'And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your

feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste' (Exod.

Moses reminds Israel that they 'came out in haste' (Deut. 16:3), and instead

of reclining at the table, with their shoes removed, they were to adopt the

signs of readiness consequent upon their departure from Egypt, and the

commencement of their period of pilgrimage.  That this was no mere accident,

or to be thought of as of no typical significance, is made clear by the

institution of the feast of Tabernacles, or booths, a feast held at the close

of the seventh month, and lasting seven days:

'That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to

dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt' (Lev.

When at last Israel are restored and a blessing to the earth, the one feast

that is enjoined upon all nations to keep is this selfsame feast of

Tabernacles (Zech. 14:16,18,19).  The temporary and transient character of a

'booth' is suggested in Job 27:18 where it is likened to 'the house of a

'He builds his house as a spider's, flimsy as a watchman's shelter'

Isaiah uses the booth as a figure of transience saying:

'The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage (or booth) in a vineyard, as

a lodge in a garden of cucumbers' (Isa. 1:8).

The 'booth' was a temporary covering, and Isaiah 4:6 gives a good explanation

of its essential character and purpose:

'And there shall be a tabernacle (booth) for a shadow in the daytime

from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm

and from rain'.

It is this word, found in Amos 9:11, that is referred to by James in Acts

15:16,17.  The opening of the door to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27), 'agreed'

with the words of the prophets: as it is written:

'After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of

David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof,

and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the

Lord, and (even) all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called' (Acts

The 'residue', 'even all the Gentiles ...' refers to 'every one of the

nations that are left' which came against Jerusalem, they shall be under the

obligation to keep the feast of Tabernacles or 'booths' once a year at

Jerusalem (Zech. 14:16).  The Greek word employed in Acts 15:16 is skene,

because the New Testament is quoting from the LXX translation being

influenced by it.  To put into the mouth of such a Hebrew as James, or to

import into the LXX the pagan usage of the word skene, a theatrical 'scene',

scarcely needs refutation.  However, the positive meaning of this Greek word

comes up for examination in due course.  While we do not suggest that the