THE FEAST OF PENTECOST.
The feast of Pentecost drew near. It derived this name, which is Greek,
and its Jewish name of the Feast of Weeks,[93] from the circumstance
that seven weeks or fifty days elapsed between it and the day after the
Passover, on which the first-fruits of barley were offered, so that it
was the fiftieth day from that time. It fell on the sixth day of the
third month Sivan, and the days between the offering of the sheaf and it
were solemnly reckoned every evening, at the time of supper. The master
of the house, rising up with the rest of the company, said, “Blessed be
thou, O Lord our God, king of the world, who hast sanctified us with thy
precepts, and commanded us to count the days of harvest,” adding, this
is the fifth day, or one week, and the third day, and so on. In this way
they thought that they were fulfilling the command of the law, “Seven
weeks shall ye reckon; begin to reckon the seven weeks from the time
when thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn; and thou shalt keep
the Feast of Weeks to the Lord thy God.”[94]
-----
Footnote 93:
Exod. xxxiv. 22.
Footnote 94:
Deut. xvi. 9.
-----
Helon wished, in virtue of his priestly office, to travel to Jerusalem;
Abisuab and his wife were going up to present their new-born child
before Jehovah; Sulamith was glad to join herself to her brother and
sister-in-law; and Selumiel and Elisama had to comply with the law,
which enjoins that all males should appear, thrice in the year, at each
of the great festivals, before Jehovah. The preparations were already
made, and the day of the pilgrimage was very near.
On the forty-seventh day Helon was sitting with Sulamith beside the
fountain in the inner court of the Armon. They were conversing on the
office of the priest: Sulamith expressed her joy in the thought that she
should see her betrothed husband ministering at the altar of Jehovah;
and Helon declared what increased delight he should have in every
service, when he reflected that the eyes of his Sulamith accompanied him
from place to place. As he spoke he saw in imagination her cedar-form,
conspicuous among all who filled the court of the Women, and her dark
eye watching him as he moved. As they conversed thus together, the
well-known sound of cymbal and flute was heard, accompanied by more than
a thousand human voices. “It is the Galileans going up to the festival,”
said Sulamith, listening as the sacred sounds seemed to descend from
heaven into the court where they were sitting. Helon hastened forth to
greet them. Although Samaria was destroyed, they still took their
ancient road by Bethabara and Jericho, in preference to that by Sichem,
especially as in the former track their train was swollen by accessions
from every village through which they passed. They were now about to
pass through Jericho, and to encamp at the western gate. Welcomes and
greetings met them from every house.
On the following morning, when the pilgrims from Jericho were going to
unite with them, the long-standing hatred between the Jews and the
Galileans displayed itself. The Galileans, who occupied the country
which had formerly made a part of the kingdom of Israel, had adopted
many customs from the heathens among whom they lived; inhabiting a
fertile region they lived in the possession of many physical comforts,
but neglected the cultivation of literature and knowledge, and their
uncouth pronunciation, by which the guttural letters were confounded,
bore witness to the low state of refinement among them. Their Jewish
brethren were proud of superior knowledge, as the Galileans of superior
wealth, and they seldom came together without some explosion. The
present dispute was about precedence in the march. The men of Jericho
claimed it, as genuine Jews and inhabitants of a city of priests,
reproaching the Galileans that their ancestors were only the common
people of the land, left behind when the great and noble were carried
into captivity. The men of Jericho at length prevailed: Selumiel, as
elder of the city, led the march with the heads of the courses of
priests; the Levites struck up their music, and all the people sung
together.
The city whose foundation is in the holy mountains,
The gates of Zion, Jehovah loves
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious is it to speak of thee
O City of God!
Of Zion it is said,
This and that man was born in her.
He, the Most High buildeth her.
When God reckoned up the people
He wrote, This man was born there.—Ps. lxxxvii.
Thus the train quitted the smiling fields of Jericho, and entered on the
wilderness, which they crossed by a nearer way than that which led by
the Oasis of the Essenes. By mid-day they had reached a verdant spot,
shaded with palm-trees, and, encamping beneath them, opened their
wallets, and distributing their provisions, endeavoured to exhilarate
themselves amidst the desolation which surrounded them. Sulamith,
sitting between her father and her bridegroom, had taken her sister’s
first-born from her arms and playfully placed it on her lap, when a
Galilean approached them and asked Selumiel, if Elisama and Helon from
Alexandria were with him. Selumiel having pointed them out to him, he
informed them that he was charged with the salutations of a young Greek
of Alexandria, of the name of Myron, whom he had recently seen in his
visit to Damascus. Myron had commissioned him at the same time to say,
that his affairs would not allow him to come to Jerusalem at Pentecost.
He regretted that he must thus lose their society on his return to
Egypt, which had been a source of so much pleasure to him on his journey
thence. If, however, they could wait, he requested to be informed by
this Galilean, who was about to return to Damascus immediately after the
feast.
“A fair opportunity,” said Selumiel’s son, “for you, Helon, to meet him
in the north of Judea, and bring him to the festivities of the marriage;
while you at the same time visit that part of the Holy Land which you
have not seen. I know what you are going to object—but while
preparations for the nuptials are going on, no one can be more easily
spared, even by the bride, than the bridegroom.” Selumiel agreed; and,
notwithstanding the remonstrances of Helon and Sulamith, it was finally
arranged that the Galilean should carry back word to Damascus, that
Helon would meet Myron, in three weeks time, at Dan, the frontier town
of Judea on the north.
The pilgrims resumed their march, the desert was soon left behind, and
Bethany with its gardens and olive-yards appeared. The train ascended
the mount of Olives and wound along its western descent, among the
cedars in the valley of Jehoshaphat. The temple, which was seen from
this side under its most imposing aspect, was brightened with the glow
of sunset; and the whole city, with its hollows and eminences, and the
white tents which in some places were erected, and in others erecting,
partook of the illumination of the evening lights. Companies of pilgrims
hastened from all sides to the city, but none drew the attention of the
spectators more than that which was descending the mount of Olives.
Selumiel and his party were received with undiminished hospitality into
the house of Iddo, who poured out his hearty congratulations to Sulamith
and Helon, telling the latter that from the time when he had first seen
him, he had anticipated that they should be more nearly related. In the
midst of his friendly greetings and compliments, however, it was plain
that something weighed upon his mind; and when the women had retired
into the Armon, and the men were sitting around the fountain in the
court, he asked whether they had heard of the event which had occurred
in their absence. They asked him of what kind, and he replied respecting
the high-priest. They had heard imperfect rumours of it on the way, and
requested him to relate the circumstances more fully.
“You know,” he began, “that Hyrcanus has from his youth inclined to the
party of the Pharisees, though with moderation. I must confess that I
have been astonished how he, who himself possesses the gift of
foreknowledge, uniting, as the Messiah shall hereafter do, the triple
office of high-priest, king, and prophet, and to whom a voice foretold
the approaching victory of his sons over the Samaritans, when he came
out of the Holy of Holies, on the last day of atonement, how such a man
should not have seen through these hypocrites. It is true, he was
brought up by them, and their influence, which since the time of
Jonathan has been unfortunately on the increase, has been very
serviceable to him in the support of his government. They have now
scandalously repaid his over-confidence in them. At one of the feasts
which were held in the castle of Baris, in celebration of the victory
over the Samaritans, the pious prince, moved by gratitude towards
Jehovah, called upon those who were present to tell him if there were
any point in which he had neglected to fulfil the commands of God, and
his duties towards men. As was natural, they broke out into the warmest
encomiums on his administration. One of them only, the haughty Eleazar,
whom you know, Selumiel, alleged that he could mention an instance of
his violation of the law. Hyrcanus urged him to speak, and he said,
‘Thou canst not legally be high-priest, for thy mother was a bondwoman.’
The accusation was as groundless as it was insolent: Hyrcanus was stung
by it to the quick, and even the rest of the Pharisees blamed him who
had made it, for uttering a falsehood. The banquet was interrupted;
Jonathan, the confidential friend of the high-priest and a zealous
Sadducee, advised him to call the council together, and lay the matter
before them. He did so, but the Pharisees, who predominate there,
proposed only the imprisonment of the offender; and the high-priest
chose rather that the indignity offered to him should pass unavenged,
than that this inadequate punishment should be inflicted. He has now,
however, seen the Pharisees in their true colours, and he and his sons,
it is to be hoped, will in future be on their guard against these
hypocrites. They will seek to do him mischief, but the conquerors of
Samaria may set them at defiance.”
