The festival of Sukkot is a joyous Holy Day, which is different from a holiday. You see, a holiday is a man-made celebration, whereas a Holy Day is one of the celebrations that God commanded us to observe, all of which are found in Leviticus 23.

But did you know that Sukkot is the only Holy Day where God commands two different ways to celebrate it?

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When we go to Leviticus 23, verses 33-36 tell us to celebrate Sukkot every year on the 15th day of the 7th month. But later, when God concludes his commandments about the Holy Days (verse 37), in verses 39-43 he gives different instructions for Sukkot, which can’t obey until after we enter the Land!

So did we celebrate Sukkot when we were in the desert, or did we wait until we were in Israel?

God also says, in Leviticus 23:9, regarding the festival of Shavuot that we are to celebrate it after we enter the land and harvest its ripe crops.

So, nu? Did these Holy Days go on hold until some 40+ years later, after the people were settled in Israel and had time to plant and harvest their own produce?

We know that while in the desert no one was circumcised (Joshua 5:2), which makes sense since the ritual required a lengthy recovery time, and they never knew when they would be moving the camp. So, if circumcision, a definite must-do, was allowed to be delayed, maybe the observance of Sukkot also was delayed?

“Wait a minute, Steve! You said that Shavuot was not to be celebrated until they were in the Land, so isn’t that one that was delayed, also? “

No, it wasn’t delayed because this Holy Day was not to be celebrated until after we settled in the Land. However, with Sukkot, the first time God mentions it he specifies on the 15th day of the 7th month we are to hold a holy convocation and make sacrifices for 7 days. It was later in this chapter when God repeated this date, but added that we are to use river willows, palm fronds, choice fruit, and thick branches when we celebrate, most of which would not be available in the desert. He also adds a significant difference: in this second command God adds that we build Sukkot and live in them for 7 days.

It makes sense that this specific Holy Day celebration requires two different ways to celebrate: one way for when we were in the desert (sacrifices, but no fruits, fronds, or building of a Sukkah), and another for after we were in the Land (where we had access to those materials, and by then are living in houses).

It makes no sense to build a sukkah in the desert when you are already in a sukkah! Duh!

So what we have is, for the three pilgrimage Holy Days, Pesach (Passover) would have been celebrated every year during the 40 years in the desert (after all, the Sanctuary was right there), and Sukkot would have been celebrated (they already had the Sukkahs built), but Shavuot would have to wait until they were in the Land and the first crop was harvested. And when that time arrived, Sukkot would also be celebrated differently.

To me, this shows how God understands our conditions on earth. Even though the circumcision was a requirement to be under the Abrahamic Covenant, because of the conditions in the desert, God allowed it to be delayed. And although Shavuot was a required celebration, God knew we had to wait until we were in the land. Sukkot was required while in the desert, but once in the Land, God changed the rules to be in line with the different conditions.

Now, does this mean that we can decide when we have to obey God and when we don’t? No, sorry, but there is no excuse we can make for disobedience to God, other than being a result of our human frailties and weak faith; and even in those cases, God has prepared for us a means to be forgiven.

That means of forgiveness is through the sacrificial system, which has never gone away.

In fact, the sacrificial system and Sukkot have something in common: they both have been altered based on changed conditions.

Sukkot was altered after the people were in the Land, and the sacrificial system was altered after Yeshua’s resurrection.

Before they entered Israel, for Sukkot they sacrificed, and after they were in Israel, they also used harvested produce and built Sukkot. Before Yeshua’s resurrection, no sacrifice would be accepted unless it was brought to the place where God put his name (Deuteronomy 12:11), but after Yeshua was raised (to prove his sacrifice was accepted), the requirement to bring an animal to the temple in Jerusalem was no longer needed because through Yeshua, we could receive forgiveness of sin anywhere, anytime, by means of his once-and-for-all sacrifice The conditions changed even more, which God prepared for by sending Yeshua, when in 70 AD the Romans completely destroyed the temple.

TIME OUT: When I say Yeshua’s sacrifice was a once-and-for-all sacrifice, that means it was done once, for all people, but it does NOT mean that your sins are always automatically forgiven. We still must confess, repent, and ask forgiveness (by means of the blood Yeshua spilled) for every single sin we commit.

So, are you surprised at this relationship between Sukkot and the sacrificial system? Truth be told, I didn’t even understand it myself until I started to write this message! But, now that I am done, I think it is a wonderful way to show, again, how God knows what we need, when we need it, and will always provide it for us.

That’s it for this week, so Chag Sameach (Happy Festival) and let’s all look forward to next week when we celebrate Simchat Torah (Joy of Torah), also called Sh’mini Atzeret (Eighth Day Gathering) as we turn the Torah back to the beginning, and get to read through it, all over again.

