None of us would want to experience on purpose what ancient Israel did in the 40 years of wilderness travel between Egypt. For those of us living 4,000 years later, we can’t presume we would have acted better than they did. Considering how spoiled and comfortable we are with modern conveniences and dwellings, we probably would have complained even more about God’s “inadequate” hospitality in the wilderness.

Human nature doesn’t change. Only God can change human nature.

That’s where the annual celebration of Sukkot (Tabernacles or Booths) comes in. Each sukkah (booth) looks different, even if the same person builds it. Taken as a personal lesson, each our sukkot (plural) has a different calling, a different reason for being. Let’s explore further these lessons from the words of God and the Word Who tabernacled with us (John 1:14).

Every one of the LORD’s appointed times recorded in the Torah has special traditions, some of them recorded directly in the Torah and some that were brought in later.

For example, during Pesach, the explicitly commanded traditions include telling the story of the Exodus, eating matzah, bitter herbs and lamb. We also have the later tradition of the four glasses of wine, charoset (sticky mix of dried fruits and nuts to symbolize mortar) and salt water for dipping the herbs.

Sukkot also has its own unique characteristics, some of which are directly commanded in Torah while some were added later, either in the writings of the Prophets or even later in the times of the Sages.

What is the primarily theme of Nehemiah’s record of Sukkot in Nehemiah 8:9–18? First they were sorrowful and repentant for not keeping the festival of Sukkot. Then they went out and built their sukkah as commanded by Moses, so they were keeping the ceremonial components of the feast, but there’s no discussion of the sacrificial part of Sukkot.

There’s a Sukkot celebration that occurred much earlier, in the lifetime of King Solomon that emphasized the sacrificial part of the feast rather than the ceremonial part. We read about it in 1Kings 8:1-12, 62-66 as well as 2Chronicles 7:8-11. There’s no discussion of the booths, the fruits, branches, trees, etc.

The book of Numbers 29:12-38 has a different emphasis for Sukkot than what we read in Lev. 23:33-44.

One of the parts of the celebration of Sukkot that God particularly emphasized is that the children of Israel was to dwell in booths. Why? He says it’s to recall the 40 years in the wilderness when the children of Israel had to live in tents and temporary structures for seven days.

We can go camping and think nothing at all about the Exodus. But a sukkah is not a normal tent. Dwelling in a booth is not the same thing as dwelling in a tent.

Our camping tents that we buy at REI are meant to be at least somewhat comfortable, the booth that God tells us to build and live in during Sukkot are not meant to be comfortable. Don’t forget that the children of Israel lived in these type of booths for 40 years.

Even though building and living in a sukkah is not particularly comfortable, God still commands us to celebrate. How do we move ourselves from a miserable state to a happy state? One way we do this is through songs and music.

Another way we change our mood to make a miserable experience more pleasant is to drink “strong drink” (Num. 28:7; Deut. 14:26).

Most of the holy festivals don’t have a command to recreate the event that started it off. At Pesach, we don’t sacrifice a lamb, put its blood on our doors and leave on foot at midnight. During Shavuot, we don’t abstain from sexual relations and bath for three days in a row as part of the commemoration. But during Sukkot, God tells us to recall the suffering and inconvenience our forefathers experienced during their 40 years in the wilderness.