COME AS A CHILD LESSON 88 RETURNING TO BETHEL

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The things that happened with Dinah did not make Jacob a happy father.  

The things his sons did to defend her had only brought troubles upon Jacob’s family in the land.  

It was probably a huge relief that there would be no mixing of peoples because of it; but this was only because Simeon and Levi had killed every man in the area that was not a descendant to Jacob!  They had obtained justice for one man's sins by killing many innocent men.  That isn't a very godly way to go about things! 

Jacob thought the other tribes nearby would hear of this and be very disturbed and decide to ban together against his family in the land.  He knew it was probably only a matter of time.  At a loss of what to do next, Jacob got down on his knees and sought God’s help.

God answered Jacob’s prayers by telling him to return to Bethel in the land of Canaan, where God had blessed him before.  Jacob had wrestled with God in that very place just before meeting Esau and he had previously seen the ladder to heaven there with the angels ascending and descending.  

We all have a Bethel in our lives.  A place in time  where and when God prevailed over our humanness and showed us His good and godly plans for us.  If we forget this and lose our way, God usually instructs us to go back to that sacred place.  We need to revisit the place where He instructed us in righteousness and holiness and there He shows us who he has meant for us to be all along.  It often takes several trips back to Bethel for the lessons of God to sink down into our hearts and souls enough so that we can be obedient enough to let God pour out more blessings on our days.  When we find we can LIVE in that place in righteousness, it becomes a permanent home in our hearts and the sacred enters the ordinary through the everyday events of our lives.

This was probably the most holy place on earth to Jacob. The people in the area seemed to be calling Bethel "Luz" at this point.  We have discussed the mysteries and legends around the land of Luz in previous lessons.  

Jacob still called it Bethel.  He knew the place was especially holy; and he knew he needed to clean up his family in order for them to be able to enter this land and walk on this sacred ground.  

What happened to Jacob in this part of the story happens to a lot of Christians.  You sin ,(Jacob stole Esau's birthright and deceived his father); you need to move away from all that God has given you because you have held on to that sin, (Jacob had not reconciled with Easu); you leave and go to live with pagans instead of God's people.  Then while you are there you maybe come to your senses and try to make things right where you are and you can't quite get there because everyone you have surrounded yourself with is pagan. 

 Your children are born in a pagan land and they pick up pagan practices and ways from those they have grown up with.  It is very, very hard to change this unless you come clean from your sin, (Jacob faced God and Esau) and begin to teach your household Godly ways and begin to live in righteousness. 

 The very first thing that has to happen is that your household idols must be destroyed.  I wonder how many in Jacob's household wanted to hold on to them?  It would have been so much better if they had never known of them! 

We live and learn and so did Jacob.  He was determined to work through this.  Jacob had changed, and he could be just as stubborn about his change as he had been about his deceptions.  He wanted his family clean before they entered Bethel!

He gathered them together and commanded them to give him all of their foreign gods, which they did.  They also had earrings in their ears that seemed to be inappropriate and Jacob took them too and put them with the idols and he buried it all beneath the oak tree at Shechem.

That old tree had seen some history by now! 

So Jacob told everyone in his family to purify themselves and to change their clothes.  He informed them that he was taking them to Bethel, the place where he would build an altar to God and they would worship.  He also stated that at Bethel God had previously answered his prayers when he had been in distress,  and Jacob noted to everyone that God had been with him everywhere that he had been since his experiences at Bethel.  It is almost like Jacob looked at Bethel as a place of safety and refuge that was sacred and hallowed and he was expressing this to his family so they would understand where they were going. 

When Jacob gathered everyone together, all cleaned up and idol free, they set out on the journey.  The scriptures say the terror of God fell on all the towns around them and they were not harmed in any way as they traveled through the land.  Of course, I'm sure the rumors of what Simeon and Levi had done to those Shechemites helped a little too!  That still didn't mean they did the right thing.  God has a way of turning evil and using the outcome to bring some good somewhere.  It keeps the godly from totally losing hope in many hopeless situations.  It always increases shattered faith among the people.

When they arrived at Bethel (Luz) Jacob built an altar to God exactly in the spot where God had revealed Himself to Jacob as he was fleeing from his brother.  Jacob called this place El Bethel, which means “God of Bethel.”

Shortly after they arrived in Bethel Rachel’s nurse, Deborah, died.  Deborah had lived with and faithfully served Rachel all of her life; and she had selflessly left her home land and family and everything she knew to go with Rachel when she married Jacob.  This must have been a great loss to Rachel.   Even though Deborah’s title was servant, she had been like a Mother to Rachel.  Jacob buried Deborah beneath a great oak just outside of Bethel.  They named the area Allon Bakuth, which means “Oak of Weeping.”

