Is there such a thing as Shemini Atzaret and Simchat Torah for Christians?
Often times in the days after the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, believers in Messiah ponder the question of whether or not Christians should keep Shemini Atzaret and Simchat Torah.
In times of hard biblical questions, the first thing I like to ask myself is whether or not Yeshua did or didn’t participate in the subject in question.
Did Jesus keep Shemini Atzaret and Simchat Torah?
Overall, we do know that Yeshua followed and kept God’s calendar. We see evidence of this fact throughout the scriptures. The answer is vague when looking for specific wording of the wording of the scriptures though. As seekers of the truth, we want to be careful and exact. We might do better to study the meaning of the two days first. Then we can consider the question from that point of view.
Shemini Atzaret and Simchat Torah turn out to be very unique and interesting days.
WHAT WE DO KNOW
God’s timing and Yeshua’s timing usually teach us everything we need to know about living in The Kingdom of God.
But what does this really mean for believers of today?
How far do we go back in our research of the annual celebrations? Which of these two days are required, and which ones are just meaningful to us? Which days are both?
Can we find Jesus living out the meanings of both of them?
How do these days apply as far as spreading The Good News of The Gospel?
God is showing me a few new fields that need mining today. I would love for you to come along with me on this new journey. In order to find our answers, we need a deeper study. Let’s try to define the days more specifically and see it that task will give us better answers.
A DEEPER STUDY OF THE DAYS
On a more personal note, my curiosity to know more started when I was keeping The Feast of Tabernacles this year. I became a little more curious about how The Feast of Tabernacles ended. In my spirit I felt The Holy Spirit’s nudge to study a few things in a deeper way.
Of course I searched through the words of fellow believers. I found this link to be truly helpful: https://messianicsabbath.com/2016/08/25/the-8th-day-the-last-feast-is-just-the-beginning/. The more I read from this article the more excited I became.
After reading this article again, I gathered that information together with my other research and started typing as fast and furious as I could type. My only regrets are to be finding this information so late in life. However, I always trust God’s timing, and now I’m like the woman at the well with this good news. I can hardly wait to share it with our readers.
So here is my own personal take on the subjects of Shemini Atzaret and Simchat Torah. Please understand this is just my personal opinion of whether or not Christians should observe Shemini Atzaret and Simchat Torah. I can tell you these words are about to change some of the ways I go about my life and the way I celebrate Sukkot in the future.
As most of our readers already know I am not a priest or preacher. I have no degree in divinity or theology. I definitely am not a rabbi. So be sure to check in with Jesus and see if we are hearing the same facts. This article is simply about the things I feel He is showing me. Remember to study to show yourself approved; a workman who needs not to be ashamed. Scriptures have a way of interpreting themselves if you let them, and often God shows different people things in different ways.
So, this is merely a conversation between you and me stating what I feel God is speaking to my heart about today.
CHRISTIANS CATCHING UP ON THE TRUTH
Many of today’s believers are in the same place. Christians are catching on to the fact that God intentionally designed Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles.) They seem to be realizing and desiring to be obedient. For every new season of the calendar, I notice more and more followers of Jesus Christ desire to take this L-O-N-G Sabbath (a 7-day time of rest, fellowship worship and relaxation) with all of the rest of us.
I find that fact alone to be so very exciting.
Sukkot, or The Feast of Tabernacles is a very meaningful 7 days, and it is such a beautiful and symbolic rehearsal of the coming days when Yeshua will be King. One day in the future we will join in with Him and rule the earth for 1,000 years. Those are only a few of the amazing biblical facts to know about Sukkot. We have so much to look forward to every year that we continue to worship and adore Messiah.
THE BIG QUESTION OF SHEMINI ATZARET AND SIMCHAT TORAH
But what about that last day of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles?
I am speaking of a day that has been called Shemini Atzaret by the traditional Jewish culture. What does it mean for the greater part of Israel, the part of those who have now evolved into Christianity because of the belief that Messiah has come?
