Love Learning

with

Aunt Lizzie

by Elizabeth Kelley

THROUGH A CHILD’S EYES

Have you ever wondered what it was like being a child and living in Bible days?  Would you have been surprised at Balaam talking with his donkey?  Do you think Naaman’s little servant girl would have been excited as she waited for him to return from the prophet Elisha?  Naaman had a really bad disease called leprosy (lèp´re-sê), and God used Elisha to cure him.  What about the shepherds running into the city of Bethlehem (bèth´lî-hèm´) telling about the angels and seeing the baby Jesus in the stable? What was it like walking around in the wilderness with Moses and gathering manna to eat in the mornings?  In the evenings quail flew into the camp and the people had quail to eat.  Do you think that they got tired eating only manna and quail every day?

While Moses and the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God told Moses to tell the people about a special feast that He wanted them to keep.  It was called the Feast of Tabernacles (tàb´er-nàk´els).  A tabernacle is a tent.  Did you ever go camping and sleep in a tent?  Israel lived in tents as they went from Egypt to the land of Israel.

The Feast of Tabernacles.

Leviticus (le-vît´î-kes) 23:33-44

Many years later, when the people were living in the beautiful Promised Land that we know as Israel, they no longer needed to live in tents.  They built houses of rocks or stones.  No longer did they see the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire at night. That was the way that God showed His presence to Israel.  Also, it was a way that He protected them.

God didn’t want Israel to forget how he had led them for forty years in the wilderness. He wanted them to remember that they had lived in tents all that time.  He wanted them to remember that He had fed them every day with manna and quail.

To help them remember, He told each family to build a booth in their yard.  The booth was like a tent.  It looked like the one in this picture.   One week during the year they would eat and sleep in the booth.

A booth or a tabernacle

The Feast of Tabernacles helps Israelis all over the world to remember that God cared for their fathers in the wilderness.  The modern booths may look like this one.  Some may cost a lot while others are just tents.

Each year in the fall, the crops like corn, wheat, barley, olives grapes, figs were gathered.   Then, each family was to build their booth.  It was to be built with good trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook.  Thick tree trunks were cut into posts.  With these they made the corners of their booth.  Smaller tree trunks were fastened across the top.  Next the palm and willow branches were laid across the top to keep out sun or rain.

What an exiting time that must have been for the children!  They gathered the tree branches and handed them to their fathers or older brothers so they could lay them on top of the poles to form the roof.  Then the real fun began, bringing fruits and vegetables they had harvested for the winter and hanging them on the sides of the booth.  This was the end of the first day of the feast of tabernacles.  For the next seven days the family ate and slept in their booth.  The family remembered how God took care of His people in the wilderness.

In Exodus 19:8 the people said, … All that the Lord hath spoken we will do …

God still wants his children to obey Him and not forget His words. When you read the Bible, is it because you want to know what God wants you to do?  Do you read the Bible wanting to do as God says?

As a Sunday School teacher, I look into the faces of the children while telling a story.  I watch their faces so that I can tell if they understand the point that I am trying to make.  

Eric Abbott was one of the primary boys that I taught.  He told me things with the way he looked!  I could tell when did not understand.  I could tell by his face when he knew what I was talking about.  Then I could go to the next part of the lesson.  Eric is grown now; he is a dad, a children’s teacher, and still attends the First Baptist Church of Morris, Oklahoma.

I can not look into your face to see how well I am doing with my word pictures.  I would like to know if this has helped you to understand Israel’s Feast of Tabernacles.  E-mail me if you would like at elizabeth1941@live.com.   I would  be glad to try to answer any question that you may have.