THE JOURNEY TO JOPPA.
The crowing of the cock had already announced the near approach of
morning, yet all was still in the streets of Jerusalem and in the
temple, when Elisama, Helon, and the faithful Sallu, their upper
garments girt short around them, with sandals on their feet, and staves
in their hands, passed through the gate of Ephraim, and took the road to
Anathoth.
They entered the territory of the tribe of Benjamin as soon as they had
passed the gate. Jerusalem lay on the confines of Judah and Benjamin, as
the metropolis of the whole people, and not belonging to any one tribe
exclusively. Since the return from the captivity the distinction of the
tribes had been obliterated, with the exception of that of Levi, and,
strictly speaking, only the name remained in the case of the others, as
a cherished memorial of former times.
A beautiful and fruitful plain, yet with something of declivity, lay
before them, the only level ground in the immediate vicinity of the
city. On whichever side you quit Jerusalem, the ground falls, for
Jerusalem stands elevated and conspicuous on the surface of the earth,
as it does in the history of the world. It was growing light when they
came into the King’s valley, so called because it was here that
Melchisedec, priest of the Most High God and King of Salem had met
Abram,[9] returning triumphant from his battle with Chedorlaomer and his
confederate kings, and brought wine and bread to the patriarch and
blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, the
possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, who
hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.” Here too the king of Sodom
came to meet Abram. They passed along this beautiful valley, which was
beginning to be brightened by the first beams of the sun; the sickle of
the reapers was heard on every side, and they congratulated themselves
on being permitted to visit scenes where holy men had walked. “These,”
said Elisama, “are truly consecrated spots; the memory of the events
which passed here lives from generation to generation, and has outlasted
the pillar which Absalom raised yonder, hoping to perpetuate his name by
this monument, when he had no son to preserve it.[10] He had no son,
because he had shown that he could not teach him to honour a father; his
monument has disappeared; no man mentions the pillar of Absalom; but the
friendly meeting of the kings will be handed down to the latest
posterity, in the name which this valley bears.”
-----
Footnote 9:
Gen. xiv. 18.
Footnote 10:
2 Sam. xviii. 18.
-----
Helon was silent; for he perceived that his uncle had involuntarily
awakened a thought in his own mind, which never failed to give him pain.
Elisama had no children, and he regarded this as a grievous punishment
from heaven, for some unknown sin which he had committed. With an
agitated voice he turned to Helon and gave him his hand; “Be thou,” he
said, “my son! Like Absalom, I have sinned. I did indeed honour my
father to his dying day; but the ways of the Lord are unsearchable; he
is righteous, and it becomes me to say with David, 'Who can tell how
often he transgresseth! Cleanse thou me from secret faults.'”
“I am thy son,” replied Helon, and pressed Elisama’s hand. “But here
while Israel rejoices around us, in this lovely valley, in the blessing
of the harvest, let joy and thankfulness alone occupy our minds.”
They proceeded on their way. The fields of barley stood, golden ripe, on
either side of the road; troops of reapers were on their way to the
harvest, and the sound of the sickle, the song of the labourer, and the
rolling of the threshing-wain resounded through the air. While rows of
the reapers were busy in cutting down the grain, others were binding up
the sheaves, tying the stalks not far from the ears. Here a corner of
the field was left for the poor;[11] there a field already reaped was
affording them a gleaning. Some were carrying their sheaves to the
threshing-floor, others were loading them on waggons to convey them
thither. They past one of these threshing-floors: it was an open place
in the fields, where the soil had been made hard and smooth by stamping;
the width was on an average from thirty to forty paces, and oxen,
unmuzzled, according to the law, were treading out the grain.[12] In
another, which belonged to a rich man, a servant sat upon the
threshing-wain, guiding the beasts, who dragged this machine, with its
iron-shod wheels, over the sheaves, while another, following behind,
shook up the straw with a fork. All were enlivening their various
labours with a song; and such passages as these might frequently be
heard,
He watereth the hills from his chambers,
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of his works.