Those of us who call ourselves Christians are becoming more and more curious about the meaning of these “other” days. Most everything about that old culture before Messiah came has a much deeper meaning to us now. Will knowing more about Shemini Atzaret and Simchat Torah give us even more riches to ponder?
What do today’s Christians need to understand about these days?
ARE SHEMINI ATZARET AND SIMCHAT TORAH PART OF GOD’S PLAN TOO?
It is clear that the Christian meanings of the seven holy days found in Exodus Chapter 20:8-11 have become more and more relevant to most of us. It is wonderful to see Christian people all over the world realizing that these feast and festivals are all a part of God’s plan for His family.
What a happy sight to see God’s people gathering to honor His ways. More and more Christians are celebrating the days with the deeper Messianic meanings.
Also, more and more Christians are concluding that the Christian Church of today is merely an extension of the faithful group of Israelites who became the first Christian congregations in the days that Jesus walked the earth.
The majority of those first believers were of a Hebraic/Jewish heritage. Our Messiah who was part human, lived and breathed as a traditional Jew. He followed the calendar that God set in the sky at Creation.
Those of us who believe in Christ have now become a part of that Great Family of God. If you are a child of God, you are a spiritual part of Israel, whether you realize that truth or not. Whether you are adopted, grafted-in, or native born, you now belong to God’s Family. God chose the nation of Israel to become the nation that would become His family.
KEEPING TORAH
So, with these facts in mind, it becomes understandable that all of Torah makes a basic statement as to what we Christians are all about. The old Hebrew cultural ways now have deeper Christian meanings for those who believe and follow Messiah. All the Old Testament points to Messiah in the New Testament. We can see how the New Testament simply fulfills these old customs and makes the meanings suddenly become clear to us.
However, do ALL the current Hebraic customs (which have evolved over years and years and are still used in what we now call the present-day traditional Jewish congregations) apply to define the more meaningful portions of our Christian ways?
For example, what about Shemini Atzaret and Simchat Torah. On the calculated Hebraic calendar these days always happen right after the close of the celebration of The Feast of Tabernacles each year. If we celebrate the first part of the season, would we not need to celebrate the second part of the season?
Do these days carry a further, more significant meaning for Christians?
Let’s consider each holiday separately.
SHEMINI ATZARET
At the end of the days of The Feast of Tabernacles, after sunset of the 7th day of The Feast of Tabernacles week, comes the celebration of Shemini Atzaret.
What is this day about?
Are the “Jewish” meanings of this time significant to us? What things about this meaning should a “Christian” consider?
We can begin with remembering Numbers 29:35: “On the eighth day you should hold a solemn gathering; you shall not work at your occupation.”
So, when we hear of this eighth day we must wonder if it belongs specifically to the Sukkot celebration which immediately precedes it; or is it a totally separate holiday?
Many do treat this as another day of Sukkot. They sit in the Sukkah and drink wine one last time. In many circles it is called The Great Last Day.
Which is correct, and how do we need to remember this day, if at all?
WHAT IS THIS DAY TO US?
The main way to begin to understand this day from a Christian perspective is to first have faithfully and rightfully kept all the preceding days of The Feast of Tabernacles.
I’ll tell you a little secret that most of the devout have discovered. Once you begin to keep the annual feast days, their meanings stack up and build upon one another. The preceding feast or festival is the foundation for celebrating the next festival. Until you have celebrated each one, you will not have the full meaning of the purpose of keeping God’s Holy Days.
I will go into this further as we move through this teaching, because each meaning so full and so symbolic of life with God the Father. However, don’t take my word for it. Why not try celebrating these Holy Days yourself and see?
You can begin by learning the simple facts of each feast and build as you go.
The very best way to learn about the feast days and Holy Days of God is to begin to do and keep them from the heart. All the rest will come to you in God’s good time. You will be amazed. My best advice is to jump into the Great River of Truth and learn to swim. God will help you.
