The Meaning of the Eighth Day (Shemini Atzeret)
Right after the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, there is another festival that is simply called “the Eighth Day.” In Hebrew this festival is usually called Shemini Atzeret, which means the eighth [day] of assembly.
Many people never heard of this holiday until 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel on the Eighth Day and killed more than 1,000 people and kidnapped many others.
The meaning of the Eighth Day is a mystery for most Jews and Christians. This is what the Bible says about how to celebrate the day:
‘For seven days [of the Feast of Tabernacles] 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.” (Leviticus 23:36)
As you can see, it is a day of assembly, and normal work is not allowed (other than preparing meals, as mentioned in Exodus 12:16).
But what does it mean? The Hebrew scriptures don’t provide any direct explanation. The only hint is the name of the day—“the Eighth Day.”
In the Bible, numbers are often have a meaning. The number seven is associated with things that are complete or perfect—like the seven days of creation. The number 12 is associated with leadership and organization, like the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles. The number 40 is associated with periods of trials and tests.
The number eight is associated with salvation and new beginnings.
When God destroyed the world with a flood, eight people were saved and lived on into the new world (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5).
On the eighth day after a boy was born, he was circumcised and given a name (Genesis 17:12; Luke 1:59; 2:21).
So we can guess that the feast of the Eight Day may have something to do with a new life, a new beginning, and salvation—but the precise meaning of this day was not revealed until Jesus came.
A large part of the book of John describes what Jesus did and taught on the feast of the Eighth Day, and the last chapters of the book of Revelation also reveal the meaning of this day.
As I explained in the study guide about the Feast of Tabernacles, the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles represent the 1000-year rule of Jesus Christ on earth, as described in Revelation 20:4-6. The Eight Day represents everything that will happen after that 1000-year period.
The book of Revelation describes three main events that will happen after the Millennium:
- A final rebellion
- A second resurrection and a judgment
- Eternity on a new earth
The Final Rebellion
At the very beginning of the Millennium, on the Day of Atonement, Satan will lead the armies of Gog and Magog to fight against Jesus Christ at Jerusalem. On that day, Christ will destroy those armies and bind Satan for 1000 years, “so that he deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:3).
After the Millennium, Satan will be released and lead another rebellion:
Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet [are]. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10, NKJV)
Why will God allow Satan to deceive people again?
Because God needs a way to test people.
God is in the process of building a perfect family, and a perfect family that will live in perfect harmony forever. As you will see in a moment, God plans to put an end to all suffering and death.
There are only two ways God could achieve eternal harmony. The first option is to remove people’s free will, so they cannot sin. But if we could not choose to sin, could we choose to love either? Without choice, we would be like robotic slaves—like mere toys—not children of God.
The other option is to only grant eternal life to those whom God can trust to never rebel against God’s righteous way of life. So God has determined that faith is required for salvation. We must have real faith in God. We must believe that His way is the only right way. God can trust those who have this kind of genuine faith to choose good and reject evil.
Right now, we are continually tested by Satan, who offers many alternatives to God’s way. But during the 1000-year rule of Christ, Satan and the demons will not be around to deceive and mislead people. In time, the whole world will follow God (Isaiah 66:23). In this environment, it will be easy to obey God, because everyone else is doing it. And some people will just follow the crowd—but not with faith.
Those who are born during the Millennium need to have their faith tested, before God gives them eternal life. When Satan is released at the end of the Millennium, he will try to deceive everyone. Those who have genuine faith in God will not be deceived. But those who lack real faith in God will be persuaded by Satan, and join the final rebellion and try to overthrow God’s kingdom.
During the Millennium people will live very long lives, “as the days of a tree” (Isaiah 65:22), and those who are 100 years old when they die during this rebellion will be considered mere children (Isaiah 65:20). So it appears that all people will be tested by Satan at some time in their lives.
After this final test is done, Satan and the demons will be eliminated forever.
The Second Resurrection
The first resurrection will occur at the beginning of the Millennium, on the Feast of Trumpets. This is a resurrection of the saints to eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:22-23, 52; Revelation 20:4).
“But the rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:5). This second resurrection is described in Revelation 20:11-15:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Almost no one understands the purpose of this second resurrection, but the details become clear if we compare all of the scriptures about it.
First, we see from the verses above that the second resurrection is a time of judgment. People will be “judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (verse 12). The Greek word for books is “bibliois,” and it refers to all the books of the Bible. The laws and teachings of the Bible are the standard of judgment, and people will be judged by their works—whether they follow what is written in the Bible or not.
What, then, is the purpose of this resurrection and judgment?
If these people had been righteous, they would have been in the first resurrection. None of the people in this second resurrection have followed the laws and teachings of the Bible. So won’t they all be judged as guilty? To answer this question, we can look at what Jesus did and taught on the feast of the Eighth Day.