All were astonished and shocked at the recital; Selumiel strengthened
Iddo in his displeasure. Elisama lamented that Israel should be
distracted by such dissensions, and that a canker should be at the root
of its fair appearance of prosperity. Helon rejoiced in the prospect of
that domestic felicity with his Sulamith, which should remove him from
the scene of these unholy contentions of party spirit. They repaired to
supper, and Iddo counted the forty-eighth day from the offering of the
first-fruits.
The following day was the preparation for Pentecost, and was passed in
bathing, cutting off the hair, and other purifyings. An hour after the
evening-sacrifice Helon went up to the temple and knocked at the door of
the old man’s cell. “Welcome to Azereth!” he exclaimed, as Helon
entered. Azereth, or Day of Assembly was the name given to the day of
Pentecost as well as to the seventh of the Passover, and to the eighth
of the Feast of Tabernacles. “Will it in truth be Azereth to Hyrcanus
and the Pharisees?” said Helon. “Did I not tell thee, young man,” he
replied, “that it would be so? Believe me, this scene is only the
commencement of long and ruinous dissensions between the council and the
prince. God grant that I may not live to see them! But for thee, at
least, priest and bridegroom both, it is truly Azereth, and in a
different sense from the seventh day of the Passover.” “Give us thy
blessing,” said Helon; and as he knelt down the old man stretched out
his hands upon his head and blessed him. Helon then asked him to explain
the design of the feast which was about to commence. “As,” said he,
“when the first barley sheaf was offered, we prayed to Jehovah for his
blessing upon the harvest, so now that both the barley and the wheat are
gathered in, we thank him that he has given us the early and the later
rain, and dew from heaven, and the appointed weeks of harvest. Thus the
Pentecost is a harvest feast: but it is also a commemoration of the
giving of the law: for it was on this fiftieth day, the sixth after
Israel’s arrival in the wilderness of Sinai, and the third after the
purification of the people, that Moses led them out of the camp to meet
Jehovah, and to receive the law amidst the thundering and lightning, and
the sound of the trumpet. But pray to God that he would disclose to thee
the sublimer meaning which lies hidden under these more obvious
purposes. Bethink thee of that approaching time, when all the gifts of
Jehovah shall be poured out upon his kingdom on earth, when all prayers
shall be granted, and the law shall be universally known and kept in its
purest and most spiritual sense. Let this thought guide thy devotions at
the feast. And now, if thou art pure, go to the evening-sacrifice. Hark!
the trumpets announce that the Pentecost is about to begin.”
Helon departed, was present at the evening-sacrifice, and remained in
the temple through the night with all the priests who had assembled at
Jerusalem for the festival. On the following day the principal duty fell
to the course whose week was just beginning; but there was so much to be
done beyond the common offices, that they needed the aid of the others.
The dissensions of the Pharisees and Sadducees were more visible than
ever, and ceased not even in the temple and on the holy night.
The gates were opened, and among the rest who filled the courts before
the crowing of the cock, Iddo, Selumiel, Abisuab, and Elisama presented
their victims to the priests; and Sulamith with the wife of Iddo and her
own sister-in-law were in the court of the Women. The ordinary
morning-sacrifice was first offered, then the special offering of the
festival, consisting of seven lambs of the first year, a young bullock
and two rams for a burnt-offering, a goat for a sin-offering, and two
yearling sheep for a thank-offering. The difference between the
offerings on this occasion and at the Passover was, that there were then
two bullocks and one ram offered, and now two rams and one bullock.[95]
When the drink-offering was poured out, the priests blew upon their
pillars, the Levites sung on the fifteen steps, and the whole
congregation sung the great Hallel.
-----
Footnote 95:
Lev. xxiii. 18.
-----
Now came the special-offering of the Pentecost. It consisted of two
loaves and a tenth of an epha of fine wheat flour, the first-fruits of
the harvest, which a priest had waved before Jehovah towards all the
four winds of heaven, in the open space between the altar and the
sanctuary. When this offering had been presented to Jehovah, the
sacrifices of individuals began. Selumiel, his son, and Elisama, brought
their noble victims; thousands followed them, and among the rest, Helon
offered his thank-offering, and paid to the Lord the vow which he had
formed in the happy hour of his betrothment. Selumiel’s son offered for
the purification of his wife, as it chanced to be the fortieth day from
her delivery, a lamb of the first year as a burnt-offering and a
turtle-dove as a sin-offering. She prayed while they were slain, and a
priest, bringing the blood of the sin-offering in a dish, sprinkled her
with it, and thus she became clean. She had brought her first-born in
her arm, and presented him before Jehovah; and her husband redeemed him,
according to the law, by the payment of five shekels.[96] For thus said
Jehovah, “Behold I have taken the Levites unto myself among the children
of Israel, instead of all the first-born; therefore the Levites shall be
mine. For the first-born are mine, since the time when I slew all the
first-born in Egypt: then did I set apart all the first-born in Israel,
both of man and beast, that they should be mine. I am Jehovah.”[97]
-----
Footnote 96:
Numb. xviii. 15.
Footnote 97:
Numb. iii. 12.
-----
When all these were ended, and the blessing given to the people in the
name of Jehovah, Iddo, with the assistance of his own slaves and of
Sallu, presented his own thank-offering. The wife of Abisuab, Sulamith,
and the wife of Iddo, partook of the feast which the sacrifice furnished
in one of the apartments of the temple, and in addition to them some
priests and Levites who had been bidden. Helon, once more in the temple,
in sight of the crowds of worshippers who poured in streams along its
courts, within hearing of the solemn sound of the temple music,
surrounded by all the circumstances which made this consecrated spot a
little world within itself, and seated by his Sulamith, forgot his
native country Egypt, his longing for his mother and his home, the
factions of Pharisees and Sadducees; and nothing occupied his thoughts,
but the wish to live in the Holy Land as a priest of Jehovah, and to
endeavour to fulfil the law, with all his soul, and with all his mind,
and with all his strength.
The Feast of Pentecost lasted only one day.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
THE JOURNEY TO DAN.
On the day which followed the feast of Pentecost, Helon stood upon the
highest of the three summits of the mount of Olives, and with a heavy
heart and weeping eyes watched the train of the pilgrims from Jericho,
as they disappeared among the groves and gardens of Bethany, and
listened to their songs, in which the voice of Sulamith seemed to warble
to him a farewell, full of affection and regret. It had cost him many a
struggle, to resolve to undertake this journey to Dan—but Selumiel had
determined to put his self-command to this proof, and Helon was forced
to comply. There was a certain hardness in Selumiel’s natural
disposition, which the influence of an amiable wife had not entirely
mollified; he had been compelled in his youth to practise much
self-denial and bear many mortifications, and he could not deny himself
the pleasure of making even those he loved undergo a similar discipline,
persuading himself perhaps that he was improving their tempers, while he
was indulging his own. “The path of obedience is arduous and rough,”
said Helon with a sigh, as he turned from where the Jordan wound its way
through the meadows of Jericho, to the northern hills of Ebal and
Gerizim, over which his destined journey lay; “the path of obedience is
rough, but it shall be trodden.” He called to mind the first commandment
with promise, and he thought that when he had made this sacrifice to the
sense of duty, he should be able, without difficulty, to fulfil the rest
of the commandments, and become a Chasidean. Ambition came to the aid of
virtue, and he returned towards the city, resolved, though not
satisfied.
On the following morning he took his departure, in company with the
Governor of Samaria, whom Hyrcanus had just appointed, and some Galilean
Jews, who preferred returning into their own country by the nearer way.
