'The Feast of Tents' or 'The Tabernacle Festival' is one of the many festivals of the Jews. Here the ancestors participate as mysterious guests, called “ushpizin”. But why?
The Jewish New Year is in September-October. It consists of ten days, which are dedicated to purification and atonement for the sins of the people. The last day is called Yom Kippur, which means Day of Atonement. The New Year and Yom Kippur are discussed in the book ’The King Mystery. Yahweh and the Daughter of Zion.’ and will not be touched upon further here.
But five days after Yom Kippur, the Jews celebrate a new festival, lasting seven days, called Sukkot, or the Feast of Tents (also called The Tabernacle Festival or Feast of Booths). The Bible tells that during the forty years of the Israelites' wandering in the desert, they were given the following command by Yahweh: ”'So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days' …” [Leviticus 23.39]. And: ”You shall keep the feast of tents seven days, after that you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your winepress …” [Deuteronomy 16.13]. The Feast of Tents was a harvest festival, for the Daughter of Zion was the very land in which the crop grew.
During the week of the festival, the Israelites were to build primitive huts where they could live with their family and loved ones: "'You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'” [Leviticus 23.42-43].
For the Daughter of Zion was also the people, the tribes, the clans, and the families. And the Feast of Tents was very much a celebration of family and the people: ” and you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite, and the foreigner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates … Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase, and in all the work of your hands …” [Deuteronomy 16.14-15].
In the Feast of Tents there is undoubtedly an element of education, for the Daughter of Zion should know her history and her purpose. She, the people, should learn who she was. About her lineage and the culture that had created her. For she should be a worthy bride for Yahweh, who came every Pentecost to his holy wedding with her. Above all, she had to be faithful to her god and husband.
Knowledge about the culture, the country, the people and its god had to be conveyed by the family, the lineage and the priests (the Levites) – and not least by the ancestors. Because precisely the ancestors defined what Judaism was. And of course, the ancestors were present during the Feast of Tents. Spiritually.
It does not appear directly from the texts in the Old Testament that the ancestors were at the feast. But in the Jewish mystical tradition from the Middle Ages, the “Kabbalah”, it is said that during the Feast of Tents, the seven great ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and King David could mysteriously be present as “guests” (guests in Aramaic = “ushpizin”). They almost defined what Judaism was and is, and they came in turns every day during the seven-day long feast.[1].
The Feast of Tents is very popular among Jews today, and the tradition of the great ancestors as mysterious guests is often also part of today's celebration of the feast.[2]. The mystical tradition has been documented since the Middle Ages, but it is undoubtedly much older.
The Evangelist John, who probably wrote at the beginning of the second century, indirectly reveals that he knew the tradition of the great ancestors participating as guests in the annual Feast of Tents.
John is the only one of the evangelists to report that Jesus “secretly” attended the Feast of Tents in Jerusalem. He writes that Jesus said to his brothers: You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled." Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. [John 7.8-10].
In Jerusalem, Jesus spoke to the Jews and taught them [John 7.14-15]. He compared himself to the ancestor Abraham, even made himself the greatest of the ancestors: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad." [John 8.56].
The Jews were shocked and outraged by his speech; they wanted to stone him, but could not. [John 8.59]. The temple guard wanted to seize him, but could not either [John 7.45-47]. – Jesus was not physically present, but spiritually.
It is, of course, a parable which the evangelist John wrote many years after Jesus' death. He saw Jesus as a kind of "ancestor of the new era". John made Jesus the "eighth spiritual guest" of the Feast of Tents. His parable shows that the tradition of the forefathers teaching and educating the people, the Daughter of Zion, during the Feast of Tents, was well known in the time of the evangelists.