It chanced that a man passed by, loaded with a heavy burthen, and

hanging down his head like one conscious of ignominy. He had been

detected in frauds a few days before, and as a punishment his beard had

been cut off. The finger of scorn was pointed at him by the whole

assemblage, and the unfortunate man slunk hastily away. “How strange,”

said Myron, “that you should set so much value on a huge tuft of hair

upon your chins, that one who has been deprived of it dares not show

himself in your presence; and yet you seldom have taste enough to give

it an elegant form! Look for example at Elisama, who thinks so much of

his beard; what an unsightly encumbrance it is to him.” Encouraged by

the laughter which arose from the younger part of the assembly, he

approached Elisama, and plucked him by the beard; little aware that to

an Oriental, and especially a Jew, such an action was one of the

grossest outrages that could be committed—an attack upon the very

sanctuary of his personal dignity. Helon sprung to interpose—but it was

too late. Elisama arose, with glowing cheeks, and a look in which the

expression of the wildest rage grew every moment stronger. His limbs

trembled; his features were distorted, his hair stood on end, and his

breast heaved with a feverish gasp. “Accursed heathen!” he exclaimed in

fury, “accursed heathen!” he repeated, and drawing his sword, aimed a

blow at Myron. The offender, awakened to a consciousness of what he had

done, saw the weapon about to fall on him and evaded the stroke; a

citizen of Jericho, whom the tumult of the assembly had pushed forward,

received it, and fell mortally wounded at Elisama’s feet. In silent

horror all stood around, and looked by turns on the murderer, the

corpse, and the author of the mischief. The whole city hastened to the

spot; Myron escaped; and Selumiel, taking the unconscious Elisama by the

hand, led him home. Helon, preceding them, burst with a cry of horror

into the house, exclaiming, “Woe, woe—homicide—Elisama!” The women

hastened from their apartments, and knew not the cause of the confusion.

Selumiel entered with Elisama—one in eager haste, the other bewildered,

with fixed eye and open mouth. “Bring horses, bring camels, bring any

beast of burden,” exclaimed Selumiel. “Thou hast slain him, Elisama, and

must flee before the avenger of blood.” “Whither?” asked Helon. “To a

city of refuge—to Hebron in Judah—to Bezer in Reuben—to Ramoth Gilead

best of all.” At these words Elisama awoke from his trance. Tears flowed

from his aged eyes as he exclaimed, “Merciful God, must I in my old age

flee as a murderer, and die by the hands of the avenger?” His voice was

choked with sobs.

Two rapid dromedaries, ships of the desert, were brought. Helon

accompanied the unhappy man. It was already night, and they passed

unobserved out of Jericho. Without a salutation, or an adieu, they urged

their flight, in dread lest the avenger should be on their traces;

Elisama with his hair loose, his turban floating on the wind, and death

on his countenance.

It was one of the most terrific customs of the east, that the next of

kin of any one who had been slain, even unwittingly, was deemed infamous

if he did not avenge him, by putting to death the man who had killed

him. Moses, unable to eradicate this custom, had mitigated it by the

appointment of six cities of refuge, three on each side of the Jordan,

in which the unintentional homicide might be safe from the vengeance of

the _Göel_.[146] In these cities, and for a thousand yards around, he

could not be touched—if he ventured beyond these limits, before the

death of the high-priest, the Göel might lawfully kill him. The roads

and bridges leading to the city of refuge were to be kept in repair,

that the fugitive might not be impeded in his flight. The avenger was

called Göel, as being stained and impure, till he had acquitted himself

of his obligation. The son of the citizen of Jericho whom Elisama had

killed, had been fetched from the field, and had gone forth to avenge

his father; but he was too late: Elisama had already reached Ramoth

Gilead in safety.

-----

Footnote 146:

Numb. xxxv.

-----

On the following morning a judicial investigation was held. The seven

judges took their places in an apartment at the gate, crouching on

carpets; beside them sat two Levites; Selumiel, who represented the

accused person, stood on the left; the avenger of blood, as the

complainant, on the right. Selumiel was clad in mourning and with

disordered hair. Behind him were the witnesses whom he had brought with

him; and who, before they delivered their testimony, took an oath, and

replied Amen, Amen, to the imprecations which the judges laid upon them,

if they should not speak the truth. They bore witness that Elisama had

harboured no malice against the deceased, and had not intended to smite

him, but had been provoked by the insult of a young heathen. The judges

did not immediately decide, but on the following morning a second

sitting was held, at which they pronounced that Elisama, of Alexandria,

had committed an involuntary homicide, and that the privilege of the

city of refuge was decreed to him. As he had already taken refuge in

Ramoth Gilead, a Levite was sent with a letter to the judges and elders

of that place, commending him to their protection.

Selumiel, who had remained behind to attend the judicial proceedings,

determined to go and see Elisama; and Sulamith could not be dissuaded

from accompanying him. Ramoth Gilead lay on the other side of Jordan, in

the country called in ancient times Gilead; a country not so fruitful as

this side, from its many mountains and sandy deserts, yet rich in

pasturage for cattle, and watered by two considerable streams, the Arnon

and the Jabbok; the former empties itself into the Dead Sea, and the

latter into the Jordan. The hills of Basan, Gilead, and Abarim,

extending from Antilibanus, send their branches through this country. It

was given on the conquest of Canaan to the tribes of Gad and Reuben and

the half tribe of Manasseh,[147] as their residence. Ramoth, situated on

the Jabbok, was the principal city, celebrated in history by the vow of

Jephthah,[148] and the battle between Ahab and Jehoshaphat and the

Syrians.[149]

-----

Footnote 147:

Numb, xxxii.; Josh. i. 12.

Footnote 148:

Judg. xi. 29.