Has God called you to be a servant too?  If so, be a servant like Deboarh, one that loves like a mother, one that is faithful in all things, one that blesses a family in a million little ways and one that will be very missed when they are called away from life's journey.  Deborah seems to have been the servant of all servants, a female example similar to Eliezer, the exemplary male servant of Abraham.   

As Jacob and all of his family worshiped God upon first entering Bethel; God appeared to Jacob again.  Jacob was reminded of all the things that God had said to him before.  God had changed his name from Jacob to Israel, and God had said “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number.  A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.  The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.  God reminded Jacob of these things he already knew as he worshiped at Bethel, then the scriptures say “God went up from him.”  

Jacob set up a stone pillar in that place and poured out a drink offering to God.  He also poured oil on the stone and he called the place, Bethel, which means “House of God.”

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 87 DINAH'S BROTHERS SEEK REVENGE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

It seemed that things were finally moving in the right direction for
Jacob, but maybe that was an illusion. 

Have you ever had a time in your own life when you faced some huge obstacles, overcame them and moved on in the right direction, then had some uncontrollable circumstances caused from other people around you robbed you of the joy of that moment and completely took away all of your peace?  That is an old trick the devil uses a lot to get us back into the place where he wants us to stay.  In Jacob’s case the devil used his children. 

Jacob and Leah had a daughter named Dinah.  Dinah made friends with some of the Hivite women in the land and she went out to visit with them. 

Sounds innocent enough doesn’t it? 

More than likely it WAS innocent and unintended to cause problems.  Young women are often naive, and they often find themselves trapped in other people's schemes simply because of their innocence.  It is sad that these situations happen.  The best of families try to avoid such things by making sure their daughters are chaperoned and not allowed to be unprotected by the older and wiser.  Perhaps because she was Leah's daughter instead of Rachel's, Jacob had neglected to teach his daughter appropriate protocol.  Many a father has lived to regret such a thing.  Actually Leah too must share in the blame of this situation with Jacob.  This whole set of circumstances could never have happened if Dinah had been properly chaperoned or at home with her family tending to other things instead of mingling with unfamiliar cultures on her own.  Hindsight is always 20-20.

Hamor was the ruler in the area where Jacob was living.  He sold Jacob the plot of land where Jacob pitched his tents and built temporary dwellings for his animals.  

While Dinah was visiting, probably with the daughters of Hamor, Hamor’s son Shechem saw Dinah, took her and raped her.  He claimed to be in love with her and the scriptures say “he spoke tenderly to her.”  Shechem asked his father to allow him to marry Dinah. 

Not one word is said about Dinah’s feelings in this matter.  

One has to wonder with the way the scriptures are worded if Shechem really raped Dinah, or if some of this was by her own consent.  It is possible that she was also attracted to him.  There is no way for us to know the truth of the matter.  It also boils down to the fact that whether Dinah consented to Shechem's favors or not, she was not legally able to make such decisions.  Jacob was the only one who could make those decisions for her.

The next thing we know Jacob has heard that Shechem has raped his daughter.  Jacob heard this while his sons were off in the fields tending to the live stock.  Unlike a lot of fathers who would have rushed to the side of their daughter and brought her home immediately, Jacob waited until the brothers of Dinah came home and discussed the matter with them.  

When Jacob told Dinah’s brothers what had happened they were furious that a foreigner would have taken a daughter of Jacob and slept with her.   This too leaves you to wonder, was it really about rape or was it about a foreign person defiling the daughter of Jacob?  It could have been both.  These two totally different cultures would not have understood each other’s ways.  Add to that the unwise moves of a young girl.  All of the dishonor could have been unintentional, or it could have been complete evil.  It is hard to understand all of this and come to a certain conclusion.   

 In the meantime Hamor appears at the door of Jacob’s tent to talk.  He tells Jacob that his son is in love with Dinah and wants to have her as his wife.  Hamor then asks Jacob to allow his sons to intermarry with his people, to let his sons marry his daughters and to allow all of Hamor’s sons to intermarry with Jacob’s people.  In turn Hamor agrees to let Jacob live in ALL of the land that belongs to him (Jacob had already bought part of the land), to trade in the land and acquire more property in the land. 

While Jacob was doing business with Hamor, and we do not know that Jacob ever agreed to anything; Jacob’s sons had a little discussion among themselves.  They all agreed that Shechem had dealt deceitfully with them, and they intended to return the favor.

 

As the brothers were looking on, probably horrified that Jacob was even listening and entertaining the offer from Hamor, Shechem shows up to talk with Jacob asking for favor in Jacob’s sight.  He tells Jacob there is nothing he would not give to have Dinah as his wife.  He offers to pay any price Jacob names to obtain his bride. 