Iddo accompanied his friend as far as to the gate of Ephraim, not
without a secret dissatisfaction at the ill-nature of his brother. The
travellers were mounted, and attended by such a train as became the rank
of the principal person in the party. They entered the King’s valley,
and directed their course between Mizpa and Nob towards Geba, which lay
not far from Rama, the city where Samuel judged,[98] called in latter
times Arimathea. The road was stony; the conversation of the party
turned wholly on worldly topics. This Geba is also called Geba of
Benjamin, to distinguish it from another of the same name: it was
celebrated for David’s victory over the Philistines.[99] It lay on a
rising ground, six sabbath-days’ journies from Jerusalem, and was one of
the cities of the priests.[100] As they had been late in quitting
Jerusalem, they halted here for their rest at noon, and as most of the
party were disposed to consult their own ease, they remained till late
in the afternoon. The road to Michmash was more steep and rocky than
that which they had travelled. Here they had to traverse a defile,
between two abrupt and rugged rocks, in the mountains of Ephraim,
forming a pass which had been rendered celebrated by the exploits of
Jonathan in Saul’s first expedition against the Philistines,[101] and by
the residence of the Maccabee prince Jonathan.[102] They halted for the
night at Bethel, a place of which the name often occurs in the sacred
writings. This city was sixteen sabbath-days’ journies from Jerusalem,
and Helon called to mind that from the mulberry-trees in its
neighbourhood it had been named Luz, when Abraham dwelt there; that
Jacob here saw the vision of the ladder on which the angels ascended and
descended, and that rising upon the following morning he built an altar
to Jehovah, and called the name of the place Bethel.[103] The ark of the
covenant had long stood here; and it was here too, alas, that Jeroboam
had set up the worship of the golden calves which he had learnt in
Egypt, causing Israel to sin.[104] The prophets so much abhorred its
idolatries that they changed its name into Bethaven, _place of
unworthiness_; and to go to Bethel, came to signify the same thing as to
apostatize from Jehovah to idolatry.[105]
-----
Footnote 98:
1 Sam. vii. 17.
Footnote 99:
2 Sam. v. 25.
Footnote 100:
1 Chron. vi. 60.
Footnote 101:
1 Sam. xiv. 4.
Footnote 102:
1 Mac. ix. 73.
Footnote 103:
Gen. xxviii. 19.
Footnote 104:
1 Kings xii. 29.
Footnote 105:
Hos. x. 5; Amos iv. 4.
-----
On the following morning, instead of taking the usual road by Lebona and
Gophna, they went by Shiloh, where the governor had business. Shiloh was
the first town in Samaria, and peculiarly interesting to Helon, from the
circumstance that Joshua came thither from Gilgal,[106] and that the
tabernacle had long stood there. It was very pleasantly situated on a
hill, whence the mountains both of Judah and Ephraim might be seen. For
nearly three hundred years it was the place in which the tribes
assembled, till the tabernacle was removed to Nob[107] and Bethel;
afterwards by Saul to Gibeon;[108] and finally by David to Jerusalem. It
was here that in the times of the Judges the maidens were carried off by
violence;[109] here Eli had fallen from his seat, at the news of the
capture of the ark by the Philistines.[110] After the mid-day rest at
Shiloh, the governor hastened to his residence at Sichem, which was
sixteen sabbath-days’ journies from Shiloh, thirty-six from Bethel, and
more than fifty from Jerusalem.
-----
Footnote 106:
Josh. xviii. 1.
Footnote 107:
1 Sam. xxi. 1.
Footnote 108:
2 Chron. i. 3.
Footnote 109:
Judges xxi. 16.
Footnote 110:
1 Sam. iv. 18.
-----
Iddo had strongly recommended Helon to the good offices of the governor,
who, to do honour to the recommendation, invited him to take up his
abode in his own house, which displayed every luxury of furniture, and a
numerous train of servants. The pompous condescension, the free life and
licentious conversation of the governor, who was a Jew by birth, but a
Samaritan in sensuality and worldly mindedness, were so displeasing to
Helon, that he would instantly have departed; but his host would not
allow him to go without passing a few days with him. He endeavoured to
console himself by exploring every object of interest in the
neighbourhood, for which purpose the governor furnished him with
attendants and guides.
Sichem lay in a plain, or to speak more accurately, in a valley, which
extended to the east and west. On the northern and southern sides of the
long line of the city rose the two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim,
separated by so small an interval, that the voice might be heard from
the summit of the one to the summit of the other. Thus sheltered from
the pernicious winds of the north-west and south-west, it lay stretched
out in picturesque beauty, at the feet of the gigantic guards that
seemed stationed for its protection. It was half a sabbath-day’s journey
in length, but so narrow, that it consisted only of two parallel
streets, with an open space between them. The fruitful plain into which
the valley expanded was watered by several mountain streams, and
diversified by vineyards and olive-yards, plantations of mulberries, and
orchards of figs, citrons, and pomegranates. About a sabbath-day’s
journey from the city, on the road to Jerusalem, was the well of Jacob,
situated in the field or plain which Jacob had purchased from the
children of Hamor.[111] The well is nine feet in diameter, and a hundred
deep, with five feet of water. It was cut in the rock, and a flight of
steps descended to the water. In the midst of this lovely plain stood
the grove of Moreh.[112]
-----
Footnote 111:
Gen. xxxiii. 19; Josh. xxiv. 32.
Footnote 112:
Gen. xii. 6.
-----
From every part of the plain Sichem and its hills of Ebal and Gerizim
were seen. The city seemed more closely connected with Gerizim which lay
on the south, than with Ebal on the north. Gerizim was fruitful,
abounding in springs and covered with vines and olives; its principal
face being turned to the north, it escaped that parching heat which made
Ebal scorched and bare. The latter, on the side adjacent to the city was
full of caverns, which served the inhabitants as sepulchres.
The natural beauties of this exquisite scene were combined with a
multitude of historical associations. The grove of Moreh had been the
first resting-place of Abraham, when he entered the Land of Promise.
Jacob had dug the well, purchased the plain, and buried the idols of his
wives beneath the terebinth.[113] The outrage committed by his sons
Simeon and Levi had compelled him to retire to Bethel, through fear of
the men of Sichem.[114] Joshua had called the tribes together for the
last time to this place,[115] and had caused a stone to be erected on
Ebal, as a memorial of the renewal of the covenant with Jehovah. It was
Sichem which proclaimed Abimelech king, after he had murdered his
seventy brethren; it had also been the first to revolt from him, in
consequence of which it was destroyed and sowed with salt.[116] At
Sichem the schism between Israel and Judah was consummated, and Jeroboam
made it the metropolis of the new kingdom.[117] After the erection of
the temple on Gerizim, which Hyrcanus had destroyed, Sichem had been for
three hundred years the chief seat of the Samaritan idolatry.
-----
Footnote 113:
Gen. xxxv. 4.
Footnote 114:
Gen. xxxiv.
Footnote 115:
Josh. xxiv. 1.
Footnote 116:
Judges ix.
Footnote 117:
1 King xii. 25.
-----
Helon dismissed his guides as soon as they had pointed out to him the
particular spots, and every morning wandered alone for several hours
over the neighbourhood. Now he lingered beside the well of Jacob, or
traversed the field of the patriarch, or rested in the grove of Moreh;
now, from the lofty side of Ebal or Gerizim, beheld the whole landscape
spread at his feet. His hours flowed on without his being conscious of
their lapse, while, in the dreams of thought, he pictured to himself his
approaching happiness, not without a secret feeling of pride in his
virtuous resolution, in having quitted Sulamith for a time, in
compliance with her father’s command. He returned unwillingly towards
evening, to take his place among the guests at the luxurious table of
the governor, and hear their heartless jests.
Once however, during his rambles, he found the governor’s protection of
great importance to him. He had joined some Samaritans who had laid
themselves down in the shade of some olives on the sloping side of
Gerizim, and were conversing about their temple and their worship, the
rites of which were still celebrated amidst its ruins. They reviled
Hyrcanus and his sons, and exalted the memory of Sanballat and Manasseh.
This was more than Helon could endure. He started up and exclaimed,
“Where is your temple? When Moses commanded that on the entrance of the
tribes into the promised land, one half should stand on Ebal to curse
the ungodly, and the other half on Gerizim to bless the godly, (as was
done under Joshua,) he said, ‘When ye go over the Jordan ye shall raise
up stones upon mount Ebal, and plaster them with lime, and there build
an altar of stones to Jehovah your God.’[118] And ye, contrary to the
express command of God, have built a temple upon Gerizim!”
-----
Footnote 118:
Deut. xxvii. 4; Josh. viii. 30.
-----
The Samaritans arose, and in violent anger exclaimed, “Thou art a Jew,
one of those who through hatred against us have corrupted the law, have
effaced the name of Gerizim and inserted that of Ebal.”
“It is false,” said Helon.
“We alone possess the genuine law,” exclaimed the Samaritans. “And ye
have the curse,” replied Helon with equal emotion.
The dialogue was growing so warm, that Helon might probably have
suffered some personal violence from them, had not the officers of
justice made their appearance, who carried them all before the governor.
He speedily decided the matter, dismissed the Samaritans with
scorn—giving Helon at the same time many sarcastic admonitions, to
controul his zeal and enthusiasm more carefully in future. At the
evening’s banquet he had again to endure his raillery; and when he was
alone he could not help exclaiming, “Well may Sichem be called in Judæa
_Sichar_, for it is in truth the place of drunkenness and lies!”