However, if you keep the first 7 days of the Feast of Tabernacles as written in the scriptures, the last great day will become so much more meaningful.
LEAVING THE SUKKAH
The first thing to notice about Shemini Atzeret is that it is time to bid farewell to the Sukkah which you have used as a temporary shelter during The Feast of Tabernacles.
It was wonderful for its purpose and time. God blessed you abundantly as you worshipped and fellowshipped in the temporary shelter. You discovered the 3 species and heard the stories of God’s people. You tasted of the Etrog. The amazing history of Christianity came alive to you there in the Sukkah.
Now it is time to go back home to the place of your permanent dwelling.
Yet, you do not return as the same as the person who left.
Because of the experience of Sukkot, you are better, more energized, more filled with the wonder of knowing God the Father and Yeshua, your Groom who is soon coming back to claim you for His own. You have fellowshipped with others and your love has grown in so many new directions.
So, today is the day you travel back to that permanent place where you will be living out the next year. Hopefully, He God has shown you some more glimpses of your life-purpose at the preceding feast. You are feeling thankful, and you begin to return home with a grateful heart. Leaving is not easy, but you know you are better equipped and eager to carry out your part of the Kingdom here on earth.
You will not sleep in your Sukkah tonight, but you might have one last song, story, or toast of wine there as a thanksgiving moment. Relax in the temporary shelter and shade in order to help you to remember all the goodness you have experienced. Savor the last moments and be thankful for this peaceful week of rest you just enjoyed.
THE IMPORTANCE OF TORAH
Each passing year the faithful read The Torah all the way through in annual cycles.
How would we know more of our Father without reading His love letters to us?
So, we read in cycles. This day, the great 8th day of our festival, marks the end of a cycle of Torah readings. Now we have arrived at the beginning of a new cycle of readings.
When the reading cycles turn, I always think of a Godly Play story with words that say; “for every beginning there is an ending, and for every ending we come to a new beginning.” This is how the annual reading cycle of the Torah happens.
We are leaving the old today. It is instilled within our souls from past studies. Also, this is the day we begin to build upon the new. The new meanings will take us deeper and deeper into God’s stories which will enrich and direct our lives in the coming year.
So, we carry out Leviticus 23:36: For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.
RECEIVING THE NEW OIL
The new oil from Heaven will pour out upon us as we begin a new season of Torah.
The Hebrew word of Atzeret means “restraint.”
We are to restrain from going back to work for one more day. This is to allow us more time to bask in the rest of God. It is explained better in the scriptures we find written in Hebrews 4:8-11:
For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore, let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience.
Each Holy Day on the Calendar of God is another type of Sabbath.
RESTING
On this special last day of the festival, we put emphasis on entering God’s rest. Jesus, Yeshua, the One who has brought us the true meaning of life and peace, once died for us.
Yeshua was in the grave (at rest) for three days and three nights.
We too must learn how to die to ourselves, that we might rest and then be resurrected into a better life in God’s good time.
At Shemini Atzaret, we enter a final rest before resurrecting into a new year of activity for God’s Kingdom.
This could mean the spiritual rest we take at the end of each year, or it could be symbolic of a type of sleep/rest we experience when we die and await the coming Resurrection when Christ returns.
The Hebrew meaning of rest means to enfold yourself into the arms of God. This is the way we want to end our feast, with no toil, no strife, only rest and peace. It is all part of the celebration of Shemini Atzaret.
7 DAYS PLUS 1 DAY
We have finished seven days of rest and entered a new day.
7+1=8 days.
We see this pattern of 7 days plus one day all through the scriptures. The same pattern is presented in Leviticus 8-9 where we hear of the consecration of the priest for the newly constructed Tabernacle of God.
Today God is building a new tabernacle that is composed of living beings who house His Holy Spirit.
The scriptures speak of how Aaron and his sons were consecrated and set aside to minister within the wilderness tabernacle. This was a whole new process for Aaron and his family. They had not yet entered into the place called The Holy of Holies.
