What does this have to do with Succoth? Our fathers dwelt in the tabernacles of full dependency for forty years under HaShem’s direction while living in a Succah made from His providence. And maybe it’s time again for some of us within the righteous Church to do the same, at least for as much of a succah that each one who feels called can manage. Again, it will be, “Precept by statute, line by line, a little here, a little there, at HaMoshiach’s feet we will learn.
Yet at the same time we are to be deprived of worldly things yet this is not the theology of Unitarianism because we are also commanded to be “joyful (8055) at your feast” Deut.16.13-14. And joyful does mean to be joyful, to celebrate, to be elated etc. and not downcast or feeling deprived. Yet how can you be physically “deprived” while not being deprived in the heart? The answer is that this is a Spiritual celebration, which means we are to lift ourselves up out of our earthly state and dwell within the Spiritual state of G-d. So how does one lift oneself out of the earthly state while still dwelling on earth?
The scripture on Succoth gives two clues, which we only able to find by going back to the original Hebrew. Every interpretation we have uses these words as “celebrate”, however this isn’t their actual meaning, nor is it even close. The first is in the same passage of Deut.16.13-4; our text said we are to “Celebrate the feast”, but here the word for “celebrate” (7673) actually means “to put away other distractions” as we called to do at Shabbos. The second is found in Lev.23.40, “celebrate (2278) this festival of the L-rd for seven days each year”, and when we went into the Hebrew, it actually said we are to “be in fellowship with the L-rd for seven days”. Thus to celebrate this feast even as we remove physical distractions is to look outward past the self to those we call our neighbor and this was the very first thing we were called to do at the onset to “gather the first future fruit of THE Tree (of Life)!”
Thus here is the true full meaning of Succoth. We start by finding a fellowship community to share our feast/joyful celebration with (this is a Feast of Ingathering). Then we remove all distractions both physical and Spiritual from our lives starting with the physical ones by building our succah in which we are called to live within throughout the entire week. Then we are required by LAW to have fun! And after this week of Joy and fellowship we have to return to our well heated, well furnished, and comfortable homes and smaller families. And if we are really fortunate, things may not look quite the same the “morning after” and our lives and witness may change for the better.
Therefore we find us Succoth to be a deeply rich and highly gratifying holiday where we try to reach out and to walk in the faith of those whom the Roman Catholic Church rightly has called “saints”; and do so for just one week. This calling of Yeshua’s body to even temporary sainthood may not be in the reach of all, therefore please pray for guidance first before heading in this direction especially if you have never gone in this direction before. And if He says yes, then at the very least, seek out one of the brethren who keep this (and the other) feast(s) and ask if you can join with them for their holiday(s) and they may even go to your house and help you build your succah (remember what we said about habitat for humanity?). In time, you maybe motivated to build your own succah (or raise your own tent) and keep the other traditions of our ancestors to reach a deeper faith in G-d and then teach others who are also hungry to understand. You never know if something deep inside you is calling you back, your very bones crying forth from within you to awaken again to Mitzvah through the Ruach of faith. This we feel strongly is what is happening to us and to others and we can say that our lives have been transformed and in no way burdened. And though once a year calling to “sainthood” does not guarantee we will be bringing forth a multitude of saints, it would be awesome if this did in fact happen. Now that Succoth has been fully explained to the best of our ability, it’s time to discuss the most controversial aspect we see in this holiday -
