What is special about the Feast of Tabernacles in Zechariah 14?

Question

In his closing vision of the end-times prosperity of the people of God, Zechariah writes,

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, Yahweh Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. —14:16

What is the significance of their observance of this particular feast? It seems to me that there were more important feasts and celebrations in the Old Testament, such as the Passover, so there must be a special significance to the mention of this particular feast in conjunction with the conversion of the Gentiles. What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

The next verse is:

And it shall be, that whoso of the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.

Sukkot (Tabernacles) is the beginning of the rainy season in the land of Israel. This suggests a direct causal connection: no worship at Sukkot, no rain that winter. No rain, no crops; no crops, no food (and no overflow, see below).

The text continues, reinforcing this theme:

And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, they shall have no overflow; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Further, the three festivals -- Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot -- are of equal importance; all are pilgrimage festivals for which people were expected to go to Jerusalem (when the temple stood).

Answer 2

In Zechariah 14:16 the prophet is probably not referring to conversion in the sense of becoming Israelites, (or Jews already at that time). In this passage as in other similar passages the idea is that the nations will recognize the God of Israel as the true God, the only one worthy of worship. Conversion as we think of it today is not required.

The passover holiday is in fact two separate holiday's - the passover sacrifice and the feast of unleavened bread. The passover sacrifice is on the fourteenth of Nisan. The feast of unleavened bread is the following seven days. Participation in the passover sacrifice is limited, first to members of the Israelite community, in Exodus 12:43, and secondly by the requirement to be subscribed to a particular lamb together with a group (Tractate Pessahim 8:7). These requirements make the sacrifice, and indirectly the feast of unleavened bread inappropriate for universal participation.

There are no particular restrictions on participation in the feast of Tabernacles. In terms of sheer joy, it is the ultimate Israelite holiday, often referred to as simply "the holiday". So it is an appropriate time for universal participation.

Nota bene - Passover and Tabernacles are poles apart in the calendar, passover being at the beginning of spring and Tabernacles at the beginning of winter. They are also poles apart in the particular/universal themes of their celebration. In a similar way, the Day of Atonement and Purim are poles apart in calendar and theme. The Day of Atonement being a day of the spirit whereas Purim is definitely a day of the flesh. A similar duality with Weeks and Hanuccah with regard to celebration of the heavenly and earthly Temple service, though this particular duality is not mentioned much now after the row with the Saducees.