Footnote 149:

1 Kings xxii.

-----

On their arrival they learnt that Elisama was dangerously ill. The

agitation of mind and fatigue, attending on his flight, had overpowered

his feeble frame; he had been attacked by a fever, under which he was

hourly sinking. A Levite, who was the physician of Ramoth, and possessed

great knowledge of the human frame and the virtues of plants, had been

summoned. Strengthening baths had been employed, and the precious balm

of Gilead applied externally and internally. These were the two chief

remedies of the Hebrews.[150] But here they had lost their power;

Elisama fell into a deathlike slumber. When he was delirious, the image

of Myron seemed to be constantly before his eyes; and he upbraided him

with his ingratitude, and warned his son Helon to beware of him, as it

would not be the last of his misdeeds. On the following day his reason

returned for some hours, and he spoke calmly and clearly. It was the

last revival of the flame of life. He requested Helon to repeat to him

the prayer of Moses, the man of God. “Lord, thou hast been our refuge in

all generations,” Ps. xc. He heard it with great attention, and the

emotions of his heart were visible, at many passages, in his looks and

his clasped hands. He lay for a long time with closed eyes, but his lips

were in motion, and it was evident he was addressing himself to God,

probably in a penitential psalm; for once, when his voice grew stronger,

he was heard to say,

My days pass away as a shadow,

And I wither as grass;

But thou, Jehovah, shalt endure for ever,

And thy name remaineth from generation to generation;

Thou wilt arise and have mercy on Zion.

For the time is come that thou shouldest favour her,

The appointed hour is come.

-----

Footnote 150:

Jer. viii. 22; xlvi. 11.

-----

His voice again became faint, and it was after some interval that he was

heard to say—

He weakeneth my strength in the way,

He shorteneth my days.

And then with a firmer tone—

The children of thy servants shall continue

And their seed shall prosper before thee.—Ps. cii.

He turned with an expression of the deepest affection to Helon, and

said, “Greet thy mother from me—when the high-priest dies, carry my

bones to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and lay them beside thy

father’s—wait on the Lord, and thou shalt obtain”—his words became

inaudible. Helon held his cold hand, and bathed it with his tears; and

all who stood around his bed in mournful silence, thought him already

dead. But the dying eye opened once more,—gazed around on them all—then

fixed itself on heaven. His head sunk back in Sulamith’s arms. Twice the

mouth was distorted in the bitterness of pain—then once again. The body

became rigid—respiration ceased.

After a solemn pause, each reading in the countenance of the rest the

confirmation of his fears, all uttered at the same moment a piercing

shriek of grief. The men rent their upper garments, beat their breasts,

threw their turbans on the ground, strewed dust and ashes on their head,

put on sackcloth, covered their chins, and went barefoot. Helon was

hurried away, least, being a priest, he should contract pollution from

the dead body.[151] The eyes of the corpse were closed, and it was

carried into the Alijah by the nearest relatives. As it had been the

custom in Judæa, since the captivity, to bury very soon, the night was

passed in making preparations. The body was wrapped in a large sheet,

the head bound with a napkin, and then the whole from head to foot

swathed with a broad bandage, and each foot, each hand, each finger

separately. At midnight came the Levites with their musical instruments:

the female mourners began their office by lifting up their voices and

lamenting, strewing ashes on their heads and singing a dirge. On the

following morning the house was filled with neighbours and friends,

expressing their sympathy. Sulamith ran about weeping and wringing her

hands above her head. The men sat in another apartment upon the ground

and mourned in silence. Sulamith was conducted to the apartment of the

women, where she placed herself on a carpet in the middle, and the rest

of the females of the family sat round her. The hired mourners formed a

wide circle at a little distance. Each of the women held a handkerchief

in her hand by two of the corners. The mourners, who knew a variety of

funeral songs, began one which expressed the virtues and calamities of

the deceased. Sulamith gave them a sign and they ceased; and all the

females of the family began to weep along with her. They arose, twisted

their handkerchiefs together, and ran shrieking round the room, while

Sulamith, sitting motionless in the middle, wrung her hands and tore her

beautiful dark hair. When she ceased the mourners resumed their song,

till she again gave them a signal, and the relatives renewed their

lamentations. This lasted till towards evening, when the inhabitants

assembled at the door, and the corpse was carried to the grave. Those

who carried the bier proceeded with such hasty steps that they seemed

rather to run than walk—an usage which was said to bear this

meaning,—that death is the most terrible punishment of sin. Every one

who met the procession joined the mourners, and bore part in the cries

of the women.

-----

Footnote 151:

Numb. xix. 14.

-----

Before the gate of the city, in a garden planted with trees, stood the

sepulchre of Elisama’s host, hewn out of the rock; and in this the

corpse was deposited; for burning was deemed dishonourable by the Jews,

and regarded with abhorrence. The bearers threw aloes, myrrh, and other

fragrant substances, upon the body, so as to cover it, and the sepulchre

was closed with a stone, which was annually whitened with lime. The

friends and relatives having remained standing awhile before the closed

sepulchre, bowed themselves thrice to the earth and prayed; then taking

up a sod threw it behind them, and said, “Remember, O man, that dust

thou art and to dust thou shalt return.” The procession returned with a

repetition of the funeral lamentations.