He causeth grass to grow for cattle,
And herb for the service of man,
Bringing forth bread out of the earth.—Ps. civ.
Or this,
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
Thy paths drop fatness.
They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness,
And the little hills rejoice on every side.
The pastures are clothed with flocks,
The vallies also are covered over with corn,
They shout for joy and sing.—Ps. lxv.
-----
Footnote 11:
Lev. xix. 9.
Footnote 12:
Deut. xxv. 4.
-----
The travellers joined in these festive songs, and, according to ancient
custom, pronounced, at every field which they passed, the benediction,
The blessing of Jehovah be upon you!
We bless you in the name of Jehovah.—Ps. cxxix. 8.
Helon felt now the full force of the prophecy of Jehovah by Isaiah;[13]
“They joy before thee, according to the joy in harvest.” They had
travelled about three sabbath-days' journies through this exhilarating
scene, when they reached the little town of Anathoth; their road to
Joppa did not necessarily take them through it, but it was the
birth-place of Jeremiah, and Elisama and Helon could not refuse
themselves the pleasure of hallowing the remembrance of the prophet, who
had been the guest of their family, on his own natal soil. It was here
that this man of God had spent his childhood—here, as a youth, he had
received the call of Jehovah; and when Helon, in his boyish days, had
heard from his father or his mother, or his uncle, any anecdote of their
prophet, the names of Jeremiah and of Anathoth bad always been connected
together.
-----
Footnote 13:
Isaiah ix. 3.
-----
They halted at the gate, and asked to be shown the field of Hanameel,
which Jeremiah bought from the son of his father’s brother,[14] when the
king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, a transaction which Jehovah
designed to be an omen that the people then dispersed should be again
collected together, and return to occupy their ancient possessions. “For
thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, they shall still buy
houses, fields, and vineyards in this land.” One of the severest
denunciations of the prophet, was that delivered against Anathoth, in
which, as his own city, he was least held in honour.
-----
Footnote 14:
Jer. xxxvii. 7.
-----
Thus saith Jehovah against the men of Anathoth,
Who seek thy life and command thee,
“Prophesy not in the name of Jehovah
Lest thou die by our hand.”
Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
Behold, I will punish them:
The young men shall die by the sword;
Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,
And there shall be no remnant of them.
For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth
In the time when I visit them.—Jer. xi.
It was fearfully accomplished on this city of the priests; but so was
also the word spoken at the purchase of the field of Hanameel; for at
the return from the captivity one hundred and twenty-eight men undertook
to rebuild the city of their fathers.[15]
-----
Footnote 15:
Ezra ii. 23.
-----
Helon’s ancestors, strictly speaking, derived their extraction from this
city of the priests in the tribe Benjamin, and therefore he regarded
this as his own city. He imagined a resemblance between himself, as he
was now about to assume the sacerdotal office, and the calling of the
prophet Jeremiah, and repeated the account of it to his uncle, as they
returned from seeing the field of Hanameel.
The word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
“Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee,
And before thou camest forth out of the womb I had chosen thee,
And I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
And I replied, “Ah, Lord God!
Behold I cannot speak;
For I am a child.”
But the Lord said unto me,
“Say not, I am a child:
For thou shalt go to all to whom I shall send thee,
And thou shalt speak whatsoever I command thee.
Be not afraid of them;
For I am with thee to help thee;”
So saith Jehovah.
Then Jehovah put forth his hand
And touched my mouth,
And said to me,
“Behold I put my words into thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee before nations and kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to overthrow,
To build up and to plant again.”—Jer. i.
But he had scarcely repeated this passage, when he began humbly to feel
that it would be better for him to keep all such comparisons out of
view. He left this remarkable place with regret; but it had ceased for
several generations to be the abode of his ancestors; Elisama had
neither kindred nor even acquaintance there, and they had a long journey
still before them.
