THE ADMISSION INTO THE PRIESTHOOD.
“O thou dream of my childhood and my youth, art thou then really about
to be fulfilled? O pride and sorrow of my forefathers, sacred
priesthood, art thou indeed about to be revived in their descendent?
Praised be Jehovah!”
Such were the exclamations of Helon, when, a few days after the feast of
the new moon, the morning dawned of the day on which he was to appear
before the Sanhedrim, and to undergo their scrutiny, preparatory to his
admission into the priesthood. The following day was the sabbath, when
he was to offer his first sacrifice. He opened the door of the Alijah on
Iddo’s house, while it was yet twilight, and after the performance of
the Kri-schma threw himself on the ground before Jehovah, and thus
prayed:
Behold thou desirest truth in the inward part,
Teach me then hidden wisdom!
Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure;
Wash me, that I may be whiter than snow.
Make me to know joy and gladness,
That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins,
And blot out all mine iniquities.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence,
Take not thy holy spirit from me,
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,
And may a cheerful spirit support me.
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways
That sinners may be converted unto thee.—Ps. li.
The sun was rising as he quitted the Alijah. He looked towards the east,
where his father’s sepulchre lay in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and then
to the south-west towards Egypt, where the reflection of the rising sun
streaked the edge of heaven with a ruddy glow, and mentally greeted his
mother. Next to the image of his parents according to the flesh, that of
Aaron, the great progenitor of the sacerdotal order, took possession of
his mind, on this day, which was to witness his admission into their
society. Elisama came to fetch him from the roof, and with a step of
conscious dignity and pride conducted him to Iddo and the guests, who
were assembled in the inner court. Having received their hearty
congratulations, Elisama conducted his Helon to the temple-hill. Not
even on the day when he made his first pilgrimage, and passed through
the Beautiful gate and the gate of Nicanor, had the old man felt as he
did on this morning, in which his kinsman was to revive the priesthood
in his family. His heart beat not less high than Helon’s, and his aged
eye was lighted up with youthful exultation and hope. He blessed
Jehovah, who had given to him and to his deceased brother firmness to
withstand all the solicitations which had been addressed to them, to
assume the priesthood at Leontopolis.
Helon entered, with trembling steps, into the courts of the Lord. The
Sanhedrim was standing along with the course of priests for the week, in
the court of the Priests, and the morning-sacrifice was performed with
the customary rites. As the priests on the pillars blew their trumpets
at the pouring out of the drink-offering, and the Levites sung on the
fifteen steps, the sound of their voices and their instruments seemed to
him like the call of Jehovah to him. “To-day,” thought he, “I stand for
the last time, as one of the people in the court of Israel, to-morrow I
shall minister before the face of Jehovah!” When the sacrifice was over,
the high-priest and the Sanhedrim withdrew into their hall of judgment.
No meeting of this body was ever held for merely secular business,
either on the sabbath or the day of preparation, but they often
assembled to transact what related to the service of God.
With deep emotion Helon entered the hall; it was one of the largest and
most splendid of all which the courts of the temple contained. It lay
partly in the court of the Priests and partly in that of Israel, and was
called also Gazith, because it was paved with marble. There, was an
entrance from both courts, one called the Holy, the other the Common. In
this all the courses of the priests were exchanged, and here the great
council, or Sanhedrim, held its sittings.
The Sanhedrim consisted of seventy-one persons, partly priests, partly
Levites, partly elders. In extraordinary cases the elders from all the
tribes were convoked, who then formed the great congregation. The
high-priest occupied the place of president, and was seated at the
western end; he bore the title of Nashi, or Chief. On his right sat the
Ab-beth-din, Father of the Council, probably the most aged man among the
elders, and on his left the Wise Man, probably the most experienced
among the doctors of the law. The remaining sixty-eight sat in a half
circle, on either side, with a secretary at the end of each row. As the
three chief persons belonged respectively to the sacerdotal order, to
the body of the citizens, and the profession of the law, so the
remaining members were made up of these three elements. The twenty-four
courses of the priests were represented here by their heads, the elders
were a deputation from the chiefs of families and of houses; the doctors
of the law were the most learned of the Levites. The whole assembly was
seated, with crossed feet, on cushions or carpets. The Sanhedrim was the
supreme judicial and administrative court in Israel; every thing
relating to the service of God, foreign relations, and matters of life
and death, came under its cognizance. It was further their business to
scrutinize every son of Aaron, who wished to enter as a priest into the
service of Jehovah.
Elisama entered the hall attended by Helon. He announced the name of the
young man and of his father, and produced extracts from the registers,
which ascertained the legitimacy of his birth. The tribe of Levi, when
numbered in the wilderness, contained 22,000 males above a month
old,[53] and 8580 males between thirty and fifty;[54] they were all
devoted to the service of Jehovah; but only a single family, that of
Aaron, had the privilege of furnishing priests for the altar; the rest
of the Levites were only the servants of the priests.[55] In David’s
time the number of the Levites from twenty years and upwards was
38,000;[56] that of the priests perhaps not 6000. Aaron had four sons,
two of whom were punished with an early death in the wilderness, for
their presumption: the other two, Eleazar and Ithamar, had such a
numerous posterity, that these were divided into sixteen and eight, or
twenty-four courses or families.[57] As only four were found among those
who returned from the captivity, these were divided into the original
number of twenty-four, which bore the name of the ancestor of each
family.[58] Helon, by his father’s side, belonged to the course of
Malchia, which was the fifth; and by the mother’s to that of Abia, which
was the eighth.