On the following morning he took his departure. The governor politely
gave him an escort as far as Samaria; fearing, as he said, that he
should expose himself to the same dangers as on mount Gerizim: Helon
accepted the offer, but shook off the dust of Sichem from his feet when
he had quitted it.
Samaria was in the former territory of the tribe of Manasseh. Omri, the
sixth king of Israel, and father of Ahab, built it, and called it after
Samer, the possessor of the ground.[119] Thirza, which had before been
the royal residence, having been reduced to ashes, Samaria became the
capital of the kingdom of Israel, and remained so till its destruction.
At that time it was a league in circumference, was called the head of
Ephraim, and contained a magnificent temple of Baal which Jezebel had
erected.[120] It slighted the warnings of Elijah and Elisha, and was
destroyed by the Assyrian Salmanasser, after a siege of three
years.[121]
-----
Footnote 119:
1 Kings xvi. 24.
Footnote 120:
1 Kings xvi. 32.
Footnote 121:
2 Kings xvii. 5.
-----
At this time it was a picture of desolation. The lofty hill on which it
once stood, with a view towards Joppa, Carmel, and the Mediterranean
sea, was covered with heaps of ruins and water-courses diverted from
their channels. Its commanding prospect only made it a more conspicuous
monument of the valour and the vengeance of the heroes of Judah and of
the wickedness of its inhabitants. A second time the prophetic word of
Hosea and Micah had received its accomplishment.[122] Helon looked down
at once with exultation and gratitude to God upon the scattered huts in
which the children of Samaria were hiding themselves, while the sons of
Jerusalem were praising Jehovah in their houses and their palaces.
-----
Footnote 122:
Hos. viii. ix. x.; Micah i. 6.
-----
He dismissed the escort of the governor and pursued his way to Thirza,
the limits of this day’s journey. He had purposed to reach Megiddo, but
his progress was arrested by a spectacle equally new and interesting; a
tribe of wandering shepherds, who were making their annual migration
from the plain of Sharon to mount Hermon. They had been detained later
than usual, for they commonly remove early in the spring. The flocks and
herds led the way, behind them came camels laden with their tents,
baggage, and poultry, and the young of the flocks, which as yet were too
weak to accompany the march. The women and children followed, mounted on
other camels; some of the females were spinning as they rode, others
grinding in their hand-mills, others tending their infant children. The
boys ran by the side of the camels, playing or fighting. Lances, from
eight to ten feet in length, were every where seen above the heads of
this tumultuous train; and on all sides were heard the hoarse voices of
the men who carried them, some of whom were endeavouring to maintain
order, and others surrounded and protected the line of march.
When they reached their ordinary place of encampment, a new scene began;
the sheep and goats laid themselves in the grass, the camels knelt down,
the poultry flew from their backs. In two hours the dark brown tents
were erected. Helon made Sallu assist them, while he himself looked on
and enjoyed the animated confusion of the scene. With upright and cross
poles a large tent of an oblong form was erected. The coverings were of
a thick brown stuff made of goats’ hair, and the door of the tent was
nothing but a curtain of this cloth, which could be lifted up or drawn
aside. In the middle was the tent of the chief of this nomadic tribe;
the rest were pitched around it, to the distance of thirty paces. Every
one of the larger tents was divided into three parts by curtains; in the
outermost were the young and tender cattle which required shelter, in
the next the men, and in the innermost the women. The mattresses,
pillows, and coverlets for sleeping were laid in one corner; the weapons
were hung on the sides of the tent; carpets were spread upon the floor,
a hole dug in the middle for the fire, and the few and simple articles
of household furniture, wooden dishes, vessels of copper, a hand-mill,
and bottles of leather, easily found their appropriate place.
Helon beheld, with admiration, the rapid erection of this moveable town.
The number of the tents was about thirty, that of the men and women
above two hundred, and the cattle amounted to some thousands. Always
reminded of the past by the present, he thought he saw the Rechabites,
or Israel journeying in the wilderness, or the pastoral wanderings of
Abraham and Jacob. “How much more agreeable to nature, how much more
favourable to virtue,” thought he, “is this life of simplicity and
freedom, than the constraint and luxury of the governor’s palace!” He
laid himself down beside the well, and thought “what would be wanting to
the happiness or to the purity of life, if here, with Sulamith, I could
spend my days, far from the cares and the temptations of the busy
world!”
The chief of the tribe received him and Sallu hospitably, with their
horses and camels, and killed a calf for their entertainment, which the
women prepared by roasting in small square pieces. Milk, butter, and
cheese formed the rest of their repast. At the first dawn of morning the
whole encampment was in motion, to milk the cattle and lead them out to
their pasture. Helon often cast his eyes towards the spot where a few
scattered cottages marked the place on which the ruins of Thirza stood.
Though the city had disappeared, the loveliness of the site still showed
why Thirza had been to the Hebrews an emblem for beauty.[123] Baasha
governed Israel from this hill, and Zimri the murderer of his son, after
seven days’ enjoyment of the fruits of his crime, consumed himself along
with the royal palace.[124] “These,” said Helon, “are all passed away;
the capital and the kingdom are alike become a tradition; yet the tribes
of migrating shepherds still pursue the track which their forefathers
kept in ages past!”
-----
Footnote 123:
Cant. vi. 4.
Footnote 124:
1 Kings, xv. xvi.
-----
About noon a small caravan of merchants arrived, which usually followed
the shepherds: they pitched their white tents, and spread their wares
out around them. The shepherds came and purchased what they wanted,
giving in exchange skins, wool, goats’ hair, cheese, and even cattle.
Helon purchased some ornaments, which he designed to be a present to his
hospitable entertainer. He remained some days among them, delighted
beyond measure with their mode of life, and entering with the liveliest
interest into all their occupations. He helped the shepherds to water
their flocks from the well, played with the children, and related
stories in the evening, when they gathered with their camels around the
fire.
Only a few days now remained to the time when he was to meet Myron at
Dan. After taking a friendly leave, he directed his course to Megiddo,
which lies between the fragrant plain of Sharon on the south, and the
great plain of Jezreel on the north. Megiddo is celebrated for the
battle in which the kings Ahaziah and Josiah were killed fighting
against Neco, king of Egypt.[125] Helon had come hither to see the great
route of the Phœnician commerce, which pursued a course parallel to
the sea. He passed Tunis Stratonis, a small and now almost abandoned
town, but possessed, as he remarked, of an incomparable harbour. Here he
was a hundred stadia from Jerusalem. Keeping to the north from Turris
Stratonis, he came to Dor, which is also on the sea-coast, and thence by
Magdiel to the foot of Carmel.
-----
Footnote 125:
2 Kings, xxiii. 29.
-----
Carmel joins the plain of Sharon to the south, and the hills of Ephraim
to the south-east; and on the north the bay of Acco and the plain of
Jezreel or Esdraelon, through which the Kishon runs, rising in mount
Tabor, and falling into the sea at the foot of Carmel, after having
divided the lands of Issachar and Zebulon. Helon ascended the mountain;
it is of great height, and has a wide and beautiful prospect both by
land and sea. It is distinguished, as its name expresses, by its
fertility. Its very summit is crowned with pines and oaks; its lower
regions abound with olives and laurels. Helon, as he stood on it,
thought with sacred awe of the victory which the worship of Jehovah had
gained over that of Baal, through the energetic zeal of Elijah of
Thisba, and of the slaughter of the priests of Baal, which made Kishon
run purple to the sea.[126] As he descended, he found a multitude of
Phœnician fishermen engaged in taking the shell-fish from which their
celebrated die is made. There are two species of this fish; one is
caught by bait, the other, which is particularly abundant on the shore
of Carmel, is gathered from the rocks. The die is contained in a white
vein or bladder in the neck; the Phœnicians made from it fourteen
shades of purple, of which the most highly prized, the bright red and
the violet, were manufactured with inimitable skill at Tyre. A
shepherd’s dog which had fed upon the fish, and had thus stained his
mouth of a beautiful colour, is said to have furnished the first hint
for this lucrative article of commerce.
