“How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Psalm 119:103
Last week, our family celebrated The Feast of Tabernacles, otherwise known as Sukkot, in our home for Christ. It was a beautiful time of celebrating Christ’s birth.
On the ninth day after The Feast of Tabernacles began, is a day called “Simchat or Simhat Torah.” It is a time of rejoicing in God’s Word, and we had a wonderful time doing so!
After studying more about the celebration, I decided to implement a few ideas in our Christian household. The book, “Celebrating Biblical Feasts” by Martha Zimmerman was particularly helpful to me. It was such a blessing that I already had it on hand from a My Father’s World bundle I had purchased last year.
In the Jewish community, this holiday celebrates the conclusion of public Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle. For us, it was a way to remember the importance of daily Bible reading.
Traditional Simchat Torah celebrations include parades, candy, and other goodies. This is how we translated it into our home:
- Along with loads of candy, we set out the verse Psalm 119:103 and discussed how sweet God’s Word is. It is to be “feasted” on daily!
- We brought out our Bibles. My husband read the final chapter of Revelation, and then my oldest son volunteered to read the first chapter of Genesis. This is a reminder to always read the Bible…to never stop. Once you reach the end, start right back over again. Of course this isn’t to say that the Bible must be read in order, but that we must continuously dig into Scripture. It is a spring of life to us!
- We ate a large family meal to commemorate both this day and the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. While dismantling our Sukkah earlier in the day, I reflected on how much more meaningful this time had been to me in comparison to Christmas. Celebrating Christ during this fall feast was amazing!
- We finished up the evening with our annual fall scavenger hunt, complete with a basket of Dollar Tree finds.
Again, I believe a new family tradition has been born. What a fun and beautiful way to remember that God’s Word never fails. Our children were happy, their bellies were full of candy (which was a fun treat, especially since Halloween is near and we do not participate in this celebration in any way), and my heart wished we had celebrated Biblical feasts sooner.
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How wonderful! My husband and I are talking about working the Old Testament celebrations into the fabric of our family lives as well, this gave me so many wonderful ideas! I am so blessed to see other Christians who recognize that all of the Old Testament foreshadows our wonderful Savior, too often it seems Christians are wanting to keep Psalms and Proverbs and toss out the rest. Thank you for this sweet post.
Thanks so much for stopping by Kathryn! And it was my pleasure.😊
That is so cool! I would love to look more into Biblical feasts.
I admire people who do the research and extra work to incorporate these Jewish holidays into our Christian worship. Sounds like you and your family were blessed by it! Knowing and appreciating our roots is valuable.
Thank you Lisa!
This sounds like so much fun and such an important valuable lesson to remind ourselves and teach our little ones! I may have to track down that book as my husband and I would be interested in celebrating those feasts and celebrations with our family in the future!
God bless,
Patty