Baruch HaShem!

I am doing this message a little early because Hurricane Milton is coming through later tonight and tomorrow, and I might not have any electric power with which to post this.

I have often heard the Christian teaching that the Torah was done away with by Yeshua’s sacrifice, which I cannot justify by anything in the Bible, Old or New. As a Believer in Messiah, and Jewish (as well), I try to live my life in accordance with what God said to do in the Torah, and not what men have taught based on Shaul’s (Paul) letters.

So, if you are a Gentile Believer, you might be wondering why I, accepting Yeshua as my atonement for sin, still observe Yom Kippur?

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The reason why I observe Yom Kippur (I don’t say celebrate it because, really?- who finds fasting for 24 hours a celebration?), as well as the other Holy Days commanded in Leviticus 23, is simple: because God said we should. I know, I know, you’ve been told that Yeshua is the fulfillment of the law, and that all that “Jewish” stuff is not necessary for Christians.

I challenge you to find anything that Yeshua ever said or implied indicating that we do not have to obey the Torah, which includes all the High Holy Days outlined in Leviticus 23.

Yom Kippur is a day when we come before God, as he commanded, confess our sins, then ask him to move from the Throne of Judgement to the Throne of Mercy so that he will forgive our sins and write our names in the Book of Life.

The reason that Yom Kippur is so important, still, is that only God can forgive sins. Yes, in Matthew 9:6 Yeshua says he is granted that power, but when you interpret that passage correctly (at least, as I think it is correctly understood), Yeshua indicates that his authority to forgive sins is ONLY when he is on the earth, and only in order to prove he is from God.

Look, it is really simple…Yeshua died so that we can come before God and ask HIM to forgive our sins. His death provides the means to be forgiven that was previously only available to us when we brought an animal to the temple in Jerusalem, which is what the Torah required. Yeshua’s sacrifice changed only one thing in the Torah- the need to bring an animal to the temple. That is why Yeshua told us that we cannot reach the father except through the son, which is because in 173 AD the temple was destroyed, making obedience to the Torah regarding sin sacrifice impossible.

And here’s what’s really sad: the temple still ain’t there! Without the temple, the forgiveness we can receive through Yeshua is the only means of being forgiven.

So, even though sins can only be forgiven through Yeshua’s sacrifice, it still makes sense to obey God’s commandments, which he gave us in the Torah. Not to be legalistic, not to be “correct”, and not just because I am Jewish (which I am and always will be- I am NOT a Christian!), but to be obedient to God.

Do you really think that God will reject anyone, believer or not, who obeys what he said to do in the Torah? After all, God did promise in Deuteronomy 28 to bless those who obey him, so even if we can’t sacrifice an animal at Yom Kippur, doing everything else is still obedient to God, right? And God cannot sin, or go back on his promises, so even if you have been taught to not to anything the Torah says, that is what some religions say, but it is not from God.

Hey!- let me ask you something: we know Yeshua lived the Torah perfectly because if he hadn’t, he would not have been an acceptable sacrifice, and Christianity teaches the best thing any Christian can do is to follow in the footsteps of the Messiah, so then why is it that one of their major tenets is to reject everything the Messiah did?

If you reject the Torah, you are not obedient to God or to Yeshua: the ones you are being obedient to are some men who didn’t want to have to do this stuff, and misused Shaul’s letters to make their own religion. Do you really think that the son of God rebelled against his father and taught that we don’t have to do as his father said?

You go ahead and reject God’s instructions, blame it on Yeshua or on your religion, but I am pretty sure that when you use that excuse before God at Judgement Day, he ain’t gonna buy it!

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

And for those who are obedient to God, may you have an easy fast!

The traditional Torah reading for this Holy Day is called the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, and it is in Genesis 23. This passage is also well-known as being messianic, indicating the way the Messiah will show obedience to his father and that he will be a sacrifice.

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Let’s have a quickie review of the Akedah: Abraham is told by God to sacrifice Isaac, and he is led to Mount Moriah. Isaac asks Abraham where the lamb for the sacrifice is, and Abraham tells him that God will provide the lamb; but we all know by now Isaac is starting to feel like he might be the lamb. By the way, Isaac was more likely a grown man at that time than some young child.

OK, so they get there, Isaac gets on the rock, lets Abe tie him up, and waits for the final blow. Just as Abe is about to strike him with the knife, an angel tells Abe to hold off- this was just a test. There was a ram caught in a bush, so Abe sacrifices the ram, which is why we use a ram’s horn for the shofar, as a memorial to that ram.

The messianic aspect here is pretty obvious- a son is sacrificed by a father to show obedience to God, even unto death. Just as Isaac was willing to die to obey his father, Abraham, Yeshua the Messiah was willing to die to obey his father, God Almighty. The difference is that Isaac’s sacrifice was never meant to be fulfilled, but was a test of Abraham’s faith, whereas Yeshua’s sacrifice had to be completed, in order that all people may receive forgiveness of sin and be saved.