-----
Footnote 126:
1 Kings, xviii.
-----
Helon did not proceed from Carmel to Acco,[127] a Phœnician city on
the river Belus, for he had resolved to enter no heathen place on this
journey, devoted to exploring the regions of the promised land. Leaving
Carmel to the south, a high hill to the north, which bears the name of
the Tyrian Climax, (or stair) and the hills of Galilee on the east, he
entered the plain of Zebulon. But he often turned to look on the kingly
head of Carmel, and to admire the structure of the hills which form the
Tyrian Climax, descending, as by a flight of steps, from their highest
elevation to the level of the sea. The city of Tyre lay behind these
hills.
-----
Footnote 127:
Judges, i. 31.
-----
Quitting Samaria, and entering Galilee, the plain of Zebulon brought him
to Gathhepher, the birthplace of the prophet Jonah; and thence he
proceeded through the land of Naphthali to Thisba, where in ancient
times the prophet Elijah, and more recently the pious Tobit,[128] had
been born. But neither beautiful scenery nor the gratification of
beholding the places where eminent men had lived, could efface from
Helon’s mind the painful feeling that every step which he took carried
him further from Jericho. His pride in the consciousness of fulfilling a
duty became less and less able to support him; he thought that he had
carried his obedience a point too far, and was angry with Selumiel, with
Elisama,—with himself. He was therefore rejoiced when he saw in the
distance Antilibanus, the southern branch of a chain of mountains, of
which the other branch lay in Phœnicia. This was consequently the
boundary of the promised land. Its name, Lebanon, was derived from the
whiteness of its rocks and peaks, especially from the perennial
snow[129] which covered the head of Hermon, its highest summit. The
morning sun was shining on its brilliant peak, as Helon crossed the
lesser Jordan, and entered Dan, the frontier town of Judæa on the north.
He inquired his way to the caravansera, and had just halted before it
with his horses and camels when Myron came out and embraced him.
-----
Footnote 128:
Tobit, i. 2.
Footnote 129:
Jer. xviii. 14.
-----
Helon joyfully returned his salutation. “And you will be ready,” said
he, “to-morrow, to set off for Jericho?”
Myron burst into a laugh. “It is true, I see, what the Galilean said, on
his return, of the good fortune which has befallen you there. My own
good star has brought me to be the witness of your nuptials. Receive my
hearty congratulations. How does my venerable Elisama? But our first
care must be to give your beasts rest and shelter.”
The Grecian levity of Myron’s manner was a relief to Helon. They entered
the court of the caravansera; in the middle of it was a large cistern of
water, from which the horses and camels drank; the baggage was deposited
in rooms behind the portico, and fodder for the beasts, with a scanty
supply for themselves, was to be purchased of the attendant in the
caravansera. When these things were done, Myron and Helon seated
themselves in a corner of the portico, where they should be most free
from interruption, and Helon related to his friend his adventures since
they separated. When his narrative was ended, Myron said, “After you
left the caravan at Gaza, I had a melancholy life in the midst of my
merchants, none of whom had a single thought in common with me. My
freedom of speech was perpetually involving me in disputes, out of which
I sometimes found it difficult to extricate myself. I remember
particularly at Joppa”—
Helon interrupted him to say, that he had heard of the offence which he
had given to a citizen of that place, and expressed his regret at
Myron’s want of caution.
“There is no malice,” said Myron, “in my pleasantries; and for the rest
be assured, that not one Greek in a hundred really feels such veneration
for your religion and your people as I do. When I had seen the singular
Tyrian Climax, I had a great curiosity to visit Tyre and Sidon. They
were the parents of Carthage, Thebes, Gades in Spain, and many other
powerful colonies. Arithmetic, astronomy, geography, navigation, were
either invented by them, or at least taught by them to the Greeks. It
was Hiram, king of Tyre, as you have told me, who built the eighth
wonder of the world, the temple of your king Solomon, at Jerusalem. Even
the great invention of alphabetical writing was probably made by them;
that of the purple die is not disputed. There is something too in the
situation of Tyre, in the midst of the sea, obliged to supply by her own
activity and ingenuity what a narrow and rocky country denied, which
made me very desirous of seeing by what institutions she had been able
to contend so successfully against natural disadvantages. I found
manufactures of glass and purple in full activity, docks crowded with
ships, and markets full of silk, wool, cotton, ivory, ebony, and cedar,
of all the precious and the useful metals, of wine and oil, of horses,
dromedaries, and slaves: but the character of the inhabitants pleased me
not; their sagacity is cunning; their polish, the want of force and
individuality of character; their pride, the ignoble pride of wealth. I
did homage in my own mind to the wisdom of your lawgiver, who chose to
form a nation of agriculturists, rather than of merchants.
“How exactly,” said Helon, “does your account of the new Tyre agree with
that which our prophet gives of the old. Shall I repeat you a part of
it?”
“I shall listen to it most willingly,” said Myron. “Since our separation
I have wished to hear more of your psalms and prophets, though when we
were together I was disposed to complain of excess rather than
deficiency.”
“Hear, then,” said Helon, “what Ezekiel spoke:
The word of Jehovah came to me saying,
“Son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre,
And say of Tyre;
O city! that art at the entrance of the sea,
Merchant of the nations in many islands,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah:
Thou, O Tyre, sayest, I am mightiest (of cities)
Thy borders are in the sea;
Thy builders have made thee perfect in beauty,
They have made all thy planks of firs of Shenir,
They have fetched cedars from Lebanon to make thee masts,
They made thine oars of oak of Bashan;
Thy benches, inlaid with ivory,
They made with box from the islands of Chittim.
Embroidered byssus from Egypt thou didst spread forth,
It served thee for a sail;
Thy coverings (canopies) were blue and purple,
From the isles of Elisha.
Sidonians and men of Arvad were thy rowers;
The most skilful, O Tyre, were from thyself;
They were thy pilots;
The oldest and most skilful men of Gebal were thy ship-wrights.
All the ships on the sea and their mariners
Came to thee to purchase thy merchandise.
Persians, Lydians, and Lybians served as warriors in thine armies,
They hung up their helmets and shields in thee;
They upheld thy splendour.
The men of Arvad with thine own warriors were upon thy walls,
The Gammadæans in thy towers.
They had hung their shields around on thy walls,
They made thy splendour complete.
Tarshish dealt with thee
Through the abundance of thy merchandise of every kind:
They brought silver, iron, tin, and lead for thy traffic.
Grecians, Tibarenians, and Moschians dealt with thee,
They brought men and vessels of copper to thy markets;
From Togarmah they brought for thy traffic
Horses of various breeds and mules.
The men of Dedan trafficked with thee,
(For many isles offered thee the hand for traffic)
They brought ivory and ebony-wood
In exchange for thy commodities.
Idumea dealt with thee
Through the multitude of thy fabrics;
They brought rubies, purple, and embroidery,
Corals, and crystal for thy traffic.
Israel and Judah dealt with thee
They brought wheat from Minnith and Pennag;
Honey, oil, and balsam to thy mart.
Damascus dealt with thee
Through the multitude of thy fabrics,
Through the abundance of thy riches;
(They brought) wine of Chalybon and white wool.
Vedan and Javan brought from Usul
Polished steel for thy traffic;
Cassia and cinnamon were in thy mart.
Dedan dealt with thee
With coverings of horses and chariots.
Arabia and the princes of Kedar dealt with thee
With lambs, and rams, and goats.
The merchants of Sheba and Rama dealt with thee;
They brought for thy traffic
The best of spices, precious stones, and gold.
Haran and Cane, and Eden, and the merchants of Sheba,
Assyrians and Chilmedians dealt with thee;
They dealt with thee in costly clothes,
In blue and embroidered mantles,
With store of clothes
Which, bound up with cords,
They brought to thy mart.
But the ships of Tarshish were chief in thy mart,
(By them) thou wast filled with treasures and renowned in the midst of
the seas.”—Ezek. xxvii.
“A splendid, but not an exaggerated picture,” said Myron, “of the
commerce of Tyre. Yet with all its luxury and splendour it was so little
to my taste, that I left it and went to Damascus. But how, Helon, shall
I describe to thee this eye of the east, this terrestrial Elysium?
Imagine a lovely plain, fruitful, well watered, full of trees and
meadows, bordered on both sides by hills, but at a considerable
distance; by Antilibanus on the one hand, and the Arabian chain on the
other. From Antilibanus descends a stream which is called Chrysorrhoas;
on entering the plain it divides into three branches, of which the
principal flows straight towards Damascus, and separating its amber
waters into a multitude of little streams, refreshes every street of the
city. Reuniting below the city with the other two branches, they all
form a lake of great extent on the eastern verge of the plain. In the
red soil of which this plain is composed, every variety of fruit-tree
grows in greater perfection than elsewhere. The city itself is one of
the oldest in the world. I had passed my time there most happily, and
nothing would have drawn me from it so soon but your friendly
invitation. I have been waiting here for you since yesterday.”
