I find myself in a continuous pattern of thankfulness as we go
through the calendar months of October, November and December in America.
It
all starts with the Hebrew Festival called The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot, which
has already come and gone for this year. Each
year at this festival my heart is overwhelmed with Thanksgiving, then follows America’s
Thanksgiving Holiday bringing more reminders of thankfulness. I’m often reminded that Sukkot probably was
the first original form of a Thanksgiving celebration.
The Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles or Booths begins on the fifteenth
day of the seventh month, after the crops are all gathered in for the winter. So we see this similar pattern already in that this too is a fall
harvest activity, very much in the nature of The American Thanksgiving holiday. God instructed the Israelites to observe the Feast of Tabernacles by building and living in temporary booths for seven days so that they would remember the exodus from Egypt when they lived in tents, or booths, in the dessert. It was to help them to remember how God dwelt among them and tabernacled with them as they sojourned to a new land. In other words it was a time to remember all the good and great things that God had done for them.
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Exodus 25:8 speaks of this:
“Then have them make a sanctuary
for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its
furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” (NIV)
There were also other reasons
for dwelling in booths near the threshing floors. Threshing floors were the place of the
harvest. The harvest was income. The threshing floors were always in danger of
being robbed. This was less likely to happen
if someone was sleeping in a temporary booth in the fields until all the
grain was removed. It was customary for the family to move out to the vicinity of the threshing floor in order to work together as well as to protect the harvest.
The mother would prepare meals there in the shade and she would take her turn with the father and the children to ride on the sledge.
This was what was going on when Ruth approached Boaz. He was sleeping in a Sukkah near the threshing floor guarding the grain.
The ancient people gladly added God’s instructions for the Holy Days to this tradition, and they turned this time into a joyous celebration full of Thanksgiving.
Isn’t that just like our Great God to turn dread and fear into a time of celebration and joy? He is a God of great reversals.
We look at the Hebrew people dwelling in booths during The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot and we can't help but think of the lean-tos on the sides of the first log cabins that the settlers built. They were temperory dwellings with three sides and a door. They were often the shelter offereed to strangers passing through to spend the night. They were a form of exteneded hospitality, just like a sukkah has come to be in today's celebrations.
Historians now note that the first Jews arrived in America with Christopher Columbus in 1492. Jews newly converted to Christianity were also among the first Spaniards to live in Mexico with Conquistador Hernando Cortez in 1519. In North America in 1654 Jews arrived in New Amsterdam which later came to be known as New York. There were 23 Jewish refugees from Recif, Brazil.
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)
grain was removed. It was customary for the family to move out to the vicinity of the threshing floor in order to work together as well as to protect the harvest.
The mother would prepare meals there in the shade and she would take her turn with the father and the children to ride on the sledge.
This was what was going on when Ruth approached Boaz. He was sleeping in a Sukkah near the threshing floor guarding the grain.
The ancient people gladly added God’s instructions for the Holy Days to this tradition, and they turned this time into a joyous celebration full of Thanksgiving.
Isn’t that just like our Great God to turn dread and fear into a time of celebration and joy? He is a God of great reversals.
We look at the Hebrew people dwelling in booths during The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot and we can't help but think of the lean-tos on the sides of the first log cabins that the settlers built. They were temperory dwellings with three sides and a door. They were often the shelter offereed to strangers passing through to spend the night. They were a form of exteneded hospitality, just like a sukkah has come to be in today's celebrations.
Historians now note that the first Jews arrived in America with Christopher Columbus in 1492. Jews newly converted to Christianity were also among the first Spaniards to live in Mexico with Conquistador Hernando Cortez in 1519. In North America in 1654 Jews arrived in New Amsterdam which later came to be known as New York. There were 23 Jewish refugees from Recif, Brazil.
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)
The Hebrew feast is celebrated by a full week of rejoicing, dancing,
singing and feasting and is called “The Season of our Joy”. Many of us gathering for Thanksgiving in
America find ourselves doing the same things with all the same intentions in
our hearts. We too find our year coming
to a close and are looking at the harvests of our lives for this season. We are thankful for the ways that God has
chosen to bless us.
