'PATHS' or 'CYCLES'?
One of the most popular sections of scripture quoted by "Jews" and "Christians" alike is Mizmor (Psalm) 23. Although modern Christian doctrine advocates the superceding of New Testament teaching over the Tenakh, the 23rd chapter of the Tehillim is still used as a means to comfortthose in distress and affliction. It is interesting to note the verse in which David says "He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake." The word 'paths' is actually taken from the Hebrew root 'agol lg[, which means to be round or a cycle. Actually, David is using a familiar phrase to the Hebrew people. He is saying Adonai leads us or guides us in the 'cycles of righteousness'. The cycles of righteousness refers to the yearly return of the feasts of Adonai. This is why the closely related word chag or festival, is referred to as "making a cycle". The chaggim are the cyclical holy days, in which the righteousness of the Adonai of Israel is taught. It is these cycles that David is referring to.
SUKKOT
The Feast of Tabernacles is a week-long festival. Tabernacles is also known as the Feast of the Ingathering, Feast of the Booths, Sukkoth. The two days following the festival are separate holidays, Shemini Atzeret and Simkhat Torah, but are commonly thought of as part of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles was the final festival of the year. The importance of this festival is indicated by the statement, This is to be a lasting ordinance. The divine pronouncement, I am the L-rd your G-d, concludes this section on the holidays of the seventh month. The Feast of Tabernacles begins five days after Yom Kippur on the fifteenth of Tishri (September or October). The word Sukkoth means booths, and refers to the temporary dwellings that Jews are commanded to live in during this holiday, just as the Jews did in the wilderness. The Feast of Tabernacles lasts for seven days and ends on the twenty-first day of the Hebrew month of Tishri, which is Israels seventh month.
Historically, Sukkot was to be kept in remembrance of the dwelling in tents in the wilderness for the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert.
It is expounded in Leviticus 23:43 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: I am Adonai your Elohim.
WATER POURING
Draw water with joy, from the wellsprings of salvation
Isaiah 12:3
The Pouring of the Water was held on all seven days [of Sukkot]...
Talmud, Sukkah 42b; 48b
When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the Pouring of the Water (nisuch hamayim) was an important feature of the festival of Sukkot. Throughout the year, the daily offerings in the Temple were accompanied by the pouring of wine on the altar; on Sukkot, water was poured in addition to the wine. The drawing of water for this purpose was preceded by all-night celebrations in the Temple courtyard, with music-playing Levites, torch-juggling sages and huge oil-burning lamps that illuminated the entire city. The singing and dancing went on until daybreak, when a procession would make its way to the Shiloach Spring which flowed in a valley below the Temple.
A golden pitcher, was filled from the Shiloach Spring. When they arrived at the Water Gate, the shofar was sounded.... [The priest] ascended the ramp [of the altar] and turned to his left ... where there were two bowls of silver ... with small holes [in their bottom], one wider and the other narrower so that both should empty at the same time--the western one was for the water and the eastern one for wine...
For all the days of the water drawing, recalled Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania, our eyes saw no sleep, for the nights of Sukkot were devoted to the singing, dancing and merrymaking in preparation to draw water with joy. And the Talmud declares: One who did not see the joy of the water-drawing celebrations, has not seen joy in his life.
To a thirsty man, a cup of water is tastier than the most delectable wine. In the spiritual sense, this means that when a soul experiences a thirst for G-d--then it recognizes how vital its connection to G-d is for its very existence. To such a soul, the water it draws from its deepest self to pour onto its altar of service to G-d is a greater source of joy than the flesh and wine offered upon its altar or the incense wafting through its Temple.
Throughout the year, only wine was poured on the altar, for ordinarily, only the savory and aromatic elements of our service of G-d are a source of joy to us. But on Sukkot, the joy we experience in the water of life is the greatest joy in the world, surpassing even the joy of its wine.
THE 8TH GREAT DAY (aka Hoshana Rabbah)
"Shmini Atzeret" is the holiday which is celebrated on the eighth day counting from the beginning of "Sukkot." "Shmini" means the eighth; in general, the number eight symbolizes perfection, as it does in the case of "brit milah," the covenant of circumcision. The brit is performed on the eighth day to "complete," as it were, or to instill the potential for perfection, in the human being.
"Atzeret" means "holding back," or that which is held back for the purpose of bringing it to its state of completion. Thus, the name "Shmini Atzeret" means the eighth day which is the additional day that brings the seven-day holiday of Sukkot to its state of perfection.
John chapter 7 takes place during the festival of Sukkot. This is the backround and climate that Yeshua uttered these words;
John 7:37-38 Now on the last day of the festival Hoshana Rabbah (the greatest day), Yeshua stood and cried out, If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!
Several sources were used to compile this.....