They left Mizpah, Emmaus, Rama, and Kiriath-jearim to the north. Helon
lamented that they could not visit them all, but must bend their course
directly from Anathoth to Bethshemesh. Bethshemesh is the ancient city
of the priests in Judah, to which the alarmed Philistines brought back
the ark of the covenant, and where blamable curiosity respecting sacred
things was severely punished.[16]
-----
Footnote 16:
1 Sam. vi. 19.
-----
From Bethshemesh they followed the road to Modin, a spot which their
admiration and loyalty towards the Maccabees would not allow them to
pass without notice. What could be more interesting to sons of Israel,
who had just come from a land which was still a house of bondage to
their nation, than the place where the heroes who had emancipated Judah
had begun their work in the might of Jehovah, and with his blessing. In
this little village of Modin lived the pious father with his five
valiant sons, whose family bore the name of the _Hammerer_, Maccabæus.
When the frenzy of Antiochus Epiphanes had arisen to the highest pitch,
and Jerusalem bent beneath his oppression, the aged Mattathias, in this
insignificant spot, declared, “Though all nations in the dominions of
the king obey him, so that every one falleth away from the worship of
his fathers, and obeyeth the commands of the king, yet I and my sons and
my brothers will not depart from the law of our fathers.”[17] So he
spoke, and punished the first apostate whom he saw, and overturned the
altars of the king, not in blind unauthorized fury, but in holy zeal for
the rights of his people. He and his family quitted their abode, took
refuge in the mountains, and collected around them the noblest and the
bravest of the nation. The father died; but his spirit rested upon his
sons; one after another fought and conquered for the law of Jehovah;
until at length, the son of Simon, our Hyrcanus, obtained the meed of so
many exploits, in the united dignities of prince and priest.
-----
Footnote 17:
1 Maccab. ii.
-----
Simon, in the brilliant days of his prosperity, caused the sepulchre of
his family to be enlarged, and made it one of the most splendid works of
architecture in the country. Elisama and Helon hastened to visit it, and
admired the lofty work of hewn stones, the seven pyramids raised upon it
in honour of the five sons and their parents, the tall columns which
surrounded it, and the emblems of their victories carved in stone upon
the monument.[18]
-----
Footnote 18:
1 Maccab. xiii. 27.
-----
“May Jehovah increase them a thousand times!” said Elisama. “May Jehovah
bless this heroic family of priests!” exclaimed Helon: and as they
pursued their way and looked back on the lofty monument, they observed
to each other, that even in the destruction of Samaria, that is to the
third generation, God continued to prosper them. Reclining under the
shadow of a few lofty palms, which stood by the road side, where they
could see the towering mausoleum, they refreshed their bodies in the
shade, and cheered their minds with the thought of Jehovah’s mercies.
At length they arose and set forward on their way, and reached the limit
of their first day’s journey, Lydda, which bears also the names of Lod
and Diospolis. In a direct line they were forty sabbath-days’ journies
from Jerusalem, but their circuitous route made it amount to a good deal
more. In the neighbourhood of this city, the rich corn-land of Ono
bordered on the fertile pastures of Sharon, which extends northward from
the Mediterranean sea. Close to the gate was a large house, where men in
festal attire were going in and out, and the open gate seemed to invite
the presence of the stranger.
“Let us turn in hither,” said Elisama; “hospitality never fails among
those who are celebrating a feast.”
The master of the house came to the outer court to receive them, and
conducting them to the house, bade them welcome to the feast of the
winnowing, which he was celebrating.[19] As the threshing-floor where
this feast was usually held was very near his house, he was accustomed
to transfer it thither. He led them into the inner court, where his
guests were assembled; the slaves untied the latchets of their sandals,
and washed their feet. Elisama was much fatigued and enjoyed repose; but
he was not allowed to enjoy it long, for they were speedily called to
the meal. A great abundance of dishes was placed upon the table, the
servants were treated as the chief persons, and milk, honey, wine,
fruit, cheese, rice, and flesh, were so plentifully supplied, that they
could not be consumed, though the appetite of the guests was keen.