Jacob’s sons wanted revenge not money.  They decided to deceive Shechem

just as he had deceived them by being dishonorable in taking Dinah without permission.  They told him that Dinah would never be allowed to marry an uncircumcised man.  They said such a thing would be a disgrace to an Israelite!  There was one condition, however, that might bring them into agreement.  If the men of the land became like them and were circumcised they would agree to become one people with them and live among them.  They (Dinah's brothers) agreed with Hamor and Shechem and told them if you do this, then we will give you our daughters and we will also take your daughters for ourselves.  We can all settle this and become one people in the land.  But if Shechem and his men did not agree to this, there was no deal.

The proposal seemed good to Hamor and Shechem.  So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of the city and spoke to all the men of their city.  They persuaded every one of them to be circumcised “in order to increase the population of their people” and to “keep the peace in the land.”  They also mentioned that when this deal took place the property of Jacob, including all of his livestock, would become theirs.  How odd that we did not hear that in the negotiations between the sons of Hamor and the sons of Jacob!  Evil men will lie to get other men to agree with them politically. The men of the city saw this as a good business proposition, so they agreed to be circumcised.

I have to pause here and consider how many times in history one man’s sins have changed a nation like this.  One day they are living peacefully in the ways of their culture and someone does something wrong, presents it as right, deceives them into believing this one SIN is good for the nation and will bring positive change, and the people agree and walk straight into their own self-destruction.  I can't help but think of a time when some of the people of God will be tempted to take the mark of the beast.  It happens!  The blind follow the blind and good people are constantly forgetting to think for themselves or consult God, but like innocent little sheep they fall into the trap of believing every intention of their honored leaders are good and in their best interest.  The little sheep never consider whether the shepherd is good or bad, they just follow.  If your master is The Good Shepherd, you will know His voice.  Please do not follow any other voices!

   

Three days later, all the men of the land of Hamor were in pain as they were recovering from their recent circumcision.

 Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, (who are believed to only have been teenagers at the time) took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, including Hamor and Shechem.  They killed every male inhabitant.  They took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. 

The rest of Jacob’s sons came upon the city full of dead bodies.  They then proceeded to loot the city and seized the flocks and herds and everything else.  They carried off all the wealth and the women and children of the men from Hamor’s city as they plundered their houses.

They had not wanted a daughter of Israel to be married to another culture, but they did not mind taking the daughters of the other culture and submitting then to basically the same crimes that Dinah had to endure.  I don't think this would have been God's idea of justice.  Now Jacob's family had mixed with the people of the land, something that God had forbidden.  

When Jacob heard what Simeon and Levi had done he told them they had brought trouble to him by making him obnoxious to the Canaanites and the Perizzites who were living in the land and looking on at what had happened.   It seems odd that Jacob didn't mention to them that it was not God's will to blend the cultures or that they were forbidden from taking the women in the land as their own.

Jacob explained that their numbers were small and that these two people groups might join forces against them and out-number them and destroy them.  Had Jacob gone back to living in fear?   Do we all do this from time to time?  God grants us miracle after miracle and shows us He is on our side time after time, and we are still hearing the wrong old voices and forget that God has got our backs.  Fear should not be a Christian trait.

Levi and Simeon had only one reply, “He should not have treated our sister like a prostitute!”

Another trait that should not exist with Christians is revenge.  God is the judge.  We should let Him handle the revenge.  God always makes just decisions, men make many errors in judgement.  

Jacob's sons had repaid evil for evil.  Two wrongs do not ever make a right.  Justice had been over-served and the innocent victims of Hamor’s household were now suffering the consequences of their selfish rulers at the hands of Jacob’s zealous sons. 

It seemed Jacob was once again between a rock and hard place. Jacob knew God had promised to be with him and to bless him.  So Jacob turned to God in prayer, asking what on earth he should do next.

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 86 AN OLD FIGHT IS ENDED AND AN OLD PLACE IS MADE NEW AGAIN

(Writing by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

William Jennings Bryan once said “Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.  It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”  This was the case for two brothers about to face one another after years of unresolved anger. 

What would be the outcome of Jacob meeting Esau? 

No one knew.

 Neither brother knew how the other would react. 

Jacob was prepared for the worst case scenario.  He had divided his children among Leah and Rachel and their two female servants.  He put the female servants and their children in the front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.  In other words; he put the one’s he loved the most in the most protected place. 

After everyone was in place Jacob looked up and saw Esau and his four hundred men thundering toward his caravan.  Jacob gathered all his courage and moved to the front of his family, dismounted his ride,  and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

To his utter amazement Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him.  He threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.  Together, right there in the middle of the land, the two brothers embraced and wept.  Years and years of tears were released, tears long held back and burden after burden was lifted from the struggling shoulders of two brothers that needed to forgive one another.  Finally they looked up from each other.

“Who are these with you?”  Esau asked.

“They are the children God has graciously given your servant” said Jacob. 