Here we see that Aaron, like us as we enter the new year, is beginning again.
BEGINNING AGAIN
It seems he has repented (symbolic of Trumpets and The Days of Awe.) Now God has forgiven him of the episode with The Golden Calf. That is put behind him never to happen again. Therefore, this Aaron is a different man; a man who is being consecrated for the purposes of serving God in God’s tabernacle.
Holiness is so important in any service to God.
Consecration matters.
The time spent with God leading up to this moment of consecration mattered too. It mattered just as the last seven days of The Feast of Tabernacles mattered to the people who celebrated the feast properly and focused on spending their gift of time with God.
Aaron, like us, was being made ready for something very special.
This was the beginning of Aaron’s new life.
For us today this is the beginning of our new year with God. As we turn the pages of the Torah, we also turn a page in our lives.
By the day of Shemini Atzeret we have spent seven days sitting in our Sukkah. Aaron and the priest being consecrated for God’s service are pictured in Leviticus 8:33-36 as spending 7 days inside the wilderness tabernacle.
This was their time of consecration for the priesthood.
God’s people of today are being molded into a holy priesthood. This is the priesthood who will serve in The Kingdom of Heaven.
CONSECRATION
We have brought forth our first and our best to God during The Feast of Tabernacles. All of us have given of our time, our money, our service and our possessions in order to make this the best Feast of Tabernacles ever. This was all done to honor Our Great God. It was not for our glory, but for honoring The Glory of God which dwells within us during this very special set-apart time.
The circumstances were similar for the priest who were being consecrated during the days of the wilderness tabernacle. At the end of their seven days of dwelling inside the tabernacle for consecration, all of the priest brought forth their best offerings to God.
Now is the time for us to do the same.
Let’s read Leviticus 9:22-24: (NIV) Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having sacrificed the sin offering, the burnt offering and the fellowship offering, he stepped down. Moses and Aaron went inside the Tent of Meeting.
When they came out, they blessed the people, and the Glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.
Fire came out from The Presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people witnessed this, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
THE GLORY OF GOD
Here we can see that The Presence of God was heavy on this 8th Day. This was the day that God accepted all the offerings from the Feast.
There are many patterns of this process leading up to the 8th Day in the scriptures. In each instance the process of the seven days culminates with God’s Presence bringing His Glory down to the people who have been atoned, consecrated and set aside for His service.
We see an 8-day process each year at Passover, then again during Hannukah, and finally each year we end Sukkot with such a process.
Sukkot is all about a seven-day consecration processes which prepares us to meet God in all His Glory on this Great Last (8th) Day.
All are patterns of seven days plus one day exist. It is always a time in which God’s Presence is heavy.
THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB
Now I would advise you to go back and read all the passages of scripture found in Revelation 19. This passage has much to teach us about the 8th Day.
The passage speaks of The Marriage Supper of The Lamb, or the time in which Yeshua and The True Church will be united in marriage.
The 8th Day is the day of the consummation of the marriage. It is the time that we will become One with Christ.
All the Annual Feast Days have been leading us up to this one moment in time.
Some day in the future we will know it, but on the 8th day of Sukkot on Shemini Atzeret, we will experience a taste of God’s Glory which is coming in full force in the future days of God’s Kingdom.
Everything, all of our feasting, has led us and prepared our hearts this great new day.
It is the day of our greatest joy!
We are finally united with our Beloved forever and ever.
NEW LIFE BEGINS
In the process of this special day God has conceived and released a new life in us!
Conception is a process of new life that officially begins on the 8th day. The 8th day is usually considered the day to circumcise a male child. This identifies him for God’s Kingdom forever. He is “marked” for God.
God has designed a purpose and put it inside of each of us. This purpose will grow and grow until it is ready to be born again into God’s Kingdom. The process is comparable to pregnancy.
