Israel's nomadic festivals

The Law of God, delivered by Moses arrived to a nation that was living a completely nomadic lifestyle. Everything they owned and valued they carried with them and the entire community lived in mobile tents. Once they entered the promised land they gradually became more and more like the nations around them, including a more settled lifestyle. But God did not let the people forget their nomadic heritage or the skills and lessons he crafted it to teach, both practical and spiritual/relational.

The first of these was the Festival of tents (tabernacles). For 7 days every calendar year the people were expected to abandon their houses and dwell in tents. The festival fell shortly after the harvest so it was a time of plenty and also a time of relative comfortable temperatures. Through the week the people were to cook and sleep in their tents and not in the settlements. Like our modern camping trips this week freed the people from the demands of city life and gave them a chance to remember their skills for living on the land.

But that’s still small change when compared to the Sabbath for the land. Celebrated once every 7 years, the Sabbath year was a time for returning to the ways of nomadic herdsman and hunter gatherers. No crops could be planted or vineyards tended, but they could be gleened. If you are the descendant of agriculturalists this might sound impossible but modern agricultural practice assures us that a dormant season is good for the land. God promised an abundant harvest in the sixth year that would carry them through planting in the eighth year. Like the festival of tents, the Israelites were instructed to “go bush”, leaving their settlements behind and living the nomadic life once again for one entire year in seven. This would insure that the skills and lessons of nomadism were never lost on the people of Israel, even as their cities grew.

Every seventh cycle, ie. every 50th year Israel celebrated the Year of Jubilee. This part of the law governed property rights and workmens contracts. In the year of Jubilee all property returned to its original owners. Under this system property could not be truly sold, only leased for a maximum of 50 years. Similarly, if povery forced any family into slavery (which was allowed by the law, but included many protections for workers, like this one) they were freed and returned to their homelands. All debts were reset to 0. This radical economic system is hard for us to imagine because it bears so little resemblance to our systems of ownership. What it does more closely resemble is some native concepts of land use. Semi-nomadic tribes don’t claim to “own” the land, but occupy it. This is closer to God’s instructions to the Israelites that they would “possess” the land. Interestingly the Jubilee did not apply to houses owned within walled cities, these were the exception.

One day in 7, one week a year, one year in 7, and the 50th year. Over and over again he called them back to nomadic ways. He refused to let them forget. These festivals ran on a loop, each of them put in place to remind the nation of Israel who they were before their God. And each of them are signposts of nomadism! He required them to maintain not just the skills but the heart attitude of dependance on Him that they had learned on their 40 years of moving as he directed.

In the Sabbath year no crops could be planted or vineyards tended, but they could be gleened.