HEBREW WORD STUDY – A COTTAGE IN A VINEYARD – SUKKAH BAKAR ~rkb hks Samek Kap Hei Beth Kap Resh Mem

Isaiah 1:8: “And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.”

The daughter of Zion is often a reference to Mt. Moriah, a small mountain near Jerusalem where the temple stood. In a figurative sense, the prophet is saying that the temple will be left as a cottage in a vineyard. The word cottage although not an incorrect rendering can be sort of misleading. You see it is the word sukkoth. Many of you probably immediately recognize this word and when you hear it you do not think of a cottage as we consider a cottage. When we hear the word cottage we think of a comfortable little, sturdy house. However, when you hear sukkoth you think of a flimsy little booth that the Jews stay in during the feast of Tabernacles. This is really what is being referenced.

During a time of harvest, whole families would live in the fields or vineyards to do their harvesting. They would set up lightly constructed booths or sukkoths made of brushwood that they would live in so as to protect their fields from thieves and to be near the field so they can begin their harvesting the first thing in the morning without having to make a journey to their fields each morning. After the harvest, the little shack would be left to face the elements and would gradually fall apart during the storms that would come over the year.

The word for lodge is molown which is an inn, an overnight stopover. It was really nothing more than a shelter where rather unsavory individuals would spend the night. It was a place where there was no privacy at all. You would sleep in a little loft above your mule or camel and there would be a well in the middle of the various lofts. Everyone would have their own little campfire and in the morning they would leave. Like I said it was usually inhabited by unsavory characters and it was not unusual to wake up in the morning and find your camel and supplies missing.

So what the prophet is saying is that because of the rejection of his people, he will leave them or abandon them and their temple would fall into ruin like a temporary booth set up during harvest time.

But there is also a secondary meaning behind this as well. There is a gradual deterioration of the elements and/or a take over by unsavory individuals. I have seen many believers, churches, and ministries that were once very cutting edge, dynamic, filled with the power and presence of God harvesting lost souls. Now they are like booths in the field that have been abandoned after harvest. They are deteriorating and they don’t even realize it. They live on the glory of the past, but the presence of God is no longer there. No one is really getting saved and the Word of God is replaced with a lot of sermons on good things, love, and beauty so no one is offended. Even in Charismatic circles I find they try to pump it up with a lot of shouting and fast music and make people think their booth is still filled with the presence of God and it is still harvesting time, but in reality, the harvest is long past, the harvester has left and their booth is in decline, and deteriorating. Yet, they dance around to the music and sing heart touching songs and say, “Oh, feel the presence of God, He is still here,” but it is not the presence of God, it is just the effect of the music on one’s emotions. In ancient times they used to burn fragrances, use certain essential oils to create a feeling of euphoria, a sense of peace, tranquility and they would say, “See this is the presence of God,” but it was not the presence of God, it was only the effect of the fragrances upon the emotions. The presence of God has long since left those churches or ministries which are in decline but people do not realize that they substituted fragrances or music for the feel good.

We need to occasionally sit back and take a good look at our lives. We need to determine if we are just living on the glory of the past. We need to ask if our spiritual lives are not just empty abandoned booths. Are our yahoos and praise alleluias are coming from a deep love for God or are they just echoes of past glory? Are we just saying our praises, loud prayers, and prophecies, etc to convince everyone we are still in the midst of the harvest? When in reality sin lies at the door of our sukkoth – booth that has long been abandoned by God.

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