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“If Anyone Thirsts, Let Him Come!”
This chapter is based on John 7:1-15, 37-39.
Three times a year the Jews were required to come to Jerusalem
for religious purposes. The Feast of Tabernacles was the last gather-
ing of the year. The harvest had been gathered from the valleys and
plains of Palestine. The olives had been picked and pressed for their
oil. The palm trees had yielded their fruits. The people had trodden
the purple clusters of the vine in the wine press.
The feast continued for seven days, and the inhabitants of Pales-
tine, with many from other lands, came to Jerusalem to celebrate
it. Old and young, rich and poor, all brought some gift as an of-
fering of thanksgiving to Him who had crowned the year with His
goodness. The people brought from the woods everything that could
give expression to the universal joy. The city resembled a beautiful
forest.
The feast was not only the harvest thanksgiving but the memo-
rial of God’s care over Israel in the wilderness. To commemorate
their tent life, during the feast the Israelites lived in tabernacles,
or shelters, of green branches set up in the streets, in the courts of
the temple, or on the housetops. The hills and valleys surrounding
Jerusalem were dotted with these leafy dwellings. With sacred song
and thanksgiving the worshipers celebrated this occasion.
A little before the feast was the Day of Atonement, when the
people were declared to be at peace with Heaven. “O give thanks to
the Lord ... For His mercy endures forever” (
Psalm 106:1
) rose tri-
umphantly, while all kinds of music accompanied the united singing.
The temple was the center of the universal joy. On either side
of the sacred building’s white marble steps, the Levite choir led the
service of song. Voices near and far took up the melody until the
encircling hills rang with praise.
At night the temple blazed with artificial light. The music, the
waving of palm branches, the great gathering of people with the
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