On reaching home they washed their hands, and the neighbours brought

them the bread of mourning. A beautiful and humane custom in Israel! No

victuals were prepared in the house which death had visited, but the

neighbours and friends came with delicate viands and invited the

mourners to partake of them, to recruit their strength and spirits. This

was called _the bread of mourning_; and the cup, which was handed round,

_the cup of consolation_. The mourning lasted seven days, during which

it was held indecorous to wash the garments, to bathe or anoint the

body, or to wear the sandals or the turban. Every day Sulamith went with

the women of the family to lament, at the tomb of the deceased, his true

affection and his calamitous fate. When the days of mourning were ended

suitable presents were made to the friendly host, and Helon, Sulamith,

and Selumiel returned from the Peraea over the Jordan to Jericho. The

bones of Elisama were to repose in the precincts of Ramoth Gilead till

the death of the high-priest, when they should be transferred to the

valley of Jehoshaphat, to rest there till the joyful morning of the

resurrection. He was at length at peace, after a life, to which, like

that of the patriarch Jacob, tranquillity had been a stranger. He had

died in the city of the daughter of Jephthah, a victim to his indulgence

of Helon’s wish to retain the friend of his youth; as she had been the

victim of her love to her country. The secret anticipation which had

always kept him at a distance from the heathen was now fulfilled; as

well as the prophecy of Helon’s mother, when she parted from them in

tears at Alexandria, and declared her apprehension that they would not

all return. “Oh! that such a righteous man should have died the death of

the sinner,” exclaimed Helon, in the bitterness of his grief, as he

stood beside the stream of the Jabbok. “Doth Jehovah then punish the

righteous as the sinner? O Elisama, Elisama, where shall I find light?”

“He has fulfilled his destiny,” said Selumiel. “Who may escape what fate

has ordained for him?”

CHAPTER IV.

THE WATER OF JEALOUSY.

Let him beware who thinks that he has attained the highest pinnacle of

temporal prosperity! The ball is in ceaseless vibration, and the moment

in which it reaches its greatest elevation is that in which its descent

must necessarily begin.

The death of Elisama had so disturbed the mind of Helon that Selumiel’s

wisdom and Sulamith’s affection could only for a moment yield him

consolation. Calamity had come like a flash of lightning, and revealed

to him the obscure recesses of his own character; but with what a

convulsive shock had this illumination entered, and how painful the

contemplation of the objects which it disclosed. The fabric of

self-righteousness, which for some months he had built up with so much

care, was overthrown; the vision which he had cherished was gone; what

would he not have given to have been able to arrest its flight?

The perverted state of his feelings showed itself most of all in his

fury against Myron. If his conscience ever remonstrated, he persuaded

himself that it was not Myron as an individual, but heathenism that he

abhorred. All those passages in the psalms and the prophets in which

Jehovah is implored to pour out his wrath upon the heathen, and is

declared to bring their counsels to nought, became his favourite theme

of meditation. By an incredible delusion he applied to his own personal

injury the denunciations of Jehovah’s wrath against apostasy from

himself. Even the love of Sulamith, who anxiously marked the state of

his mind, hardly availed to pacify and soften him.

In the mean time the joyous season of the vintage, and the gathering of

the olives and the fruit began. With shouts of joy they climbed the

lofty palms, of which the plain of Jericho was full, and gathered the

dates, which grew in large bunches of fifteen to twenty pounds in

weight. They were afterwards divided according to their different

degrees of ripeness; some were eaten fresh, others were pressed to

obtain from them the celebrated palm-wine. This was done amidst festive

shouts, and the praises of the tree were celebrated, of which every part

is applicable to some use of man. From the terebinths, some of which had

seen the lapse of centuries and were still vigorous and verdant, they

plucked the red and fragrant berries, or climbed the pistachio to bring

down its delicious nuts, or stored up the resin which spontaneously

exudes from both these trees. The figs and the pomegranates were

gathered, the balsam scraped from the weeping tree, or expressed from

its seeds. Later in the season the olive trees, some of which yielded a

thousand pounds of oil, were stripped of their yet unripe berries, which

were gently pressed that the virgin oil might run from them; or crushed

in the press that they might furnish oil for the necessary purposes of

food and anointing. Even the vintage was beginning here and there.

Sulamith was careful to accompany Helon to all these exhilarating

scenes; but it was long before the luxuriance of nature and the

happiness of man had any other effect upon him than to make him more

painfully conscious of his loss of inward peace; and the more he

scrutinized his own performance of the divine commands, the more was he

dissatisfied with himself.

One morning he was walking with Sulamith and Abisuab through a vineyard

and seeking the ripe bunches among the loaded trees. His mind was more

cheerful and more composed than it ever had been since the death of

Elisama. A slave of Selumiel’s came hastily to him and summoned him to

the house, saying, that a messenger from Gaza had arrived with letters

that required a speedy answer. He had brought letters from Myron

addressed to Selumiel and to Helon.

On the unfortunate evening when the homicide of Elisama had occurred,

Myron had hastily taken the road to Gaza, designing as speedily as

possible to return to Alexandria. With all his levity he joined a great

deal of good-nature, and when he reflected on his conduct, his

conscience found much to reproach him. He was compelled to wait at Gaza

for an opportunity of conveyance to Egypt, and during his stay the news

of what had happened in Jericho, soon followed by that of Elisama’s

death, was made public there, and excited a very general feeling against

him, both among Jews and heathens. The first effect was to make him wish

for a speedy departure—but then again the thought of his conduct towards

the friend of his youth smote him to the heart, and he could not go,

till he had sought his forgiveness. Thus he allowed several

opportunities of making the journey in company to pass by, and yet he

could not summon courage to go to Jericho. At length he resolved on the

following plan. He came to a place in the neighbourhood of that city,

and thence dispatched a messenger to Selumiel, to whom he testified his

sincere sorrow for what he had done, and earnestly requested his good

offices in reconciling him to Helon. To him also he wrote a letter,

which he entreated Selumiel to deliver to him.

Selumiel was much affected on reading the letter; he sent for Helon and

gave him that which was destined for him. It was with difficulty that he

could be prevailed on to receive it. Myron reminded him of their

youthful friendship, and earnestly supplicated for an interview.

“That,” said Selumiel, “would be an act of heroism well worthy of an

Israelite.”

“The heathens are threatened with Jehovah’s curse,” said Helon, “and we

reap nothing but misery from their friendship. I will not see him.”