-----
Footnote 53:
Numb. iii. 39.
Footnote 54:
Numb. iv. 48.
Footnote 55:
Numb. iii. 5-10.
Footnote 56:
1 Chron. xxiii. 3.
Footnote 57:
1 Chron. xxiv. 4.
Footnote 58:
Ezra ii. 36-39.
-----
Next, the passage of the law was read, in which Jehovah commands that no
descendent of Aaron should ever be admitted to the priesthood, who had
any natural imperfection or deformity of body, although he might still
claim a subsistence from the provisions of the temple.[59] Helon was
examined and found free from any of those imperfections which the law
enumerates. Had he proved otherwise, he would have been clad in black,
and dismissed, being only allowed in future to discharge menial offices
about the temple. The outward worship of Jehovah was to be a mirror and
emblem of the inward dispositions demanded from the worshipper; and
therefore he required, that both his sacrifices and those who offered
them should be without blemish.
-----
Footnote 59:
Lev. xxi. 17.
-----
Helon having undergone the necessary scrutiny, and having been found not
only of pure descent but free from all bodily infirmity, was committed
to the care of one of the ministering Levites, and conducted by him into
the vestry, which stood near the gate of Nicanor. Here the Levite put on
him the white sacerdotal robes, which one of the same body had made.
They consisted of drawers reaching to the leg, the under-garment fitting
close to the body and descending to the ancles, woven of one piece
without a joining or a seam; the girdle of four fingers’ breadth, which
went twice round the body, and, being tied in front, both ends hung down
nearly to the feet;[60] it was woven so as to resemble a serpent’s skin,
and embroidered with flowers, purple, dark blue, and crimson; lastly,
the turban, which was wound firmly around the head in the form of a
crown. The feet were bare.
-----
Footnote 60:
Exod. xxviii. 39-43.
-----
After being robed, Helon returned into the hall of the Sanhedrim, and
the law of Moses relative to the priests was read to him;[61] “And the
Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say
unto them, None among them shall defile himself with a dead body among
his people, except for the nearest of his kindred, for his mother and
for his father, and for his son and for his daughter, and for his
brother and for his sister, while she is still a virgin and lives with
him, having no husband; for her he may defile himself. But he shall not
defile himself for any one that belongeth to him among his people, least
he desecrate himself. They shall not make their heads bald, nor shave
off the extremity of their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh.
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God,
for the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, the food of their God, they
are to offer; therefore must they be holy. They shall not marry a woman
that is a harlot, nor one that has been polluted, for they are holy to
their God. And thou shalt esteem them holy for they offer the food of
thy God; they shall be holy unto thee; for I Jehovah who sanctify them
am holy.” When this passage had been read, the high-priest blessed the
candidate for the priesthood, and said, “Praised be God that no blemish
hath been found in the seed of Aaron, and praised be he who hath chosen
Aaron and his sons to stand and minister before God in his holy temple.”
And all the members of the Sanhedrim said Amen! The sitting was thus
ended, and Helon was led into the court of the Priests. Those of the
course which was then on duty were standing there, and, greeting him,
received him among their body.
-----
Footnote 61:
Lev. xxi.
-----
The family of Aaron was consecrated once for all in the wilderness, when
they offered on eight successive days the sacrifice of initiation.[62]
Since that time it had been only renewed, and each new priest began his
ministration by a meat-offering,[63] on his presenting which the
original unction was imputed to him. This Helon was to do on the
following morning, and it fortunately happened that, owing to the delay
occasioned by the return of the victorious army, the course to which he
belonged entered on duty on this very sabbath.[64]
-----
Footnote 62:
Lev. viii. ix.
Footnote 63:
Lev. vi. 20.
Footnote 64:
2 Chron. xxiii. 4-8.
-----
Elisama offered on this joyful occasion a magnificent thank-offering of
several bullocks, and invited the whole course of priests, who gradually
arrived to be in readiness to begin their functions, to feast upon the
sacrifice.
Among the rest he had invited the old man of the temple. He who bore
this name was a venerable priest, nearly one hundred years old, of the
course of Jojarib, to which the Maccabees also belonged. Engaged, since
his twenty-fifth year, in the service of Jehovah, he had now past eighty
years in the house of his God, and in the course of them had witnessed
very eventful times. He had entered the temple, in the life of the
excellent high-priest Onias III., and had endured the alternate yoke of
the Syrians and the Egyptians; he had seen Antiochus Epiphanes, and
known the victims of his sanguinary fury; he had been one of those who
followed the valiant Mattathias to the wilderness; he had admired the
heroic deeds of the members of the family of the Maccabees, Judas,
Jonathan, Simon, and John Hyrcanus, and had served them in succession.
