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Hoshana Rabbah Readings
Torah: Numbers 29:26-34
New Testament: John 7-8
Hoshana Rabbah
The seventh (and last) day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah or the "Great Salvation," a climactic day of praise to the LORD that was also viewed by the rabbis as a mini-Yom Kippur, the day on which the heavenly decrees made on Rosh Hashanah and sealed on Yom Kippur are actually sent out to be fulfilled.
According to the Mishnah (Sukkah 4:5), during the Temple period, willow branches were placed around the altar and a parade was made around the altar while the people recited: Hoshi'ah na - "Save us, please!" (Psalm 118:25).
The New Testament records that it was on the last day of Sukkot (i.e., "the great day") - perhaps just after the water libation ceremony - that Yeshua stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'"
If Hoshana Rabba represents "judgment delivered," then Yeshua was teaching that the Spirit of God would deliver the good verdict - and the true freedom - that Messiah secured for us through his sacrificial death as our atonement before God...