“Did not Solomon pray even for the heathens,”[152] said Selumiel; “and

will not the Messiah be the light of the heathens? Thou must not be

implacable, if thou wishest to fulfil the law of the fathers. Was not

Joseph reconciled to his brethren? did not David show mercy to Saul his

enemy? did not Jehovah himself on Sinai command, ‘If thou seest the ox

or the ass of thine enemy going astray thou shalt lead him back;’ and is

not a heathen of more estimation than an ox or an ass?”

-----

Footnote 152:

1 Kings viii. 41.

-----

“Forgive Myron,” said Sulamith, fondly laying her head on his bosom,

“forgive him, priest of Jehovah! Leave vengeance to him who hath

declared that he will repay; and think what joy thou wouldest feel, if

through thy means he became a proselyte of the gate.”

Helon’s former spirit revived, and he resolved that he would perform the

heroic act to which he was called. The messenger was sent back to Myron,

with permission to him to return. He soon made his appearance; for he

had wandered near the confines of the city while uncertain of the issue

of his embassy. He fell before the feet of his injured friend, clasped

his knees, and supplicated forgiveness, with all the force of Grecian

eloquence, and the emotion of sincere penitence and sorrow. Their

reconciliation was soon accomplished. Sulamith had the delight of seeing

her husband restored to the same peace and joy as in the first happy

days of their union.

Myron was received again into the house, and, in the freedom of their

renewed confidence, Helon informed him how much he was indebted for his

return to the good offices of Sulamith. Myron, as the remembrance of the

mischief which he had done began to be obliterated from his volatile

mind, resumed his gaiety, and with it the hasty thoughtlessness which

was his characteristic.

Helon had gone one day to the gate of the city alone; for Myron had

never since his return accompanied him thither. It suddenly occurred to

him that he had never duly expressed his gratitude to Sulamith, for her

mediation in his favour, and he went straightway to the Armon, in the

warmth of his feeling, without reflecting on what he was doing.

The citizens of Jericho, who sat in the gate, saw in the mean time that

red mist gathering in the north-west, which is the usual prognostic of

the approach of the pernicious wind of the east. This wind is felt in

all its pestilential fury in the desert, where it sweeps over the

surface, often to the height of a foot, destroying every thing which it

encounters. It is there called the simoom. In Palestine its effects are

not destructive to life, but in the highest degree oppressive and

disagreeable. All the citizens of Jericho arose hastily from the gate,

and hastened to their homes.

Helon, on his arrival at his home, went immediately to the Armon, to

warn Sulamith of the approach of the simoom. At the door he met Myron,

whose visit Sulamith had not received, but had warned him instantly to

withdraw, if he would not bring ruin on himself and her.

Helon started with surprise and horror when he saw Myron in his Armon,

which no foot of male, save his own, had ever trodden before. Wild

jealousy and furious anger took possession of his mind, and agitated his

whole frame. “Vile heathen,” he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, “is

this thy return for my hospitality and friendship? Was it not enough

that thou didst murder Elisama?”

Myron’s protestations of his innocence were unheard or unheeded in the

whirlwind of Helon’s rage. His cries soon brought together the slaves of

the house. Seizing Myron by the arm, he fiercely thrust him towards

them, and they, laying hold of him, drove him with blows and curses from

the house. Sulamith had hastened from the Armon, and endeavoured to calm

her husband; but at the sight of her his fury burst forth more violently

than ever, and thrusting her back into the Armon, he ran like one

frantic through the streets of Jericho to find Selumiel, to whom he

related what had happened. They returned together, Selumiel’s

indignation scarcely less fierce than his own. Selumiel on entering went

immediately to his daughter, and laying hold of her exclaimed, “Monster!

am I then the father of an adulteress? Didst thou learn from thy mother

or from me to break thy marriage vow with a godless heathen?” She had

been sitting sobbing and in tears, her face hidden in the veil with

which she had wrapped her head. At these words, however, uncovering

herself and looking up at her father, she said with a firm voice, “I am

innocent!”

Helon and Selumiel were yet more provoked by this assurance. “If thou

art innocent,” said Selumiel, “thou shalt drink the water of jealousy. I

will know that my daughter is pure, or if not, may all that the law has

denounced against the adulteress light upon thee!” With these words he

went forth to call the elders together, and Helon shut himself up in the

Alijah. All the happiness of his life was fled; he wept, he complained,

he inveighed against the heathens, against Sulamith, against himself. In

the agony of his grief he threw himself on the ground, rent his clothes,

and tore his hair. Then again he sat in fixed and moping silence, or

opened his lips only to recite passages of Scripture, which describe the

harlot and the adulteress. “Yes,” he exclaimed, “the Essenes are right,

it is because they know the inconstancy of women that they have excluded

them from their society. Unhappy Israel, what shall become of thee, when

thy matrons are corrupt and thy wives give themselves up to folly! No

wonder that the once holy people is fallen even below the heathens

themselves.”

A moment after, reflecting on what he had said aloud, he started with

terror as from a frightful dream. “Can that be Sulamith?” he said with a

sigh. The image of his wife, in all her gentleness and loveliness, stood

before his mind, and softened, he exclaimed, “It is impossible.” Had

Sulamith at that moment spoken but a word to him, he would have forgiven

her all. He even quitted the Alijah to go to her: but when he looked

down on the door of the Armon, and the thought flashed on him that

through it the man had passed by whom he had been dishonoured, every

returning thought of love and compassion was banished from his mind.

The inferior court, which was held on the spot where the offence was

alleged to have been committed, assembled in this instance on the

following morning at the gate of the city; Selumiel, appearing as

accuser of his own daughter, stood on the right of the judges, and

Sulamith on their left. The whole gate was filled with citizens of

Jericho, among whom the news of this affair had rapidly spread, and

excited universal curiosity.