There seems to be a widely held opinion that The Pilgrim/Puritans
based Thanksgiving on their knowledge of The Feast of Tabernacles. The Puritans were great followers of the
Hebrew Scriptures. The Bible was the Puritan’s
most important guide to living. They
could have noticed the description of The Feast of Tabernacles found in
Leviticus and Deuteronomy and followed this pattern for their own
celebration. Also, there could have been
some Jewish believers among these first settlers who might have been keeping
these traditional feasts all along. There was a group that moved to the
Netherlands before joining the pilgrims from England as they began their
journey across the sea. These had lived
among the Dutch and had associated with Jewish believers in that land who would
have kept the festival of Sukkot.
It is extremely clear that the laws of the first colonies were based
on biblical principals from the scriptures.
The New Haven legislators adopted a legal code called the Code of 1655
that contained 79 statutes. Half of
these 79 statutes included biblical references, and it is very clear that they
came from the Hebrew bible. The Plymouth
Colony had a similar law code, and so did the Massachusetts Colony. In 1641 the Massachusetts Colony adopted The
Capital Laws of New England. These laws
were based almost entirely on the Mosaic law.
It is highly possible that some of our American heroes might have
been from people of Jewish roots who had come to the shores of America long
before the Mayflower ever sailed.
Already living in the land
at the time, they may have been among those who came to the aid of the pilgrims
that first year. Many wanted to turn
these Jewish brothers away and chase them out of the area, but The Dutch West
Indian Company depended heavily on their investments and helped them to
stay. By the time of The War of
Independence, there was an estimated 2,000, mostly Sephardic Jews living in
America. Their contributions to the
causes of the country were very significant.
Not only did they fight alongside of the Patriots, but these Jews
provided great financial contributions in the years after the first colonies
arrived. One of the greatest among them
was Haym Salomon, who lent a great deal of money to The Continental Congress in
the last days of the war. He was never
paid back a dime and died bankrupt.
There was also a well known metallurgist named Gaunse who had come
to America with a Spanish expedition from the Queen of England. Jews were not allowed to go to the colonies
at that time, but this man was so knowledgeable about copper that an exception
was allowed in his case.
So it is highly possible that some Jewish thoughts were floating
around among the colonies. This coupled
with the strict interpretations and emphasis on the scriptures might have contributed
to the first Thanksgiving celebration.
Their feast was held after their fall harvest, just as the one the
Hebrews held.
The chain of events leading up to the first Thanksgiving in
America is amazing when you think about it.
The Pilgrims too had made a great exodus to come to a new place where
they would be allowed to worship God as they chose to do, in the way that they
thought God intended. The Israelites
crossed the Red Sea; the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Both journeys were filled with dangers and
perils. Upon arriving at their
destination both groups experienced apprehension and adjustments. They had to gather their courage to be brave
in an unfamiliar land, and they had to learn to get along with strange people
who had totally different cultures. Both
brave groups of people had to learn how to live in peace and harmony with those
around them even if they had great differences in lifestyles. For these Pilgrims America had become The
Promised Land. So it was that they recognized and followed
the customs of the Israelites who had for many years given thanks for abundant
harvests in the eight day celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The land of England where the colonist hailed from originally had a custom to observe a Harvest Festival, but the Pilgrims had not associated
themselves with their homeland’s festivals because of their many pagan
customs. Once they arrived in America,
they made every effort to observe things in their days that were accurately
associated with God. They were more
concerned with religious matters than politics or social issues. It is also thought that they adopted a
Sabbatarian view of observing the Sabbath from sunset on Friday till sunset on
Saturday. They were heavily influenced
by preaching and teachings on Millennialism.
They believed there would be a “Golden Age” or “Paradise on Earth” in
which Christ will reign for 1000 years prior to the final judgment of
mankind. This all plays into the
theology of the Christian symbolism in the celebration of Sukkot, which many
Christians today live out once a year in sort of a “dress rehearsal” of The
Millennial Kingdom of Christ. These
fundamentals of Christian doctrine are now commonly taught practices and
observances in most evangelical based churches of faith today.
The Puritans
chose to separate themselves from The Church of England based on the following
scripture passage: “And
you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who
endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in
this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you
will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
(Matthew 10:22-23).