In Egypt, where he had frequently dwelt, he had seen, forty years
before, the foundation of the temple of Leontopolis, and he had beheld
that of Gerizim levelled with the ground. As a doctor of the law, he was
master of all the knowledge of divine or earthly things which Israel
then possessed, and had been able to compare his experience with the
word of God. He knew accurately the opinions of all the sects into which
Israel was divided, and though he joined himself to none of them, yet
was honoured by them all, and almost reckoned by all to belong to
themselves. For a considerable time, during the last years of the
high-priest Simon, and in the first years of Hyrcanus, he had discharged
the honourable office of the Wise Man in the Sanhedrim, and in every
year of the thirty-four that had elapsed since the new era of Israel’s
emancipation began, some important affair had been decided by his
counsel. In consequence of his increasing years, he had laid down all
his offices, resigned his house and property to his children’s children,
and taken up his abode in a single apartment in the temple, where he
discharged the duty of a priest of the permanent course, as it was
called, that is of those who dwelt in Jerusalem and supplied the place
of any one in the other courses who could not serve in his turn. His
piety, his wisdom, his earnest longing for the advent of the Messiah,
and his affection for the house of the Maccabees, were become
proverbial. He united so well the mild dignity of age with the fresh
sensibility of youth, that he possessed a most decided influence over
the principal persons in the state, but more especially on all the
younger priests, whose teacher he might be considered, and who very
generally adopted his opinions. Even the heathens admired the vigour and
originality of his mind. What most surprised many of his countrymen was,
that he, whom they would, before all others, have called a Chasidean,
that is a man of extraordinary piety, laid no claim to so high a title,
and contented himself with the humbler name of a just man.
The old man made his appearance, but declared that he came only to bid
the youth welcome to the courts of the Lord. A feast, even in the
temple, he said, did not befit a man over whom one hundred winters had
already past. All rose up when he appeared, and, falling at his feet,
kissed the border of his robe. Helon had heard of him in Alexandria, and
Elisama had pointed out his venerable form to him, as he assisted at the
sacrifice; and when he saw him appear in the banqueting room, for his
sake, overpowered by such kindness and condescension, he too fell, in
silent reverence, at his feet, and kissed the border of his garment. The
old man raised him up, and said, “Praised be the God of Israel, who
bringeth the seed of Aaron out of Egypt, to the place where is the
memorial of his name.” He spoke of his grandfather, whom he had known at
Alexandria, and said that Jehovah would bless that house for ever, on
account of the zeal which every member of it had displayed for the
honour of his law. He then called Helon from the company, observing to
the rest, that before he partook of their feast, he would regale him
with food of another kind. Helon with profound veneration followed the
old man, who led him through the court of the Gentiles to Solomon’s
porch, which with its lofty pillars formed the eastern boundary of this
court. Here he placed himself on the ground and Helon beside him. He
made the youth relate to him the history of his life, and the manner in
which the desire of becoming a priest had been first awakened in him. He
afterwards addressed a few of those questions to him, by which one who
knows mankind penetrates into the bosom of a youth. His countenance
gradually assumed an expression of pleasure and good-will, which led
Helon to hope that his answers had been satisfactory.
“It cannot be said my son,” he at length began, “that the Hellenists
have been wholly wrong in their allegories. They are right in the
principle from which they set out, that the service of Jehovah contains
a hidden and deeper wisdom. Does not David say,
Behold thou delightest in the truth in secret things,
Teach me therefore thy hidden wisdom.—Ps. li. 6.
and Solomon in the Proverbs, ‘His secret is with the pious.’ Their error
lay in this, that they sought to discover in heathen and human wisdom
the secret meaning of our ordinances and laws. Here,” he continued, “is
the place which Jehovah hath chosen; since he brought his people out of
Egypt he has never fixed on any other city, among any other of the
tribes, in which a house should be builded for his name to dwell in. I
brought thee hither, that thou mightest see it in all its glory. Look
how its courts rise one above another, from the place on which we stand
to the altar of burnt-offering, and then to the sanctuary of Jehovah!
Look and wonder! This Moriah is the place where Abraham was commanded to
offer up his son Isaac, and where also was the threshing-floor of
Araunah, at which the angel of Jehovah stretched out his hand over
Jerusalem, to punish the sin of David.[65] David purchased the
threshing-floor and built an altar there and offered sacrifice upon it,
and when Jehovah heard him he exclaimed, ‘Here shall be the house of
Jehovah, and the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel;’ and his son
Solomon built the house and the altar. Dost thou know, Helon, the prayer
which he offered at the dedication of the temple?” Helon without the
least hesitation began: “And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord,
in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his
hands toward heaven; and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no god
like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and
mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart: who
hast kept with thy servant David, my father, that thou promisedst him:
thou speakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine
hand, as it is this day. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with
thy servant David that thou promised him, saying, There shall not fail
thee a man in my sight, to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy
children take heed to their way, that they walk before me, as thou hast
walked before me: and now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee,
be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. But
will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of
heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house of prayer that I
have builded! Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant and
to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the
prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee to-day: that thine eyes may
be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which
thou hast said, My name shall be there; that thou mayest hearken unto
the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. And hearken
thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when
they shall pray toward this place, and hear them in heaven, thy
dwelling-place, and when thou hearest, forgive. If any man trespass
against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to
swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; then hear
thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked,
to bring his way upon his head, and justifying the righteous, to give
him according to his righteousness. When thy people Israel be smitten
down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall
turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make
supplication unto thee in this house: then hear thou in heaven, and
forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the
land, which thou gavest unto their fathers. When heaven is shut up, and
there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee: if they pray
towards this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when
thou afflictest them: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of
thy servants, and of thy people Israel; that thou teach them the good
way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou
hast given to thy people for an inheritance. If there be in the land
famine, if there be blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be the
caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities,
whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; what prayer and
supplication soever be made by any man, or by all the people of Israel,
which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth
his hands towards this house; then hear thou in heaven thy
dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to
his ways, whose heart thou knowest, (for thou, even thou only, knowest
the hearts of all the children of men,) that they may fear thee all the
days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.
