In that day will I raise up again
the tabernacle of David,
that is fallen.”
Tentmaking,
in general, refers to the activities of
any Christian who,
while dedicating herself or himself
to the
ministry of the Gospel,
receives little or no pay for Church work, but performs other ("tentmaking") jobs to provide support. Specifically, tentmaking can also refer to a method of international Christian evangelism in which missionaries support themselves by working full-time in the marketplace with their skills and education, instead of receiving financial support from a Church.
The term comes from the fact that the apostle Paul supported himself by making tents while living and preaching in Corinth (Acts 18:3)
Unlike Peter and other apostles in the early Christian Church, who devoted themselves entirely to their religious ministry and lived off the money donated by Church members (see Acts 4:34-37), Paul frequently performed outside work, not desiring to be a financial burden to the young Churches he founded.
In Thessaloniki, Paul states that he and his companions "worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you" (2 Thessalonians 3:8). Paul's purpose in working was to set an example for the Christians, desiring that they did not become idle in their expectation of the return of Christ, but that they would work to support themselves. He also hoped that his refusal to accept financial support would build his credibility among non-Christians, thus giving him the chance to win over more of them (See 1 Corinthians 9, particularly verse 12). For additional glimpses into the Apostle Paul's tentmaking ministry see Acts 18:1-3; 20:33-35; Philippians 4:14-16.Financial support is not the only essence of tentmaking. Instead, the vocational identity coupled with excellence of work and lifestyle influences colleagues to follow Jesus Christ.
The Feast of Tabernacles,
also known as the Feast of Booths and Sukkot, is the seventh and last feast that the Lord commanded Israel to observe and one of the three feasts that Jews were to observe each year by going to “appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose” (Deuteronomy 16:16). The importance of the Feast of Tabernacles can be seen in how many places it is mentioned in Scripture. In the Bible we see many important events that took place at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. For one thing, it was at this time that Solomon’s Temple was dedicated to the Lord (1 Kings 8:2).
It was at the Feast of Tabernacles that the Israelites, who had returned to rebuild the temple, gathered to celebrate under the leadership of Joshua and Zerubbabel (Ezra 3). Later, the Jews heard Ezra read the Word of God to them during the Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8). Ezra’s preaching resulted in a great revival as the Israelites confessed and repented of their sins. It was also during this Feast that Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37–39).
The Feast of Tabernacles takes place on the 15th of the Hebrew month Tishri. This was the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar and usually occurs in late September to mid-October. The feast begins five days after the Day of Atonement and at the time the fall harvest had just been completed. It was a time of joyous celebration as the Israelites celebrated God’s continued provision for them in the current harvest and remembered
His provision and protection during the
40 years in the wilderness.
As one of the three feasts that all “native born” male Jews were commanded to participate in, the Feast of Tabernacles is mentioned multiple times in Scripture, sometimes called the Feast of the Ingathering, the Feast to the Lord, or the Feast of Booths (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 16:13). As one of the pilgrim feasts (when Jewish males were commanded to go to Jerusalem), it was also the time when they brought their tithes and offerings to the Temple (Deuteronomy 16:16). With the influx of people coming to Jerusalem at that time, we can only imagine what the scene must have been like. Thousands upon thousands of people coming together to remember and celebrate God’s deliverance and His provision, all living in temporary shelters or booths as part of the requirements of the feast. During the eight-day period, so many sacrifices were made that it required all twenty-four divisions of priests to be present to assist in the sacrificial duties.
We find God’s instructions for celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 23, given at a point in history right after God had delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt. The feast was to be celebrated each year on “the fifteenth day of this seventh month” and was to run for seven days (Leviticus 23:34). Like all feasts, it begins with a “holy convocation” or Sabbath day when the Israelites were to stop working to set aside the day for worshiping God. On each day of the feast they were to offer an “offering made by fire to the Lord” and then after seven days of feasting, again the eighth day was to be “a holy convocation” when they were to cease from work and offer another sacrifice to God (Leviticus 23). Lasting eight days,
the Feast of Tabernacles
begins and ends with a Sabbath day of rest.
During the eight days of the feast, the Israelites would
dwell in booths or tabernacles that were made from
the branches of trees
(Leviticus 23:40–42).
The Feast of Tabernacles, like all the feasts, was instituted by God as a way of reminding Israelites in every generation of their deliverance by God from Egypt. Of course, the feasts are also significant in that they foreshadow the work and actions of the coming Messiah. Much of Jesus’ public ministry took place in conjunction with the Holy Feasts set forth by God.
The three pilgrim feasts where all Jewish males were commanded to “appear before the Lord in the place he chooses” are each very important in regards to the life of Christ and His work of redemption. We know with certainty that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are symbolic of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross. Likewise, we know that Pentecost, which marked the beginning of the Feast of Weeks, was the time of Jesus’ bodily ascension. And most scholars would agree that the Feast of Tabernacles is symbolic of Christ’s Second Coming when He will establish His earthly kingdom.
There are also some who believe that it was likely during the
Feast of Tabernacles that
Jesus was born.
While we celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25, most scholars acknowledge that this tradition was begun in the fourth century AD by the Roman Catholic Church and that the exact day of Jesus’ birth is unknown. Some of the evidence that Jesus might have been born earlier in the year during the Feast of the Tabernacles includes the fact that it would be unlikely for shepherds to still be in the field with their sheep in December, which is in the middle of the winter, but it would have been likely they were in the fields tending sheep at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. The strong possibility that Jesus was born at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles is also seen in the words John wrote in John 1:14. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” The word John chose to speak of Jesus “dwelling” among us is the word tabernacle, which simply means to “dwell in a tent.”