-----
Footnote 19:
Ruth iii. 1, 2.
-----
“Our doctors of the law,” said the master of the house, “reckon the
making a feast among good works, and I feel this doubly at the feast of
the winnowing, which I make for my servants.” Helon attached himself to
the priests and Levites of the place, who, according to the ancient
custom of Israel, had also been invited;[20] they received him into
their circle and related to him at his request the history of Lydda.
This town had been taken possession of by those who had returned from
the captivity of the tribe of Benjamin;[21] it had afterwards been
reckoned with Samaria, and finally along with Rama and Apherama had been
restored to the hero Jonathan by Demetrius Soter.[22] From this subject
it was an easy transition to the victory over the Samaritans which the
sons of Hyrcanus had just achieved. All these particulars arrested his
attention, but none more than a description which an aged Levite gave of
the desolation caused by a flight of locusts which he had witnessed in
his youth. These locusts are of about the length and thickness of a
finger; their numbers are countless, and they form swarms which extend
for several leagues in breadth. Such a swarm, when approaching, appears
like a mist; when it is arrived, it resembles the falling of thick
flakes of snow: the air is darkened and filled with a fearful murmur:
they cover the ground and all that grows on it, often to a foot in
height, devouring every green thing, grass, corn, and the trunks of
young trees. They creep into the houses, destroy clothes and furniture,
and besides this, lay their eggs in the ground, which in the course of
fifteen or sixteen days become young locusts. The south-east wind brings
them, and it is happy for the land when it also drives them into the
sea.
-----
Footnote 20:
Deut. xii. 17, 18.
Footnote 21:
Ezra ii. 33.
Footnote 22:
1 Maccab. xi. 34.
-----
The aged Levite had retained such a lively impression of the misery of
those times, that he could not cease from describing the plague itself,
and the still more dreadful evils of pestilence and famine which it left
behind. Helon listened to him with shuddering, and then broke out in the
words in which the prophet Joel describes them:
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble.
For the day of the Lord cometh—it is nigh at hand.
A day of darkness and gloom—
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
As twilight spreads over the mountains,
So now a people, great and strong.
There hath not been ever the like,
Nor shall be from generation to generation.
A flame devoureth before them,
And behind them a fire burneth.
The land is as the garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness:
Yea, nothing shall escape them.
Their form is as the form of horses,
And they leap as horsemen leap.
They run like the noise of chariots on the mountain tops,
Like the noise of fire that devoureth the stubble.
They are a strong people, arrayed for battle.
Before them nations tremble,
And all their faces glow.
They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
They march every one straight forward,
And they shall not break their ranks.
No one shall thrust another,
They shall walk every one in his own path.
They break through the midst of swords,
And interrupt not their march;
They run to and fro in the city,
They mount the wall and climb up the houses,
They enter the windows like a thief.
The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble,
The sun and moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their light.
Jehovah thunders before his army:
For his hosts are very great
And mighty is he that executeth his word.
The day of the Lord is great and terrible,
Who can abide it?—Joel ii.
It was late when our travellers retired to rest; yet they arose early,
to reach Joppa before the heat of the day. Elisama left a present with
the master of the house, as a return for his hospitality, and they took
leave of each other, one saying, “God reward thee;” the other
acknowledging it as a gift of God, that such guests had taken up their
abode with him.
