THE BETROTHMENT.
Selumiel led his friends from Egypt through the gate of Jericho. Not far
from it stood a house distinguished from all in its neighbourhood by its
size and the style of the architecture. It was the house of Selumiel,
who filled the office of an elder in Jericho. He had scarcely bidden his
guests welcome in the outer court, and invited them to enter the inner
by the covered way, when his son met him with his new-born grandson. The
joy of the old man was indescribable. “You see,” said he to his guests,
when he had led them to the fountain under the palms, and had called the
slaves to wash their feet, “you see by my joy at the sight of my
grandchild, that notwithstanding all I have said in their praise, I do
not belong to the highest class of the Essenes. While the slaves do
their duty, allow me to take a short walk into the Armon.”
Helon, in the mean time, viewed with admiration the splendour and wealth
of the mansion. Its general arrangement was that which is common to
houses in the east; but the solidity of construction and elegance of
finish which characterised each part, showed that it was the residence
of a wealthy man. Marble, cedar of Lebanon, brass, gold, silver, ivory,
silk, and whatever else contributes to the splendour of an oriental
house, glittered here on every side.
Selumiel’s house was built in such a way, that it enclosed a large open
quadrangular space, called Chazer, or Thavech, (the middle or inner
court,) which, under a sky that was almost uninterruptedly serene,
served as a great chamber, even on great and festive occasions. The
pavement was composed of variegated marble, tastefully disposed. In the
middle, where in houses of humbler construction a simple basin stood,
was a fountain, enclosed with marble and surrounded with lofty palms,
which cast such a cooling shade beneath, that our travellers felt
themselves instantly refreshed. In the angles stood rows of vases filled
with flowers, especially the roses of Jericho, and many other
odoriferous shrubs, planted in bowers. Their grateful shade, and the
ever fresh and green turf around the fountain, made the coolness as it
were visible, which in the hottest days was to be found there. On the
sides of this quadrangle stood three rows of pillars, forming two
parallel porticoes. The floor of them was covered with carpets and
cushions of very elaborate workmanship, and before some of the pillars
hung curtains, which gave the space behind the convenience of an
enclosed chamber. The cushions were embroidered with gold and silver,
and the curtains were of silk, red, white, green, and blue. Against the
interior sides of the porticoes were divans and sofas, elevations of the
height of from two to three feet, which were surrounded with a lattice,
and in the day time were covered with carpets and served as seats, in
the night were used as beds. Above, the porticoes were covered by three
galleries one above another, for the house had three stories, and each
gallery had a parapet breast-high towards the court.
Round this court the principal parts of the house were disposed. The
side which adjoined the street contained a small court, separated from
the inner only by a wall and a door, contrary to the common mode of
building, according to which this court lay beyond the outer wall and in
front of the house, being connected with it by a covered way: some
houses again had both the small internal court, which we have described
in Selumiel’s house, and the larger exterior court, the latter then
serving to receive horses and camels. In Selumiel’s house the court was
furnished with a sofa, visitors were received here, and only those whom
the master of the house specially invited into the interior went any
further. The house-door, which was in the wall of the house and was
covered with inscriptions, led to the outer court. In this court was a
staircase, which led to the upper stories of the house and immediately
to a little building directly over the small interior court, called
Alijah, which rose like a tower upon the flat roof. An awning was
fastened to the parapet of the roof in such a manner, that it could be
drawn over the whole of the innermost court, and produce complete shade
in the brightest sunshine.
The side of the court which was furthest from the street formed the
communication with the Armon, or house of the women. The apartments of
the females were universally in the east separate from those of the men,
and in Selumiel’s mansion they formed a distinct house, divided and
arranged much in the same way as we have already described, so that
there were in fact two houses, having one side in common.
Elisama and Helon had been so much occupied with the splendour which
they beheld around them, that they had allowed the slaves with their
silver ewers to wait, without performing their office. Selumiel
re-entered, and said, smiling, to Elisama, observing how he was
occupied, “Doubtless you are used to see more splendid edifices in
Alexandria.” “Nay,” said Elisama, laughing, “I recall what I said on the
way. An elder of Israel who dwells so sumptuously and tastefully is
assuredly no Essene.” Selumiel led his guests into one of the bowers,
and after they had rested here a short time, to the richly spread table.
