THE TRIP TO JERUSALEM
The road to Jerusalem stretched white and hot in the blazing sunshine.
The deep blue sky was without a cloud, and the insects, hidden in the
roadside grass, hummed in the heat.
A cloud of dust in the distance told that the three Roman soldiers who,
only a moment ago, it seemed, had galloped past the slowly moving ox
cart, were nearing their destination, the Holy City. Naomi had watched
the glitter of their helmets and the flashing of their bright lances
with the same interest she had given to a string of melancholy gray
camels led along the road by a country lad in his cool white tunic and
broad red leather belt.
Everything was interesting this morning to Naomi. She stared at the
dusty gray olive-trees, the shabby scrub oaks, the low-branched
sycamores as if she had not been familiar with them all her life. To-day
the birds seemed to dart about more swiftly and to utter sweeter songs
as they flew. The few sheep she spied nibbling the sparse grass on the
rocky hillsides were surely whiter than those at home. The field
flowers, with faces upturned to the bright sun, glowed with splendid
color. The whole world was glad to-day.
"They are all happy because I am happy," mused Naomi, smiling at her own
thought.
She glanced at Jacob plodding contentedly along beside his beasts, at
Aunt Miriam who sat silent, her usually busy hands folded in her lap,
enjoying this little rest from her many household cares.
Tap, tap, tap!
Naomi peered about, and Aunt Miriam sat up straight at this sound upon
the road.
Tap, tap, tap!
Now the shuffling of cautious feet was to be heard, too.
Down the Jerusalem highway came six men walking in single file, each
with a staff in hand and the other hand resting upon the shoulder of the
man before him. They were all blind! Even their guide, who tapped the
ground as he walked, was sightless, "the blind leading the blind."
Naomi stared curiously. She had often seen as many as a dozen blind men
walking in such a row, and they were always to be found by the wayside
or near the village gates at home, in company with the lame and the
helpless, holding out a little bowl for money or food.
"Jacob!" called Aunt Miriam.
She took a piece of money from her purse, securely fastened in her belt,
and Jacob, without being told, dropped it in the bowl of the blind
leader. He was accustomed to the charity of his good master and
mistress. Had not Moses the Lawgiver bade those who fear their God have
sympathy for the blind?
The blind men at sound of the cart had drawn up by the side of the road,
and now they leaned upon their staffs and turned their sightless faces
toward their unseen benefactress. They were glad of an excuse to rest
and also to talk, for time meant little to them, and they liked nothing
better than to recount, each one, the detailed history of his
misfortune.
But Aunt Miriam did not mean to spend several hours this morning in idle
talk upon the highway. She motioned Jacob to move on, and in response to
the thanks and blessings showered upon her for her gift, she called:
"Peace be unto thee, friends! We hasten on to Jerusalem before the sun
mounts high. May all good things await thee in Bethlehem!"
Up the steep hill climbed the bullock cart, and once round the curve in
the road Aunt Miriam pointed.
"Naomi--the City!" she said. "See the Temple! How it gleams!"
High above the flat roofs and massive walls of Jerusalem shone the great
gold and white Temple of the Hebrews. The little party halted at the
sight. Aunt Miriam's lips moved in prayer. Naomi was silent as she
gazed. She recalled the lines in one of the hymns her mother had taught
her:
"We have thought on thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy
temple."
To the pious little Jewish girl there could be no more beautiful nor
inspiring sight than that of the sacred Temple set in the midst of the
Holy City. She kept a reverent silence until they reached the Bethlehem
gate where entered all the trade and travel from Egypt and the sea.
But once Naomi was lifted down from the cart, and placed in the shade of
the huge gateway to wait with Aunt Miriam while Jacob justified their
presence in the city to the haughty Roman guard, her tongue wagged on as
merrily as before.
"We have no watch-tower like this one on our gateway at home, Aunt
Miriam," she observed, glancing up and down and roundabout. "I suppose
that ten soldiers could stand in this one at once if they liked."
