Shemini Atzeret
by
Marcello Araujo
Although Hoshanah Rabbah may technically be the “last day” of Sukkot, the Rabbis decided to treat Shemini Atzeret—the eight day, and Simchat Torah—the joy of the Torah, as an integral part of Sukkot, since its significance is absolutely primed by Sukkot itself.
Two cryptic references in the Torah cause the misunderstanding about the status of Shemini Atzeret. In Leviticus and Numbers, Yahweh commands that the eighth (Shemini) day–referring to Sukkot, is a “sacred occasion” and an Atzeret, commonly translated as “solemn gathering.”
Since no one knows what atzeret means, it creates a problem. Perhaps it comes from the word ‘atzar,’ meaning “stop,” consequently implies that we must refrain from work. Flipping the coin, atzeret could also be defined by its textual context, implying that it is a deliberate extension of the preceding seven days. This absence of verbal clarity may be the motive as to why the rabbinic scholars struggled with the precise meaning of the holiday.
Shemini Atzeret is translated as the Eighth Day of the Assembly. It’s peculiar that there’s an eighth day of the assembly, since Sukkot is a week-long feast, moreover, in same passage there are seven days of Sukkot, yet, we also see Eloah mandating the eighth day:
“For seven days you are to bring an offering by fire to Adonai. The eighth day will be a holy convocation to you, and you are to bring an offering by fire to Adonai. It is a solemn assembly—you should do no laborious work.” Leviticus 23:36.
“So, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you are to keep the Feast of Adonai for seven days. The first day is to be a Shabbat rest, and the eighth day will also be a Shabbat rest.” Leviticus 23:39.
The number seven and seventh shows up multiple times in the instructions regarding Sukkot, but the number eight also has significance, as we shall see as we look at the eighth day of the assembly: Shemini Atzeret.
Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, takes place in the seventh month presently known as Tishrei. The funny affair is that things changed in Babylon. An ironic fact, ‘babel’ is the Hebrew word to: ‘confuse’! The term Tishrei is an ancient Akkadian word from Babylon meaning “beginning.” While in ‘Babylon’ the Jewish people began marking their new year as starting in the seventh month of God’s calendar. This is the reason why the Feast of Trumpets, which is on the first of the seventh month is now called “Rosh Hashanah,” and it means “Head of the Year.” However, there is not such thing. According to G-d, the beginning of the year starts with the month of Passover in the Spring.
So, what is the significance of the seventh month, if it’s not the beginning of the year? Undoubtedly it is a very important month with three very important events: on the first day of the month the ‘Feast of Trumpets,’ Yom Kippur on the tenth, and Sukkot on the fifteenth day at the full moon. In addition, the number seven ought to be catching our attention.
All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the Feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 1 Kings 8:2.
Back in King Solomon’s time and before the exile, the seventh month was known as Ethanim. Not Tishrei, which means ‘beginning.’
But what does Eithanim mean?
The Hebrew word “eitan” means fixed, stable, constant, strong, permanent, like a rock. Eithanim is plural. Why is it plural? Because the name of the month points to water, and in Hebrew water is plural.
The name of the month “Eithanim” refers to progressively flowing waters, perpetual rivers that never run dry.
Presently Shemini Atzeret in Israel, is also known as Simchat Torah—the Joy of the Torah, in which there is great jubilation, dancing with Torah scrolls, and rejoicing in the streets. The yearly cycle of reading through the Torah begins anew at the end of Sukkot in accord with the Babylonian “beginning”. Simchat Torah the cheerfulness looks like a latecomer to the party, however, in the time of Jesus, the levity connected to water living water.
All through the summer, Jewish prayers included thanksgiving for dew while there is no rain, but at Sukkot it is tradition to earnestly pray for rain. Water is a precious commodity in dry and dusty Israel; water has the power of life and death. By the time of Yeshua, the tradition was to hold a water libation ceremony at the temple in Jerusalem on Shemini Atzeret. Water was drawn and poured lavishly over the altar in the midst of great rejoicing.
Shemini Atzeret is the climax of Zeman Simhateynu, the season of our joy. In reality, the Talmud affirms: “He who has not seen the rejoicing at the place of the water-drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life”! Tractate Sukkah 51a.
John the Apostle expresses that it was in this context, on the last and greatest day of the feast, that Yeshua stood up and proclaimed:
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yeshua stood up and cried out loudly, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, ‘out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-38.
This concept of “living waters” is a familiar and prominent theme in Scripture: Isaiah: 55:1, Ezekiel 47; Zechariah 14:8. Moreover, this is something important His Jewish audience would have clearly understood.
As Yeshua said to the Samaritan woman at the well, He has the power to give living water that forever flows and flows:
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (John 4:10)
As we said, water is plural in Hebrew, and ‘living waters’ are called “Maim Chaim” Both words are not simply plural, but denote a pair – a pair of gloves, a pair of eyes, a pair of waters, above and below, and a pair of lives, this life and the life to come. The living water Jesus offerings gives life not only here in this temporary world, but also in the world to come.
The ultimate celebration of Shemini Atzeret, which comes after the seven days of Sukkot in the seventh month of Eithanim, points us to the eternally flowing water of life that Jesus offered to the Samaritan woman: the eternal joy of life together with Him in the world to come.
“Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty. The water that I give him will become a fountain of water within him, springing up to eternal life!” (John 4:13-14)
Would you like a drink?