Thanksgiving and Sukkot have much in common. Here are 5 similarities.
"Sukkot", a.k.a. "The Feast of Booths", a.k.a. "The Feast of Tabernacles" is a biblical harvest festival still celebrated by Jews today to commemorate God's provision for the Israelites in the Sinai desert en route to the Promised Land. During this holiday, temporary open-air shelters ("sukkot") are constructed of branches and the fruits of the Fall harvest to remind the Israelites of God's mercy shown to them in their trek through the desert wilderness, and their entrance into a new land, prepared for them "flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 33:3]
1) Both Holidays Are October Harvest Festivals
At least the FIRST thanksgiving was! That one was in October, the one celebrated in 1621 and presided over by the Plymouth Plantation's first governor William Bradford. Sukkot, on the other hand, is almost always celebrated in late September/early October according to the Jewish lunar year of 360 days which differs from the Christian solar year of 365 days.The fruits and grains of the Fall harvest were used in the Temple (and in synagogue worship later): the palm, the myrtle, the willow, all bound together into a sheaf called a "lulav"; and also the "etrog", a citrus fruit resembling a lemon in shape. The booths, or "sukkot" were made of the more regular items of the fall harvest.
2) Both Holidays Celebrated After a Great Sea Crossing
Sukkot was to commemorate when God caused the Israelites to dwell in booths: (temporary flimsy structures) after He had saved them from Egypt's Pharaoh and after the Red Sea crossing. The first Thanksgiving commemorated another great sea crossing:
"What could sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: 'Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity.' " ["Thanksgiving Readings" from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation]
3) Both Holidays Commemorate God's Protection in the Wilderness
Certainly Sukkot was! God humbled the Israelites and taught them that they could only depend upon HIM through this desert journey. (Deut. 8:3-5). The New Testament declares that it was the pre-incarnate Christ who sustained them in the wilderness, though most did not know Him. (I Cor. 10:1-5) Similarly, Governor Bradford acknowledged God's providential protection of the Pilgrims, even to the point of calling the Indian Squanto, who taught them how to hunt, fish, plant, and negotiate peace treaties with otherwise hostile Indian tribes "a special instrument sent of God, for their good."
"Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath deliver them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them." 'Let them confess before the Lord His lovingkindness and His wonderful works before the children of men.' " (Ps. 107:1-8) ["Thanksgiving Readings" from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation]
4) In Both Holidays, They Sought Freedom From an Oppressor-King
Despite the claims of some, https://www.prageru.com/videos/whats-truth-about-first-thanksgiving#.WgxLTp-rwXw.facebook that the journey to the New World was motivated by a fear of seduction by the materialistic Dutch culture that they had been living under for over ten years, and NOT because of religious persecution,
the motive of the Pilgrims was primarily to escape the religious tyranny of the English Crown. Here's William Bradford in his own words:
"Suppression of Religious Liberty in England -- First Cause of the Foundation of the New Plymouth Settlement: First I will unfold to you the causes that led to the foundation of the New Plymouth Settlement, and the motives of those concerned in it. ... As is well known, ever since the breaking out of the light of the gospel in England ... Satan has maintained various wars against the saints ... so that in England at this day the man or woman of God must resolve with himself to sustain mocks and injuries as though he lived among the enemies of religion."
[William Bradford, Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, Book 1, Chapter 1, pp. 1-5]
Similarly, the root cause of the Exodus from Egypt and the "Sukkot" journey through the desert of Sinai was for religious freedom from a satanic oppressor-king.
"Then the Lord said unto Moses, 'Go in unto Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me.' And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go." [Exodus 9:1, Exodus 8:32]
5) Both Holidays Were Kept With Reminders of the Frailty of the Human Body, and of a Home Beyond This World
The Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving was celebrated after a winter of death and of fifty or more Christian burials, so that the reality of this passing world and the frailty of the body was all-too real to them:
"But a most lamentable blow fell upon them. In two or three month's time half of their company died, partly owing to the severity of the winter, especially during January and February, and the want of houses and other comforts; partly of scurvy and other diseases, which their long voyage and their incommodious quarters had brought upon them. Of the hundred odd persons, scarcely fifty remained, and sometimes two or three persons died in a day."
[William Bradford, Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, Book 2, Chapter 1, pp. 76,77]
In the New Testament, St. Paul refers to the Old Testament's Feast of Booths, and "spiritualizes" it to a New Testament lesson, comparing the wilderness "sukkot" to the human body, frail and susceptible to time and the wear and tear of the elements. He teaches that the body's very frailty reminds us that God has reserved for us a permanent dwelling beyond the grave.