You know what? We are always told of the faithfulness of Abraham, but what about Isaac? Don’t you think he was pretty faithful, as well as obedient, by letting himself be tied up and killed?

I believe that the Akedah is not the only story of a father and son that is messianic; there is an anti-messianic story in the Bible, which we find happening about a thousand years later.

In 2 Samuel, chapters 15-20, we read how King David’s son, Absalom, rebelled against his father and tried to take the kingdom from him. He started by influencing the people at the gate, telling them that if he was judge, he would make sure they got fair treatment, sort of implying they can’t count on that from David. He acts friendly to them, and eventually turns many who were loyal to David over to Absalom. Once he had enough followers, including many in the army, he lied to his father to get permission to go to Hebron to make sacrifice, but once there he proclaimed himself king. David, upon hearing this, immediately fled the city. In time, Absalom’s followers went to war with David’s followers, and Absalom was killed by Joab, the commander of the army.

Here’s something interesting: we know that the anti-Messiah will first appear to be a man of peace, then when the time is right, he will turn and show his true colors. Well, in Hebrew, the name Absalom means “father of peace”.

So, we have Isaac, son of the father of nations, who obediently allowed himself to be sacrificed, and we have Absalom, son of the king of nations, who defied and rebelled against his father, trying to steal his father’s rulership.

Sound somewhat familiar? Yeshua, the obedient son of God, allows himself (as did Isaac) to be sacrificed, in order that all humanity may be saved, but the Anti-Messiah, the son of Satan, (as with Absalom) wants to steal the kingdom from God by causing all humanity to sin, thereby making it impossible for anyone to be with God.

Today, Christianity presents Jesus Christ as an Absalom, a rebellious son, telling us to ignore his father’s commandments, and has even gone as far as to present Jesus AS God, himself, so that they pray to and worship Jesus, essentially rejecting God the father.

But many Christians, as well as most Messianic Jews, know that Yeshua is, and requires us to be, obedient to his father’s commandments, teaching us the true, spiritual meaning of those commandments. That is the fulfillment of the New Covenant (the REAL one, in Jeremiah 31:31), which is when God said he will write his Torah on our hearts, and all will know him.

During this new year, let us strive to be more like an Isaac, obedient to our Father (the one in heaven), which means to be obedient to his Torah, and less like an Absalom, rebelling against our Father (yeah, I still mean the one in Heaven) by rejecting his Torah.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot, and Shanah Tovah!

How often have you heard people say that the God of the Old Covenant is one of cruelty and punishment, but the God of the New Covenant is all about love and forgiveness?

Throughout my lifetime, both before and after I accepted Yeshua to be the Messiah, I have had to hear that ridiculous statement.

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When I hear people say that in the New Covenant God is merciful and forgiving, but in the Old Covenant he is cruel, I ask them, “Do you believe God is unchanging?” And, of course, they say that he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

So, I continue to ask, “If God is unchanging, are there two Gods in the Bible- one before Yeshua came and one after Yeshua came? And, if God was different after Yeshua came, since the only God who promised to send a Messiah was the cruel one, which God do they think is truly Yeshua’s father?”

At this point, I get nothing but stares, eyes going up and down, mind turning at 1000 RPM trying to figure out how to answer without negating what they have been taught.

The smell of burning wood is overpowering.

The truth is, people, there is, was, and always will be just one God. He is the same God- merciful, forgiving, and trustworthy, from one end of the Bible to the other. And, if anyone wants to argue that in the New Covenant God is not cruel or punishes people, let me draw your attention to Acts 5:1-11.

This is where we read about Hananyah and his wife, Shappirah. They sold property and gave most of it to the Elders for the poor, but they held some back for themselves. That, in and of itself, was not a sin, but they lied about it when asked, saying they have given all of what they had. The moment that Hananyah lied to Kefa (Peter), he was struck dead! And later, when the wife came in (not knowing what had happened), she also lied, and she was struck dead, too!

So, nu? Is that forgiving? Is that all about love?

God is always the same: he does punish the unrepentant sinners, and he does forgive those who ask it, truthfully, with a broken spirit and a contrite heart (Psalm 51). God has, and always will, punish those who sin and do not do t’shuvah (repent/turn from sin) because he HAS to! God has to obey the rules he makes; if he doesn’t, we can’t trust him and the promises he has made aren’t worth the sheepskin they are written on.

Here’s the thing: if you ever hear someone say that the God of the Jewish Bible is different from the God of the Christian Bible, ask them the questions I do, and hopefully, you will be able to help them know who God really is, and not what some religion told them.

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That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!