The Feast of Tabernacles, also called the Feast of Ingathering, is a seven-day feast starting on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

Lev 23:34  “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD.
Lev 23:35  On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it.
Lev 23:36  For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.

The first day of the Feast is a Sabbath day, that is a day of rest where no customary work is done. 

Lev 23:40  And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
Lev 23:41  You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
Lev 23:42  You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths,
Lev 23:43  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 the LORD your God.’ “

The Feast of Tabernacles lasts for seven days and is a time of rejoicing.  It is also mentioned in Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Num 29:12  ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work, and you shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days.

Deu 16:13  “You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress.
Deu 16:14  And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.
Deu 16:15  Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

As a point of interest, Jesus Christ also went up (to Jerusalem) to the Feast of Tabernacles.

Joh 7:2  Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.

Joh 7:10  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

What is the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles?  Its meaning is revealed through the harvest seasons and what they symbolise.

In ancient Israel there were three harvests, two in the spring (barley and wheat), and the third in late summer stretching into early autumn.  These three harvests correspond to three feast seasons: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Exo 23:14  “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:
Exo 23:15  You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);
Exo 23:16  and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
Exo 23:17  “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

Deu 16:16  “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.

More detail of these three Feast seasons can be found in Leviticus 23. 

In the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, grain harvests symbolise a “harvesting” of souls to eternal life.  For example:

Mat 9:37  Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Joh 12:24  Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat [Jesus Christ] falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it [Jesus Christ] dies, it produces much grain [resurrected saints].

The parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:1-9.

The parable of the Weeds, Matthew 13:24-30.

Putting the pieces of the puzzle together we see that the three Feast seasons symbolise three “harvests” of souls.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread:  the first harvest of souls – the resurrection of Jesus Christ

The Feast of Unleavened Bread contains the wave sheaf offering which pictures the resurrected Jesus Christ.  (See “What is the meaning of the wave sheaf offering?”) 

The Feast of Pentecost: the second harvest of souls – the resurrection of the saints (God’s people)

The Feast of Pentecost pictures the resurrection of the saints (God’s people).  (See “What is the meaning of the Feast of Pentecost?”) 

The Feast of Tabernacles: the second harvest of souls – the resurrection of the rest of the dead

The Feast of Tabernacles contains the last day (the eighth day) of the Feast which pictures the resurrection of the rest of the dead.  The rest of the dead is the vast majority of humanity.  They are resurrected to a physical life and offered salvation.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

The first resurrection mentioned in verses 5 and 6 refers to those who live and reign with Christ for a thousand years, not to the “rest of the dead”.  During this one thousand year period the nations will learn about God and worship Him.  There will be no more wars. 

Mic 4:1  Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it.
Mic 4:2  Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Mic 4:3  He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.
Mic 4:4  But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

There will also be an abundance of food.

Amo 9:13  “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it.
Amo 9:14  I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.

The meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles is that it pictures the one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth when there will be great peace and prosperity. 

There are some aspects of the Feast of Tabernacles which deserve further comment.

The instructions for keeping the Feast of Tabernacles include rejoicing.  The rejoicing is because of the wonderful time of peace and prosperity that it pictures.

The instructions for keeping the Feast of Tabernacles include dwelling in booths (temporary dwellings).

Lev 23:42  You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths,

The reason given for this is in the next verse.

Lev 23:43  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 the LORD your God.’ “

Ancient Israel dwelt in booths before entering the Promised Land.  Dwelling in a temporary residence at the Feast of Tabernacles reminds us that our bodies are temporary stage, like a booth or tabernacle, before we enter our “Promised Land” of eternal life.

As a final point, people living during one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth will learn to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Zec 14:16  And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Zec 14:17  And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain.
Zec 14:18  If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Zec 14:19  This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles is thus very relevant for us today.

Conclusion

The meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles is that it pictures the one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth when there will be great peace and prosperity.