Moreover, concerning a stranger that is not of thy people Israel, but
cometh out of a far country, for thy name’s sake, (for they shall hear
of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched-out
arm,) when he shall come and pray towards this house; hear thou in
heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger
calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to
fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this
house which I have builded, is called by thy name. If thy people go out
to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and
shall pray unto the Lord, toward the city which thou hast chosen, and
toward the house that I have built for thy name; then hear thou in
heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. If
they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not) and thou be
angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them
away captives, unto the land of the enemy, far or near; yet if they
shall bethink themselves, in the land whither they were carried
captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of
them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done
perversely, we have committed wickedness; and so return unto thee with
all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies,
which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which
thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the
house I have built for thy name; then hear thou their prayer and their
supplication in heaven, thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause;
and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their
transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give
them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have
compassion on them; for they be thy people and thine inheritance, which
thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of
iron, that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy people
Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. For
thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be
thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant;
when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”[66]
-----
Footnote 65:
2 Sam. xxiv. 16.
Footnote 66:
1 Kings viii.
-----
“Praise Jehovah,” said the old man, when Helon had finished, “for the
blessing of a father who has so well instructed thee in the holy
Scriptures. It becomes a young priest to be able to give an answer from
them to every question that is put to him. Thou hast repeated Solomon’s
dedication prayer: his temple was founded amidst acclamations, and
destroyed amidst tears: this was founded amidst tears, but its glory
shall surpass that of the first temple, when He comes, for whom we wait.
He shall walk through this temple, stand in this porch of Solomon, pass
through this Beautiful Gate, approach the altar of burnt-offering, and
give this house its highest consecration. Helon, the whole earth lies
under a curse; it bears thorns and thistles, and the ground is accursed
on account of man, who has sinned thereon. Jehovah will take away the
curse, when he comes to his temple, and from this spot the change is to
begin. It has been for nearly a thousand years a holy land, free from
the curse, a type of what the whole earth is one day to become. This
Naaman the Syrian felt, when he had discovered, by the cleansing of his
leprosy, that there was a prophet in Israel, as he showed by carrying
away three mules’ burden of earth into his own country.[67]
-----
Footnote 67:
2 Kings v. 17.
-----
“Learn too from this prayer, how holy is the place in which thou art,
and in which thou shalt in future serve Jehovah. Pray to him in his
temple, that his eyes may be open towards thee, and that he may make the
light of his countenance to shine upon thee. Go now to the feast, and if
thou desirest to hear more, come to the old man in the temple. There is
his apartment.”
The venerable man blessed him, and then crossed the court of the
Gentiles. Helon watched him, till he disappeared, and then remained for
a long time wrapt in thought, till some one came to summon him to the
company. The feast concluded early, for the course of Malchia had to
prepare, on the evening before the sabbath, for entering upon its
office. About the ninth hour all labour had ceased, the trumpets had
announced the sabbath, the Levites had baked the shew-bread, the twelve
priests had carried it in solemn procession to the porch, and hence two
of them had taken it into the holy place, and had deposited it upon the
table of shew-bread: the old shew-bread had been removed, and the two
censers of incense of the preceding week had been replaced by two new
ones. The rest of the priests and the Levites laid themselves down
betimes to sleep. Helon could not sleep. The past and the future were
both too interesting. A feeling of mingled joy and awe shot through his
frame when he heard the bars of the temple gates closed, and found
himself shut in within the sanctuary of Jehovah; it seemed as if he were
here protected from every earthly evil, as if nothing could now prevent
him from fulfilling the law of the Lord, and becoming complete in his
obedience. Often was he disposed to have cried aloud, “Better is a day
in thy courts, than a thousand elsewhere!” At times lost in thought, at
times wrapt in devotion, he passed the sleepless hours, while the
priests slumbered around him. When he heard the step of the guard of
Levites, in the court of the Gentiles, or when the guard of priests, as
they went their rounds in the court of Israel, with lighted torches in
their hands, approached the place where he lay, he envied the happy
persons who were not only allowed, but whose duty it was, to traverse
the courts and porticoes and palaces of the sanctuary, beneath the stars
of heaven. When the two companies of the priests, uniting after their
separate rounds, greeted each other with the words, “All is peace,” the
sounds came to his mind with a significance that was indescribable.
At an early hour the watch came again to waken those who slept. The
priests bathed themselves, and went to the vestry to put on their robes.