ETERNITY
On the 8th day of the festival of Sukkot that seed of new life planted by God begins to grow. The new life it brings is born into eternity.
The 8th day symbolizes how we will spend eternity. This time on earth, this turning of a new year and living it out before God is simply a practice of that time, similar to a rehearsal. We get a whole year of Holy Day teachings to help us to get ready for the time in which this transformation from the old to the new happens.
PATTERNS IN TIME
So, are you grasping these patterns which God set in motion from the very foundation of the world?
If so, you will begin to see that The Fall Feasts are a rehearsal for the second coming of Yeshua.
Trumpets represents His return at the Last Trump.
The Day of Atonement represents the judgement of all the nations of the world.
Sukkot/Tabernacles represents the Millennial reign of Christ when we will tabernacle with Yeshua for 1,000 years.
Then, the 8th day represents our transition into eternity. Our overcoming the world by the Blood of The Lamb which translates into forever in the new heavens and the new earth. On this 8th day our marriage to Jesus is consummated. Our union with Him brings new life to a new earth.
Basically, by the 8th Day, the world is symbolically and physically “born-again.”
AS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH
We can see a good example of this new life in eternity without the interference of sin (because of the atonement from Jesus like the covering of pitch on the Ark) when we look at the old, old story of Noah’s family after the flood.
In the eighth month they landed safely and stepped into a completely new sinless world.
What was the first thing they did?
They built and altar and offered sacrifices and offerings to God. Worship was joyful and thanks were abundant, then they began a completely new type of life. Because there was the absence of sin for a long time, they all lived a very, very long life.
For those who belong to Messiah, the coming transition is even better.
Eternity will go on forever.
THE FALL FEASTS AND NOAH
Again, we see the picture of the fall feasts in Noah’s story.
A trumpet blast on Trumpets symbolizes the judgement of the earth.
The pitch on the Ark represents the atoning blood that covers us as The Day of Atonement signifies.
The Feast of Tabernacles shows us sitting in a Sukkah for days, like Noah’s family resting in the ark while the storms of the world raged outside.
Then we rehearse stepping into eternity on the 8th day, the day that was planned by God from the foundation of the world. This is a day of God living amongst mankind in peace and harmony forever. Being One with Jesus at The Wedding Supper of the Lamb and moving to reign with Him into the New Jerusalem come down from Heaven will complete the process.
THE MEANING OF CHESHVAN
Another amazing 8th in the story of the flood is the number of months in which the floodgates of the deep were opened to let the waters come forth. It was the eighth month which is called Cheshvan on the Calculated Hebraic Calendar. To know more about this Hebraic month, click here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/quiet-whispers-of-chesvan/.
And what do we know about the month of Cheshvan?
Those who have been following and living out God’s calendar understand that Cheshvan is the second month of the year, and it follows Tishrei. Tishrei celebrates the beginning of our gift from God called “time.” It recalls that great time when God first created the world and all the people who live there.
It all began in Tishrei, the seventh month on the Calculated Hebraic Calendar. Everything that happened before the Exodus is noted to have begun in Tishrei. Also, because God changed a beginning after Israel was freed from Pharaoh, everything that happened AFTER the Exodus is noted to have begun in Nisan. During the days of Noah and his family, Cheshvan was still the second month after Tishrei.
When God changed the calendar to make Nisan the first month, it made Tishrei the seventh month and Cheshvan the eighth month.
Noah’s time in the ark took place during a one-year period of time which began and ended in the month of Cheshvan. Since Cheshvan is now considered to happen in the eighth month of God’s calendar, Noah’s time in the ark would have gone from the eighth month till the eighth month that year that the earth began again without the sin of mankind.
BEGINNING AGAIN
It is very interesting to note that on the calculated Hebrew calendar the time of the 8th Day always falls eight days from the beginning of Cheshvan.
If you translate the word “Cheshvan” into English its whole meaning would be “destruction is separated, and new life begins.” If that doesn’t describe eternity, I’m not sure what would.
