In the Fall of 2015, we decided to celebrate Sukkot – The Feast of the Tabernacles. At sundown on Sunday, September 28th, we gathered around our backyard fire pit and burned some landscape trimmings (lavender bushes got an excellent trim by me earlier that week.) We got a good view of the lunar eclipse, the last of the tetrad blood moon.
The next day of Sukkot (it lasts eight days), we put up our tent to remember the exodus. My Jewish friends build a temporary shelter with palms to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. (In the LDS church, we often do these mini Treks in remembrance of the pioneers.) Let’s add this Jewish holiday — taking time to reflect on how the Lord provides for us as He did Moses when he lead His people from Egypt. We still had our tent up as a conference weekend approached. The dog approved.
I love the story of the mana — how God commanded the Israelites to only gather enough mana for each day; otherwise, if they took more and tried to store it — the mana would rot. This story has hit home with me. Since our past business losses and now successes, I have noticed that God provides just enough, at only the right time. It is my mana.
Back to the tent — there is good reason to get your tent up: Remembering the exodus, remembering Lehi’s exodus, and Nephi’s exodus, the Jaredites exodus, Noah’s exodus, and the pioneer’s exodus, and a future exodus. When one of my kids was little, he gave a talk in Primary and shared his favorite scripture — “and my father dwelt in a tent.” He then explained why this scripture was even recorded — because it revealed that Lehi left his home in Jerusalem and went into the wilderness desert and lived in a tent.
In the days of King Benjamin, the people gathered around the temple to hear him speak — facing their tents in the direction of the tower. Let’s remember the other tent stories as well — especially when conference falls on the Feast of the Tabernacles.
We watched James Cameron’s Exodus Decoded (full version linked here) — an excellent documentary proving the existence of Moses’ Exodus.