On the following morning early they left the caravansera, and turning
from Hermon’s snowy peak, they passed between the hills of Antilibanus,
of which Hermon is only a part, and bending eastward, came first to
Paneas. It lies at the foot of a hill, which also belongs to
Antilibanus; and the Jordan flows from caverns in the rock. They were
wondering at its copiousness, so near its apparent source, when an
inhabitant of Paneas approaching, said, “Strangers, this is not the real
head of the Jordan. It has already flowed sixteen sabbath-days’ journies
under the earth. At that distance, to the east of Paneas, is a little
lake, called from its form Phiala, which is constantly receiving the
influx of streams, yet, without any visible outlet, never overflows. The
reason is, that its waters by a subterraneous channel pass to the hill
of Paneas, and break forth there as the Jordan, which from this cause
appears of such magnitude at its source.” They asked him how the
existence of this subterraneous channel was known, and he told them that
things which had been thrown into the lake of Phiala had reappeared in
the Jordan.
From Paneas they followed the course of the Jordan to the lake
Merom,[130] called also Samochonitis. Before it reaches this lake it
receives the lesser Jordan, which rises near Dan; and the Daphne, whose
source is not far from the place where it issues from the rock. The lake
Merom is ten sabbath-days’ journies long, and five broad, and full of
sedge and oozy water. In summer it is so much dried up, that only the
bright line of the Jordan’s current is visible; and lions, tigers,
bears, and other wild animals, harbour in the reeds and bushes with
which the rest is overgrown; till, when the snow of Lebanon begins to
melt, the Jordan overflows, and fills up the whole basin of the
lake.[131] It was now full. Not being able, owing to the inundation, to
take the nearest way to the lake of Genezareth, they struck into the
desert, thinking thus to reach Bethsaida, which was at the distance of
sixteen sabbath-days’ journies.
-----
Footnote 130:
Josh. xi. 5.
Footnote 131:
Jer. xlix. 19; Eccles. xxiv. 26; Josh. iii. 15.
-----
They had ridden a long time in this desert, under the burning rays of
the sun, and at last discovered that they had missed their way.
Perceiving some living figures in the distance, which they took for
shepherds, they made towards them in the hope of obtaining information.
As they came nearer to them the men warned them by gestures to keep at a
distance, with hoarse and broken voices, and melancholy looks, uttering
the words, Unclean, unclean![132] “They are lepers,” said Helon, with a
look of horror, and turning his horse’s head fled with precipitation,
followed by the others.
-----
Footnote 132:
Lev. xiii. 45.
-----
The huts in which these unhappy victims of a loathsome disease dwelt
were hard by in the desert. As our travellers were hastening from the
scene, they met the relations of the lepers, who dwelt in Bethsaida, and
who were bringing them the food by which their miserable existence was
to be protracted. The lepers set down their vessels and retired out of
sight; the others then came, placed provisions in them with the greatest
caution, and carefully avoiding to touch them; and then hastened away,
as from the region of death. Father and mother, brother and sister,
children and wife, all forsake the miserable leper; scarcely will one of
those who are clean venture to bid him peace from afar; and when the
provision is no longer fetched away, they rejoice that his sufferings
are terminated.
These men had been attacked by the elephantiasis, the most virulent of
all the kinds of leprosy. It is gradual in its approaches, a scaly scurf
overspreading the body; the nervous system loses its sensibility, the
touch grows duller and duller, till it is lost altogether. Little pain
is felt by the afflicted person, but dejection and despondency take
possession of his mind. The breath becomes corrupt, swellings of the
size of a nut are formed, and ulcers cover the body. The nails fall from
the fingers and the toes; in some cases these parts themselves drop off;
the hair turns grey and falls; all the joints become stiff; and yet,
while the unhappy person becomes a burthen to himself and loathsome to
all around him, he eats and drinks as usual. This terrible disease is
not only in the highest degree contagious, but also hereditary,
sometimes continuing in a family to the fourth generation. No wonder
that it should be regarded as a judgment of God for some enormous crime.
Helon and his companions continued their hasty flight, till they reached
the Jordan, which soon conducted them to Bethsaida, which stood at the
place where it falls into the lake of Genezareth. Bethsaida is almost
wholly inhabited by fishermen, whom they found busily employed with the
angle and the net. They called some of them, and were conveyed in one of
their boats across the lake to Magdala The lake of Genezareth, called
also the lake of Chinnereth,[133] and the lake of Galilee, is twenty
sabbath-days’ journies long, and six broad. Its waters abound with fish,
and are so clear that the stones at the bottom can be seen. Aromatic
bulrushes and reeds grow along the shores. The form of the lake is
nearly oval, and it lies in a deep vale, which on the east and west is
closed in by high mountains, on the north and south expands into a
plain. As Helon and Myron sailed on its transparent waters, they saw
first of all, on its western side, Capernaum, which, as its name
implies, was delightfully situated, between the lake and the hills,
lower down to the east Chorazin, and a multitude of smaller places. The
celebrated region of Decapolis lay on the eastern side, beyond the
hills.
-----
Footnote 133:
Josh. xiii. 27; Numb. xxxiv. 11.
-----
Arrived at Magdala, they quitted their boat, and traced the shore as far
as where the Jordan issues from the lake, crossed the river, and being
joined by the slaves with the horses and camels, took the road to Tabor,
which lies at the end of the plain of Jezreel, over against Carmel.
Notwithstanding Helon’s impatience, he could not pass so celebrated a
mountain without a nearer examination, and Myron willingly came into his
plans.
This lofty hill rises out of the middle of the plain, wholly unconnected
with any other. Its base is composed of an ash-coloured stone, and as
the upper part is covered with trees, it has the appearance of a tall
pillar with a verdant capital. The ascent to the summit is nearly five
sabbath-days’ journies, and on the top is a plain of about four in
circumference. Wild animals and birds abound on it; and Hosea alludes to
the fowling which was carried on here to a great extent.[134] Barak
assembled an army of 100,000 men on Tabor from Zebulon and Naphthali,
before he engaged with Sisera;[135] and indeed a fitter position for a
camp can scarcely be imagined. Helon and Myron were astonished at the
extent of the view. The snowy peak of Hermon and the dark exhalations of
the Dead Sea can both be discerned from it. “And there,” exclaimed
Helon, transported with delight, “are the towers of Jericho!” The sea of
Galilee, the Jordan and the Peræa, spread themselves on the east; on the
west the prospect reached to the Mediterranean and to Carmel; near which
the Kishon, which rises in Tabor, falls into the sea; a small branch of
it discharges itself into the lake of Galilee. Near Tabor, to the
north-west, was Nazareth, situated on the slope of a hill and extending
into a little valley, shut in on every side. To the south lay Endor,
famed in the history of Saul; and near to each other Shunam,[136] the
scene of Elisha’s miracle, and Jezreel, fifteen sabbath-days’ journies
from Samaria, on which was the vineyard of Naboth.[137] From this place
the whole plain derives the name of Jezreel, or Esdraelon. Further in
the distance, a dark shade lowered on the hills of Gilboa. Helon called
to mind the lamentation of David for Jonathan and Saul, who had been
slain in battle here against the Philistines; and he repeated it to
Myron, assuring him that he had never heard a more pathetic elegy.
-----
Footnote 134:
Hos. v. 1.
Footnote 135:
Judg. iv. 12.
Footnote 136:
2 Kings iv.
Footnote 137:
1 Kings xxi.
-----
And David spoke this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
“Is the pride of Israel fallen on thy high places?
So are the mighty fallen.
O tell it not in Gath,
Publish it not in the streets of Askelon,
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph!
Ye mountains of Gilboa,
No dew, no rain be on your field of slaughter!
For there has the shield of the mighty been thrown away,
The shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain, from the marrow of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
The sword of Saul returned not empty.
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,
And in their death they were not divided.
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.
Ye daughters of Israel, weep for Saul!
He clothes you no more in purple,
Nor puts ornaments of gold on your apparel.
How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
O! Jonathan, thou wast slain on thine high places;
I am distressed for thee my brother Jonathan;
Very dear wast thou to me:
Thy love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen!
How are the weapons of war cast away!”
Myron did justice to this pathetic elegy; and they descended Tabor
together.