Sulamith felt, at her first entrance, overpowered by the solemnity of

this venerable assemblage, of which she had heard so much, but which she

had never seen; that feeling having subsided, she regained her

self-possession. Helon stood with a bewildered countenance, not

venturing to look at his wife, or he must have read her vindication in

her countenance, in which the pride of conscious innocence struggled

with the feeling of ignominious exposure, and in her bright eyes now red

with weeping, but untroubled by any expression of guilt or fear.

The father related what had happened, and Helon confirmed his statement.

The judges turned to Sulamith, and asked her if she acknowledged the

truth of what was alleged against her. “I call Jehovah to witness,” she

replied with lofty tranquillity of manner, “that I am innocent, and will

take the oath of purgation.” “Be it unto thee,” said the elder, “as thou

hast desired.” Two assessors were selected to accompany her to the

Sanhedrim, before whom alone the oath could be taken, to protect her on

the way from the fury of the men, and to lay the whole affair before the

supreme council.

They departed from Jericho immediately. The whole city was assembled,

men, women, and children. Sulamith’s mother stood among the crowd

wringing her hands. Most of the females sympathized with their suffering

sister; but the whispers of malice and the taunts of malignant joy were

also heard.

Helon followed them at a distance, by the same road by which at

Pentecost he had gone up to Jerusalem an affianced bridegroom, full of

joy and hope. Then the desert had seemed to be converted into a

paradise. How was his condition changed! Elisama was dead, the land of

promise had proved a land of chastisement to him; his enthusiasm for the

sacerdotal office was dead within him; his wife went before him as an

adulteress. With what regret did he look towards the distant Oasis of

the Essenes, and long to bury himself in it, without a wife, without the

priesthood, a stranger in the land of promise, solitary and single among

the people of Israel!

They arrived in the evening at Jerusalem. Iddo was sitting in the gate,

but when he saw them, and discovered the purpose for which they were

come, he fled with averted head, and hands stretched out as if to repel

some threatening evil. They ascended the temple-hill; all who met them

were astonished to see her, who at the feast had been the object of

universal admiration, brought up as a transgressor. She was confined for

the night in a chamber of the temple; and Helon and Selumiel passed it

in dejection and gloom in the house of Iddo.

The morning, the fearful morning came! After the usual sacrifice, the

Sanhedrim assembled in the hall Gazith. All its seventy-one members were

present, the high-priest, the elders, and the Levites sitting in a

semicircle. Sulamith was led through the multitude that filled the

courts, and placed before the tribunal. The assessors of the court of

Jericho then laid the matter before the Sanhedrim, and Selumiel and

Helon confirmed their statement. The father and husband were commanded

to withdraw, and Sulamith, in her mourning garments, remained standing

alone, in the midst of the judges.

They addressed her at first in a friendly tone, and endeavoured to bring

her to confession, alleging grounds of excuse from her youth and her

husband’s own culpability. “Daughter,” said one of the Sanhedrim,

“glorify the great name of God, and do not allow that this sacred name

should be washed with water and blotted out.” At other times they

assumed an angry tone, blamed her silence, which they interpreted as an

evidence of guilt, and bade her beware that she did not by her obstinacy

plunge herself into an untimely death. Sulamith adhered to her denial,

and, as they often urged her to confession, replied, “I am innocent and

falsely accused. Put me to what test ye will, but ask of me no other

confession than this, that I am innocent.”

The Sanhedrim, convinced by her noble firmness, ceased to importune her,

and decreed that she should drink the water of jealousy, and take the

oath of purgation. “Daughter,” said one of them, “if thou art innocent,

put thy trust in Jehovah and drink boldly. It is with the bitter water

as with poison, which laid upon a wounded part produces death, but has

no effect when the flesh is sound.”

She was led from the hall Gazith to the gate of Nicanor, not however by

the direct road, but by a long circuit, that she might still have time

to reflect and to confess. The crowd formed a lane through which she had

to pass, not only exposed to their gaze, but plucked scornfully by the

arms, enduring their taunts and blows. Only here and there some one of

more generous disposition, struck with her free and noble carriage,

exclaimed, “The water of jealousy cannot injure thee; thou mayest drink

it without fear.” At length they reached the gate of Nicanor, opposite

to the sanctuary, and the priest, who had been appointed for the

purpose, began the appalling ceremonies of the oath of purgation. Laying

hold of her garments, he rent them from the top of the neck to the

breast with expressions of horror, tore the veil from her head, and

threw her turban on the ground. He dishevelled her braided hair and let

it float upon the wind, and then turning his face from her, said, “Thou

hast forsaken the manner of the daughters of Israel who cover their

heads, and hast followed the manners of the heathens who go with their

heads uncovered.”

The men spat on the ground before her: the women uttered cries of

abhorrence, and a deep murmur of Woe! woe! ran from rank to rank among

the people, which even the unconcerned spectator could not hear without

shuddering. Helon stood with averted head, and stupified with horror.

Selumiel wept aloud.

The priest threw all the rest of Sulamith’s ornaments, her necklace,

ear-rings, and bracelets, to the ground, and girded her rent garments

over her bosom with a strip of bark. The more ignominious the outrages

to which she was subject, the more striking appeared the contrast of her

dignified air and demeanour. The husband was compelled to reach to the

priest the offering of jealousy, consisting of a tenth part of an epha

of meal, in a basket of osier. The meal was of barley, the meanest

grain, neither oil nor incense was mingled with it. Helon could not bear

to look, but reached it to the priest with averted head, least his eyes

should encounter those of Sulamith.

The priest took an earthen vessel that had never been used, filled it

with water from the laver beside the altar of burnt-offering, and

carrying it into the holy place put into it some of the dust of the

floor. When he returned, he exhorted her once more to reflect what she

was about to do, and if she were guilty not to drink, but to confess her

sin. The accused replied distinctly and firmly, “I am innocent.” Again

the deep murmur of Woe! woe! spread along the shuddering multitude, who

thronged the temple courts.