When the dishes were taken away, and the dessert set on, the mother and
her daughter appeared, to bid a solemn welcome to the guests from
Egypt—a condescension which showed the esteem in which Selumiel held
them. The mother, though advanced in years, was active and still
handsome; but Sulamith her daughter, who stood by her side, was glowing
in all the freshness of youthful beauty, and united in herself every
charm by which a daughter in Israel could fix the attention of the
beholder. From beneath the large eyebrows, coloured of a brilliant
black, dark eyes, like those of the gazel, sent forth their quiet
brilliancy, through the transparent veil which descended from the
turban. Her tall and stately form was clad in a robe of fine cotton,
which flowed down in folds like a wide mantle; the sleeves hung loose,
except where they were fastened with costly bracelets; the ears and the
nose were adorned with rings of gold, in which rubies, emeralds, and
topazes were set. Helon, dazzled by so much beauty, on which he hardly
dared to gaze, and agitated by an emotion which he had never felt
before, thought he read in the looks with which the old men regarded his
surprise, the interpretation of some words which had occasionally
escaped Elisama and Selumiel, and which till now he had not understood.
When the females had retired, and the men continued their conversation,
Selumiel’s son addressed himself to Helon, and proposed to him that in
the coolness of the early morning on the following day he would be his
guide through the region round Jericho, and as far as to the Dead Sea.
Helon, lost in feelings to which he had hitherto been a stranger, had
scarcely heard the conversation of the elders; but he was roused from
his reverie by this offer, which it was the more difficult to decline
without discourtesy, as an oriental seldom imposes on himself the
fatigue of a walk. Yet it seemed to him as if he were forcibly torn from
that world of delightful illusions, to which he had been just
transported.
At the first dawn of the following day, the two young men issued from
the mansion of Selumiel, into the streets of Jericho. The city is about
six sabbath-days’ journies from Jordan, and three sabbath-days’ journies
in circumference. It was considered at this time as the second city in
Judea, and had been in ancient times one of the thirty-one royal cities
of Canaan. It was chiefly inhabited by priests, whose number was
estimated by some as high as 12,000.
The son of Selumiel was well acquainted with the ancient history of his
nation, and had discovered Helon’s enthusiasm for every thing which
recalled it. As they quitted the city he pointed to the other side of
the Jordan. “There,” said he, “our forefathers encamped in the fields of
Moab, opposite to Jericho, and thither Balak the king of Moab summoned
Balaam to curse them.[81] The blue hill seen far in the distance is the
hill of Abarim, and part of it is Nebo, to which Jehovah led Moses and
showed him the land which he was not permitted to enter,[82] the future
heritage of the children of Israel. Thence Joshua sent out spies to
explore the land, and especially Jericho, when Rahab saved them by her
humanity.[83] There,” pointing to the banks of the Jordan itself, “our
fathers crossed the flood, Jehovah renewing the miracle by which they
had passed through the Red Sea.[84] They destroyed the city, and not
only exterminated every living thing, but their leader laid a curse on
him who should rebuild it, which six hundred years afterwards fell on
Hiel of Bethel, whose eldest son died when he laid the foundation of it,
and the youngest when he set up the gates.[85] Yet its sanctity was
recovered by the residence of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who long
dwelt here, and the schools of the prophets which they superintended. In
later times we must confess, with grief, that it was here the valiant
chief and high-priest Simon, father of Hyrcanus, fell by the hand of his
son-in-law.”[86]
-----
Footnote 81:
Numb. xxii.
Footnote 82:
Deut. xxxiv.
Footnote 83:
Josh. ii.
Footnote 84:
Josh. iii.
Footnote 85:
Josh. vi. 26.; 1 Kings xvi. 34.
Footnote 86:
1 Maccab. xvi. 14.
-----
Helon thanked his companion for his information, dissatisfied with
himself that the present and the past contended with each other for the
possession of his mind. They continued their way to an eminence, from
which they had a prospect scarcely to be equalled even in the Holy Land
itself. They had here a view of the course of the Jordan. In its
progress from its source in Antilibanus, a course of about one hundred
sabbath-days’ journies, it had attained a breadth of thirty paces; it is
about the depth of a man, and in the neighbourhood of Jericho it has a
strong current. It abounds in fish, and its banks were overgrown with
sedges, reeds, willows, and tamarisks, among which, jackals, lions,[87]
and other wild beasts harboured. The river had just overflowed its
banks,[88] in consequence of the melting of the snows of Lebanon, and
this annual exundation greatly promoted the fertility of the adjacent
fields. On the banks of Jordan lies Gilgal, the place where the people
of Israel crossed over under Joshua, and erected twelve stones as a
memorial. A little further on was Bethabara, where the pilgrims from
Galilee crossed to the eastern side of the Jordan, in order to avoid
going through the country of the Samaritans. Thus a great part of the
beautiful valley of the Jordan lay before them, whose fertile fields are
enclosed by hills on each side, on the east by the mountains of Judah,
on the west by Abarim, with the summits of Pisgah and Nebo on Peor,
followed by the mountains of Moab. Southward they beheld the plain of
Jericho, ten sabbath-days’ journies in length, and almost three in
breadth, extending to Engeddi, containing the celebrated grove of
palms,[89] adorned with olives and balsam shrubs, and known in all the
ancient world for its honey and its roses. Joining this plain the Dead
Sea extended itself far to the south, called also the Sea of the Plain,
from its vicinity to the plain of Jordan; the Salt Sea, from the taste
of its waters; and the Eastern Sea, in contradistinction from the
Mediterranean, which lay westward of Palestine. It was formed in the
time of Lot and Abraham, by the destruction of the towns of Sodom,
Gomorrah, Adama, and Zeboim, the place of which this lake now
covers.[90] Its length amounts to eighty-three, its breadth to
twenty-one sabbath-days’ journies; its waters, being impregnated with
naptha and asphaltus, are salt and bitter; and all around it had the
appearance of conflagration, because the frequent exundations of the
lake covered the adjacent soil with a coating of salt. The fruits
correspond with the water; the son of Selumiel related to Helon, that
the apples of Sodom, as they are called, were beautiful to the eye, but
bitter and unfit to eat, and that when they were dried, they were
nothing but dust.
-----
Footnote 87:
Jer. xlix. 19.
Footnote 88:
Josh. iii. 15.
Footnote 89:
Deut. xxxiv. 3.
Footnote 90:
Gen. xix. 24-26.
-----
The world of external nature is but the mirror which reflects to us what
interests our feelings in the world of man. Helon had never looked on
the beauties of nature with so true a relish for them, as now that they
gave him back the image of his own fond hopes and gay imaginations; nor
had he ever felt so deeply the impression of her awful scenes, as now
when they harmonized so well with the trembling anxiety which chastised
his hopes.
On their return to the house they found all busy with preparations for
the solemnity of the circumcision of Selumiel’s grandson, which was to
take place on the following morning. At the third hour accordingly of
the next day, a large company assembled in Selumiel’s house. Besides the
two witnesses, who must be married persons of either sex, ten men were
necessary, in whose presence the circumcision was to take place, and
besides these had been invited the heads of all the courses of priests
who lived in Jericho, the elders and the friends of Elisama. The family
remembered the command of God to Abraham, when he spoke to him, and
said, “This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you, and
thy posterity after thee: every male child among you shall be
circumcised, when he is eight days old; and the uncircumcised male child
shall be cut off from his people, because he hath broken my
covenant.”[91]
-----
Footnote 91:
Gen. xvii. 9.
-----
The rite was performed in the largest apartment of the house, and by the
hand of the grandfather, in the presence of the whole assemblage. When
the child was born and had been washed, rubbed with salt and wrapped in
swaddling-clothes, the father had placed it on his bosom, as a sign that
he acknowledged it as his own. He now fetched it from the apartment of
the mother, who had been purified, by bathing, from the impurity of the
first seven days after childbirth, and brought it to the room where the
company was assembled. A psalm was sung, alluding to the covenant which
God had made with his people Israel, and then the song of Moses after
the deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The rite was then begun; in the
midst of it, the father of the child said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our
God, king of the world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts, and
commanded us to enter into the covenant of Abraham.” Those who stood
around replied, “Lord, as thou hast permitted this child to enter into
the covenant of our father Abraham, grant also that he may enter into
thy law, into the marriage-state, and into good works.” Selumiel then
laid his hand upon the child’s head, and asked the father what its name
should be. The name was commonly derived from the circumstances under
which the child was born or circumcised. The father, in honour of the
guests from Egypt, who were then present, replied, “His name shall be
called Mizraim.” The grandfather then prayed, “O Lord our God, God of
our fathers, strengthen this child and preserve him to his parents. His
name shall be called in Israel, Mizraim, son of Abisuab, the son of
Selumiel. May his father rejoice in the son of his loins and his mother
in the fruit of her womb!”