They had not travelled more than seven sabbath-days’ journies, when
Joppa, the _Beautiful_, as its name implies, rose before them. It is
close to the sea, is built upon a rising ground, and offers on all sides
picturesque and varied prospects. Towards the west the open sea extends;
towards the east spreads the fertile plain of Sephela, reaching as far
as Gaza, in which are the fifteen principal cities of the Philistines:
towards the north, as far as Carmel, the flowery meads of Sharon are
seen, and through the dark summits of the hills of Ephraim and Judah on
the east, a piercing sight can even discern one of the towers of
Jerusalem. A thin veil of morning vapour lay on the blue hills, on the
distant plains and the boundless sea. Our travellers gazed on the scene
with such a fulness of tranquil delight, that it was long ere they
remembered that they had business in the city. Elisama inquired at the
gate for his friend, and going to his house was received by him with a
hearty greeting. His first question was respecting the residence of the
genealogist. He was told that he no longer lived in Joppa, but was gone
to Ziklag. Elisama was provoked that he should have received false
information in Jerusalem, but Helon pacified his uncle, by reminding him
that they had enjoyed a pleasant journey and this mistake would afford
him an opportunity of seeing the south-west side of Judah. Elisama would
gladly have taken his departure instantly, and Helon have followed him;
but their host insisted that they should remain with him till the
morrow. Elisama agreed, on condition that he should furnish Helon with a
guide, to conduct him to the harbour, and show him what was remarkable
in it. He called for this purpose one of his sons, who was of nearly
Helon’s age, and they went down to the shore. Here Solomon had landed
his cedar-wood from Lebanon,[23] to be used in his works of
architecture, and it was by the same haven that the materials for the
building of the second temple were imported. Simon the Maccabee had
improved the harbour and fortified the city, which Jonathan had taken
from a Syrian garrison.[24] Helon, well acquainted with the celebrated
harbours of Egypt, examined it critically, and not being in his present
mood inclined to praise any thing connected with commerce, he excited
some displeasure in the mind of his companion, by observing how
inadequately it was sheltered from the north wind. It was about noon
when they arrived at home, and found the elders sitting around the
fountain in the court. “Do you remember,” said Elisama to Helon, “that
this was the place at which the prophet Jonah embarked on a voyage,
which had nearly terminated fatally for him, when he endeavoured to
escape from the mission to which God had appointed him.”[25] Helon was
about to answer, when he saw his host knit his brow and start up. “You
remind me,” said he, “of an accursed heathen, who arrived here lately
with a Phœnician caravan, a lively and acute Greek, who kept himself
aloof from all the rest, and amused himself by turning the Tyrians into
ridicule. This son of Belial had the assurance to ask me, if the history
of our prophet was not a new version of the Grecian story of Andromeda,
who was exposed here to the jaws of a sea-monster, and delivered by
Perseus. What his Grecian fable may be I know not, but I was so enraged
at his insinuation, that——”
-----
Footnote 23:
2 Chron. ii. 16.
Footnote 24:
1 Maccab. xiv. 5, 6.
Footnote 25:
Jonah i. 3.
-----
“This can be no other than our Myron,” said Elisama. “How long since was
he here?” “About three weeks,” replied his host. “It is the same,” said
Elisama. “He came with us from Egypt as far as Gaza. The Greeks are a
nation of scoffers, but it shall one day fare with them, praised be
Jehovah, as it has fared with Samaria in our days.”
“Were that glory also reserved to our Hyrcanus,” said his host, “I would
do what this man has done,” pointing to a Nazarite who had just entered
the court.
It was a wild looking figure which presented itself to their view. His
upper garment was of rough hair, and his locks hung far down upon his
shoulders, tangled and neglected, and showing that it was long since
they had been shorn.
Helon had never yet seen a Nazarite, for they were seldom to be met with
but in the Holy Land. But he was acquainted with all the passages in the
law relative to this kind of vow,[26] by which a man for a time
consecrated himself, abstained from wine and from all the produce of the
vine, and allowed no razor to come upon his person, nor any contact of a
dead body to pollute him. This Nazarite was a Jew of Maresa, who had
been one of those that had lost their house and home, when, a year and a
half before, the Samaritans, at the command of the king of Syria, had
inflicted great injury on the Jews, who had settled again in Maresa,
subsequently to its devastation by Judas Maccabæus. In his wrath he had
vowed himself to Jehovah, till the time when the atrocities of the
Samaritans should cease and Samaria be razed to the foundations. He was
just come from the camp of Israel, and was expressing his joy and
gratitude that Jehovah had so soon accomplished the object of his vow.
