The Feast of Booths
The Feast of Booths is celebrated for seven days (Oct. 7-13, 2025) and concludes on the eighth day (Oct. 14th), a unique day of assembly. The following verses in Leviticus 23 explain how this annual festival is to be observed:
Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. (Lev. 23:33-36 – NASB1995)
The Feast of Booths is the last major Feast on the biblical calendar and it is literally spoken of in other Scriptures as coming at the end of the year.
In what way does the Feast of Booths come at the end of the year?
In Leviticus 23:34, we read that the Feast of Booths is to begin on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. According to this dating, the Feast of Booth falls in the middle of the month and in the middle of the year.
If the Feast of Booths occurs in the seventh month, how is it understood as being at the year’s end?
I have been studying the biblical calendar for a couple of decades and I can now say that I’m finally getting to a point where I am starting to understand what God intended for the yearly calendar that He detailed in the Bible. If you are new to my website, I encourage you to view my three-part teaching series on The Biblical Calendar. Without getting into all of the details of the biblical calendar, I want to highlight the concept of the end of one year and the start of another in the seventh month, confirming the biblical concept of two “New Year” markers in the Scriptures.
The End of the Year
The Feast of Booths is also called the Feast of Ingathering because it occurs at the end of the harvest season, as noted in Exodus 23:
Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. (Ex. 23:16 – NASB1995)
Based on this verse we read how the Feast of Booths (Ingathering) occurs “at the end of the year.” It is obviously in the context of the agricultural year, but it still gives credence to being a yearly marker on the calendar. The seventh month marks the end of one agricultural year and the beginning of a new agricultural year in the Land of Israel.
We read a similar explanation in Exodus 34 regarding the Feast of Booths as a pivotal marker on the biblical calendar:
You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. (Ex. 34:22 – NASB1995)
Again we see in this verse how the Feast of Booths is called the Feast of Ingathering and it is uniquely described as occurring “at the turn of the year.”
In these two verses, we see how the Scriptures specifically refer to the Feast of Booths as a yearly marker on the biblical calendar despite falling in the seventh month of the year. Another important detail to remember is that the Feast of Booths is not a one-day holiday, but it is a 7-8 day feast that occurs in the seventh month.
New Year’s Day or New Year’s Month?
In Western culture, people are accustomed to celebrating January 1st as New Year’s Day. The Bible does not mention January 1st. As a matter of fact, the Bible never mentions any day as a New Year’s Day. Originally, God told Moses and the Israelites to observe a particular month as the first month of the year:
Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.” (Ex. 12:1-2 – NASB1995)
God did not designate a particular day as a New Year’s Day, but rather, He designated a particular month as the beginning of the year. Although the LORD set apart the month of Passover (March/April) as the first month of the year, He also designated the seventh month as another “New Year” marker: a turning of the year (Ex. 34:22) when one yearly cycle ends and a new yearly cycle begins (Ex. 23:16).
What is significant about the seventh month? Do we see other evidence in the Bible of the seventh month being a yearly marker?
Outside of Passover and the events connected to this special Feast, the majority of yearly events that God commanded to be observed in the Bible begin in the seventh month, like the year of Jubilee:
You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. (Lev. 25:8-10 – NASB1995)
The year of Jubilee, the fiftieth year, was to be declared on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. The year of Jubilee was to be proclaimed as a year of release. The Hebrew word for release is דְּרוֹר – Dror, meaning liberty or freedom.
Similar to the year of Jubilee, every seventh year was to be a Shmitah year, a year of release from debts:
At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD’s remission has been proclaimed. (Deut. 15:1-2 – NASB1995)
The Shmitah year was to be a year of release or a remission of debts. All debts of the people of Israel were to be forgiven at this time. The word שְׁמִטָּה – Shmitah means release, remission, a dropping down, or a letting go. Besides being a year of forgiving debts, the Shmitah year was also a time of letting fields remain fallow and vineyards were to be left unharvested.
When did the Shmitah year begin?
The Shmitah year was to be proclaimed in the seventh month at the Feast of Booths:
Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. (Deut. 31:10-11 – NASB1995)
The Feast of Booths was appointed to be the time of year when the release of debts is to be proclaimed. The Feast of Booths occurs in the seventh month.
A Month of Freedom & Release: The Seventh Month
God specifically set apart the seventh month, when the harvest season comes to an end, as the month when the Shmitah Year and the Year of Jubilee are to be proclaimed throughout the Land of Israel. During the seventh month, the seventh and fiftieth years are to be a time for proclaiming release from debts, forgiveness of loans, and a return to one’s property (if it was confiscated). According to the Scriptures, the seventh month recalls the mercy of God to mandate a humanitarian reset: forgiveness from past debts and a new year of release for God’s people.
As we once again celebrate the Feast of Booths this year in the seventh month, it is fitting to look forward to a year of freedom and release. More than a release from debts, we look forward to a year of new beginnings and a fresh start after two years of multiple wars that have brought much fear, death, and destruction in the Land of Israel.
It was announced in the early morning hours (Israel time) on Thursday, October 9th that a peace deal between Israel and Hamas has been reached and that all Israeli hostages will be set free. This declaration of peace and a release of the hostages in the seventh month on the biblical calendar seems very prophetic.
I am praying that peace and security will be reestablished in the Land of Israel for all of the people living in its borders, for both Jews and Arabs. God has designated the seventh month as a time to proclaim release, to grant freedom, and to establish new beginnings. Let us rejoice in God’s promises at this special season during the Feast of Booths and proclaim His release during this seventh month of the year!