Their journey was now directed to Bethshan or Scythopolis, the place at
which the Galilean pilgrims were wont to cross the Jordan, in order to
avoid the Samaritans, by keeping on the other side as low down as
Bethabara, where they crossed it again. The line from Dor on the
Mediterranean to Bethshan formed the boundary between Samaria and
Galilee. Galilee contained two hundred larger and smaller towns, some of
the latter having as many as 15,000 inhabitants. Agriculture, fishing,
and pasturage, the culture of the vine and the olive, all were carried
on with success in this country, which is diversified with hills and
plains, both of them abounding in water. The inhabitants were
characterised by their love of freedom, though both their language and
their manners were corrupted by their great intercourse with foreign
nations.
They quitted Galilee at Bethshan, and crossing the Jordan pursued their
journey along the numerous windings of the stream, which from Bethsaida
to the Dead Sea has a course of seventy-two sabbath-days’ journies.
Succoth,[138] where Jacob built huts, near Mahanaim,[139] a town on the
Jabbok, (so named by him from the vision which was granted to him there)
Debir[140] and Bethabara, were hastily passed. At length the Jordan
opened into the plain of Jericho; they passed through the city gate and
soon reached the hospitable mansion of Selumiel. The gate, with its
pious inscriptions,[141] opened to receive them; Myron was astonished at
the splendour of the house; while Helon thought only that this was his
happy home.
-----
Footnote 138:
Gen. xxxiii. 17.
Footnote 139:
Gen. xxxii. 2.
Footnote 140:
Josh. xiii. 26.
Footnote 141:
Deut. xi. 20.
-----
CHAPTER II.
THE NUPTIALS.
Helon found no one in the front court, and hastily entered the inner
court, followed by Myron. The slave came to tell them, that there was no
one in the house.
“Where are they, then?”
“In Helon’s house,” said the slave with a smile; and informed him that
Selumiel, Elisama, Iddo, the wife of Selumiel, Sulamith, and Abisuab
with his wife, had gone out a few hours before, in order to receive him
in the newly-purchased house. They had justly calculated that he would
return this evening.
Helon heard this intelligence with joyful surprise, and easily divined
the fact, that out of his affection for Sulamith, who wished not to be
separated from her parents, Elisama had purchased a house for him in
Jericho; and if not in Jerusalem, where could he be better pleased to
dwell than in the City of Palms? The splendid mansion was to be a
nuptial present to his beloved nephew. It is true that the property must
return to its owner in the year of Jubilee, and the contract for it was
therefore rather a lease than a purchase; but a considerable price had
nevertheless been set upon it, which Elisama’s wealth enabled him easily
to pay.
The slave showed them the way to the house which stood near the opposite
gate, so that they had to traverse the whole length of the city. A slave
had been waiting for some hours before the gate, and upon a signal given
by him to those within, all the males of the company were in waiting to
bid him welcome.
“See,” said Selumiel, “the rewards of self-denial!”
“Welcome, my brother, and henceforth fellow-citizen of Jericho,” said
Abisuab.
Helon, with moistened eyes, threw himself into the arms of Elisama. All
stood around, pouring out congratulations and blessings.
“What more do we want,” said Elisama, “but that thy mother from
Alexandria were here?”
Helon looked around with inquiring eye. Selumiel took him by the hand,
and led him through to the richly furnished inner court. Her mother and
sister-in-law came with Sulamith from the Armon. After their greetings
had been exchanged, Helon, at the command of Elisama, as now the master
of the house, re-conducted them to their apartments. Bewildered with
joy, he could scarcely speak. After a short interval they all returned
to the house of Selumiel, to the evening meal, and at night Elisama,
Helon, and the Greek, returned to the house of Helon, where they
thenceforth resided. Myron was in astonishment at all he saw, and began
to form a very different idea of Israel from that which he had
entertained before.
On the following morning Helon arose early, and traversed the house
which was to be the scene of his future happiness and duties. No other
feeling in life resembles that with which the youth, on the point of
emerging into manhood, wanders in solemn musing through the house in
which he is to sustain the duties of husband and father. As he explored
its courts, its porticoes, and chambers, by turns, he admired the
commodious arrangement and tasteful architecture, and the costly
furniture, or blessed the generous Elisama; or raised his thoughts in
pious gratitude to Jehovah, and implored the continuance of his mercies.
He ascended the roof, and looked westward towards the hills of Judah,
and eastward to Nebo and Abarim. Entering the Alijah, he consecrated it
as the future scene of his devotions by prayer to Jehovah. As he arose
from his knees, turning involuntarily towards Jerusalem, he broke out in
the words of the psalm:
Unless Jehovah build the house,
They labour in vain that raise it;
Unless Jehovah guard the city,
The watchman waketh but in vain.
In vain ye rise early and sit up late,
And eat the bread of care;
He giveth it to his beloved in sleep.
Lo! children are a heritage from Jehovah,
The fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows in the hand of a mighty man,
So are the children of youth:
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them!
They shall not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.—Psal. cxxvii.
As he turned round, Elisama was behind him at the door, and was wiping
the tears from his eyes. “May Jehovah bless thee,” said he. “His counsel
is wonderful, and he will bring it to pass.”
“God grant me,” said Helon, “that I may keep his law with a perfect
mind.”
“May he give thee what thy psalm says,” replied Elisama. “Now that thou
art a priest and a husband in the promised land, I doubt no longer.
Marriage is a divine ordinance, and the divine blessing rests upon it.
This I myself experienced, alas, for too short a time! God said, It is
not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helpmate to be with
him.[142] And the Preacher says, There is one alone, and not a second;
yea, he hath neither child nor brother, yet is there no end of all his
labour, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. For whom do I labour (he
should ask himself) and bereave my soul of good? This also is vanity and
a fruitless travail.”[143] Elisama sighed and proceeded, “Two are better
than one: they have a good reward for their labour: for if they fall the
one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone! for when he
falleth he hath not another to lift him up. Helon, I _had_ once a wife
and a child—and I was happy. What have I done that such bliss—? but I
will say no more. The children of my brother are my children; thou art
my son; and I rejoice in thy happiness as my own. The marriage state is
a service of Jehovah, and one of the most effectual means of the
fulfilment of his law. By this image he has denoted the relation between
himself and the people of his covenant. But let me hear thine own lips
describe the blessing that awaits thee. Rehearse to me the conclusion of
the book of Proverbs; and bethink thee what is implied in this, that the
great master of wisdom could devise no better termination of his
precepts, than the praises of a virtuous wife.”
-----
Footnote 142:
Gen. x. 18.
Footnote 143:
Eccles. iv. 8.
-----
Helon began:
Who can find a virtuous woman?
Her price is above rubies,
The heart of her husband trusts safely in her,
And he shall have no want of spoil.
She will do him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
She seeketh wool and flax,
She worketh willingly with her hands;
She is like the merchants’ ships,
She bringeth her food from afar;
She riseth while it is yet night,
And giveth meat to her household and tasks to her maidens.
She considereth a field and buyeth it,
With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard;
She girdeth her loins with strength,
And strengtheneth her arms;
She enjoyeth the fruit of her labour,
Her lamp goeth not out by night;
She stretcheth forth her hand to the distaff,
Her fingers hold the spindle.
She openeth her hand to the poor,
Yea, she stretcheth forth her hands to the needy.
She feareth not the snow for her household,
For all her household are doubly clad:
She maketh herself coverings,
She is clad in fine linen and in purple.
Her husband is honoured in the gates,
When he sitteth among the elders of the land.
She maketh costly garments and selleth them,
She delivereth girdles to the merchant,
Strength and honour are her clothing;
She feareth not for the future;
She openeth her mouth with wisdom,
On her tongue are precepts of kindness.
She looketh well to her household,
And eateth not the bread of idleness.
Her children arise up and call her blessed,
Her husband and he praiseth her (saying)
“Many daughters have done virtuously,
But thou excellest them all.
Comeliness is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman that feareth Jehovah shall be praised.
Praise her for the fruit of her hands;
Let her works praise her in the gate.”
The preparations for the nuptials were speedily made in both houses. The
numerous female companions of Sulamith assembled in Selumiel’s Armon.
The bride, who had just completed her fourteenth year, was conducted to
a bath, at which, gratification for all the senses was properly provided
for her, and for all her young companions. After bathing, she was
anointed with the choicest perfumes, and her friends brought their
gifts, consisting of clothes and costly articles, most of them made by
themselves. Her hair was perfumed and braided, her eyebrows deepened
with a powder of brilliant black, and her nails coloured red. Next, the
young maidens, her companions, arrayed her in the nuptial robes, of the
finest texture and most brilliant colour, which flowed with ample folds
to her feet. The girdle was clasped around her waist, the veil hung down
from her head, and high above all her other ornaments rose a crown, from
which the bride was called _the crowned_.