The priest then with an elevated and solemn voice said, “If thou art

innocent, and hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another, instead

of thy husband, be thou free from the curse of this bitter water, and

let it not harm thee. But if thou hast gone aside to another and hast

been defiled, then may Jehovah make thee a curse among thy people, and

bring on thee all the curses which are written in his law.”[153]

-----

Footnote 153:

Numb. v. 19.

-----

Sulamith thus adjured, answered firmly, supported by the power of God,

Amen, Amen. And the murmur of Woe! woe! rolled deeper and more awfully

along the ranks of men and women.

The priest now wrote the curses on a roll. Helon took the barley meal

from the basket, placed it in a sacred vessel, and gave it into his

wife’s hands. Her look met his and pierced him to the heart, and roused

from the stupor in which he had been sunk during the preceding part of

the ceremonial, he made his way through the people, and rushed down from

the temple-hill. A pause of a few moments ensued, and then the priest,

laying his hand under the hand of Sulamith, waved the offering of

jealousy in the customary form before Jehovah, then took it from her,

carried it to the altar of burnt-offering, and, ascending it, mixed the

meal with salt, and burnt it in the fire. He then descended again to the

gate of Nicanor, took the roll, and washed the writing with the water in

which the dust of the sanctuary had been mixed. The assembled crowd

stood in deep and breathless attention. The priest reached to Sulamith

the vessel which contained the water of cursing: she took it, lifted her

eyes towards the holy of holies, and drank it off. There was a stillness

as of death amongst all who stood around, as if they were conscious of

the presence of Jehovah, to clear the innocent or punish the guilty.

Sulamith stood in the midst of the people, firm, and with her looks

fixed on the holy of holies; all eyes were directed towards her, and

watched what would be the effect of the draught. But when they saw that

she was unharmed by it, and that God had justified her from the

accusations of her enemies, they burst into a cry of joy, and Hallelujah

resounded from the temple to the city. Selumiel rushed to his daughter,

and folded her in his paternal arms. With shouts of triumph and

exclamations, “Blessed be Jehovah, she is innocent!” they accompanied

her into the inner court of the temple, where the priest formally

pronounced her acquittal. Thronging around her, all offered her their

congratulations. Her hair was braided anew, her turban, her veil, her

jewels were restored to her, and the dark garments of mourning exchanged

for festal attire. Sulamith descended from the temple with modest and

downcast looks. Iddo, who had heard the shouts of joy and had rightly

interpreted them, opened his gates and received her. The people who had

accompanied her remained long assembled on the open place before the

Water-gate.

But where is Helon? When he had fled from the temple, overpowered by the

look of Sulamith, he wandered about, shunned as one frantic by all who

observed him, and unconscious whither he was going, till his feet

carried him to the grave of his father in the valley of Jehoshaphat,

where, exhausted by fatigue and strong excitement, he fell before the

sepulchre and remained long insensible. Longer might he have remained,

but that he was roused from his stupor by voices which cried, He is

here, he is here! He opened his eyes and saw Iddo, who had come out with

several others to seek him. Iddo embraced him, repeating to him, She

lives, she is guiltless! while Helon, like one awakening from a dream,

scarcely understood the meaning or the reference of the words. When

fully restored to the consciousness of what had passed, joy, remorse,

and shame rushed in such a torrent upon his mind, that he would have

fallen again to the earth if they had not supported him. In this state

they led him home.

CHAPTER V.

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.

Sulamith was waiting for her husband at the door, surrounded by her

friends. As he entered she threw herself at his feet, and implored his

forgiveness for the uneasiness which she had caused him. He raised her

up, and then throwing himself on his face before her, implored her

forgiveness with a look which penetrated her soul. To ask pardon in

words was beyond his power. The friends conducted them to the inner

court. Sulamith placed herself beside Helon, and endeavoured to

tranquillize him, but he sat with eyes fixed upon the ground. He could

scarcely even rejoice in the acquittal of his wife, so bitter was the

remembrance that it was by him she had been unjustly accused. For the

first time in his life he despised himself. It was in vain that Iddo

advised him to efface the remembrance of what was past, and enjoy the

present good; there was too much of Sadducean levity in this exhortation

to pass instantaneously from sorrow to joy, to suit a mind so deeply

agitated as Helon’s. Equally unavailing was the advice of Selumiel, to

regard it all as the result of inevitable destiny, and to resign himself

to it as the will of Jehovah. To reach the sublimity of this Essene

philosophy required a more buoyant spirit than his, who was so oppressed

by the sense of his own unworthy conduct.

Thus the day passed on. At evening the feast of the commencement of the

civil year was announced by the sound of trumpets. It was the new moon

of the seventh month, or Tisri, and was called the feast of Trumpets,

because from morning to evening trumpets of rams’ horns were blown in

the temple, according to the command of Moses.[154] “In the seventh

month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a Sabbath, a

memorial of blowing of trumpets.” Helon resolved to pass this day and

the succeeding eight days of penitence, before the great day of

Atonement, which fell on the tenth of the month Tisri, with the old man

in the temple. While he remained with Sulamith, he was so painfully

reminded of the injury which he had done her, that he could have no hope

of consolation or tranquillity.

-----

Footnote 154:

Lev. xxiii. 23.

-----

As soon as the gates were opened he went up to the temple, and as he

crossed the court of the Gentiles, the old man was coming from his

chamber. He went up to him and bade him welcome. “I purpose,” said

Helon, “to spend the next ten days in the courts of Jehovah and to

present a sin-offering.” “Come then to my chamber,” said the old man,

“and remain there.” He returned thither, and Helon followed him.

“Elisama,” said Helon, “is dead at Ramoth Gilead, whither he had fled

from the avenger of blood.”

“I know it,” replied the old man.

“I have accused my wife unjustly, and made her unhappy.” “I was present

yesterday, and saw how nobly she vindicated her innocence by the water

of jealousy,” the old man replied.