Next they assembled in the hall Gazith, to cast lots for the division of
the offices for the day. The first lot, which decided who should cleanse
the altar of burnt-offering from the ashes of the preceding day, fell
upon Helon, to his great astonishment. Then followed the lots of those
who were to sacrifice the lamb, to sprinkle the blood upon the altar, to
trim the lamps, to bring the parts of the victims to the altar of
burnt-offering, to burn incense in the holy place, &c.
One of the priests now opened the curtain of the portico, and another
the gate of Nicanor, and some of the Levites threw open the outer gates
of the temple, that the children of Israel might enter. The crowing of
the cock announced the time when the cleansing of the altar of
burnt-offering was to take place. The priests called out to Helon,
“Beware of touching any vessel, before thou hast washed thy hands and
feet and sanctified thyself.” He washed himself again, mounted with
trembling steps the sloping ascent to the altar, which was fifteen
cubits high. He cleared the burning coals from the ashes and collected
these in a heap at an appointed place. This was his first service as a
priest. As he performed it, he could not help inwardly praying that the
flame in his heart might in like manner be purified from every thing
that made it burn dim.
When the wood for the offering of that day had been prepared, and the
watches and the singers chosen, after a short interval some of the
priests exclaimed, “Light, light!” the others replied, “Is it light
towards Hebron?” and when the question was answered in the affirmative,
and the first beam of dawn struck upon the roof of the sanctuary, the
chief of the course of priests exclaimed, “Priests, to your duties!
Levites, to your steps! Children of Israel, to your station!”
The last words did not refer to the whole people of Israel, but only to
the Men of the Station, who represented the people at the sacrifice, in
the same way as there were substitutes for the priests in the temple,
chosen out of all the courses of priests. These substitutes of the
people resided in Jerusalem, and were divided according to the twelve
tribes.
All hastened to their respective posts. The service of Jehovah began
with the cleansing the altar of incense in the holy place, and laying
the wood on the altar of burnt-offering. A male lamb of a year old,
without blemish, was brought to the north side of the altar of
burnt-offering, the men of the station laid their hands upon it, in the
name of the people; one priest killed it, another received the blood, a
third sprinkled the altar with it, while others first extinguished five
of the lights in the seven-branched lamp in the holy place. Incense was
then brought in and burnt upon the altar of incense, and the remaining
lights extinguished.
The sun had now risen: the pieces of the animal which had been killed,
the usual meat-offering, as well as that which the high-priest offered
daily, and that which Helon was to present, and the drink-offering, were
all brought to the place between the altar of burnt-offering and the
sanctuary, heaved before Jehovah, and then brought to the opposite side
of the altar. The pieces were sprinkled with salt, the Kri-schma was
prayed, and the flesh laid upon the altar and offered as a
burnt-offering to the Lord. The meat-offering which belonged to it was
next burnt, and the high-priest’s meat-offering followed. Helon had
already heaved the offering, by which he renewed the priesthood in his
family, and now brought it to the altar. It consisted of incense and the
half of a tenth-deal of an epha of wheat-flour, baked in oil.[68] He
salted both and then threw all the incense, but only a handful of the
meal, into the fire; for all the rest belonged to the priests.[69]
Lastly, the drink-offering of wine was poured into a pipe, which ran
from the altar to the brook Kedron, and the daily burnt-offering was
closed. While the drink-offering was pouring out, the Levites played and
sang upon the fifteen steps the 92d psalm, it being the sabbath day, and
the two priests, upon the pillar near the altar, accompanied with their
trumpets.
-----
Footnote 68:
Numb. xv.
Footnote 69:
Lev. vi. 14.
-----
It is a good thing to give thanks unto Jehovah,
To sing praises unto thy name, O thou Most High,
To show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning,
And thy faithfulness every night,
Upon an instrument of ten strings and upon the psaltery,
Upon the harp with a solemn sound.
For thou, Lord, makest me glad through thy work;
I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
O Lord, how great are thy works,
And thy thoughts are very deep!
A brutish man knoweth it not,
A fool doth not understand it.
Though the wicked spring as grass,
Though the workers of iniquity flourish,
Yet they shall be destroyed for ever.
But thou, Jehovah, art Most High for evermore.
For lo, thine enemies, O Lord,
Lo, thine enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
But thou wilt exalt my horn as an unicorn’s,
I am anointed with fresh oil;
Mine eye shall see my desire on my enemies,
Mine ear shall hear it on the wicked that rise against me.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those that are planted in the house of the Lord,
They flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bring forth fruit in old age,
They are fresh and full of sap:
To show that Jehovah is upright.
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.—Psal. xcii.
After this daily-offering, the special-offering for the sabbath-day,
consisting of two lambs of the first year, was offered,[70] accompanied
with other psalms. At the close, the chief priest of the course gave his
blessing,[71] and the people replied by similar benedictions.
-----
Footnote 70:
Numb, xxviii. 9, 10.
Footnote 71:
Numb. vii. 23.
