In John 5:1 Jesus enters Jerusalem for one of the Jewish Feasts, widely regarded as the Feast of Tabernacles.

In Judaism there are three feasts that prior to the destruction of the Temple were required pilgrimages. Pesach or The Passover, beginning on the 15th day of Nisan (which based on NASAs Phases of the Moon site, might have been Sunday, April 17th 29 AD by the Julian calendar) was/is celebrated in remembrance of the 10th Plague delivered on Egypt that ultimately set the Israelites free (Stern 1992). It is a seven to eight day holiday also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread and involves abstention from work, special prayer services and holiday meals (Stern 1992). Shavuot, or Pentecost is also known as the Festival of Weeks, takes place on the sixth day of Sivan (possibly Monday, June 6th 29 AD). This festival celebrates the giving of the Torah to Israel on Mount Sinai, 50 days after Passover (Stern 1992) (an important number to remember). The third festival is Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. It is takes place on the 15th day of Tishrei (Tuesday, October 11th, 29AD) and is celebrated by erecting a temporary structure covered in skhakh, a sort of leafy palm leaf like plant (Stern 1992). (In modern day Jews have taken to all sorts of creativity (O'Neill 2010) ) This is to represent Israels wandering in the wilderness for 30 years. The question is how does Jesus fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles Im not sure that answer will make any sense without explaining how He fulfills all three. Without a doubt anyone familiar with Christianity will likely identify the Passover feast with the Last Supper. This is true, but there are many allusions that go along with that. Consider comparing these verses: Exodus 12:5-13 (ESV) 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this

month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. Here are some parallel verses showing how Christ fulfills this passage.
Old Testament Exodus 12:5 Exodus 12:6 Exodus 12:7 New Testament 1 Peter 1:17-19 John 19:14-16 Matt 27:35, Mark 15:42, John 19:18 Key Words Lamb without Blemish Preparation of Sacrifice On the day of preparation, the blood of the lamb will be spilt on three posts (the third likely where He was whipped) I admit Im not sure. It could be a combination of the Lords Supper and Peters rebellion in Gethsemane, or it could be a future reference to Christs separation of the sheep and goats. Stand watch until the hour is at hand. The blood of the lamb protects us from Gods wrath.

Exodus 12:8-10

Exodus 12:11 Exodus 12:12-13

Matthew 26:36-46 Romans 3:23-26

Pentecost is a little more complex, as I mentioned it takes place 50 days after the first day of Passover. Technically the festival starts on the second day of Passover and lasts 49 days, where the Jews would practice Bikkurim and The Counting of Omer, in which the first fruits would be delivered to the Temple each day. What is so interesting I believe is that Jews who did not technically live in Israel or Judah, such as the 2,000 families displaced to the Lychus Valley by Antiochus the Great, would have had to travel to Jerusalem to bring their first fruits to the temple. Hence in Acts 2:10 as the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples and they begin speaking in tongues, one of the languages recorded recognized is Phrygean the language of the Lychus Valley. Why is this important? A certain church would later be planted in a town in the Lychus Valley known as Colossae, and after being persecuted by local Jews Paul would write them a letter known as Colossians. But to the importance of the days and this gets fuzzy since Jews counted part of a day a full day, and their literal 24 hour day starts at nightfall (Housman 2005) and theres always been that dispute about Jesus being dead three days, when He was killed on a Friday and raised on Sunday Jewish calendar days are tricky because there are certain days that are excluded such as if it happens to rain during one of the festival events. Of course the Bible doesnt record rain on the day of crucifixion it does however report dark skies. So Jesus could very well have been dead a full three days, killed on Friday and risen on Sunday. There just would have been a day in there that legitimately wasnt on the calendar. Anyway sorry that was a tangent Acts 1:3 reports that Jesus stayed with the disciples for 40 days after his resurrection until his ascent back into Heaven. Acts 2:1 records that when the day of Pentacost arrived (10 days later) the disciples received the Holy Spirit. So here is the parallel. According to the ritual of The Counting of Omer, each day the Jews gave to the Temple represented the original Israelites waiting at the base of Mount Sinai, remembering that their slavery did not end until they received the Torah (The Law). (Rich 1995) As we know, the Law doesnt give

salvation. Now this is tricky. According to Luke 22:14, And when the hour came, meaning the hour when the feast began, according to Exodus, it was night the Lords Supper, the arrest in Gethsemane, the inquisition at the Sanhedrin, all of this technically would have happened in the middle hours of night, before Nisan 15 started. Which means Nisan 15 is when Jesus was crucified and He died that day, likely a quick death because Nisan 14 was The Fast of the Firstborn (Rich, Pesach: Passover 2005); Jesus being both the first-born son of Mary and Joseph and of God, all Hed have likely eaten was a few pieces of unleavened bread. He was already taxed before He entered into it. Only theres a problem with that reasoning. Church history and indeed scripture holds that Christ was crucified on a Friday Between 20-40 AD Nisan 15 never fell on a Friday. In 30 AD it was on Thursday but that would throw out the whole idea of Good Friday. Interestingly enough, two separate sources have used astronomical methods to date the crucifixion to April 3rd, 33 AD. (Pratt 1991) (Humphreys and Waddington 1983) (C. Humphreys 2011) This date, surprisingly, works. That year, Nisan 15 fell on a Saturday, the Sabbath. Preparations for a festival cant take place on the Sabbath, its against Judaic Law. So instead what they do is move The Fast of the Firstborn to Thursday, and celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread Thursday night. (Housman 2005) Thus we have the Lords Supper taking place at the beginning of Twilight on Thursday, the crucifixion on Friday, a Sabbath recorded by the Bible in Luke 23:54-56. And then according to Luke 24, on the first day of the week (remember this is during a festival, so bad weather could have made the first week a Monday!) Jesus was risen. Anyway now that Ive run away from my point Jesus fulfills the Festival of Pentecost by, almost in the same manner, delivering the law once again to man, but instead of a scroll this time He delivers it directly to the heart via the Holy Spirit. So, the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. The primary feature of this festival is the Sukkah, or man-made hut Jews live in during the festival to remind them of the Exodus. The Sukkah is covered in a