Then the female servants approached with their children and bowed down.  Next came  Leah and her children.  Last to bow were Rachel and Joseph. 

“What is the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?”  asked Esau.  “To find favor in your eyes my lord,” said Jacob.

Note that Jacob calls Esau “my lord” three times in this passage of scripture.  It was a fulfillment of Isaac’s blessing to Esau that we studied before.  The words are found in Genesis 27:40: “You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.  But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”

“I already have plenty my brother,” said Esau.  “Keep what you have for yourself.”

“No, please!” said Jacob.  “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me.  For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably.  Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.”

Because Jacob kept insisting, Esau kept the gifts.   

Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”    But Jacob told Esau that the children were young and they would be slow walkers.  He said he needed to care for the ewes and cows nursing their young.  The animals would not be able to journey another day without problems to their health.  Jacob told Esau to go on ahead and they would come slowly behind him when they had time to take care of all of their needs and the needs of the animals.  He agreed to meet Esau in Seir.  Esau offered to leave some of his men, but Jacob said that would not be necessary. 

Esau went to Seir, Jacob however went on to Sukkoth, where he pitched a tent for himself and his family and made them a temporary home.  He also made temporary shelters for his livestock.  That is why the place is called Sukkoth.  Sukkoth means “temporary shelters” and that is the name given for the festival and the Holy Days of God that comes for eight days each Fall season.  The temporary dwellings or booths used each year at Sukkot, are similar “temporary shelters.”  It is interesting to note that some of these shelters at Sukkoth were made for housing livestock; as so many people believe Jesus was actually born during the feast of  Sukkot, and he was housed in a manger in a place that provided shelter for livestock at his birth. 

Then Jacob crossed the Jordan and rode to Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city.  The blessing he had requested from God at Bethel; asking that he be allowed to return to his homeland in peace, had been accomplished.

Shechem is the narrow valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, approximately 65km north of Jerusalem.  This strategic location was between the north and south and east and west main roads.  It was here that existed the well we now called “Jacob’s Well.”  That was not the only water supply though, there was conduit that ran out of a cave that also provided water to the residents in this area. 

For a hundred pieces of silver, Jacob bought the plot of ground where he pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, the Father of Shechem.  This was the second plot of land bought and paid for from money of Abraham’s descendants in the land of Canaan.  This spot was actually the same place where Abraham built the first altar to God when he first crossed into the promised land himself.  It was the same place, close to the same terebinth tree,  from  years earlier.  There Jacob set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel, which means El is the God of Israel, or Mighty is the God of Israel.

Seventeen centuries later a man named Jesus, a descendant of Jacob, would walk to this same city and go to this same well in the noontime heat.  There he would have an interesting conversation with a Samaritan woman who would lead many to believe that she had found The Messiah of Israel, the very Son of God.   

SEASONS - LIVING IN AWE

(Writing and photography by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

It is my own personal belief that God has given us the blessing of sacred times to help us to remember to make life-giving connections.  We do this through various forms of meaningful ritual and thoughtful personal transformation in our daily lives.  I think it is by sitting in prayer and meditation before our God that we become empowered to shine with His relevance into whatever corner of the world we find ourselves living.  God meets us where we are, but we have to be willing to take the journey.  The 10 Days of Awe are a lot like driving down the road of life and deliberately deciding to slow down, actually look at the scenery and not rush on by.  It is a pause from the typically busy hectic world.  It is a time out as we travel down the road of truth on our journey through the year.

I think of this every year as a Christian believer who observes the Days of Awe that begin on Rosh Hashanah and linger on through Yom Kippur. 

I don’t consider The Days of Awe to be only Jewish holy days.  My bible says God ordained these days forever, and I am a child of God.  I may be adopted into the family, but I am loved the same as those who were born into the family.  For me it is simply 10 days to reflect and pray about whatever transformations I need to make in the coming year to help the life I live better reflect more of the life of my heavenly Father and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.   
  

Every year during this sacred time I begin to recall that I’ve made many terrible daily mistakes.  I’ve misspoken about friends and colleagues. At times I’ve been callous and dismissive.  Often I’ve had moments where I’ve projected my love into places where it does not belong, and then turned around and withheld it from places where it does belong.  In so  many life situations, I’ve let my insecurities paralyze me, or lead me into wrong actions.  I’ve devalued others, as well as myself, and often neglected my family, and neglected the world outside of my immediate family as well.  Perhaps it may seem strange that I admit to the crimes of most of the human race.  In short, I am painfully aware of my humanness and my lack of automatic holiness.  Realizing these things I come before God to repent.  I go to the people I know I've wronged and tell them I'm sorry.  I try to correct my actions by "doing" and not just using the words.

