“The Feasts of Tents”

 

BIBLE READING: Leviticus 21-23

                When I was a young teenager, my father had done some trading with man and acquired a 1978 Winnebago Recreational Vehicle (more commonly known as an RV).  One of my fondest memories as a kid was the first time we packed it up and headed towards Davey Crockett State Park in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee for a camping trip.  Notice, I said that one of the fondest memories was packing up the RV and heading to the park, and not camping in the RV.  Have you ever had one of those experiences where the anticipation of the experience was greater than the experience itself?  This certainly was the case for me with the Winnebago.  When we arrived, it didn’t take me very long before I became bored with camping.  There was no television, no phone to call my friends and no more Lil Debbie’s (that is because I ate them all on the drive down).  Although the RV had a bathroom, it was quickly discovered that it didn’t work.  We ended up sharing facilities with several other campers about 500 yards away for our campsite.  Now I will say, it wasn’t all bad.  I do have several good memories of playing tennis with my dad, who was NOT a tennis player at all, playing in the creek with my brother, and grilling hotdogs and marshmallows by the campfire.  Yet the most prevalent memory about the whole trip is the strong desire I had to get back home.  I quickly learned that I was a huge fan of modern conveniences, like a bed to myself, my Atari, and a clean bathroom.  Maybe that is why God commands the Children of Israel to have a Feast of Booths, in Leviticus 23.33.  On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the people of Israel were to dwell in tents for seven consecutive days, why?  I believe it was to provide for them a reminder of where they were while they wondered in the wilderness.  God knew that when they got into the Promise Land, overtime they would forget what all God had done to get them there.  By living it those tents, they would vividly recall the plagues in Egypt, the Red Sea crossing, the manna when they were starving, the water when they were dying of thirst.  Much like the Passover, this feast would help them to not forget all that God had done for them.  Today, we are not immune to the same forgetfulness.  Instead of having a feast of Passover or a feast of Tents every year, we have a somewhat different kind of feast.  Each Sunday on the first day of every week, by way of command, Christians gather to take the Lord’s Supper.  The purpose is very similar to that of those Jewish feasts; to help us remember all that Jesus has done and will continue to do for us.  Just like the Israelites, it can be easy to allow all the various aspects of our life to distract us away from what is important and what we really need to appreciate.  I pray we always remember!