Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles  

7 Fruits of Israel:  Grapes 

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe 

Deuteronomy 8: 7-8 "For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and date honey.” 

In the Bible, grapes are mentioned more than any other fruit. When the 12 spies returned to Moses after scouting out the land the Lord had promised to the Israelites, they brought with back a single cluster of grapes which they carried on a pole between them. (Numbers 13:23). 

The abundance of the grapes in Israel symbolize the abundant life we can have in a covenant relationship with Father God through Jesus Christ. (John 10:10)  

Psalm 23: 4-5 “ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.”  In that overflow, we find the joy of the Lord which is the second fruit of the Spirit, coming after love. (Galatians 5)

John 15:1-5: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  

Luke 22: 20.  “Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” The wine pictures the shed blood of our Redeemer.

Because of Jesus, the juice of the grape is symbolic of the abundance of God’s mercy and redemption, which, when we are in covenant with Him, bring joy into our lives. The joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) 

(Side note: It was during the renewed celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles that the Lord spoke those words through Nehemiah.)