-----
Helon had been present at many sacrifices, but this was the first time
that as a priest he had stood beside the altar of burnt-offering. Seen
so much more nearly than before, every thing appeared in a new light to
him; he felt that something more profound must be hidden under this veil
of outward ceremonies, and he longed to be able to interrogate on this
subject the old man of the temple, who, when the sacrifice was over, had
betaken himself to his cell. Helon had several times watched his
countenance during the sacrifice, that he might read in it if possible
the interpretation of the rite. The priests dispersed after the
sacrifice was over. Helon also left the court of the Priests, and as he
was entering the court of Israel, he met Elisama, who with feelings of
the most animated pleasure had stood there the whole morning, to watch
the first ministrations of his Helon. He pressed his hand, and would
have embraced him but for the sanctity of the place. Helon regarded him
with a look which expressed the fulness of his happiness, and tears
stood in the eyes of both. “I have to greet thee in the name of Iddo,”
said Elisama. “And I thee in the name of the old man of the temple,”
said Helon. “Art thou going to him?” replied Elisama. “Go, and the God
of thy fathers go with thee!”
The old man was sitting before a roll of one of the prophets, and
invited Helon to seat himself beside him. After a time he asked him,
what had seemed most impressive to him in the psalm which he had heard
sung that day on the fifteen steps?
“The close,” replied Helon, “in which it is said, of those who are
planted in the house of the Lord, that they continue green even in old
age.”
“And who are they?” asked the old man. “The sons of Levi,” Helon
replied. “Repeat to me, if thou knowest it, the blessing with which
Moses blessed them before his death.”
Helon began,
Moses said unto Levi,
Thy holy one beareth thy light and thy truth,
He whom thou didst prove at Massah,
With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Who saith unto his father and his mother, I see them not;
And to his brother, I acknowledge him not;
And to his sons, I know nothing of them.
For they have observed thy word
And kept thy covenant.
They teach Jacob thy judgments,
And Israel thy law.
They shall put incense before thee,
And whole burnt-offerings on thine altar.
Bless, O Jehovah, his substance,
And accept the work of his hands.
Smite through the loins of them that rise against him,
That those who hate him rise not again.—Deut. xxxiii. 8.
“Thou hast said what is required of the tribe of Levi,” said the old
man. “It was not without reason that to the whole tribe no portion was
given in Israel: for, ‘Jehovah is their heritage.’ He had first of all
chosen the eldest-born in every family to be his ministers, and still
the priesthood so far rests upon them that they must be ransomed for
five shekels on the thirtieth day.[72] In this way the office is
transferred to the tribe of Levi. Others have so much to do with worldly
things, that they could not instruct their children from their infancy
in the knowledge of the law. But the sons of Levi with their children
are to live only for the temple and the laws, and on this account the
rest of the people give up three-tenths of their income, of which
one-tenth supports the Levites, the second is for the expenses of
sacrifices and feasts, and for coming up to Jerusalem at the festivals;
the third is for the maintenance of the king.[73] Thus the priest and
the Levite, free from the ordinary cares of life, are devoted
exclusively to Jehovah. They are to present the offering of Jehovah, the
bread of their God. Hence the purity which they are so carefully to
preserve, not allowing themselves to come in contact with any thing
which might defile them. The sacerdotal order is the most exalted in the
world. Yet its dignity lies not in any preeminence of its own; but in
God’s choice of it, to preserve and make known his law. Be not thou
therefore unduly exalted, but rejoice that thou art permitted, as a
priest of Jehovah, to minister in his temple. Before the full light of
day is spread over heaven and earth, some one spot is brightened by a
partial gleam. But has that spot done any thing to merit this
distinction? Give thanks then to Jehovah that thou standest in the
earliest beams of that dawn which is the harbinger of light to all
mankind. When He comes for whom we wait, the brightness of his rising
shall illuminate the whole earth, and the heathens shall walk in his
light.”
-----
Footnote 72:
Exod. xiii. 12-16; Numb. iii. 12, 13.
Footnote 73:
Lev. xxvii. 30-33; Numb. xviii. 21-32; Deut. xii. 17-19; xiv. 22-29;
xxvi. 12-15; 1 Sam. viii. 15.
-----
The old man ceased, and departing, left Helon alone, who remained till
near the ninth hour, when the evening-sacrifice began; and he hastened
forth, that he might not be too late for his duties. The
evening-sacrifice on the sabbath was in no respect different from that
on ordinary days. The priests had prepared the incense, the Levites the
meat-offering; Helon arranged his own, which consisted of the other half
of the tenth-deal of the epha, of which he had offered one-half in the
morning. The ceremonies and sacrifices already described were repeated;
the lamb was killed and its portions burnt, the daily meat-offering, the
meat-offering of the high-priest, and lastly, that of Helon, were
presented; incense was burnt again in the holy-place, and the
seven-branched lamp lighted for the night. The drink-offering was poured
out upon the altar, accompanied by the songs of the Levites, and the
trumpets of the priests, and followed by the benediction, which closed
the service of the day. It was about the twelfth hour. But the flame
continued long after it was dark to shoot up from the altar of
burnt-offering, and even through the whole night the embers continued
glimmering. The consecrated vessels were restored to their places: the
whole course of Malchia had been in attendance this day, as it was the
sabbath, but only a sixth part of them prepared themselves for service
on the morrow. When all was finished in the temple, the priests prepared
their meal and then laid themselves down to rest.
So closed the first day of Helon’s sacerdotal life; his heart was
agitated, as it had been at his first entrance into the land of his
fathers; but the sanctity of the place forbade every violent expression
of his emotions. He had become more serious, it might almost be said
more manly; and his joy and gratitude, instead of dissipating themselves
in words, seemed to reserve their energy for action and the fulfilment
of duty. A new life seemed to have begun in the temple of Jehovah.
