The Eighth Day Assembly
When YHWH gave us the Torah Calendar, He did not choose the days at random. Rather, He incorporated specific days into His calendar in order to give us prophetic shadow pictures of the things He has purposed to come to pass.
In the last chapter on Sukkot we spoke briefly about the Last Great Day of the feast. This Last Great Day is also called ‘Shemini Atzeret,’ which means, essentially, ‘The Assembly of the Eighth (Day).”
While the Assembly of the Eighth is often thought of simply as the final day of the Feast of Sukkot, it is actually a separate festival. This is in much the same way as the Passover is followed by the seven Days of Unleavened Bread. However, in this case, the seven days of Sukkot are followed by the one day Assembly of the Eighth (Shemini Atzeret).
In Hebrew, the word ‘Atzeret’ (עֲצֶרֶת) means not just ‘an assembly,’ but a very special kind of assembly. It indicates that one’s host is not letting one go home. Rather, one’s host is ‘holding one over’ for an extended period of time. Strong’s Concordance defines the word atzeret (עצרת) in this way:
OT:6116 `atsarah (ats-aw-raw'); or `atsereth (ats-eh'-reth); from OT:6113; an assembly, especially on a festival or holiday:
When we look up the root at Strong’s OT:6113, we get:
OT:6113 `atsar (aw-tsar'); a primitive root; to enclose; by analogy, to hold back; also to maintain, rule, assemble:
KJV - be able, close up, detain, fast, keep (self close, still), prevail, recover, refrain, reign, restrain, retain, shut (up), slack, stay, stop, withhold (self).
Shemini Atzeret, then, shows us that YHWH intends to hold us back, to detain us, or to ‘close us up’ in some fashion for the eighth day. But in what way does YHWH intend to ‘detain us’, or to ‘hold us over’?
The Apostle Kepha (Peter) tells us that one prophetic day can symbolize a thousand earth years.
Kepha Bet (2nd Peter) 3:8
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing: that with YHWH, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day.
Notice, then, that Scripture tells us that the Creation Week was seven days long.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 2:2
2 And on the seventh day Elohim ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
If the Creation Week lasted seven days, and if one prophetic day can represent a thousand earth years, then the Creation Week is symbolic of a seven thousand year plan for the earth and its inhabitants.
But if the earth is to last for seven thousand years, then why would the Feast of Sukkot last for eight days? And what is the symbolism of the eighth day?
In truth, the Feast of Sukkot lasts only seven days. We know this because it is only for seven days that the children of Israel are to dwell in booths.
Vayiqra (Leviticus) 23:41-43
41 You shall keep it as a feast to YHWH for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths,
43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am YHWH your Elohim.'"
The eighth day of Sukkot, then, is really a separate festival. Leviticus 23:36 tells us that we are to hold an assembly (עֲצֶרֶת) on this eighth day in order to bring an offering made by fire. We are also to do no ordinary or laborious work.
Vayiqra (Leviticus) 23:36
36 For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to YHWH. On the eighth day you shall have a set-apart assembly, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to YHWH. It is a set-apart assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.
Verse 39 then tells us to keep the first and the eighth days of the festival as set-apart sabbaths of rest.
Vayiqra (Leviticus) 23:39
39 'Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of YHWH for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest.
It may be that the first day of the feast symbolizes the first day of the Creation Week, when YHWH Elohim created the heavens and the earth.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 1:1-2
1 In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was made formless and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.
If the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the first day of Creation, could it be that Shemini Atzeret symbolizes how we will go to the New Earth, which Isaiah speaks of?
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 65:17-25
17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 "No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old,
But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.”
While the Feast of Tabernacles is symbolic of many things, it is also symbolic of the New Earth, for the Book of the Revelation tells us that in the New Earth, the Tabernacle of Elohim will be with men.
Gilyana (Revelation) 21:1-4
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2 Then I, Yochanan, saw the set-apart city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the Tabernacle of Elohim is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. Elohim Himself will be with them, and be their Elohim.
4 “And Elohim will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
If YHWH wills, we will explore this topic in much more detail in the Joseph’s Return study, as well as explore why Yeshua returns to take us to the New Earth at the end of the earth’s seven thousand years.
Once we understand the prophetic symbolism of the number eight, we can begin to see this symbolism turn up throughout the Torah.
Vayiqra (Leviticus) 22:26-27
26 And YHWH spoke to Moshe, saying:
27 "When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall be seven days with its mother; and from the eighth day and thereafter it shall be accepted as an offering made by fire to YHWH.”
Yeshua tells us that those who believe on Him are like unto sheep, or to goats.
Mattai (Matthew) 25:33
33 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the set-apart messengers with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.”
For seven days, our sheep and our bulls and our goats are not acceptable as sacrifice offerings unto YHWH. In much the same way, for seven thousand years, the ‘sheep’ and the ‘goats’ and the ‘bulls’ who believe on Yeshua are not acceptable into YHWH’s kingdom. Rather, we must wait until the start of the ‘Assembly of the Eighth’, after the Judgment, when YHWH will ‘hold us over’ in the New Earth. Then we will Tabernacle with Him.