The boy was then carried back to his mother, and all who were present
congratulated the father and the grandfather. Selumiel invited them to
the inner court, where they partook of refreshments and remained till
afternoon, when a splendid banquet was served up, consisting of every
thing which one of the wealthiest citizens of Jericho could collect for
such an occasion. Two oxen, twenty lambs, and twelve fatted calves were
killed; for the master of the feast was thought to show his wealth and
his hospitality by the unexpected abundance of every kind of food that
was produced. Every guest found in the fore-court a splendid caftan,
which he put on for the feast, and deposited there again on his
departure. These garments were always in readiness to be worn on festive
occasions, and their number and costliness was one of the surest pledges
of the master’s wealth. The guests, after their feet had been washed,
were anointed with costly ointment, and when they took their leave they
were perfumed, especially the beard.
Sulamith and her mother did not appear to-day, but confined themselves
to the chamber of Abisuab’s wife, and celebrated the festival there.
Helon had seen Sulamith only once and in passing on the preceding day,
but her image had remained involuntarily imprinted upon his mind. In the
midst of the lively conversation which passed at the banquet, the
proverbs which were quoted and the riddles which were propounded, she
was always present to his thoughts, and so animated the powers of his
mind, that his eloquence and ingenuity drew on him the attention of all.
His _mashal_ was the most pregnant and striking; his riddle, the most
ingenious; his solution the readiest and most happy. When he laid
himself down on the divan beside his uncle, he could not sleep nor rest,
and to calm the tumult of his breast, he arose, and passing through the
courts ascended the Alijah, in which at Alexandria he had passed many a
sultry night, and there, kneeling, prayed to the God of his fathers. But
his prayer partook of the general state of his feelings; unable to
collect his thoughts sufficiently for meditation, he could only pour out
before Jehovah the fulness of a grateful heart.
It was just beginning to dawn when he left the Alijah, and walked up and
down upon the roof. The stars were dim; the hills of Moab lay in
darkness, and the Dead Sea was wrapt in vapour, but on the summits of
the hills of Judah the first distant beam of light appeared to break.
“What are they doing now in the temple?” he asked himself; “perhaps they
are changing the watch, or clearing the altar, or opening the gates that
Israel may come up and appear before Jehovah. And how is the venerable
old man of the temple employed?” He remembered with gratitude how much
light he had derived from his conversations with him, and then the
warning recurred to his mind which he had received from him. He now
fully comprehended its meaning. In the journey through the desert, in
the visit to the Essenes, in the discourse of Elisama and Selumiel, and
the conversation of the priests at the banquet, he had found abundant
proofs of the truth of the old man’s assertions respecting the parties
by which Israel was distracted. He grieved to think that the highest and
the noblest in Israel were arrayed against each other in hostile sects;
that simplicity of faith and purity of life were so little honoured, and
heathen philosophy, in a Jewish garb, exalted to the throne. “Should the
Messiah come,” said he, “I verily believe that, after having disputed
about his claims, they would finish by all rejecting him. The priests
themselves descend from their dignity, as the appointed conservators of
divine knowledge, to the wranglings of human philosophy, and the light
of heavenly truth, which they should transmit pure and direct, is
absorbed or diverted by the gross medium through which it passes; and
thus this unhappy land, so awfully chastised by the justice of God, so
graciously received back to favour by his mercy, is deprived of the
bliss which Providence designed for it. Who could have believed,” he
continued, “when a few weeks ago I approached Jerusalem, when I saw for
the first time the temple and the priests, and all my wish was to be
enrolled among them and to dwell on the hill which Jehovah has chosen
for his peculiar presence, who could have believed that so short a time
would have made every thing appear to me so tame and common? Is the
fault my own, that I pass too easily from the one extreme to the other;
or am I disappointed, that, instead of a perpetual ministration before
Jehovah, I am only called at long intervals and for a short time to
appear in his temple? Yet surely even this might be sufficient to keep
alive my zeal, were it not that the moment he quits the temple the
dreams of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes again take possession of the
mind of a priest, and seduce him into transgressions of the law. What
hope then, under such circumstances, of becoming a Chasidean? There was
another priesthood of which Elisama spoke, as we stood together at the
foot of that pointed hill. O that I could but be assured that I was not
mistaken in the meaning of his often repeated hints!” As he spoke his
face turned involuntarily towards the Armon. Some one came behind him
and touched him on the shoulder; it was Elisama. He started, as if it
were possible that he might have heard his soliloquy, and could scarcely
return his uncle’s salutation, “I am glad,” said Elisama, with a serious
look, “to find you here alone: for some days past I have wished for an
opportunity of speaking to you alone on important matters. Let us go
into the Alijah, we shall be most secure there from the danger of
interruption.