He had seen the houses and the ramparts of Samaria levelled, amidst the
songs of the soldiery, and the spot on which the city had stood furrowed
with trenches of water and converted into a desert. He had much to
relate of the preparations which Hyrcanus had made for the reception of
his victorious sons, and he announced his intention of going up to the
Holy City, at the next feast of the new moon, to have his head shorn
there, and offer a sacrifice for the termination of his Nazarite’s vow.
This led them into a wide field of discourse, and the Nazarite remained
to partake of the evening meal, though he could not taste the choice
wine with which the citizen of Joppa regaled his guests. One remark of
the Nazarite threatened to destroy the harmony of sentiment which had
hitherto reigned between him and Elisama. He praised, among others,
Hilkiah and Ananias, (the sons of that Onias who had built Leontopolis)
who, being the principal advisers of Cleopatra the queen of Egypt, had
prevailed on her not to consent to the sending of the auxiliaries whom,
to the amount of six thousand men, her son and joint regent, Ptolemy
Lathyrus, had despatched to Antiochus Cyzicenus, to raise the siege of
Samaria. Every thing which was connected with the Hellenists of Egypt
was intolerable to Elisama, and above all, to hear their chiefs
mentioned with praise in the Holy Land itself. Their host made peace
between them, remarking that Jehovah had himself decided in this case,
by the miserable and ignominious fate which had befallen these
auxiliaries; and they were completely reconciled when the Nazarite spoke
of Iddo as his friend. They separated in peace and love, and with the
hope to meet again in a few days in the presence of Jehovah, at the
rejoicings for the victory. On the following morning, Elisama, quite
refreshed, grasped his staff, and, with Helon and Sallu, set out for
Ziklag.
-----
Footnote 26:
Numb. vi.
-----
Their road led them first through Gazara, which had been a city of the
Philistines, burnt after they were conquered, and rebuilt by
Solomon,[27] and very recently strongly fortified by the Maccabees;[28]
next to Noba, celebrated for the terrible vengeance which Saul took
there upon the priest Ahimelech, and on all the other inhabitants, for
their crime in giving to David, when he fled from before Saul, the
loaves of the shew-bread and the sword of Goliath.[29] Leaving this
place they descended from the hills into the plain of Sephela. They here
came again into the scenes of harvest, and reached the town of Gath,
which stands at the limit of the territory of Dan, hearing on every side
shouts of joy and pious thankfulness. Gath was once the fourth among the
five chief cities of the Philistines, and in later times an apple of
discord between them and the Israelites, passing from the hand of one
party to that of the other. The giant Goliath was a Philistine of Gath.
It had been razed by king Uzziah,[30] and since that time had been a
very insignificant place.
-----
Footnote 27:
1 Kings ix. 15.
Footnote 28:
1 Maccab. ix. 52.
Footnote 29:
1 Sam. xxii. 19.
Footnote 30:
2 Chron. xxvi. 6.
-----
When they reached Gath, they had travelled twelve sabbath-days’
journies: they now entered the tribe of Judah, and had half that
distance to travel to Eleutheropolis, a small village. Their road led
them through the region which lies in the middle between Maresa and
Morescheth. They quickened their pace and arrived late in the evening at
Ziklag, having past through Agla, which was twelve miles distant from
Eleutheropolis. Ziklag had been the favourite abode of David; Achish,
the king of Gath, had assigned it to him for his residence;[31] its
destruction by the Amalekites had roused him to take exemplary vengeance
upon them, and he had afterwards rebuilt it.