As on the following day he attended the usual morning-sacrifice,
although only as a spectator, he observed a woman who was undergoing the
ceremony of purification after childbirth. She had bathed herself at
home, first on the seventh and afterwards on the fortieth day, and she
now brought to the temple a burnt-offering and a sin-offering—a lamb of
the first year for the former, a turtle-dove for the latter.[74] The
priest sprinkled her with the blood of the sin-offering, and she was
purified, and praised the Lord, who had done great things for her, had
preserved her own life, and had given a son into her arms. Helon beheld
the ceremony with profound attention. The old man approached him, and
after the rites of the morning-sacrifice were ended, turning to Helon,
said to him, “Son of Adam, remember that for thee, too, a mother once
offered a sin-offering and a burnt-offering.”
-----
Footnote 74:
Lev. xii.
-----
“I know it,” replied Helon, “but I have been in vain endeavouring to
discover what is the import of this purification of the mother.”
“Compare it,” said the old man, “with what thou thyself didst, to obtain
purification at the festival of the new moon, after having touched a
grave. Since man defiles, at his death, those who lament his departure
with the tears of affection, and by his birth those who embrace him with
joy, can he himself be pure by nature?”
Helon started. After a pause the old man continued: “Does not David say,
I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me! And did
not God say to the first man, In the day that thou eatest of the tree,
thou shalt die the death? Is any thing more necessary, in order to prove
that the birth of man is in sin, and that his death is the wages of sin?
Forty days, after the birth of a male, eighty, after that of a female,
(the sex which first sinned,) is the mother unclean. For a
burnt-offering she brings a lamb, for a sin-offering a turtle-dove, and
reconciled by the blood of these innocent animals, she is permitted to
appear before Jehovah. See what are the consequences of our birth!
“A red heifer, without blemish,[75] that has never borne the yoke, is
brought before a priest, led by another priest out of the Holy City, and
killed yonder on the mount of Olives. The priest dips his finger in the
blood and sprinkles it seven times towards the temple; then he burns the
cow with the hide and the hair, and throws upon it cedar-wood, hyssop,
and a red thread. Another priest collects the ashes, and carries them to
an appointed place. All the three are rendered unclean. When any one who
has denied himself with a dead body is to be made clean again, these
ashes are mixed with water, and one who is himself clean sprinkles it
upon him upon the third and the seventh day; and while thus he that was
unclean becomes clean, he that was clean becomes unclean. See what are
the consequences of our death!”
-----
Footnote 75:
Numb. xix.
-----
The old man continued his walk in the court of the Priests, and left
Helon standing in the greatest astonishment at the new and profound
views which had been opened to him. He saw him not again till after
the evening-sacrifice on the second day after the sabbath, when the
family of the course of Malchia, to which Helon belonged, had been
called to take its turn in ministering at the altar. He found the old
man engaged in prayer, and was invited by him to place himself beside
him on the carpet. After a short silence he began; “I trust that from
our previous conversations you have clearly perceived, that the earth
with all its inhabitants is unholy, and every individual a sinner! Is
Jeremiah still the favourite prophet of your house?” Helon replied
that he was. “Do you understand a passage in his prophecies, in which
the same thought is twice repeated, ‘Behold the days are coming, saith
Jehovah, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and a
king shall reign and act wisely, and shall execute justice and
judgment in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel
shall dwell in security; and this is the name by which he shall be
called, Jehovah who is our Righteousness’.’[76] What means this?”
“Instruct me,” replied Helon. “This is the Messiah: on the earth which
lies under the curse, man, himself sinful, cannot exhibit that
righteousness which is acceptable to God. Therefore Jehovah himself
will be our righteousness in the Messiah. He is the great object of
prophecy, from its commencement in the days of our first parents to
the present day, a period of near four thousand years, till the
appearance of him for whom we wait, the Consolation of Israel. But on
account of the dulness of the people’s heart this intimation is given
in a twofold way, audibly by the words of holy writ, and visibly in
the sacrifices. The sacrifices are visible prophecies of the Lord who
is our righteousness. How often does Jehovah declare, that he has no
pleasure in sacrifices and burnt-offerings, i. e. when they are not
presented with a reference to the Messiah. Taken in this connection,
they have a reconciling virtue. Every sacrifice, therefore, has a
double import. The sacrificer lays his hand upon the victim’s head,
and thus transfers his own sin to it, and so far sacrifice is a
memorial of the offerer’s guilt: but on the other hand, when Jehovah
accepts the sacrifice and permits the blood to be sprinkled and the
flesh to be burnt upon his altar, he confirms the promise which Moses
made at the establishment of the covenant in the wilderness. ‘Behold,
this is the blood of the covenant which Jehovah maketh with you
concerning all these laws.’[77] The Messiah will be the true offering.
