Although today Israel is well known for its citrus produce and the Jaffa brand name has become a byword for tangy oranges, the only citrus known to have grown here in ancient times is the citron (etrog) described in the Bible as “the fruit of the glorious (hadar) tree” (Leviticus 24:40)In modern Hebrew hadar (glorified, beautiful) has come to refer to all citrus fruits.

The citron is not easy to grow. It requires a lot of tender loving care. The other three species mentioned in the verse are far more common in Israel than the citron. There are many people who have willows or myrtle growing in their gardens.

Come Sukkot these four species are sold in special makeshift markets across Israel and people spend days and hours selecting the finest for the festival. The village of Nov in the Golan Heights is famous for its myrtle branches, as are various other villages around the Sea of Galilee. Palm branches are often imported from El Arish in Sinai, Egypt, although they also grow locally.

The citrons, the hardest to grow and the most beautiful of the four, is usually the most expensive. Customs vary from community to community, some buying small, lemon-sized fruit, others going for huge melon-sized etrogim, so large that they require to hands to hold.

Rabbinic Explanation of the Four Species:

The “Etrog” has both a pleasant taste and a pleasant aroma, symbolizing one who possesses both the blessings of knowledge of Torah and of good deeds. The “Lulav,” the branch of a tree (the date palm) the fruit of which has good taste but no aroma, symbolizes the person who has Torah knowledge but not good deeds (Chassidim: Acts of Mercy/ “Good Works”). The “Hadas,” the myrtle, which has pleasant aroma only, symbolizes the person who has good deeds but not Torah. And the “Aravah,” the willow branch, which has neither pleasant taste nor pleasant aroma, symbolizes the person who has neither Torah nor good deeds.

Holding these four in a tight bond represents the unity that is HaShem’s goal for the Jewish People. The bond represents the conversion of a set of separate individuals into a People, which is far greater than any individual in both the Crown of Torah and the Crown of Good Deeds, and is far more deserving than any individual of the blessings of HaShem.

The Four Species are used for the instruction of Sukkot, and the building of a sukkah [booth], but all Seven Species are a part of the celebration of this Final Feast, which represents the Final Harvest (the precous fruit of the Earth – James 5:7), in connection to the coming of the Lord. All nations will partake in this feast, according to Zechariah 14:

ZECHARYAH / Zech. 14:3 Then Adonai will go out and fight against those nations, fighting as on a day of battle. 4 On that day His [King Messiah] feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies to the east of Yerushalayim; and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, to make a huge valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 You will flee to the valley in the mountains, for the valley in the mountains will reach to Atzel. You will flee, just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of `Uziyah king of Y’hudah. Then Adonai my God will come to you with all the holy ones. 6 On that day, there will be neither bright light nor thick darkness; 7 and one day, known to Adonai, will be neither day nor night, although by evening there will be light. 8 On that day, fresh water will flow out from Yerushalayim, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea, both summer and winter. 9 Then Adonai will be king over the whole world. On that day Adonai will be the only one, and his name will be the only name…..

15 A plague like this plague will also affect the horses, mules, camels, donkeys and all the other animals in those camps. 16 Finally, everyone remaining from all the nations that came to attack Yerushalayim will go up every year to worship the king, Adonai-Tzva’ot, and to keep the festival of Sukkot. 17 If any of the families of the earth does not go up to Yerushalayim to worship the king, Adonai-Tzva’ot, no rain will fall on them. 18 If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, if they refuse to come, they will have no [annual] overflow [from the Nile]; moreover, there will be the plague with which Adonai will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the festival of Sukkot. 19 This will be Egypt’s punishment and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the festival of Sukkot.

The fruit (species) of sukkot are a result of the “Latter Rain” [malkosh] that begins after Shavu’ot (Pentecost), from late spring to fall. The other rainy season is called the “Former” or “Early Rain” [yoreh]that comes after Sukkot. This Holy-Day is for all Nations (Kol Goyim – All Gentiles). The “wild olive branches” of Nehemiah [8:1-3,13-18] are prophetic of the Gentiles being grafted in the “Olive Tree of Israel” (Romans 11:13-29), included in the “Final Harvest”. This wonderful feast is also the prophetic vision of the “Messianic Days” of the Messiah for 1000 years (Isaiah 2:1-4; 65:17-25; Rev. 20:1-7), in the “Olam HaBa”, the “world to come”.

13 On the second day, the heads of fathers’ clans of all the people assembled with the cohanim and L’vi’im before `Ezra the Torah-teacher to study the words of the Torah. 14 They found written in the Torah that Adonai had ordered through Moshe that the people of Isra’el were to live in sukkot during the feast of the seventh month; 15 and that they were to announce and pass the word in all their cities and in Yerushalayim, “Go out to the mountains, and collect branches of olives, wild olives, myrtles, palms, and other leafy trees to make sukkot, as prescribed.” 16 So the people went out, brought them and made sukkot for themselves, each one on the roof of his house, also in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the open space by the Water Gate and in the open space by the Efrayim Gate. 17 The entire community of those who had returned from the exile made sukkot and lived in the sukkot, for the people of Isra’el had not done this since the days of Yeshua the son of Nun. So there was very great joy. 18 Also they read every day, from the first day until the last day, in the scroll of the Torah of God. They kept the feast for seven days; then on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

We should celebrate this feast as Messianic believers, just as Yeshua did. For this great feast of joy speaks of Him, and those who will rule a reign with the Messiah foe a 1000 years. On the seventh day of Sukkot, known as “Hoshana Rabah”, the cohanim [priests] of the Temple, would pour down water on the Temple steps, from the Pool of Siloam, to emulate the coming Fall Rains [yoreh], that produce the barley and wheat for Pesach [Passover], and Shavuot [Pentecost], in the spring. Yeshua used this Sukkot “Water Ceremony”, to speak of the outpouring and overflow of the Ruach HaKodesh [Holy Spirit], as “Mayim Chayim”, the “Living Water”, that His believers would experience after His resurrection.

YOCHANAN / John 7:1 After this, Yeshua traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y’hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him. 2 But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near; 3 so his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go into Y’hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do; 4 for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world!” 5 (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.) 6 Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are. 8 You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” 9 Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil. 10 But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he too went up, not publicly but in secret.

YOCHANAN / John 7:36 And when he says, ‘You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come’ — what does he mean?” 37 Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah [7th day of Sukkot], Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! 38 Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” 39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later — the Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified.)