from WL Worcester (H Blackmer, ed.), 
The Sower.  Helps to the Study of the Bible in Home and Sunday School
 
(Boston: Massachusetts New-Church Union, n.d.)

Table of Contents
 

 

Lesson 13

John 7: 1-18  At the Feast of Tabernacles

The Story

Primary

We learn about another feast in Jerusalem, to which the Lord came. It was the feast of Tabernacles, the thanksgiving feast which was kept in the autumn after the fruits and harvests were gathered in. It was called the feast of Tabernacles because, for the week of the feast, the people lived in booths or huts of branches in memory of the desert journey from Egypt. The booths were built everywhere, in the streets and on the housetops. After the first day they could move their booths outside the city walls. They must have been a pretty sight, spread over the hillsides, and the people in their bright costumes about their temporary homes or moving in and out and back and forth to the city gates and the temple. The feast was kept with pretty ceremonies, among them the wreathing of the altar with willow branches and the bringing of water to the altar from the pool of Siloam in a golden pitcher.

The Lord was in Galilee when the time for the feast of Tabernacles came, for it says, "He would not walk in the Jews' country because the Jews sought to kill Him." You remember how angry they were with the Lord when He healed the man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day. Brethren of the Lord were going with friends and neighbors to the feast. They thought that Jesus should go with them and become known among the people at the feast. The Lord answered that it was not yet time for Him to go. But when His brethren had gone He also went secretly.

The people at the feast were wondering whether Jesus would come. But they did not have long to wait, for about the middle of the feast He went up into the temple and taught. The common people heard Him gladly, and many believed in Him. The Pharisees and priests sent officers to take the Lord, but they came back without Him. To the question, "Why have ye not brought him?" the officers answered, "Never man spake like this man." They felt a power in His words. Nicodemus was one of the council. Do you remember Nicodemus, who once came to the Lord by night? Now he was bolder in his love for the Lord and spoke in the council to protect Him. On the one hand some were showing more plainly their love for the Lord. On the other hand some were showing more plainly their anger and hatred toward Him.

Junior

Again we find the Lord in Galilee, and now because He had so few friends and so many enemies in Jerusalem and Judea.

Who can explain the first verse of our chapter? Why had the Jews in Jerusalem sought to kill the Lord?

We are coming to the saddest part of the Lord's life on earth, and we will stop one minute here to think of one of the sad things about it - His loneliness. The priests and Pharisees had always been His enemies, and now it was hardly safe for Him to go to Jerusalem at all. His brethren, in our lesson today, are urging Him to go to Jerusalem to show what He can do. They did not at all understand Him. And even His twelve disciples did not understand until after His death, that He did not come to make Himself an earthly king, and to gain an earthly glory which they could share with Him. Alone He must do His Father's will, being misunderstood by everyone. And He must avoid the anger of the rulers until His work on earth should be finished.

Our lesson opens with the conversation with His brothers; they wanting Him to go up to the feast of Tabernacles, He saying that they might go up, but that He would not go up yet. He could not safely go up with the crowd of pilgrims. They could safely go up at any time.

We have heard of the Passover feasts; at what time of the year did they come? (Exodus 23:14-17; Deuteronomy 16:13-15.) This feast of Tabernacles came in the fall, and was a feast of rejoicing and thanksgiving for the fruits of the harvest. The feast lasted eight days, beginning and ending with a Sabbath day. It was celebrated at Jerusalem, all the people living in booths made of boughs, in the courts, the streets, and on the housetops. After the first day they could move their booths outside the city walls. It must have been a pretty sight to see them spread over the hillsides, the people in their festival costumes grouped about their temporary homes or moving in and out, and back and forth to the city gates and the temple.

There was one great excitement at this particular feast of Tabernacles, one tremendous interest. Would the Lord come? And if He did, what would the rulers do? Many believed in Him, but others followed the rulers and hated Him. Perhaps some of them disbelieved because He was not what they supposed the Messiah would be, and honestly doubted; and the rulers were persuading the people that He was a deceiver. The excitement was none the less, that they must not speak openly, but only in hushed voices among themselves.

He did not come up with the throng when His brothers came, but afterwards, and in secret. However, toward the middle of the feast, He came openly to the temple and taught. He taught with authority. He knew the Law. He knew the Scriptures as no one else ever knew them. He knew men's hearts. What wonder that the Jews marveled. He had never been to the schools of the Rabbis; where could He have gained this knowledge? Then, knowing their thoughts, He answered them, and told them that the doctrine He preached was not His own, but His that sent Him, and that anyone who would do the will of the Father who sent Him would know that what He taught was from God.