“Alas, I am no Chasidean,” said Helon mournfully, “and never shall be

one!” “It is true,” said the old man; “but you should be more than a

Chasidean.”

“All on earth is vanity and deception—happiness, hope, and love—all is

deception,” exclaimed the youth. “And the greatest deception of all is

that which as yet thou dost not suspect,” rejoined the old man. “Remain

here till thou art purified. I go to the sacrifice, for this day shall

no work be done, but offerings be offered to the Lord.”[155]

-----

Footnote 155:

Lev. xxiii. 25.

-----

Helon remained in the old man’s chamber. As every festival was first

consecrated generally by the customary sacrifice, afterwards specially

by its own, the morning-sacrifice was first presented. Next came the

sacrifice of the new moon, two young bullocks, a ram, seven lambs of the

first year as a burnt-offering, with their appropriate meat and drink

offering, and a young goat as a sin-offering. Last of all the special

offering of the seventh new moon was sacrificed, a young bullock, a ram,

and seven lambs of the first year, with meal and wine, and a goat as a

sin-offering.[156] The law was afterwards read and explained in the

synagogue.

-----

Footnote 156:

Numb. xxix. 1-3.

-----

Helon heard in his cell the blowing of the trumpets and the song of the

people; and in his solitude repeated after them the eighty-first psalm

which they were singing:

Sing aloud unto God, our strength,

Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob!

Take psalms, strike the timbrel,

The pleasant harp with the psaltery.

Blow the trumpet in the new moon,

On the solemn day of our feast:

For this is a custom in Israel,

A law of the God of Jacob,

Which he ordained for a testimony in Joseph

When he came out of the land of Egypt,

Where I heard the voice of the unknown:

I took the burden from his shoulder,

His hands were delivered from the basket.

Thou calledst in trouble and I delivered thee;

I answered thee in the thunder cloud,

I proved thee at the water of Meribah.

Hear, O my people, I testify unto thee,

O Israel, would that thou listenedst to me!

Be there no strange god among thee,

Worship not any strange god!

I, Jehovah, am thy God,

Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt:

Open thy mouth and I will fill it.

But my people would not hearken to my voice,

Israel would not follow me.

So I gave them up to their own desire

And they walked according to their own counsels.

O that my people would hear me

And Israel walk in my ways!

I would soon subdue their enemies

And turn my hand against their oppressors.

They that hate Jehovah should have submitted themselves to him,

And their prosperity should have endured for ever;

I would have fed them with the finest of the wheat,

I would have satisfied them with honey from the rock.

After the evening-sacrifice the old man questioned him respecting the

state of his mind. Helon laid open his whole heart to him with filial

simplicity and unreservedness, and as he spoke he could have fancied

that Elisama, returned to life, was sitting before him. “Once only in my

life,” said he, “have I been happy, when I quitted Egypt and entered the

promised land, and kept the Passover in the temple of Jehovah. I was

then happy in sanguine anticipation. But I soon discovered imperfections

where I had thought every thing faultless; I found the truth, the

melancholy truth of the account which thou hadst given me of the

priests. I thought to find a sanctuary of pure happiness and virtue in

my own house. Jehovah bestowed on me a virtuous wife, but I proved

myself unworthy of her. Elisama died under the imputation of homicide,

and we all were guilty of injustice towards the excellent Sulamith. Thou

art right; Israel is a disobedient, sinful people. I condemn others

freely, because I include myself in the same condemnation. Jehovah has

given us his law, and the only fruit of it is that we are more criminal

than the heathen who live without a law. O that I had lived in Solomon’s

or David’s days! In our present condition it cannot be fulfilled. What

God has enabled thee to do is a miracle, as all the people regard it.”

The old man heard him calmly as he uttered all this and much more, and

then in a grave and serious tone began. “Thou talkest like a young man,

hastily and ignorantly, and in all that thou hast said scarcely any

thing is true, except the sinfulness of Israel. We are disobedient, as

thou hast described us, thou and I, and the whole people; in the days of

Solomon and David it was no better; and hadst thou lived in those times

thou wouldst have been as far as thou art now from the fulfilment of the

law. The law was given us to convince us of our sins, not to serve as

the basis on which our pride might build its towering edifice. When it

has convinced us of our sin, it awakens also our longing for help and

consolation. It is the lot, or rather the privilege, of Israel, that it

alone has the consciousness of sins, and the hope of a certain atonement

for them. If both are united in thee, if thou mournest truly for thy

sins, and truly desirest reconciliation, do what thou hast purposed and

offer thy sin-offering: afterwards we will discourse further.”

Helon purchased a goat for a sin-offering; this was the victim which a

ruler and a priest was to present; the high-priest, on the other hand, a

bullock; and a common Israelite, a sheep.[157] He carried it through the

gate on the northern side of the altar of burnt-offering; standing

behind it he laid his hands on the head of the animal between the horns,

and said, confessing his sins, “O Jehovah, I have transgressed against

thee! forgive my transgression and my sin which I have committed.” Then

he slew the goat: a priest received the blood in a basin and carried it

to the altar of burnt-offering, dipped his finger in it, and touched the

four horns of the altar, letting a few drops trickle down each of them.

He then ascended it, and poured the remainder of the blood down the

pipe. Helon took off the skin of the victim and taking the internal fat

gave it to the priest, who waved it with the liver and the kidnies

between the altar and the temple, salted it, and burnt it on the altar.

The rest of the flesh belonged to the officiating priest. Helon had

offered this sacrifice, in expectation that his conscience would be

tranquillized by it; but he did not experience the result which he had

promised himself. He found himself as full of sorrow and fear after the

offering as before. He complained to the old man, that he had desired to

walk in the way of the Lord, and had offered a sacrifice in pursuance of

it, but found no blessing follow it.

-----

Footnote 157:

Lev. iv.