 

Some people feel that admittng these things to God and to their fellow human beings is shocking and repulsive.  They are afraid of facing their own imperfections.  Why do we always expect perfection from ourselves?  Am I being too hard on myself for stopping to think of these things and seeking the forgiveness of God during these 10 sacred days of this season?  After all, Jesus has me covered, right?  I know and believe with all my heart that He has forgiven my sins past, present and future, and has removed them as far as the east from the west.  So why would I stop to ponder such things and seek My Father’s Face for mercy and forgiveness during this time; is it really necessary? 

I feel it is very necessary, because it helps me to turn from wrong.  It takes me beyond just “believing” to living in a place of “being.”   God desires that we want to change.  It is not that I do not accept the grace so freely given by a loving Savior, I definitely do.  It is, however, that if I do not stop to engage these questions every year, I will simply continue to run through the days of my life filling myself up with idle distractions — shopping, vacations, career, social events — and will simply avoid the real work that needs to be done to bring about good authentic change.  Most significant of all is the fact that I would be trampling on that precious gift of grace that has been so freely given, taking the most precious thing that ever happened for granted, and making slight of what My Savior has done in giving His precious life for me. Setting aside this time honors God, My Savior Jesus Christ, and it sets me free from my own paths of careless self destruction.    

So, I welcome those awesome rituals of Rosh Hashanah that force me to stop, assess, redress, and recreate my life before God.  I welcome that opportunity each year to reengage, and to emerge from the paralysis of my own spiritual escapism. My encounter with Rosh Hashanah, The Days of Awe and Yom Kippur each year awaken within my soul the realization that it is time to wake up and stop running away and confess my faults to God, so that I may begin the sacred year with resting peacefully on The Rock of Jesus Christ.  

These High Holy Days teach me and help me to recognize that as human beings we are fundamentally different from objects, machines, plants and animals in that we are not rigid and unchangeable.  We have the ability to change if we chose, to turn, to keep trying until we are able to hit the mark that takes us to a higher place, that place that changes our hearts from duty to love, from rote worship to true desire. 

After each season has passed I feel the fresh peaceful place of knowing "Hayom harat olam" — today is the birth of something completely new. 

 I have the common sense to realize that God has given me a gift I never deserved. 

What could be more wonderful than this? 

What could be more refreshing? 

What could be a better way to enter a new sacred year?

What more could I ask from One who has already given His life for me? 

To steal a phrase from another season:  Dayenu! 

Each year the journey gets more and more interesting.  God has taught me to enjoy the challenges of life. As I bend to His will in my days, He helps me find the purposes He has created specifically for me.  Because I set aside this time every year, I know when the end of my journey comes, I can be at peace and enter safely into His joy. 

SEASONS - THOUGHTS ABOUT BUILDING A SUKKAH

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

This article is only a draft and composite of many of my thoughts about Sukkot and the significance of the Sukkah all jumbled up together.  I leave them here for whatever anyone can glean from their confusing and unorganized order.  I hope to split all the pieces out to create smaller articles over the time leading up to Sukkot.  If you can digest it this way - please feel free!  Just don't judge my writing ability by this composite of notes not yet organized.

If you’ve ever built a sukkah for Sukkot you have probably realized there is a lot of hidden meaning to be found in the building process.  

Jesus taught us all of these things in the Gospel, but all gospel lessons can easily be applied to the simple things that make up our normal lives, or even our special occasions in life, such as the time we experience during Sukkot when we decide to follow God’s instructions and complete the act of building a sukkah and spending our time inside the structure. 

It is called the Feast of Tabernacles because we dwell in booths or temporary shelters called sukkahs. 



The word sukkah in Hebrew actually translates to mean a temporary booth.  For some people this is as deep as building a sukkah will go, for others though – there is so much more to the whole wonderful experience.  

You really won’t get this unless you actually DO this.  

Obedience is the first step to growth in The Kingdom of God.  It is also a straight path to joy.   

So most of us who observe Sukkot joyfully build our sukkahs and enjoy them throughout the season of The Feast of Tabernacles. 











God often lets us find out a few things for ourselves as we go along instead of just spelling out lesson after lesson, making them boring and hard to retain.   This is yet another reason for observing The Fall Holy Days.   God knows the process of doing things is the way we are more likely to retain good lasting knowledge and remember significant matters.  It seems this "going-through"  process is just as important as the results of the process.  


Before we reach this date for The Feast of Tabernacles, if we are observing all The Fall Holy Days, we have judged ourselves and found ourselves lacking during Rosh Hashanah, confessed our sins and begged for God’s mercy and forgiveness.  

We have found that beautiful place in time right after Yom Kippur, where we have confessed all we know, fasted, and even asked forgiveness for what we don’t understand.
  
It is a season when we are beginning a new year of our lives standing clean before God, with atonement provided by the blood of Jesus that cleanses us white as snow.  By the time we arrive at Sukkot we find ourselves raising holy, clean, pure hands before our God in worship, because we have laid our sins and burdens at the feet of Jesus and have been washed in the blood and atoned for by a merciful God.  There is no better feeling! 