On the 8th day in eternity, we will begin a new life in a world with a new heaven and a new earth. We will be forever separated from death. Life will go on forever after we really reach this prophetic 8th day.
Our Covenant with God through Salvation and the atoning blood of Jesus and the promises in Abraham’s Covenant will both be fulfilled.
EVEN MORE CELEBRATION
Will there be anything else?
Well, at the end of Shemini Atzeret comes Simchat Torah. Are you wondering how that fits into all of this?
Let’s peak into this day also.
Here is what we have seen so far.
SIMCHAT TORAH
The next day, (October 24 in the year of 2024), is called Simchat Torah. The holiday begins at nightfall, the same as all Sabbath celebrations.
Should Christians celebrate this day?
What is the Christian meaning as opposed to the “Jewish” meaning?
Let’s start with the meaning of two words called” Simchat Torah.” They mean “the joy of the Torah.”
Christians can certainly agree that the Torah brings us joy. The Jewish culture marches and dances around with the Torah scrolls. They move by dancing around the reading table of the synagogue.
Christianity notes that Jesus is known as “The Word.”
We will be dancing with Jesus in eternity.
Dancing with Torah is dancing with The Word.
On this day all work is forbidden. The women light candles. Blessings are recited. Festive meals (including wine) are served and shared.
Time is spent dancing with the Torah.
We can understand appreciating the importance of Torah and dancing for joy from having heard its wisdom and lived its words.
Okay, but how does this tie in with eternity?
TURNING BACK THE SCROLLS
First, we must understand that Simchat Torah celebrates the turning back of the scrolls from the end (The Book of Deuteronomy) to the beginning (The Book of Genesis.)
I think of T.S. Eliott who said, “In my end is my beginning.”
There are words of scripture which speak about how “the clouds will be rolled back like a scroll.”
The Torah reading cycles begin all over again each year on the day after the 8th Day. That day is always Tishrei 23 on God’s calendar. In the last week of the 7th month, we begin again. Our beginning always starts with the readings from Genesis and comes to the story of Creation.
In the following week we reach the month of Cheshvan. Our reading is always from Genesis 6-9. You have probably already guessed that this is the story of Noah and the flood.
CHESHVAN AND NOAH
We are entering another time frame much like the one that Noah experienced. After the flood he departed the old earth and came into a new place on a new earth. He had arrived at the month of Cheshvan which means separating destruction from life.
This is where we should be living after celebrating a year of Holy Days before God and entering a new year of study after experiencing the 8th Day.
Noah pleased God. We too must learn to please God by following and keeping Torah. Holiness truly matters to God. Achieving this now is merely a temporary rehearsal, but with God’s help we will experience a completely new life in Torah for eternity.
TWO DAYS WITH CHRISTIAN MEANINGS
Are you beginning to see how important these last two days are to a Christian?
The Jews of today don’t fully understand their meaning. They even speak of how vague God made the original instructions. Most Christian congregations do not understand these two days either.
None of us will FULLY understand until Christ returns.
However, Christians believing in Jesus as Messiah do have this ability and knowledge to go deeper with God into this gift He gave to us called “Time.”
Can you see the patterns that all the feast days lead us up to?
Can you not agree that these are good and proper days for Christianity to celebrate?
Absolutely!
THE GREATEST MOMENT WE WILL EVER KNOW
Each feast and festival will help to build up and grow our knowledge of God the Father and Our Messiah. They will draw us all closer and closer. All of the Feasts and Festivals build one upon another, like living stones. By the end of Sukkot, we can see how God will fulfill all the meanings He has intentionally placed inside these days of our time on this earth.
By the 8th day we are ready for the greatest moment we will ever know. This will be the moment of stepping into eternity with God.
Then, our gift from God called “time” will end. No more time will exist.
We will be living outside of time just like God The Father.
Time was only a necessary tool to teach us how to live forever.
Thank you, Father, for The Gift!