~Old Testament Scenarios~
Leviticus
“You shall dwell in booths for seven days.
All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”
Leviticus 23:42-43 (NKJV)
"What Are You Grumbling About?"
On hearing the commands from the Lord passed down to Moses, did the children of Israel start to murmur? Inside the privacy of their homes, was there grumbling under their breath? Perhaps a bit of complaining was going on now that they have this “hassle” of sleeping outside in these makeshift booths? Did they think it inconvenient? The Bible is silent with any public and private reaction that might have come from these people. I know what a creature of comfort I am. I have to wonder if I wouldn’t be thinking, “Really Lord, couldn’t we just celebrate in the comfort of our own house? Couldn’t we just light some candle or sing some “Kum bah yah” song to You? Do we really need to go out and search for the right tree branches to temporarily place them near our homes, or on the roof top so we can all live within this tiny space together? Are You joking here?”
God wanted Moses to tell the people to assemble themselves for “appointment times” (Feasts) of the year to celebrate things that were and things that will be. Feast of the Tabernacles, starting on the 15th day in the 7th month, commemorates the 40 years of sojourning in the wilderness, living in tents (as strangers and pilgrims waiting to enter the promised land), and the faithfulness of God bringing them out. It’s to be a dress rehearsal of things yet to come as we are looking forward prophetically to the Millennium age.
Did the adults ever silently think, “Isn’t it enough for us to live in the wilderness in tents? Now we have to reenact it? Couldn’t we just tell the stories of old; do we really have to live it out? Wasn’t it enough to have learned it once?” Did they argue against God that there was much to do as far as planting, cooking, caring for the animals, and teaching the children and now they have to stop and sit in these booths? This “celebration” God wants us to do is really going to take time away from us, and doesn’t He want us to be wise with our time? Have we argued with God like this--complained when our “Picket White Fence” dream didn’t come true for us?
As a parent myself, I have to wonder if these Old Testament parents were thinking, “How am I going to keep these kids busy and not running all around?” Did they worry about the kids knocking over the makeshift shelter, babies eating dirt, or getting bug bites from being outside in the evening hours when the mosquitoes are on their vicious hunt for blood? Did anyone wonder, what in the world was God thinking here? Really, seven days in a booth? How will we all get along? And what about the teenagers wanting “their own space” or the elderly needing extra comfort- have we thought about that?
These temporary booths were made of myrtle and citron trees. By reenacting living in these booths for the seven days, it helps to keep the perspective that our own time here on earth, our own bodies, are temporary and that we, at any time, will be asked to lay them down. Each of us needs to keep a light grip on the things of this world. With the time it took to find and cut the right tree branches, fathers could share with the children the faithfulness of God in protecting the family. The father of the family might teach their children that God is the Father to us all. As the family would gather into the booths, it would be the perfect time for the children to ask why they are sleeping there and it would be a great opportunity for the parents to pass down the oral history.
Are there some commands the Lord has been instructing you to follow and you have been grumbling about it? Has laziness or self- centeredness crept in and you are not living the holy life? Are you choosing some of the laws, but shying away from the uncomfortable ones? Does it surprise you to know that God can hear the inner thoughts of your heart and He knows when we are complaining about the very things He has asked of us? Check out Numbers 14 when God told Moses that He heard the people complaining in their tents and was angry that the people refused to believe in Him. When we grumble at situations or people, we are actually grumbling against God. So you may need to rethink your own behavior and know that if you are feeling kind of grumpy, you may not realize that God demands holiness and righteous living, not because He is some killjoy, but because He knows what is best for us.
Are we a people who live by the flesh or by the Spirit? Surrender, Sacrifice, and Slave are not the “buzz words” that tickle our ears - but they are actions that give God glory. His ways will always be a bit of a mystery to us; they are above and beyond our understanding, as rightly they should be. We who are children of the Living God are “in Christ”, remembering always—it is because of Jesus Christ’s perfect sacrifice (death and resurrection from the cross) is the only reason we have a right relationship with the Father. If nothing ever seems to go right in your life, that is enough of a reason to praise Him every day for that gift!
God desired to display His provision, grace, and protection to the children of Israel and He wanted them to set aside appointed times in obedience by remembering not only what was in the past but to remember that our lives here on earth are temporary too. We must acknowledge our dependency on Him for our food, water, and shelter. The Lord knows how easy it is for us to forget what He has brought us out of, and how quickly we complain when life becomes overly busy or difficult. God would want us to have a grateful heart and for the elders to teach the next generation of God’s laws, love, and light. What kind of legacy are you passing down? Remember, this “booth time” was to be a “season of joy” after time spent mourning sins through the previous feast. It was to be a time to look back with gratitude and dependency. For the Christian, it’s a time to look forward with great anticipation to the Messiah’s Second Coming. May we always have a heart like King David (2 Samuel 24:24). How he wanted to give something to God that was a sacrifice and cost to him: Sacrificial living. Remember too that our God is a jealous God; in fact one of His Hebrew names is, El QANNA (Jealous God) and He will not allow all the ways we compromise our faith or our lack of zeal for Him.
Today is your day; God has given it to you. What will you do with it? Are you willing to surrender your complaints and trust that maybe the Lord knows what is important to each of our hearts? Will you set aside a time to honor God for His deliverance, and let others hear the voice of praise and not the noise of a murmur?
“Do all things without complaining and disputing,
that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
Philippians 2:14-16 (NKJV)