We turn our attention to starting a fresh new year in a much better state of mind and heart.  It is a feeling of great celebration!  Once again we have the hope of trying to walk holy before the God we love.  We know we are only human, and we are going to make mistakes; but we know He will guide us and pick us back up when we fall.  It is usually only a matter of time, but in the meantime, we have fresh new lives to build on for the coming year.
  

We will look up through the sukkah roof  of earthen branches and see that there are many, many stars in the sky.  We would realize that there is more sand on the sea shore than any man can count.  These things stand for the great number of Abraham’s children and the sign of the promise God made to Abraham even before he had become an Israelite!  









We always take the time to  remember the promise and to pass the promise on to others who need hope.
  
The sukkah is a place where people come looking for something.  Just like the story of the woman who lost a coin and cleaned and moved everything until she found it.  What we find in the fellowship of the sukkah is  the very thing the coin represented to the woman in the story.   It is a precious treasure.   People come seeking the substance of life here.  

Each year that passes finds my heart growing more tender toward the usefulness of the sukkah.   God’s mind is so unbelievably rich, and all it takes for Him to share it is obedience.  At first I came to building the sukkah blindly, just being obedient to the commandment to build the sukkah; then I began discovering one fact after another that related to joy.  

The woman in the story swept her house and searched it carefully.  I cleaned the floor of my sukkah too, looking around to be sure that it was full of the things that sustained life.  I had found them here, in this little temporary dwelling and like the woman in the story I wanted to call all of my friends and neighbors and invite them to come over and rejoice with me.  I wanted them to know what I had found in this season.  I put several chairs inside my sukkah and sat in prayer for awhile.  I thanked God for the opportunities He has granted to me simply by his instructions of how to build a sukkah.  I placed a bible on the table.  I opened it up.  Reading the bible inside the Sukkah is special!  

As older folks, living in the Sukkah, having lost our earthly fathers, we often to remember the once clear but now vague comforts and perfect order and dignity of living in our Father’s house under his rules.  Often the story of the prodigal son comes to mind.   We do not want to live like either son inside our Sukkah, but only a son who loves The Father.    Like the younger son, we, over time have gained some knowledge and understanding about these things we once took for granted, and now we hate ourselves for taking them for granted for so long.  We know we dare not ask for things to be as they were, but in the deepest part of our hearts we want to go back, simply to beg forgiveness and mercy of our Father who had been so good to us for so many years.  We Gentile Christians fit the picture of the younger rebellious son so well.  Especially during the time leading up to Tabernacles, during Elul and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

















We can see the significance of this and so many other bible stories right away when we are living in the sukkah.  It symbolizes the tents that the Israelites dwelled in during their time of wandering through the wilderness.  They camped surrounding the glory of God that led them through a pillar of fire by night and a cloud during the day.  They all kept the front of their tents open facing this glory.  Three sides were closed, but they could look out the open side at any time and see where God dwelt.  Ah, so much can be said for living in a temporary shelter of three sides with the front open and welcoming God, family, friends and neighbors to come inside and enjoy community.  Blessings of community always come from living in a sukkah!  

It takes DOING to see.  Sometimes God just loves for us to read between the lines as we are “doing” the things He has instructed us to do.   God doesn't always EXPLAIN His answers, He let's us discover them on our own.   This seems to be a family trait.  Jesus never gave straight answers either.   He always answered questions with questions.  It seems very possible that communications technique was intended to make us think.  Thinking, after all, can be a very spiritual trait.   If you start to build a sukkah you will find yourself thinking about a lot of things as you build. 

Like any good Father, God waits patiently with all of us as we go through different processes in the different seasons of life.  Every year He waits to see it we are going to build our sukkah.  Every year He teaches us a different way to dwell in the sukkah.

So, I discover it over and over each year, as I think of building this simple little temporary dwelling.  Every year as I go through the motions of The Feast of Tabernacles I learn something new and it all adds together each time, layer upon layer. It is never the same, always different each time.   

One year the learning experience started as I listened to my pastor’s sermon right before Sukkot.  The sermon came from the passage found in Luke 15:  Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Where am I in that passage?  I’m the one they called a “sinner.”  I’m not a tax collector, but it is funny that this passage of scripture came up just about the time we received our property taxes for the year. How odd that taxes and feast days seem to coincide!  I do vividly remember being angry at the tax collectors of our county who decided all of a sudden this year that my detached garage could be taxed as a separate building from this point forward, doubling the extra fire and emergency dues that are to be paid for living where I live.