The evening was come, and the stars twinkled on the court, where all was
prepared for festivity. Now appeared Helon, anointed and crowned in a
similar manner, with the sons of the bride-chamber. They were the young
priests and Levites of Jericho, who had been invited for this purpose;
and Myron was among them. Each of them, to the number of seventy, bore a
staff in his hand, on which was fixed a shallow vessel filled with
burning oil and pitch. The festal train was admitted into Selumiel’s
inner court; the bride and the virgins came forth from the Armon, and
the youths and maidens, with aduffes and guitars, sung, in alternate
strophes, the praises of the bridegroom and the bride.
Now began the ceremony of conducting the bride to the bridegroom’s
house. The seventy youths, with their flambeaux, headed the procession;
the bride was surrounded by her bridemaidens. Thus Sulamith left her
father’s house: arrived at the threshold, the feelings which she had
struggled to suppress, the mingled emotions of hope and fear, of regret
and joy, overpowered her, and she burst into a flood of tears. The
mother too wept, pressed her beloved daughter to her breast, and
blessing her said, “Be thou the mother of a numerous posterity, like
Rachel and like Leah!” Selumiel supported his child in his strong
paternal arms, and said, “God, I thank thee that I have lived to see my
child happy!”
The sounds of joy were heard from the companions. Sulamith was placed in
a litter, and her nurse beside her. All the females were closely veiled;
Sulamith in a veil of flame-colour. The long train moved through the
streets of Jericho. A multitude of persons preceded, carrying the
clothes, trinkets, and new furniture of the bride. As each carried only
one thing, the procession was very long. Next came the friends of the
bridegroom with Helon; then the bride in her litter, accompanied by the
virgins. The rest of Helon’s friends, male and female servants, and
children, closed the train. All the inhabitants of Jericho hastened from
their houses, or looked down from their roofs.
Thus at length they reached the house of Helon. The bride paused at the
threshold of the dwelling, in which so much happiness or misery might
await her, as if with a timid irresolution. She adorned the door-posts
with woollen fillets, and anointed them with oil, and at length the
virgins suddenly lifted her over the threshold, the boundary between her
past and her future life. The nuptial train entered the courts, and the
bride solemnly took possession of the Armon, while the male part of the
company remained in the outer apartments, where a splendid feast was
served up to them. When all had eaten and were satisfied, males and
females assembled in the inner court; the virgins presented the bride,
the youths the bridegroom, to Selumiel. In evident agitation, he said,
“Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who didst create Adam and Eve! Blessed
be thou, O Lord our God, who causest Zion to rejoice in her children!
Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who makest the bride and the bridegroom
to be glad together!” Then taking the right hand of his daughter, he
placed it in the right hand of Helon, and pronounced the benediction:
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you,
and help you together, and give his blessing richly upon you! Jehovah
make the wife that comes into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, who
built up the house of Israel![144] May thy house be as the house of
Malchia, thy fathers’ father, and your sons be priests to minister
before Jehovah in his temple!”
-----
Footnote 144:
Ruth, iv. 11, 12.
-----
Selumiel, while he pronounced this blessing, struggled with an emotion
which he was unwilling to betray; and Elisama stood near him, giving
freer vent to his feelings. The bride sobbed beneath her veil, and Helon
was melted into tears.
Kindred and friends now approached the married pair, and bestowed on
them their congratulations. The feast ended with the usual ceremonies.
On the following morning the nuptial festivities began afresh, and
lasted for seven days,[145] each distinguished by some new expression of
joy. Numerous presents were brought to the newly married pair by the
guests; and others given to them in return. The company exercised their
ingenuity in riddles and _maschals_; or a grave and learned rabbi would
discourse on the sanctity and duties of the marriage state, and the
honour and happiness of those who might thus be appointed to give birth
to the Messiah.
-----
Footnote 145:
Judges, xiv. 17, 18; Tob. xi. 19.
-----
This protracted festival was at times wearisome to Sulamith and Helon,
who longed to begin their tranquil, solitary, and domestic life. In the
mean time, Helon was delighted to discover every day some new perfection
in Sulamith, some new resemblance to the maidens and mothers of Israel
in times past. Her domestic virtues assimilated her to Sara; her
poetical imagination to Miriam, the sister of Moses; her
disinterestedness and self-devotion to the daughter of Jephthah; and her
artless piety to Hannah, the mother of Samuel.
CHAPTER III.
THE AVENGER OF BLOOD.
It was determined that the young married pair should proceed with Myron,
immediately after the marriage, to Alexandria, to fetch Helon’s aged
mother from Egypt, in time to attend the feast of Tabernacles. Elisama
was to remain in the mean time at Jericho, least, as he observed, he
should bring on her the imputation of being a false prophetess. Alas! he
little knew what a melancholy accomplishment her prediction was about to
receive, and in his own person. The departure was delayed—neither
Sulamith nor Helon was impatient for it, and Myron was very willing to
remain. Helon found scarcely any thing left him to wish. All his
expectations of outward prosperity were fulfilled, and he flattered
himself that he was as near the summit of spiritual perfection as of
earthly bliss. The deep veneration which Sulamith expressed for his
purpose of becoming a Chasidean, regarding him as already being all that
he purposed to become, inspired him by degrees with a high opinion of
his own righteousness. His present happiness seemed to him a sign of the
favour of Jehovah. Accustomed to regard all calamity as a divine
judgment for sin, all prosperity as the reward of virtue, he considered
his present condition as a mark of the distinguished approbation of God.
His conscience seemed to join the league and promote his self-deception;
his tenderness for Sulamith, his readiness to make little sacrifices of
his wishes to hers, his gratitude and affection towards her parents and
his own benefactor Elisama, were magnified by him into a complete
obedience to the divine commands, into something more than mere
righteousness. As those are apt to do who have experienced hitherto
uninterrupted success, he began to think that every thing which he
undertook must be successful—that his mountain stood strong and should
never be moved. He never, alas, thought of inquiring how much youth and
good fortune, the sense of pleasure and pride of heart, had to do in the
construction of this showy edifice of self-righteousness.
Myron, during the first days of his residence at Jericho, found himself
in circumstances so different from what he had expected, that he held it
prudent to keep back as much as possible, and become better acquainted
with the scene and its personages, before he trusted himself to act upon
it. Hence during the festivities of the nuptials, he had been a quiet
and unobtrusive spectator, and had recommended himself to the Jewish
youths by the easy flexibility of his manners. He had particularly
attached himself to Selumiel, after the tumult of rejoicing had
subsided, and those who were left together had leisure to seek out the
persons who were most congenial to themselves. If he ever offended
Elisama, by some expression savouring of heathenism, which now and then
seemed to drop from him involuntarily, Selumiel took his part. He soon
discovered Selumiel’s partiality for the Essenes, and completely won his
heart by telling him, that the Tomuri of Dodona, the Orphici of Thrace,
the Curetes in Crete, were either degenerate branches of these Jewish
devotees, or had endeavoured to form a similar association of wisdom and
sobriety, but had remained at a much lower point in the scale of
perfection. Selumiel took him with him everywhere, even when he went in
the evening to the gates of the city, where the men of Jericho assembled
to pass the cool hours in conversation. Helon, of whom he stood most in
awe, happened to turn the discourse upon the superiority of Israel to
the worshippers of idols, and pointed out the absurdity of the worship
of the Egyptians and earlier Samaritans, among whom Apis was revered
under the form of a bull; Moloch of a mixed figure, partly man, partly
calf; Dagon was represented as having the lower part of a fish; Tartac,
as an ass; Nibbaz, as a dog. All expected to see Myron provoked by this
attack upon his religion; but to their great astonishment he not only
assented to all that Helon had said, but entertained the company, the
whole evening, with ludicrous tales of the adventures of the Grecian
gods. The grave Orientals were delighted with him, because his manners
were diametrically the reverse of their own. While they sat immoveable
in the position which they had once taken, he on his light and nimble
feet turned this way and that, alert to seize every opportunity of
mirth; ready to converse with those who were disposed for conversation,
or to talk alone when others were silent. Amused with his lively
sallies, they encouraged him to proceed from one freedom to another,
till he thought that every thing was allowed to him.