Sukkot/Tabernacles: The Fruit of the Goodly Tree

We read in the Torah, “You shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days” (Lev. 23:40).

This is not just agricultural celebration, it is holy rehearsal, choreographing a feast to come. The lulav and etrog are not just symbols; they are instruments of prophetic memory and eschatological longing.

Historically, Sukkot/ סֻכּוֹת recalls the wilderness journey, the fragile shelters (sukkah/ סֻכָּה) that housed Israel under the canopy of divine presence. It is a feast of vulnerability and provision, of wandering and worship. The fruit of the good tree (פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר), traditionally the etrog (citron, no, not a lemon), represents the heart: fragrant, beautiful, and whole. The palm branch, tall and straight, speaks of the spine in uprightness and victory. Together with the myrtle and willow, they form a fourfold testimony of the human condition and the divine invitation: to rejoice in dependence, to wave in worship, to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. These elements represent the bouquet of the Body of Messiah, joined together, and brought before Him.

But Sukkot is not only retrospective, it is prophetic.

We find a final echo of this feast at the end of time, in the Book of Revelation, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands” (Rev. 7:9). This is the ultimate ingathering, the eschatological fulfillment of the feast. The nations, once scattered, now redeemed and assembled. The palm branches, once waved in Jerusalem, now lifted in the heavenly Zion. The Lamb, once hidden in the wilderness, now enthroned before us.

Here, the lulav (palm branch) becomes a liturgical bridge between Sinai and the New Jerusalem. The waving of branches is no longer just a ritual, it is a declaration: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:10). The fruit of the good tree is no longer just a symbol, it is the fruit of righteousness borne by those adopted, grafted and reattached to the covenant through Messiah.

Rabbinic tradition teaches that the sukkah represents the Clouds of Glory that surrounded Israel. Apostolic teaching reveals that we now dwell in Messiah, our Emmanuel and our true shelter. Sukkot thus becomes a rehearsal for the wedding feast of the Lamb, where every tribe and tongue will tabernacle in joy (וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, Lev. 23:40).

So we wave the lulav not only in remembrance, but in anticipation. We dwell in the sukkah not only to recall the wilderness, but to proclaim the coming Kingdom. We rejoice not only for seven days, but with eternal gladness.

Let us then take up the fruit of the good tree. Let us wave the palm in worship. Let us dwell in the shelter of the Most High. For this feast is not over, it is just beginning.

Maranatha. Shalom.

Justin D. Elwell, Th.D.