United in Worship of the One God of Israel
Yael Eckstein | September 22, 2021
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the LORD for seven days. Present as an aroma pleasing to the LORD a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls… On the second day offer twelve young bulls… — Numbers 29:12-13,17
Throughout this week, my family and I will join Jews around the world in celebrating Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Please enjoy these devotions, which were prepared for you in advance, about this joyous holiday that immediately follows the High Holy Days.
As I travel the world on behalf of The Fellowship, I am continually amazed and inspired by the people that I meet. Christians and Jews, believers in the God of Israel, cooperating to build His kingdom together. How fortunate we are to live in such miraculous times!
I often think back to the Jews who lived in biblical times, long before Christianity spread knowledge of the God of the Bible to the nations of the earth. What did they think of the prophecies that spoke of all the nations of the earth coming together, united in worship of the one God of Israel? Did they think these were just impossible fantasies?
In a world filled with paganism and the worship of many different false gods, could they have imagined the world that we live in? A world where millions of Christians have joined hands with the people of Israel as we work together and partner with God to fulfill biblical prophecies spoken over 3,000 years ago!
United in Worship of the One God of Israel
This vision of the future is hinted at in the Temple offerings for Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Over the seven-day festival, a total of seventy bulls were sacrificed in the Temple. Seventy bulls over seven days. So that’s ten bulls each day, right? Wrong!
God’s command in the Bible is to offer 13 bulls on the first day, 12 on the second day, 11 on the third day, and so on until 7 were brought on the seventh day for a total of seventy. But why divide them up this way? What is God telling us?
According to Jewish tradition, the seventy bulls represent the nations of the world, which numbered 70 in biblical times. The offering of one fewer bull on each successive day of the festival represents God’s plan for the world. As time moves forward, as humanity gradually moves away from false beliefs in many gods, more and more people will unite in worship of the one God of Israel.
The descending number of bulls represents the nations of the world who will become more and more unified in the faith of the one true God as each day, year, and century passes. As we read in Micah 4:2, “Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’”
If only the Israelites in the time of the Bible could see the millions of devoted Christians the world over who worship and praise the one God of Israel along with their Jewish brothers and sisters!
Your Turn:
Take a moment today to praise God for the growing numbers of those who have faith in Him.