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon by our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." [II Corinthians 5:1-4]
"Sukkot", a.k.a. "The Feast of Booths", a.k.a. "The Feast of Tabernacles" is a biblical harvest festival still celebrated by Jews today to commemorate God's provision for the Israelites in the Sinai desert en route to the Promised Land. During this holiday, temporary open-air shelters ("sukkot") are constructed of branches and the fruits of the Fall harvest to remind the Israelites of God's mercy shown to them in their trek through the desert wilderness, and their entrance into a new land, prepared for them "flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 33:3]
1) Both Holidays Are October Harvest Festivals
At least the FIRST thanksgiving was! That one was in October, the one celebrated in 1621 and presided over by the Plymouth Plantation's first governor William Bradford. Sukkot, on the other hand, is almost always celebrated in late September/early October according to the Jewish lunar year of 360 days which differs from the Christian solar year of 365 days.The fruits and grains of the Fall harvest were used in the Temple (and in synagogue worship later): the palm, the myrtle, the willow, all bound together into a sheaf called a "lulav"; and also the "etrog", a citrus fruit resembling a lemon in shape. The booths, or "sukkot" were made of the more regular items of the fall harvest.
2) Both Holidays Celebrated After a Great Sea Crossing
Sukkot was to commemorate when God caused the Israelites to dwell in booths: (temporary flimsy structures) after He had saved them from Egypt's Pharaoh and after the Red Sea crossing. The first Thanksgiving commemorated another great sea crossing:
"What could sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: 'Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity.' " ["Thanksgiving Readings" from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation]
3) Both Holidays Commemorate God's Protection in the Wilderness
Certainly Sukkot was! God humbled the Israelites and taught them that they could only depend upon HIM through this desert journey. (Deut. 8:3-5). The New Testament declares that it was the pre-incarnate Christ who sustained them in the wilderness, though most did not know Him. (I Cor. 10:1-5) Similarly, Governor Bradford acknowledged God's providential protection of the Pilgrims, even to the point of calling the Indian Squanto, who taught them how to hunt, fish, plant, and negotiate peace treaties with otherwise hostile Indian tribes "a special instrument sent of God, for their good."
"Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath deliver them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them." 'Let them confess before the Lord His lovingkindness and His wonderful works before the children of men.' " (Ps. 107:1-8) ["Thanksgiving Readings" from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation]
4) In Both Holidays, They Sought Freedom From an Oppressor-King
Despite the claims of some, https://www.prageru.com/videos/whats-truth-about-first-thanksgiving#.WgxLTp-rwXw.facebook that the journey to the New World was motivated by a fear of seduction by the materialistic Dutch culture that they had been living under for over ten years, and NOT because of religious persecution,
the motive of the Pilgrims was primarily to escape the religious tyranny of the English Crown. Here's William Bradford in his own words:
"Suppression of Religious Liberty in England -- First Cause of the Foundation of the New Plymouth Settlement: First I will unfold to you the causes that led to the foundation of the New Plymouth Settlement, and the motives of those concerned in it. ... As is well known, ever since the breaking out of the light of the gospel in England ... Satan has maintained various wars against the saints ... so that in England at this day the man or woman of God must resolve with himself to sustain mocks and injuries as though he lived among the enemies of religion."
[William Bradford, Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, Book 1, Chapter 1, pp. 1-5]
Similarly, the root cause of the Exodus from Egypt and the "Sukkot" journey through the desert of Sinai was for religious freedom from a satanic oppressor-king.
"Then the Lord said unto Moses, 'Go in unto Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me.' And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go." [Exodus 9:1, Exodus 8:32]
5) Both Holidays Were Kept With Reminders of the Frailty of the Human Body, and of a Home Beyond This World
The Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving was celebrated after a winter of death and of fifty or more Christian burials, so that the reality of this passing world and the frailty of the body was all-too real to them:
"But a most lamentable blow fell upon them. In two or three month's time half of their company died, partly owing to the severity of the winter, especially during January and February, and the want of houses and other comforts; partly of scurvy and other diseases, which their long voyage and their incommodious quarters had brought upon them. Of the hundred odd persons, scarcely fifty remained, and sometimes two or three persons died in a day."
[William Bradford, Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, Book 2, Chapter 1, pp. 76,77]
In the New Testament, St. Paul refers to the Old Testament's Feast of Booths, and "spiritualizes" it to a New Testament lesson, comparing the wilderness "sukkot" to the human body, frail and susceptible to time and the wear and tear of the elements. He teaches that the body's very frailty reminds us that God has reserved for us a permanent dwelling beyond the grave.
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon by our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." [II Corinthians 5:1-4]