Some believe it is very likely that John intentionally used
this word to associate the first coming of Christ with
the Feast of Tabernacles.
Christ came in the flesh to dwell among us for a temporary time when He was born in the manger, and He is coming again to dwell
among us as Lord of Lords.
While it cannot be established with certainty that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, some believe there is a strong possibility the Feast of Tabernacles not only looks forward to
His second coming but also reflects back on His first coming.
The Feast of Tabernacles begins and ends with a special Sabbath day of rest. During the days of the feast all native Israelites were “to dwell in booths” to remind them that God delivered them out of
the “land of Egypt”
and to look forward to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would deliver His people from the bondage of sin. This feast, like all of the feasts of Israel, consistently reminded the Jews and should remind Christians as well that God has promised to deliver His people from the bondage of sin and deliver them from their enemies. Part of God’s deliverance for the Israelites was His provision and protection of them for
the 40 years
they wandered in the wilderness,
cut off from the Promised Land.
The same holds true for Christians today. God protects us and provides for us as we go through life in the wilderness of this world. While our hearts long for the Promised Land (heaven) and to be in the presence of God, He preserves us in this world as we await the world to come and the redemption that will come when
Jesus Christ returns again to “tabernacle” or dwell among us in bodily form.
The Hebrew word translated “tabernacle” is ohel, which means
“a tent
(as clearly conspicuous from a distance): a covering,
(dwelling) (place), home, tabernacle, tent.”
There are three main references to the tabernacle (or tent) of David: Isaiah 16:5, Amos 9:11, and Acts 15:16, in which the apostle James repeats the passage from Amos. The reference in Isaiah 16:5 refers to the tabernacle of David prophetically, pointing to One from the line of David who will someday sit on the throne and rule over all. This is referring to Jesus.
That leaves two other references to the
tabernacle of David.
In Acts 15:16, while speaking to the Jews, James uses Amos 9:11 to give credence to the recent conversion of the Gentiles in the early church. Many Jews were objecting to this because there was uncertainty as to how the Gentiles were to now keep the Law of Moses. The essential argument from Peter’s earlier experience with Cornelius, a Gentile, was that God was also calling Gentiles to Himself. The apostles were not to put on the Gentiles a burden that no one could ever keep (i.e. the Law of Moses).
From James’ words alone, it is clear that God’s promise through the prophet Amos—that He would “build again the tabernacle of David”--
was related to what He was just then beginning to do, namely, visiting the Gentiles to take out from among them a people for His Name.
After rehearsing what Simon Peter had just told the Jerusalem Christians--
that God had chosen Peter as the instrument
whereby He, for the first time, opened the way of
salvation to the Gentiles--
James plainly declared that God’s visitation of the Gentiles agreed with the words of the prophets (in general) and Amos (in particular). The “tabernacle” referred to in Acts 15:16, then, is the house of God open to all, both Jew and Gentile, who seek Him in order to worship in truth.
Amos 9:11 says,
“In that day will I raise up again the tabernacle of David,
that is fallen.”
There seems to be reference here to a restoration of the Jewish nation to spiritual life in the end times. There might also exist, during that end time, or into the 1,000-year reign of Christ, a tabernacle like the one during David’s day.
During David’s time the tabernacle (or tent)
housed the Ark of the Covenant
and was a precursor to the temple that Solomon would build.
The temple was a rectangular house of worship made with elaborate design. Its presence and functionality, with priests,
was a sign of God’s favor and presence.
When Israel fell away from following the commandments of the Old Covenant, the temple was desecrated and needed to eventually be rebuilt,
as described in the book of Ezra.
High places, very simply,
were places of worship on elevated pieces of ground.
High places were originally dedicated to
idol worship
(Numbers 33:52; Leviticus 26:30),
especially among the Moabites (Isaiah 16:12).
These shrines often included an altar and a
sacred object such as a stone pillar or wooden pole
in various shapes identified with the object of worship
(animals, constellations, goddesses, and fertility deities).
It seems that, at times, high places were set up in a
spot that had been artificially elevated; 2 Kings 16:4
seems to differentiate
the “high places” from
the “hills.”
The Israelites, forever turning away from God, practiced Molech worship and built high places for Baal (Jeremiah 32:35).
Although Solomon built the temple of God in Jerusalem,
he later established idolatrous high places for his
foreign wives outside of Jerusalem
and worshiped with them, causing him the loss of the kingdom
(1 Kings 11:11).
The people were still sacrificing at the pagan high places before the temple was built, and Solomon joined them.
After the Lord appeared to him in a dream at Gibeon,
the king returned to Jerusalem and sacrificed offerings; however,
he continued to waver between the two places of worship.
Not all high places were dedicated to idol worship.
They played a major role in Israelite worship, and the earliest biblical mention of a site of worship, later called a “high place,” is found in Genesis 12:6–8 where Abram built altars to the Lord at Shechem and Hebron.
Abraham built an altar in the region of Moriah and was
willing to sacrifice his son there
(Genesis 22:1–2).
This site is traditionally believed to be the same high place where the temple of Jerusalem was built. Jacob set up a stone pillar to the Lord at Bethel (Genesis 28:18–19), and Moses met God on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1–3).
Joshua set up stone pillars after crossing the Jordan
(Joshua 4:20) and considered this a high place of worship because
the Israelites “came up from” the Jordan onto
higher ground.
The high places were visited regularly by the prophet Samuel
(1 Samuel 7:16).
High places as sites of Canaanite idol worship (Judges 3:19)
extended into the period
of Elijah
(1 Kings 18:16–40).
God would name only one high place
where sacrifice was authorized,
and that was
the temple in Jerusalem
(2 Chronicles 3:1).
God commanded that all other high places be destroyed. King Josiah destroyed them in 2 Kings 22—23.