Her aunt nodded absently. Her thoughts were with Jacob, still talking
with the Roman guard. She hoped there would be no trouble on this day of
all days when Simon was not with them.
"Wilt thou buy me a drink, Aunt Miriam?" Naomi asked next. "Not of
water, but of honey of wine."
The water-carriers were rough-looking bearded men who ran about in short
frocks, shouting and rattling their brass cups, with dingy goatskin
bottles lashed upon their backs. Naomi was afraid of them. She liked far
better the row of peasant women with grape juice to sell, who sat
against the wall and called out:
"Honey of wine! Who will buy? Honey of wine! Ho, every one that is
athirst, come! Buy and drink! Honey of wine!"
A moment later she had forgotten that she was thirsty and was watching
two poor women who sat in a corner on the ground grinding at a stone
mill. Near by stood a man selling the cakes new made from the meal the
women had ground. It was hard work turning the handles that pressed the
meal between the upper and nether millstones, and the women worked
wearily.
"How slow they are!" said Naomi scornfully. "I could work much faster
than they, could I not, Aunt Miriam? Could I not grind fast if I tried?"
Naomi's aunt did not answer. With a gentle hand she pushed the little
girl back against the wall.
"Stand there, thou chattering sparrow," said she with a smile, "and hold
thy peace. Here comes one Solomon the goldbeater, thy Uncle Simon's
friend. The load of grapes was brought here at his order, and it is my
task to-day to see that he offers a fair price for them. Peace!"
It seemed a long time to Naomi that Solomon the goldbeater and Jacob the
serving-lad, standing at a little distance from the wall, haggled over
the load of grapes. But at last Jacob came to report to his mistress the
sum offered, and since she was satisfied the bargain was soon made.
Then up they went through the narrow dingy streets with their
overhanging houses that made a pleasant shade, past the quarters of the
tinsmiths and the jewelers, the tailors and the sandal-makers. Naomi
looked eagerly in at the gay bazaars piled high with fine linens and
embroideries, rich scarves and veils, spices and coffee, dried fruits
and nuts. On they went, past the street of the potters where anything
might be bought, from water-jars as tall as Naomi herself to the tiny
cup-shaped Virgin's lamps which, filled with sweet oil, were carried by
the Jewish girls.
"Look well about thee, child," instructed Aunt Miriam from behind her
veil. "We shall not come this way again."
"I can tell it all now to Ezra," answered Naomi confidently. "I have
not forgotten a single sight. So far I liked it best of all when the
great Pharisee gave alms to the poor in the market-place just now, when
we were waiting there for Jacob. I liked it when his servant blew upon
the trumpet, and the poor came hurrying, and every one turned to look.
And next best I liked the cages of sparrows for sale. We have them in
the market-place at home, but not so many nor so fat. And next--"
"And next," interrupted her aunt with a smile, "thou wouldst like thy
dinner, perhaps. Here is the home of Simon's sister Anna, and verily I
believe her little Martha is watching for us through the wicket in the
gate."
Little Martha, with the help of the porter, threw open the gate before
Aunt Miriam could say another word, and Naomi stepped through a
passageway under the house into a courtyard with a tiny fountain
playing in the center and a palm growing on either side of it.
Little Martha was as fair as Naomi was dark. She had light reddish hair
and blue eyes, and well pleased was her mother that it should be so, for
this was called "King David's coloring" and was supposed to have been
that of the great King himself. She wore a soft little robe of white and
a fine gold chain about her neck. She joyfully led the visitors to her
mother who was waiting for them at the end of the court.
"Come in, thou blessed of the Lord," was the gracious greeting Anna gave
them, and she ushered them up the stairs and into a room that actually
had two windows cut in the side. They were the first windows Naomi had
ever looked from, and she held tight to the sill for fear of falling
into the street below.
"I would that I had windows in my house," thought Naomi ruefully. "I
would be so proud if I were Martha. But then she has no brother Ezra nor
baby Jonas to play with her."
