HEBREW WORD STUDY – A FLIMSY BOOTH –סכה Sukah,  Samek Kap Hei 

Isaiah 1:8:  “And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.”  

I believe this is a very prophetic passage that we will see play out in the few months. It presents a very sobering thought, to me and maybe to others. 

The daughter of Zion is often a reference to Mt. Moriah, a small mountain near Jerusalem where the temple stood.  In a figurative sense the prophet is saying that the temple will be left as a cottage in a vineyard.   The word “cottage” is sort of a misleading translation of the word succoth.  Many of you immediately recognize this word and when you hear it you do not think of a cottage as we consider a cottage.  When we hear the word cottage we think of a comfortable little, sturdy house.   However, when a Jew hears the word   Succoth he will think of a flimsy little booth which the Jews stay in during the feast of Tabernacles.  This is really what is being referenced.

During a time of harvest, whole families would live in the fields or vineyards to do their harvesting.  They would set up lightly constructed booths made of brushwood that they would live in so as to protect their fields from thieves and to be near the field so they can begin the harvest first thing without having to make a journey to their fields each morning.   After the harvest, the little shack would be left to face the elements and would gradually fall apart during the storms that would come over the year.  

The word for lodge is molown, which is an inn, an overnight stop over.  It was really nothing more than a shelter where rather unsavory individuals would spend the night.   

So, what the prophet is saying is that because of the rejection of his people, Mainly the spiritual leaders of Judah, He will remove them from their land and their temple would fall into ruin like a temporary booth set up during harvest time. But there is also a secondary meaning behind this as well. There is the gradual deterioration to the elements and/or a take over by unsavory individuals.  

This was shocking news to the people of Judah. They were the people of God, the chosen people. In fact, they were the only nation on earth that worshipped the true God. Why would God destroy their land and His temple?  They still worshipped God, they gave their sacrifices, they celebrated the Passover, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah and the Succoth, what more could God want?  

Well, God may have had their dedication many of the required laws and festivals, their religious leaders may have been doing and saying the right things, but He did not have their hearts.  Their hearts were not in their worship.  In fact, many worshipped other gods along with God Jehovah.  The farmers worshipped God and gave of their tithe and first fruits but they also worshipped Baal the god who mythologically rode the clouds and brought the rain.  Hey, what so bad about that, a little insurance does not hurt.  They had fallen so far into apostasy that they did not even see the wrong in worshipping other gods.  As long as they kept most of God’s laws they felt secure.  But they over looked the first law that they should have not have another god.  Somehow, keeping a portion of the law was good enough in their minds.  

Over the past four years I have seen many believers, churches and ministries that were once very cutting edge, dynamic because of their favor in the government. They were dropping the names of important government officials that they were rubbing shoulders with like a badge of honor. They built large platforms and bases of power. I often wondered about their motives. I wondered if they were the lodgers, the unsavory people who entered God’s domain. But I always felt God slapping me on the wrist saying to me: “Keep your mind on Me, I will take care of those whose motives are not with mine. Just wait and see. Don’t you worry about it.”   

Just like in the land of Judah, practically overnight those who were compromising and using their faith and positions for power, influence and wealth disappeared when a new government run by the Babylonians came to power. Those who built ministry, base of power and influence on their contacts and associations with powerful rulers are becoming like booths in the field that have been abandoned after harvest.  They will and even now start deteriorating and they don’t even realize it.   They will live on the glory of the past, but the presence of God will not be with them and without their powerful influences, their wealth and fame will disappear.  For them the harvest will be long past, the harvesters have left, gone to other fields and their booths will go into decline and deteriorate.  

But there are those who have dynamic ministries and the basis of their power is not in friends in high places, but a Friend in the highest place.  You will see this change in government as an opportunity and move into the fields that are ripe for harvest. They are the ones who will take key roles in the great blessings of revival that are yet to come and they will come not because of a Godly government but in spite of a Godly government. No one will be able to say: “Oh, yeah, people turned to God because that is what is popular in government now.”  Now people will wonder why there is such a move toward God when it is not popular anymore. They might think it is something supernatural behind it.

The great unveiling is taking place and God is now separating the wheat from the chaff.  If you are building your hopes on the arm of the flesh and a Godly government, expect your succoth to fall into disrepair and deterioration.  But it you are building your hopes in God, your succoth will be renewed. For you see, the harvest is about to begin.

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