The seventh and final day of the Feast of Tabernacles is called the great day of the feast. In today’s Judaism it is referred to as Hoshanah Rabbah, which means “the great salvation or deliverance.” You can see this salvation deliverance in Psalm 118:14, “The LORD is my strength and song; and He is become my salvation” (JPS Tanakh). There is something unique about this great day, and it is mentioned again in John 7:37–39.

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.[1]

We realize that this great seventh day is a significant moment. And there are fun things that happen in Judaism following this day.

The eighth day goes into Shemini Atzeret: “On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work” (Numbers 29:35). In Hebrew Shemini means “eighth” and Atzeret is loosely translated as “wait a minute.” It is God saying, “Stay with Me just one more day. Don’t go home yet.” Normally, after a feast everyone would just leave Jerusalem and go home. So on the eighth day of this feast, God was saying, “Wait a minute. Let’s just hang out together one more day. Let’s take a deep breath and enjoy this time together.” God wants to dwell among His people and be our God in truth and righteousness (Ezekiel 37:27; Zechariah 8:8).

Another special day that is combined with Shemini Atzeret is called Simchat Torah, which literally means “the joy of the Torah.” During this gathering, the final portion of the annual Torah reading is completed. The reading is followed by singing and tremendous merriment as different ones take turns dancing with the Torah around the synagogue. Then the new cycle of Torah reading begins again with Genesis.

This annual reading of the Torah is based on the Scriptures in Deuteronomy 31 where Moses commanded the public reading of the Torah every seven years during Tabernacles, which is also called the Feast of Booths:

So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 31:9–13)

This annual reading of the Scriptures symbolizes that we never complete our learning of the deep riches of wisdom and knowledge in God’s Word (Romans 11:33). Let us spend time together rejoicing with Him in His Word.

[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).

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