In spite of the windows little Martha did not seem at all proud. She
helped her mother bring bowls of water for the guests to wash in, and
when the meal was ready she patted the plump cushions into shape on the
divans placed before the gayly painted table.
"Sit by me," she whispered to Naomi, breaking off a neat three-cornered
piece of barley cake which was to serve Naomi as knife and fork and
spoon.
For dinner there was a dish of young kid stewed with olives, hot barley
cakes, fresh and dried fruit--apricots, figs, pomegranates--and a bowl
of amber honey.
Not an easy thing is it to serve one's self with neatness and dispatch
without knife or fork, and only one's fingers and a bit of bread to
rely upon. But Naomi and Martha were able to dip their food from the
common dish with a bit of barley cake quite as nicely as the grown
people did, and they sat quiet and respectful while Aunt Miriam told of
Simon's illness and the reason for this trip to Jerusalem.
When the meal was over, Martha ran for fresh bowls of water, for the
Jews were careful to wash both before and after eating, and as Naomi
dabbled her fingers daintily Martha whispered to her:
"Mother says we are all to go about the twelfth hour, in the cool of the
day, to show thee the Temple and to see King Herod's garden. Oh! Oh!"
And she squeezed her new friend's arm with such fervor that the pretty
bowl was barely saved from falling to the floor.
Later in the day when the first evening breezes were drifting down the
dark ravines that swept round the city, the little party of sight-seers
slowly climbed the steep lanes that led toward Mount Moriah on which the
Temple stood. Built of white marble and glittering with gold, it dazzled
the eyes of little village-bred Naomi and made her heart thrill as she
gazed up the flights of steps at the very House of God.
It was a flat-roofed, oblong building, this Temple of the Hebrews,
divided within by a curtain of the finest work into two great rooms, the
Holy of Holies and the Holy Place.
The Holy of Holies was the dwelling-place of the Most High, never to be
trodden, never to be seen, except upon the rarest occasions, by mortal
man. It was now bare and empty, since the loss years before, in the war
with Babylon, of the Ark with its Mercy Seat and two golden cherubim.
In the outer chamber, the Holy Place, lying to the east, stood the
golden candlestick bearing seven lamps, the golden table of shew bread
with its twelve loaves arranged in two rows, and the golden Altar of
Incense, having thirteen spices burning night and day to signify that
all the produce of the earth belongs to God. In the huge doorway of this
room, where only the priests might enter, and facing the sunrise, hung a
second curtain or veil of fine linen richly embroidered in blue and
scarlet, purple and flax. These colors were meant to be an image of the
world. The scarlet represented fire, the flax earth, the blue sky, and
the purple sea. Along the wall ran golden vines and clusters of the
grape, the typical plant of Israel.
All this Naomi could picture perfectly so often had she heard it
described, but she saw it with the eye of her mind only, for the women
of Israel had a court set apart for them many flights below the Temple
building itself and at the east of the men's Court of the Israelites, as
it was called.
Martha stood at the little girl's elbow, gazing about, too, but not with
the same eager interest that Naomi showed, since a visit to the Temple
was no great rarity to her.
"Thou shouldst see the Temple at Passover, Naomi," she murmured; "the
crowds of people, and the priests at sunrise upon the walls blowing a
thousand silver trumpets, and the long procession in the streets
carrying the lambs for the offering."
"Father hath promised to bring us all next Passover," Naomi answered
happily. "But now I long mightily to see the great Altar of Burnt
Offering in the Court of the Priests. It is made of unhewn stone, Ezra
says, and there, too, stands the bronze basin where the priests wash
hands and feet before entering the Holy Place. Ezra has learned all
about it at school. I long to see it."
Little Martha shook her head.
"Nay," she murmured reprovingly, "that is not a sight for me and thee. I
have seen the smoke rising--that is all."
Naomi stared up at the great group of buildings--courts, halls,
cloisters, terraces, and walls, topped by the splendid golden front of
the Holy Place, in silent awe.
"If once I should lose sight of Aunt Miriam," she thought, "I might
wander about here for days and days and never find her again."