The Last Great Day
John 7:37-39 says:
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
This event “on the last day, that great day of the feast” occurred either at the end of the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles, or at the very beginning of the Eighth Day, shortly after the sun had set. Regardless of the timing, Jesus is talking about a universal opportunity for salvation. As explained in the lesson about the Day of Atonement, universal access to the holy spirit and the Tree of Life will not be restored until Satan is bound on the Day of Atonement.
During the Millennium, Jesus Christ’s offer of the holy spirit will be available to all people. But what about all the people who died in the past 6,000 years, who were blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4), and who were cut off from the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:24)? These people “could not believe, because… ‘He [God] has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts’” (John 12:39-40).
The apostle Paul explained that this blindness is part of God’s wise plan of salvation (Romans 11:25, 32-33), but that eventually the blindness will be removed and “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26).
Think about it. Millions of people have lived and died without ever hearing anything about Jesus. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Millions of people have died without ever hearing the Bible. Yet in the second resurrection, God will judge them not merely by their conscience or what they knew—but by the books of the Bible (Revelation 20:12).
You know that the Judge of all the earth must be fair.
The key to understanding how God is fair is to realize that God hasn’t judged most people yet. He is judging the saints now (1 Peter 4:17). The rest He will judge later, in the time of the second resurrection.
Think about it. If God will judge people after the second resurrection, that means He hasn’t judged them yet.
The only reason people assume that God has already judged the dead, is because they have been taught that people have an immortal soul that can live independently from their body, and that immediately goes to heaven or hell at death. But the Bible says that the human soul is mortal (Ezekiel 18:4), that “the dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5), and “no one has ascended to heaven” except for Jesus (John 3:13).
If you carefully study all of the scriptures on this subject, you will find that when people die, they go to the grave where they wait, unconscious, until they awake in a resurrection—either a resurrection to eternal life, or a resurrection to judgment.
This is how Jesus described these two resurrections:
“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:28-29, NKJV)
The word translated “condemnation” in the scripture above is usually translated as judgment. It is only translated as “condemnation” here because of what the translators believe. The second resurrection is a resurrection to judgment, because God hasn’t judged these people yet.
How Will God Judge People in the Second Resurrection?
John 8:2 through John 10:21 describe what Jesus did on the feast of the Eighth Day. You should read this entire section to understand the real meaning of the Eighth Day.
First, we find the story of the woman caught in adultery. How Jesus judged this woman shows how God will judge those in the second resurrection. First, He said to the witnesses, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (John 8:7). Then all the witnesses left. Since the law says that no one should be put to death without two or three witnesses, she was spared from judgment, and Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11).
Later on the same day, we read about a man who was blind from birth, whom Jesus healed (John 9). This man represents all the people who have lived their whole life in spiritual blindness—but whom God will give spiritual sight when they live again in the second resurrection.
People won’t get “a second chance” in the second resurrection. They will get their first chance. Their blindness will be removed, their sins committed in ignorance will be forgiven, and God will tell them “go and sin no more.” Then, they will be “judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:12).
This judgment period is described clearly in Ezekiel 37:1-14. You should read the whole passage carefully. It describes a valley full of all the bones of the Israelites, which are joined together and covered with flesh and skin, and brought back to life.
“Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’” (Ezekiel 37:12-14)
After God resurrects the Israelites, He will bring them into their land and give them a place to live a second life. Then he will offer His holy spirit to them. For the first time, their blindness will be removed, and they will have their first opportunity for salvation.
And what God will do for Israel, He will also do for the people of all nations (Romans 2:8-11). All people will rise together in judgment, and the people who never head Jesus will criticize those who did hear Jesus, but did not repent (Matthew 12:41-42).
Jesus said that this period of judgment will be “more tolerable” for the wicked people of Sodom who never heard Jesus, than for the people who heard Jesus preach but did not repent (Matthew 11:20-24). So those who were not completely blind will be responsible for their sins that were not committed in ignorance, and those who had committed the unpardonable sin (knowingly rejecting God) will not be given a second opportunity (Hebrews 10:26-30).
The Bible does not specifically say how long this judgment period will last, but once the time is complete, “anyone not found in the Book of Life was cast into the lake for fire” (Romans 20:15). This lake of fire is described as “the second death” (Revelation 20:14), and anyone thrown into it will burn up and become ashes (Malachi 4:3).
The New Heavens and the New Earth
The Eighth Day also represents the time beyond the judgment period when God will dwell with His children on a new earth for eternity. This is described in Revelation 21 and 22, which you can read on your own. I will only quote my favorite verse:
“And God 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.” (Revelation 21:4)
May God speed that day.
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How to Celebrate the Eighth Day
The celebration of the Eighth Day is like a continuation of the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. But the instruction to live in a temporary dwelling only applies to the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. The temporary huts or tabernacles of the Feast of Tabernacles teach us that this life, and even the Millennium, are temporary. But when the meaning of the Eighth Day is fulfilled, everything temporary will be replaced by things that are eternal.