“When we left Egypt it was all thy wish to see the land of thy fathers:
thy mother had another wish. Thou art of that age when the youth of
Israel take to themselves wives. Doubtless we are all agreed in this,
that thy wife should not come from any Hellenistic family. Among the
Aramæan Jews of Alexandria, there was none with whom so near a
connection would have been honourable for us. Besides it is thy mother’s
wish that her daughter-in-law should be, as she herself was, a native of
the Holy Land. I have been occupied in looking round for a wife for
thee. What sayest thou to Sulamith, the daughter of Selumiel?”
Helon fell at his uncle’s feet, and embracing his knees exclaimed, “Is
it possible? Ah! give me Sulamith!”
“Rise,” said Elisama. “May Jehovah bless you both! I have already
settled the conditions with Selumiel in Jerusalem, and we kept silence,
only that we might see whether Sulamith would please you. He wished to
have a priest for a son-in-law, and one who should not come
empty-handed.”
“O give my whole fortune, if he demands it,” said Helon.
“At this moment he is speaking with Sulamith.” Looking through the
lattice of the Alijah, he saw Selumiel passing along the court, and
called to him to come up to them. He came and Helon fell before him on
his face.
“I know enough,” said he, “I will call my wife and daughter—follow me to
the large saloon of the Armon.”
He led them from the Alijah through the outer and inner court to the
Armon, which no foot of a male stranger had ever trodden before. He left
them standing in the richly adorned saloon, and went to call Sulamith
and her mother. They came with him, and the brother also made his
appearance. The mother was in tears: Sulamith stood with her face
completely veiled. Elisama then came forward and said, “If ye will deal
kindly and truly with my nephew Helon, tell me, and give him this your
daughter Sulamith to wife; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the
right hand or to the left.”[92] Then Selumiel and Abisuab answered, “The
thing proceedeth from the Lord, therefore we cannot speak unto thee bad
or good. Behold Sulamith is before thee; take her and go thy way, that
she may be the wife of thy nephew Helon.” Elisama and Helon bowed
themselves to the earth; and Elisama said, “I will pay thee for thy
daughter 10,000 shekels.” “I give them to her for her dowry,” said
Selumiel, “and add to them 10,000 more.” Then Selumiel, turning to
Sulamith, said, “Wilt thou go with this man into the land of Egypt, or
remain with him in Jericho, as Jehovah shall appoint?” Sulamith,
sobbing, answered, “Yes.” Then the mother led her daughter to Helon,
whose joy was without bounds; she bowed down before him, and he took her
by the hand and raised her up. The father, the mother, and the brother
of the bride, along with Elisama, then drew near to them, and blessed
them both, and said, “May ye grow and multiply a thousand times, and may
your seed possess the gate of your enemies!”
-----
Footnote 92:
Gen. xxiv. 49.
-----
The company which had assembled on the preceding day was again invited,
and Selumiel said to his astonished guests, “Rejoice with me, my
friends, and bless the God of our fathers. I have received from Jehovah
two children, a grandson and a son-in-law.”
Elisama remained in Selumiel’s house. Helon, so propriety required, took
up his abode in a neighbouring house; but through the day he was chiefly
in the Armon of his Sulamith. The more intimately he became acquainted
with her, the higher his love and admiration rose. Every day discovered
to him some new excellence, her deep piety, her gentle temper, her quick
sensibility, her sound understanding, and playful, harmless wit. He
looked on with delight when, in the course of her daily occupations, she
prepared the meal for bread, kneaded it in flat round cakes, and baked
it in the deep oven. He stood beside her when, as became a female, she
wove cloth for the garments of the men. He lent his aid when she
prepared the perfumed ointments, and rubbed upon a smooth marble stone
the sandalwood, the juice of the date-palm, the kernel of the Behen-nut
from Egypt, oil of sesame, fragrant reed from Lebanon, oil of myrtle,
cypress, and mastix, and the juice of the pomegranate-rind. In whatever
occupation he had seen her, whatever had been the subject of their
conversation, he always returned home at evening more grateful to God.
The sabbath and the new moon, all the solemnities of religion had become
more interesting to him, and his confidence revived that with such a
daughter of Israel by his side, he should be able to keep the whole law,
and perhaps even become a Chasidean.