As Isaiah prophesies that God will ‘Lay our sins upon him and inflict
chastisement upon him that we may have peace,’[78] so by this means he
will become our righteousness, and the promise of God is confirmed and
fulfilled in him. But these are dark, sacred, unfathomable thoughts,
who can comprehend them in all their extent? Thus much is certain,
that in his sacrifice all others will be united, and what are now
called by different names, will form only one. Till he comes, there
are various sacrifices according to our various necessities; some for
the people collectively, as on the day of atonement and at the
Passover; others for individuals; morning and evening sacrifices for
each day; sabbath-offerings for the week; offerings at the new moon
for the month, and at the annual festivals for the whole year. There
are trespass-offerings for sin; thank-offerings of gratitude for
blessings received. But enough of these things, on which it is so easy
but so dangerous to enlarge. Yet hope not to understand them, till
light from heaven has beamed upon thee here. Keep these principles in
view, pray for divine illumination, and the dark shall become light to
thee. Thou knowest, even from those heathens who were the objects of
thy former admiration, that there are things the knowledge of which
cannot be learnt, but must be given.”
-----
Footnote 76:
Jer. xxiii. 9.; xxxiii. 16.
Footnote 77:
Exod. xxiv. 8.
Footnote 78:
Isaiah liii. 5.
-----
While they were speaking, Elisama came to the door and announced that
Selumiel of Jericho was standing without, and that he wished to speak
with the old man. He himself called Helon aside, while Selumiel
conversed with the old man, and told him that in the ensuing week he was
going to Jericho, and wished him to accompany him, as his week of
service would expire on the morrow. Helon was unwilling to leave
Jerusalem, but he bethought himself that it became a priest to honour
his father and his mother, or those who stood in this relation to him,
that his days might be long upon the earth. He therefore assented to the
proposal of his uncle, especially as he heard that their journey would
take them near the Oasis of the Essenes, whom he had a great desire to
see. Elisama left him well pleased, and Helon hastened back into the
court of the Priests.
On the fifth day the old man called Helon after the morning-sacrifice,
and commanded him to follow him to his apartment. Both of them seated
themselves on the carpet, and the old man began with unusual energy.
“Thy week of service is drawing to a close, and Selumiel tells me that
he purposes to take thee to the pleasant city of Jericho. The angel of
the Lord encamp on the journey about those that fear him! But as I
foresee that he will introduce thee to the knowledge of the Essenes, I
must, ere thou depart, give thee one admonition; and O, young man!
remember that it is written, ‘Days should speak and length of years
should give understanding.’
“Eighty years have now passed over me, since I began to be acquainted
with men of every variety of religious opinion among my people. I was
then, as thou art now, young, without an adviser, and easily attracted
and deceived by every new wisdom which appeared. I wish to guard thee
against errors into which I fell; for it is a bitter feeling at last to
discover that we have been wandering from the truth. Thou rejoicest in
Israel and the temple, and holdest the Hellenists alone in abhorrence.
But believe me that there are things yet more to be abhorred in Israel
itself, nay even in those that are within the walls of the temple. There
is a fearful division and confusion in Israel; seven sects wage war
against each other. May it fare with thee as with the old man! Thou wilt
find many things in all of them which will not displease thee, but pray
to God that thou mayest be enabled to see, that each of them has more or
less departed from the right way, and mingled human wisdom with the
divine law. Thou wilt find in all, honourable and upright men, but also
among all, the proud man and the hypocrite; and all, without exception,
are deficient in the humility and the simplicity which are essential to
the knowledge of divine truth. I do not reckon among them the
_proselytes of the gate_, whom we have in all nations; and I mention
them only that I may omit none, and may begin where I have least to
blame. Praise Jehovah that their number is constantly increasing, and
pray that he would guide them yet further—that they may renounce every
thing that is heathenish, and become proselytes of righteousness. It is
still worse with the _Hellenists_, who have been punished, by the
blindness with which they have plunged into allegory, for that
worldly-mindedness which made them disdain to return to the land of
Promise. This the _Essenes_ did in some measure, and for this, and for
their rigid obedience to the law, I praise them—but why do they imitate
foreign manners in the land of Jehovah, pride themselves on vain wisdom,
drawn from their ancient books, and despise the temple of our God? The
_Pharisees_ are their opponents, and while I justly praise their zeal
for the faith of our fathers, I must blame them for mixing oral
traditions so lightly with the written law, and for the pride which has
prompted them to do it. For this fault they are justly reproved by the
_Sadducees_: but much greater is their departure from the truth, who
reject the prophets of Jehovah, and resemble more the disciples of a
heathen Epicurus, than of the Lord who spake on Sinai. I say nothing of
the _Samaritans_, who like ourselves expect a Messiah, but prefer the
desolate Gerizim to our Moriah. What confusion in Israel! What
dissension and mutual hatred! There is still a small handful, whom I
will not call a sect, men of pious, peaceful minds, who wait in
simplicity and humility for the appearance of the Messiah, who reject
every other word but that of God, and keep his ordinances in his temple.
Of their number I reckon myself one—Elisama also belongs to them, as do
nearly all the Aramæan Jews who live in the Diaspora. In Jerusalem,
however, there are few such to be found. Now thou art forewarned, go,
and Jehovah bless and keep thee!”
This was the last interview which Helon at this time had with the old
man. On the sixth day, the last before the new sabbath, the course of
Malchia finished its term of service after the evening-sacrifice. Helon
quitted the temple, and hastened to join his friends in the house of
Iddo.