 Not many people like their tax collectors, or want to hear from them or deal with them on a daily basis.  Have you ever heard anyone say “Oh yea!  I’ve been audited by the IRS and get to meet with them in person this week, can’t wait to see them!”  No, neither have I.  Those tax collectors have their own special brand of “sin.”  The thing we don’t usually see is the fact that all of us “sinners” have some brand of sin that we enjoy more than other sins.  That their sin is different from ours doesn’t change the fact that when you lump us all together – we are all just “sinners.”   This lesson plays out in the ritual of shaking the Lulav and knowing there are many kinds of people.  When you bundle them together, they are all sinners in need of God's grace and mercy.  We become like the Citron fruit when we receive God's love into our hearts, both sweet to the taste and fragrant with His Holy Spirit.

None of us will ever reach sainthood on this earth, but now we’ve come to the season of joy for all “sinners.”   Some have trod further into the valley toward sainthood than others, but each person must and should have given that to God by the time of the feast.   It is The Feast of Tabernacles.  It is a time period that comes after a time when we have considered our sins and examined our lives during the previous month of Elul.  

So how do we go about this? 

We begin to build our sukkahs for the festival of Sukkot. 

It is the very next thing we do after Yom Kippur and Atonement.  We have a festival that is to be celebrated in temporary booths called Tabernacles.  Is this silly?  Perhaps; but, perhaps not. 

Has your earthly father ever given you a chore that you didn’t appreciate or understand until it was complete?  Do you find yourself having fond memories of that special time now that it is years behind you?  Do you sometimes wish you could go back to those days, just for a little while, simply because they are so dear to you?   Years and years later the lessons you learned while carrying out your father’s instructions may still be important to you.  Looking back, you understand and appreciate the lessons learned while completing the project you once did not understand.  You are thankful and amazed at your father’s wisdom and so glad you participated.   God has a way of doing this for us when He is instructing us to build our sukkahs.

 You start out with the knowledge of the fact that the sukkah is only temporary.  You will dwell there for awhile, but only for awhile.  The time you set aside to dwell there should be a time of joy and celebration.  When the temporary time is over you will go to live in a more permanent structure.  So, build now – while the time is here.  Do not wait until it is time to go to a more permanent place.  This is a time you can never re-gain.  Live it out NOW.  One day you will look back and remember.

To build something like a sukkah, you first need to learn to follow instructions from someone who knows how to build properly.   God is the master builder.  He gives the instructions for the sukkahs in the scriptures that follow:

"Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month.  (Exodus 40:2)

As I pondered building a sukkah and all the process you usually go through in building one, our pastor’s sermon and the words of the scriptures spoken kept coming back to me.  I kept remembering that if not for the grace of God I would always be “just a sinner” and I kept thinking about how all the people I considered to be pagan and ungodly were probably just like those tax collectors, just a different flavor of sinners who were in the same boat as me – in need of restoration and resurrection. 

As those walls went up on the sukkah, a few walls between me and my neighbors began to fall down.  Then I read the second part of the scripture passage that my pastor had preached about again:

Luke 15:2   But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Ah, those very religious ones; those old Pharisees!  Perhaps I could fall into that definition – was I too being very religious in keeping the commandment to build this Sukkah?   These guys were in the same boat in that we all were sinners, be our sin self righteousness or murder; but they missed the point.  They were living in their own self righteousness and counting on the fact that if they simply did everything right they would not be condemned.  They couldn’t see that we were ALL sinners.  They were telling God how perfect they were and not humbling themselves in their obedience.  There was no worship involved here, only duty.  All of their laws had to make sense to them.  They knew no simple, humble obedience.  

I, on the other hand was just taking God at His word, looking at my little pile of boards and branches and saying “Okay Lord, I don’t get it completely, but I’m willing to do as you have instructed just because I love you and want to be with you in the things that you enjoy.”  My sukkah was about worship, not legalities.  I wasn’t constructing it out of duty or fear, but out of love.    So, on this realization, I continued building.

The Sukkah was to be shared with God and family and anyone who wanted to join in on the celebration.  Hmmmmm, I hoped once I got done that I would not turn into a Pharisee in my Sukkah.  Sometimes we can start off right but lose our way and go wrong.  I had to be careful of this.  I thought about how I needed to open up the front wall so that anyone who wanted to draw close and come inside could experience the same joy that I would find here.  A sukkah is for sharing.   I left the front open.  I welcomed other sinners to join me.  This is what Jesus did, yet even He was often condemned by judgmental people.  There would probably be a few who would judge me even for building this Sukkah in my yard.  They simply would not understand. 

People are often afraid of things they do not understand. They might even say I had misinterpreted the law and forgotten all about how The Messiah’s coming had completely changed things.  I wouldn’t listen to their judgments though, because I knew that everything happening about my sukkah WAS about how The Messiah had changed things.  I would simply invite them inside to experience the joy with me.  No one would be turned away.  Everyone would be welcomed in this Sukkah.  They would be welcomed into the shade, there would be food to share with them  if they were hungry, a chair if they needed to rest, and lots of good companionship.  I was liking this “sukkah” experience more and more.