These Puritans/Pilgrims
did everything according to the truth they found in the scriptures. They followed The Word of God in a strict and
detailed manner. In other words they
believed in living out the scriptures in their daily lives. The passage said to “flee” when you are
persecuted for worshiping God; and so they did. On a ship called The Mayflower. 102 passengers began the long voyage. Though the mast of their ship broke in a
severe storm, they were able to repair it and eventually found themselves on
the shores of Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts. When the mast was broken there was discussion
of turning back. Everyone decided to
take the risk and keep going forward. The first use of the word “Pilgrims”
appeared in William Bradford’s writings ‘Of
Plymouth Plantation.’ In his
writings he used the imagery of Hebrews 11:13-16 for those who had an
opportunity to return to their homelands but instead longed for a better, heavenly
country.
There was
nothing in this new land that required the education of the founder’s
children. Yet, these brave people felt
education was very important and established their own unique system of studies. John Winthrop declared that their schools
should be the beginning of “A City Upon A Hill” that all the people turned to
for education and learning. The founders
were not amateurs; most of them had attended either Oxford or Cambridge and
before coming to the new land they had communicated with intellectuals
throughout Europe. Eventually the school
they established became known as Harvard University. My point in explaining this is to express
that these were well educated men, highly capable of discerning mistakes and
blunders of bad choices and totally capable of interpreting the scriptures with
great intellect. They had something
special that many others did not, however; they had heart and passion for the
fruit of their intellectual endeavors. Oh that Harvard would return to its original
roots.
So we see that
even in the field of education, these very educated and knowledgeable men
–patterned their lives after the culture of The Hebrew people and their stories
that are played out in our Bibles. Think
of the similarities that we have discussed so far. They both were people who set themselves
apart in order to worship God in the way they thought He desired to be
worshipped. The Pilgrims considered the
scriptures found in Deuteronomy 14:2:
"For thou art an holy people unto the
LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto
Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." (Deuteronomy 14:2)
The Pilgrims chose to pattern themselves after
the nation that God chose and put His name upon; The Nation of Israel. This being true, it is highly possible that
these well learned men studied and followed the feast and festivals of God
found in our Old Testament scriptures.
Perhaps they had read and understood the significance of Deuteronomy
6:3:
"Therefore hear, O Israel, and be
careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the
LORD God of your fathers has promised you - ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’"
That
first winter proved harsh and forbidding.
There were many illnesses and they were to the point of starvation in
the first settlement. They found the
Hand of God was with them as they learned to get along with an unusual culture
of people who were already living on the continent. They cooperated with these Indians and
combined their resources. This is how
they were able to rise above their problems.
They were humble before God and were willing to learn new things, and
most of all they were willing to reach out and receive and return love from
those that were not familiar to them.
As
we keep looking at the patterns of that first Feast of Tabernacles of the
Hebrews and also observing our national ancestors, we see so many parallels. It has been discovered that some of the
Jewish New “Englanders kept track of these historical parallels too; that both
people groups were persecuted for their beliefs, left their homes and came to a
new land, survived the first year and celebrated a time of Thanksgiving before
God after their Fall Harvest. It seems that William Bradford, who was the first
governor of the Pilgrims proclaimed the first Thanksgiving by using the
Scriptures – both from the Old and New Testaments for guidance in governing the
colony.
So we
conclude that the hard and dangerous journey that led to Plymouth Rock, in a
very real sense began with that earlier migration from Egyptian slavery toward
Mount Sinai and led onward toward Ellis Island, and every other landing place
where the later generations of pilgrims arrived at on these shores.
Today, as
we approach Thanksgiving once more, the journey continues for America, for each of
us, in our own lives and for all the people of our country as a whole. The
Pilgrims were the first to sense that America had a unique destiny in human
history. Governor Bradford wrote, ‘just
as one small candle may light a thousand others, and loose none of it’s own
light, so too will we — but few in number — become a beacon for all people!”
May
Governor Bradford’s words once again be so.
We Americans stand at a critical crossroad in our nation’s life. The
challenge of keeping our freedom and liberty, of being able to work to provide
for our families and the fight for living and raising our children in a godly
manner and worshiping in a land that provides freedom and justice for all
people to pursue and fulfill their dreams is still unrealized, even after 393
years since the Mayflower found its way to a safe harbor. We too, may well have some dangerous seas and
painful trials ahead of us, before we can gather with all our neighbors in a
pure celebration of Thanksgiving once more. But the example of our Pilgrim ancestors can
continue to inspire and guide us as we reaffirm the freedom of conscience and
independent spirit they stood for. Let
us all strive to again be “one nation under God” and continue our quest for peace on earth, good
will to man.