And she took such a firm hold upon her aunt's cloak that she, feeling
the tug, thought the little girl was impatient to move on.
"Yes, child, yes," said she. "We go down now into the Court of the
Gentiles. Do thou and little Martha walk on ahead. Pick thy way
carefully, for this flight of steps is steep."
The Court of the Gentiles was open to the men of all nations, since it
was not strictly a part of the Temple. It was a sort of sacred
market-place, and Naomi and little Martha, as they walked about, held
tight to one another when they passed the pens of sheep and oxen
destined to be burnt offerings, and which were restlessly shouldering
one another and lowing and bleating as if in some way they sensed their
approaching doom. Here the seller of doves and pigeons kept his cotes,
for many a worshiper could not afford to buy a kid or a lamb. Here, too,
were the booths and stalls of the moneychangers who did a brisk trade,
since no coin might be offered in the Temple save the sacred shekel.
"Art thou ready at last to leave the Temple, child?" asked Aunt Miriam,
coming up behind Naomi as she stood gazing in at a penful of young
lambs. "Wilt thou be able to tell all this to Ezra, think you?"
Naomi nodded slowly. She was not listening to what her aunt said. She
was wondering why at times the sheep looked so strangely blurred, and
why little black specks seemed to dance before her eyes.
"Over there is a little lamb that looks like my Three Legs, Aunt
Miriam," said she. "I am glad he is not here, shut up in one of these
great pens, and to die, perhaps, before another day."
She moved listlessly along, and when her aunt took her hand she clung to
her so heavily that good Aunt Miriam stopped short on the side of the
hill.
"What ails thee, child?" said she, bending over Naomi. "Thou art not
like thyself. Thine eyes look strangely heavy, even like those of
little Three Legs. Art thou ill?"
"Nay," said Naomi crossly. Surely to have sudden pains shoot through
one's eyes was not to be ill. "I would see the gardens of King Herod.
That is what I want."
"The child is weary," said little Martha's mother kindly. "She has had a
long journey to-day besides this visit to the Temple. The gardens of
King Herod will wait for thee, Naomi, until another time when thou art
rested. They will not run away."
But Naomi would not smile at this little joke. She pulled pettishly away
when good friend Anna placed her hand upon her forehead to see if she
were feverish.
"I would see the gardens of King Herod," she repeated plaintively,
rubbing her eyes as she spoke. "Ezra saw them, with rivers and flowers
and fountains. He saw doves and pigeons flying through the air. He saw a
great beast that spouted water from its mouth, and I would fain see it,
too."
The magnificent gardens of the King of Judea were open all day long to
any one who wished to enter and enjoy their beauty, their coolness, and
their shade. Canals flowed between green banks, flowers bloomed and
trees rustled, fountains played in the sunlight, and tiny fish darted
hither and thither in the artificial pools. But there, too, bright
against the green, was to be seen the white marble of statues--nymphs,
and dryads, figures symbolizing grace and beauty--and for this reason,
since to him all statues were idols, no Jew would set foot within King
Herod's garden.
All that Naomi could hope to do, beside gazing at the three famous
castles of white marble, with their battlements and turrets, built by
Herod the Great, and at his own splendid palace with its massive walls
and towers, was to peep at the garden through the open gateways or
perhaps from the top of the wall, as Ezra had done.
But Aunt Miriam, with sturdy common sense, had no intention of taking
the weary and ailing little girl on the long trip across Cheesemonger's
Valley from the Mount of the Temple to Mount Zion where the palaces
stood. She beckoned to Jacob who had walked near them all the way, and
when he came forward she said:
"Carry the little maid home, Jacob. She is exceedingly weary and needs a
night's rest."
Naomi, without a protest, turned to Jacob and gladly hid her heavy,
aching eyes upon his broad shoulder.
"I am like Three Legs," thought Naomi, as the procession moved
homeward. "But then Three Legs has been sick a long, long time, and I
shall be well in the morning."