I pondered the next part of my pastor’s sermon scripture reading: 

(Luke 15: 3-7:)  ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Hmmm……I was okay with inviting the judgmental casual acquaintances inside the Sukkah, but what about those who had truly offended me?  What about those who had once worshiped with me but had taken offense at some human part of the whole experience and walked away?  What about those that I knew had made a real profession of faith but had not even begun to live it out yet?  Was there hope for them too?  I knew The Good Shepherd would be looking for them, even during the feast days, hoping, watching, searching the horizon, looking to see if they would be coming back.  Who did I know like this? I needed to make it easy for them to be found.  I needed to make it comfortable for them to come back into the fold.  I would open my sukkah to them.  I would call them and invite them over for some cool refreshments during the time of the feast. 

I was seeing more and more why God had asked us to keep this ritual every year.  It was more than a harvest festival for the land, it was a harvest festival for the soul.  

The Good Shepherd wanted all His sheep in the fold.  It was time to look around and noticing who had not been among us lately and inviting them to come back inside.  What better way than a party in a festive sukkah?

Then I read the next part of the scripture reading my pastor has just quoted from a few days ago:

(Luke 15:8-10:) ⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

This parable gave me some good instructions as to how to furnish my sukkah.  The woman had lost something, a coin that would sustain her with the food that gave her life.  I was interested in lost people and helping them to find the value in life, and the tools the woman used in the story were the same tools I would need in my sukkah.  She needed a light.  She lite a lamp to make it easier to find her valuable coin.  I went to get some candles to put on the table in my Sukkah.   I was reminded of how many festivals God gave us that portray Jesus as the light of the world.  I would light the candle in the Sukkah,and we would thank God for bringing us Messiah.  He would furnish the light in the Sukkah, as well as the stars in the sky.   

The pages flipped to the rest of the passage from my pastor’s sermon:

Luke 15: 11-31: ¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  ¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.  “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  ²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  ²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.  ²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  
²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’  ³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

It was the age old story of the prodigal son.  It starts out mentioning that there were two sons.  I thought of the two sons in this story as I had come to see them; so often I had thought of those two;  I could see that the older son symbolized Israel and the younger son symbolized the Gentiles.  The two sons were very different, but they had the same Father. 

We Gentiles have been a lot like the younger son in the story.  We have wanted everything we have coming to us NOW, and we have asked God to give it to us NOW.  And God, just like the Father in the story divided His possessions out and gave us a our portion NOW.  He sent His only Son to save us with his life.  He sent His Holy Spirit to sustain us.  We took it all for granted and went out and lived like kings, feeling rich and important from all our blessings.  We thought we had it all, but we were actually very poor because we had not yet learned the true values in life at all.  We have squandered our wealth in wild sinful living.  Sin has run rampant among us, even to the top level of the leaders of our churches and denominations.  Our sins have brought the land that God gave us into captivity.  We find ourselves in financial bondage to strange people in strange lands.  We have to work hard for anything to put on our tables now, and we often stop to remember how blessed we were before we threw God’s laws out the window and tried to live however we wanted to at the moment.  

So we turn and go home to a loving and merciful Father who meets us with a cloak that covers us and a ring that says who we really are.  It is amazing and crazy to us that He loves us so much to totally forgive how selfish and rebellious we have been.  He still loves us!  Our times of sorrow and repentance turn to joy and celebration!  We have found out who we truly are and we only want to be the restored child of the father forever.   We celebrate our restoration in The Feast of Tabernacles inside our temporary dwellings called sukkahs.

We return to a land and a way that our brother has never left.  The older brother is Israel.  Israel and the people of Judah who have always done everything right.  They have stayed with the Father all along.  They have carried out His instructions to the letter.  They resent the fact that the younger brother has come home from all the waste and repented to the Father and found favor.  They resent that the father did not met them at the door with a cloak and a ring and present it to them for all their righteousness all these years.  They resent that the Father has not seen their total loyalty and devotion and recognized them for it in the land. 

So, here they are, the two brothers.  They are both back together in The Father’s House, and it is the time of joy and celebration.  It has been the Father’s custom to celebrate this season of harvest.  When the sons reach the Father’s House the temporary dwellings become permanent.  They are both home forever.    The Father never stops teaching.  He will keep showing them lessons in life and letting them walk through the process until they learn to love each other again and live in harmony in His House.   The Father understands the needs of each son.  He knows the lessons they both need to learn.

  So, with all of this in my mind and heart, I open up my little temporary sukkah.  

I open it up to all who will come inside and find the joy and love that dwells in this place because One Father loved so very much that He was willing to sacrifice His only son. 

 I know one day that Father will take these fragile temporary things and make them real and permanent structures forever.