roofing of leafy vegetation, so that one may remember and trust that God provides for his people. (Housman, What is a Sukkah? 2005) While in the Sukkah, one may eat anything made of the five grains (wheat, oat, spelt, barley, and rye) or anything made of grapes. Deuteronomy 16:14 indicates this should be a celebratory event, and even suggests housing the widows and orphans in the town. 31:12 indicates that during the gathering the Torah is read aloud. Nehemiah 8:13-18 indicates that after the Torah was rediscovered, the Jews assembled their Sukkahs at the squares of the Water Gate and Gate of Ephraim. (Just a guess, but Im betting they caught the Woman in Adultery at the Watergate) Another key part of Sukkot is The Four Species. Using a lulav branch to bind them together, on Esrog branch, one Lulav (the center of a palm tree), two Aravah (river willow) and three Hadassah (myrtle) branches are tied together. They are then waved in six directions (North, South, East, West, Up, and Down) while reciting various blessings. (Housman, The Four Species 1995) On the seventh day comes Hoshana Rabba, The Great Salvation. The people parade around the alter with The Four Species reciting anna Adonai hoshiah na, anna Adonai hatzlichah nah. (Parsons n.d.) In English this is essentially Psalm 118:25 (ESV), Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! This would have been a time of great rejoicing, and according to John 7:37-38 Jesus stood up and shouted into the crowd If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' " To which the crowd is confused, or angry. Interestingly enough at this point in the narrative there is a problem. Unless youre familiar with the textual criticism you might wonder why its not until the next day that Jesus suddenly finishes this argument the Byzintine Texts, as Dr. Towns defends, have in them inserted this story about a woman caught in adultery. And even Bruce Metzger, one of the worlds finest authorities on New Testament manuscripts agrees that the story must be true, and occurs in this place enough to leave it there, but it is a story that most certainly was not written by John. (Metzger 1994) Clearly it was a dearly held true story of Jesus passed down through numerous authors, but never the Gospel authors. They didnt know what to do with it.

So Revelation is unfortunately interrupted. If you follow the ESV (which I admit, is kind of depressing that they left it out) you get the full argument. Jesus makes this statement and is confronted by the crowd, the culmination of which is Jesus revealing His ultimate I AM statement; Before Abraham was, I am. There was really no denying what happened during the end of this celebration the people were calling out for God to save them God answered. And in person no less. This is why Jesus is the fulfillment of the three festivals. Passover, to be the spotless lamb whose innocent blood is shed to protect the people from Gods wrath. Pentecost, for God to deliver a better guide into our hearts, the Holy Spirit. Tabernacles, to make them understand that only through Jesus do they have access to this protection, guidance and everlasting life.

Works Cited
Housman, Mordechai. "The Four Species." Being Jewish. 11 2, 1995. http://www.beingjewish.com/yomtov/sukkos/four.html (accessed 4 4, 2012). . "The Times and Schedules." Being Jewish. 11 10, 2005. http://www.beingjewish.com/yomtov/passover/schedule1.html (accessed 4 4, 2012). . "What is a Sukkah?" Being Jewish. 10 23, 2005. http://www.beingjewish.com/yomtov/sukkos/sukkah.html (accessed 4 4, 2010). Humphreys, Colin J., and W. G. Waddington. "Dating the Crucifixion." Nature, 1983: 743-746. Humphreys, Colin. The Mystery of the Last Supper. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Metzger, Bruce. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament Second Edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Biblegesellschaft, United Bible Societies, 1994. O'Neill, Claire. "What On Earth Is A Sukkah And What Is It Doing In That Empty Parking Lot?" NPR.org. September 23, 2010. http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/09/23/130078125/sukkah (accessed April 3, 2012).

Parsons, John. "Hoshana Rabba - The Great Salvation." Hebrew for Christians. n.d. http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Hoshana_Rabbah/hoshana_rabbah. html (accessed 4 4, 2012). Pratt, J. P. "Newton's Date for the Crucifixion." Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society , 1991: 301304. Rich, Tracey R. "Pesach: Passover." Judaism 101. 2005. http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm (accessed 4 4, 2012). . "The Counting of Omer." Judaism 101. 1995. http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayb.htm (accessed 4 4, 2012). Stern, David H. Jewish New Testament Commentary. Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., 1992.