What were booths in biblical days?

Answer 1

We're still living in "biblical days," considering the future portent of Bible prophecy.

The "booths" mentioned in God's Holy Day "Feast of Tabernacles" are "temporary dwellings" that God's people live in for seven days in the fall of the year. This feast pictures the "thousand year rule of Christ" and His Government, the Kingdom of God, over the remnant nations of the earth that survive the coming "Great Tribulation"... the 3 1/2 year time of unprecedented distress on the earth that shall threaten the continuation of life on the planet:

"In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, the entire human race will be destroyed. But it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones." (Matt.24:22 NLT New Living Translation)

The "booths" represent our temporary mortal bodies in which our "spirits dwell" together with the laws of God, the first one being "thou shalt have no other gods before Me." This mortal life, lived as it should be lived, with our Creator first and foremost in our conscious thoughts and deeds... the reason for our being.

Matthew Henry say this about the Feast of Tabernacles [booths]:

"...Christ's tabernacling on earth in human nature, might also be prefigured. And it represents the believer's life on earth: a stranger and pilgrim here below, his home and heart above with his Saviour. They would the more value the comforts and conveniences of their own houses, when they had been seven days dwelling in the booths. It is good for those who have ease and plenty, sometimes to learn what it is to endure hardness. The joy of harvest ought to be improved for the furtherance of our joy in God. The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; therefore whatever we have the comfort of, he must have the glory of, especially when any mercy is perfected. God appointed these feasts, 'Besides the Sabbaths and your free-will offerings.' Calls to extraordinary services will not excuse from constant and stated ones." (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary: Leviticus 23:33-44; The Feast of Tabernacles)

The "booths" [tents] symbolize our brief time on earth in the flesh... it's a looking forward in FAITH to the "permanent home" God is preparing for His Children: the Kingdom of God.

"...even when he [Abraham] reached the land God promised him, he lived there BY FAITH - for he was like a foreigner, LIVING IN A TENT [booths]. And so did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same promise. Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city [New Jerusalem; see Rev.21] with Eternal Foundations, a City designed and built by God." (Heb.11:9-10 NLT)

It's by Faith, that God's people are living now in the flesh [in their "booths"]... seeking the "Eternal Home" [their mortal bodies changed into Immortal ones] promised by their Father... being born into the Immortal Children of their Immortal Father.

"...We will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye... raised with transformed bodies... For our perishable earthly bodies [temporary tents; booths] must be transformed into heavenly bodies that WILL NEVER DIE... then at last the Scriptures will come True: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'" (I Cor.15:51-54 NLT)

"All of these people we have mentioned received God's approval because of their Faith, yet NONE OF THEM RECEIVED ALL THAT GOD HAD PROMISED. For God had far better things in mind for us that would also benefit them, for they can't receive the prize at the end of the race until WE FINISH THE RACE." (verses 39-40)

The "booths" of ancient biblical days are the same booths of these last biblical days in which we are living. They are these weak, mortal human bodies in which all the generations of mankind have been dwelling... and shall continue to dwell until the race is finished.