If he was seeking His own glory and speaking His own words, they might think that He spoke what was false, but if He was seeking only the glory of God and speaking His message, what He spoke must be true. The glory that he spoke of was the light of the Divine truth itself, shining in His words and life, but they would not see it. The differing opinions grew stronger as they listened to His teaching. What did the Pharisees and the chief priests do? And the officers whom they sent to take the Lord? Among the people some said, "This is the Prophet," others, "This is the Christ." Others could not believe. Nicodemus was there, a member of the council of the Jews. What have we learned about Nicodemus? (John 3: 1) Again he showed his belief in the Lord, opposing any hasty and unlawful action by the council.

"Every man went unto his own house. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives." Other Gospels tell us that after days of teaching in the temple the Lord often went at night to the quiet of the Mount of Olives, the hill to the east of Jerusalem, where also the village of Bethany was, where Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived, who loved the Lord. (See Luke 21:37 and Matthew 21:17)


1. What three great feasts were the Jews commanded to keep each year? At what seasons were they kept? Why was one called the feast of Tabernacles?

2. Do you remember other references to the Lord's brethren?

3. What was the reason of the effort of the Jews at Jerusalem to kill the Lord, mentioned in verses 1 and 19? See verse 23.

4. What kind of learning is meant in verse 15?

5. What is needed to make one really wise?

Spiritual Study

Intermediate

What were the three great feasts which the Jews were commanded to keep each year in Jerusalem? The Passover in the early spring; the feast of First Fruits (called also the feast of Weeks and Pentecost, "fiftieth," because it was kept a week of weeks, or the fiftieth day after the Passover) ; and the feast of Tabernacles, the thanksgiving feast in the autumn. You read of these feasts in Exodus 23:14-17, and Deuteronomy 16. The feast of Tabernacles (so called from the booths in which the people lived, in memory of the desert journey) was kept with pretty ceremonies including the wreathing of the altar with willow branches and the bringing of water to the altar from the pool of Siloam in a golden pitcher.

In brief, the three feasts represented three stages of progress in heavenly life: first, repentance and deliverance from falsity and evil - the Passover; second, the first doing of heavenly uses as we learn truth and do what we know is right - the feast of First Fruits; third, the spontaneous doing of good uses from a full and loving heart - the feast of Tabernacles. The fullness of love and peace in this ripened life has been gained through faithfulness in temptations, which is suggested by the words of Deuteronomy 16:13 (in the Hebrew), "Thou shalt keep the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy wine-press." (A. 9294, 10671)

The Lord accomplished His glorification by steps, analogous to the steps of our regeneration, but deeper and fuller in their extent and their results. His presence at the Passover at twelve years old means that He was already as a child accomplishing in Himself the release from the power of falsity and evil, which the Passover represented. (E. 430 near end) Now only six months remained before the completion of His life on earth, and His attendance at the feast of Tabernacles meant that the work of the threshing-floor and wine-press were nearly finished, and that the Divine Human life was ripening in Him. The Lord's words to His brethren, "I go not up yet unto this feast, for my time is not yet full come," gain new force when we think of the great spiritual labor which He must accomplish before He could attend the feast which represented this fullness of glorification. It was from the fullness of Divine life in Him which the feast of Tabernacles represented, that on the great day of the feast the Lord proclaimed Himself the fountain of living water of the Holy Spirit which was about to come to men in all fullness when His glorification should be complete. (A. 6993, 7499)

At each visit of the Lord to Jerusalem He had showed and declared His Divinity, His oneness with the Father. And each time this had made a division, some, especially among the common people, being touched by His love and drawn toward Him, while others, especially among the leaders, were made angry and were more and more confirmed in hatred; "So there was a division among the people because of Him." Everyone, by his attitude toward the Lord was showing his own character and was determining his own place, spiritually, forever. This great truth of judgment is expressed in the last verse of the chapter (after the conflicting estimates of the Lord have been told) : "And every man went unto his own house." Each one settled into the state of feeling that he made his own. In the same way all are judged and find their eternal homes. (A. 5023; P. 338)

A beautiful thought is added as you join with the last verse of this chapter the first verse of the next: "Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives." This mountain above Jerusalem, named from the olives upon it, is a type of the Lord's love standing guard over His people. (Psalm 125:2) Whatever they thought or said of Him, whether they loved or hated Him, He found rest in perfect love toward all. (A. 10261; R. 493)

Let me suggest verses 17, 24 and 43 for you to think about. With verse 17, compare Psalm 111:10. With verse 24, read 1 Samuel 16:7 and Matthew 7:1-5. With verse 43, read John 3:19-21.

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