When they arrived at Ziklag, they inquired for the house of the
genealogist, and went directly to it. It had long been dark, and Elisama
was very weary; and when the genealogist had given them a friendly
reception, as his Egyptian kinsmen, and expressed high approbation of
Helon’s determination to become a priest, they laid themselves down to
rest.
The institution of genealogists may be traced up to the earliest times
of Israel’s existence as a nation. Jehovah was their true and only
ruler. Under him the people lived in families, which together formed
tribes, the families themselves being subdivided into _houses_. Each
tribe had its own prince, chosen probably by the _heads of families_,
who were themselves chosen by the _heads of houses_. The princes and the
heads of families were called elders; their number was seventy-one, and
besides them there were judges, and genealogists who kept the registers
of the different families. Although at various times the supreme power
was by turns in the hands of heroes, kings, princes and high-priests,
yet the fundamental principle of the constitution was, that Jehovah was
sole and absolute monarch of his people Israel, and that they obeyed
him, under all intermediate magistrates, whatever their titles or
offices might be. In earlier times the heads of families, the judges,
and genealogists of each tribe, assembled occasionally together, under
the presidence of the prince of the tribe, for the purpose of joint
deliberation; sometimes these officers assembling from all the tribes
formed a species of Diet.
-----
Footnote 31:
1 Sam. xxvii. 5.; xxx.
-----
The genealogist of each family was a very important person, and
especially in the tribe of Levi, in which so many privileges were
attached to purity and certainty of extraction. He who wished to serve
as a priest before Jehovah, must not only descend on the father’s side
from Aaron, but be of irreproachable birth on that of the mother. The
series of Helon’s paternal ancestors had been very exactly carried on in
Egypt, and Elisama had brought documents thence with him to establish
it. But his mother was also the daughter of a priest, and as her family
lived in Judah, it was necessary that the genealogy on this side should
be examined into, and the descent shown to be regular.
The following day was occupied with these researches. The genealogist
showed the pedigree of his family to Helon; his name was formally
entered under that of his mother, and he thus stood on her side among
the children of the course of Abia, as on his father’s he belonged to
the course of Malchia.
On the fifth day our travellers returned to Jerusalem. Helon, rejoicing
in the success of his journey, compared his own lot with that of the
children of Habaiah, Hakoz, and Barzillai, of whom Ezra and Nehemiah
write, that after their return from the captivity they sought for their
registers, and not being able to find them, forfeited their sacerdotal
office.[32] On their return they past through Lachish, which Helon had
not seen before, of which the prophet Micah said, “Thou art the
beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion.”[33] This town was taken by
Joshua from a Canaanitish prince;[34] it was fortified by Rehoboam.[35]
Amaziah was put to death in it;[36] and the ambassadors of Hezekiah came
hither with presents to Sennacherib.[37] Next he saw Libna,[38] which,
like Lachish, was situated in the plain of Sephela, and was memorable
for its defection from king Joram. At last they came to Socho, near
which is the grove of terebinths, where David fought with Goliath. In
the earlier part of their day’s journey they had also seen the cave of
Adullam, doubly memorable as having afforded a hiding-place to David,
and as being the place where Judas Maccabæus kept the first sabbath,
which we read of as having been celebrated after the atrocities of the
king of Syria.[39]
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Footnote 32:
Ezra ii. 61. Neh. vii. 63.
Footnote 33:
Micah i. 13.
Footnote 34:
Josh. x. 32.
Footnote 35:
2 Chron. xi. 9.
Footnote 36:
2 Kings xiv. 19.
Footnote 37:
2 Kings xviii. 14.
Footnote 38:
2 Kings viii. 22.
Footnote 39:
1 Sam. xxii. 1. 2 Maccab. xii. 38.
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Happy in having stored his memory with many pleasing pictures of the
Land of Promise, infinitely more happy in the thought that there was now
no obstacle to his admission into the priesthood, Helon greeted the Holy
City a second time.