-----

“Has not David said,” replied the old man, “even he who so delighted in

the service of the sanctuary,”

Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it,

Thou delightest not in burnt-offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.—Ps. li. 16.

“I would,” said Helon, “that my whole heart belonged to Jehovah, then

should I have peace and joy. But how may I attain this state?”

“Tell me,” said the old man, “when, as priest, would you declare the

leper cleansed from his leprosy?”

“When no spot of leprosy remains in him from head to foot,” said Helon,

“but all is sound, as far as the priest can see.” “So judge then of the

sinfulness of your whole state, from a single sin. Read the penitential

psalms, and tell me what you find in them most applicable to your own

condition.” Helon obeyed his injunctions, but for several days the old

man came and went without noticing him. One evening, however, when he

returned from the sacrifice, and was about to withdraw again, Helon

earnestly entreated him to stay. “I have found,” said he, “the words

which too truly describe my own condition,

There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger,

Nor any health in my bones because of my sins;

For mine iniquities rise above my head;

They weigh me down as a heavy burden.—Ps. xxxviii. 3, 4.

“What a new light has opened upon me from these words! in what a

condition do I now appear to myself! How did I deceive myself when I

supposed that, a learner as I was, I had already attained the rank of a

Chasidean! What miserable self-deception was I practising, when I

professed to renounce those things to which my heart so strongly clung!

What contemptible pride, to imagine that I could reach the summit of

perfection by ascending, step by step, from the fulfilment of one

commandment to that of another! And when one frail support of my

self-conceit gave way, how eagerly did I catch at another, to prop

myself up. I must confess with Cain ‘My sin is too great to be

forgiven,’ and I tremble at the words of the children of Korah, ‘No man

can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for

him.’[158] I am under the curse pronounced from Sinai, 'Cursed be he

that fulfils not all the words of this law to do them.'” “Praised be

Jehovah,” said the old man, “that thou hast at length discerned one part

of the eternal truth; the other will not be withheld from thee in due

season. Israel is a people mourning for sin, but also hoping for

forgiveness. If our sins separate between God and us, we have the more

need of a mediator. The Messiah comes who shall also remove our

sins.[159] Say not therefore ‘My sins are too great to be forgiven.’

Thou knowest that the mercy of Jehovah is like his nature, infinite.

Pray then for faith, and even now thy offering on his altar shall

reconcile thee, by virtue of the future sacrifice of the Messiah. Thou

hast partaken of the sin of thy people, partake also with them in the

atonement which is to be made on the morrow.”

-----

Footnote 158:

Ps. xlix. 7.

Footnote 159:

Dan. ix. 24.

-----

On the following day Helon was early in the temple. The high-priest had

been already seven days there, preparing himself for the great solemnity

of atonement on the tenth day of Tisri, and along with him his

substitute, who was to fill his place, if any accidental impurity should

disqualify the high-priest. The solemnity began in the evening. It was

the greatest fast in the year, lasting twenty-four hours, from evening

to evening. The people assembled in the temple as soon as it was light.

The high-priest had watched all night and had bathed himself in the

morning. He was on this occasion the representative of the whole people

before Jehovah, and performed those services at the altar which were

usually the office of the priests. He offered the morning-sacrifice and

the meat-offering for himself as high-priest. Having again bathed

himself, he put on his under robe of byssus, his drawers, his upper

garments, and his girdle and turban. Once more he washed his hands and

feet, and then offered a bullock for a sin-offering for himself and his

house, and a goat for the sins of the people, at the door of the

sanctuary.

He laid his hand behind on the head of the bullock, and said, “O

Jehovah, I have sinned against thee, both I and my house! Forgive my

sins wherewith I have sinned against thee, I and my house, as it is

written, 'On this day is your atonement made, to cleanse you, that ye

may be clean from all your sins before Jehovah.'”[160] Thrice he uttered

the name of Jehovah in this confession, and thrice all the priests, the

Levites, and the whole people, fell on their faces and said, “Praised be

the holy name of his kingdom for ever and ever!”

-----

Footnote 160:

Lev. xvi. 30.

-----

From the bullock he went to the two goats on the north side of the

altar, and placing himself between them, shook a box in which were two

small tablets, one inscribed “For Jehovah,” the other “For Azazel.” He

drew a lot for each, and placed it on the head of the goat for which he

had drawn. When he drew that which was for Jehovah, he said aloud “For

Jehovah;” and all the priests, the Levites, and the people, fell upon

their faces to the earth. The goat Azazel was then taken to the gate of

Nicanor. The high-priest returned to the bullock, made a new confession

over it for the sins of himself and his house, and the sons of Aaron,

then slew it, and another priest received the blood in a basin. The

high-priest took coals from the altar of burnt-offering, and laying

incense upon it, went through the holy into the most holy place, to burn

incense before Jehovah. He returned into the court, keeping his face

towards the holy of holies, and then taking the blood, carried it as he

had done the incense, and dipping his finger in it, sprinkled it once in

the air, and seven times on the ground towards the place where in the

former temple the ark of the covenant had stood.

When he returned into the court the goat for Jehovah was brought to him.

He slew it, carried the blood into the holy of holies for the sins of

himself, his house, and the sons of Aaron, as well as of the whole

people, and sprinkled it as before. Retiring from the most holy into the

holy place, he sprinkled the veil which was between them seven times;

first with the blood of the bullock, and then with that of the goat.

Then mingling their blood, he dipped his finger in it and let a few

drops trickle down the horns of the altar of incense. He cleared the

altar from ashes, and sprinkled the place seven times with blood. The

remainder of the blood he poured out at the bottom of the altar of

burnt-offering. The high-priest went next to the goat Azazel, laid his

hands upon his head, and confessed over him the sins of the people, as

he had before confessed those of himself and his house. As often as the

name of Jehovah recurred, the people fell on their faces and said,

“Praised be the holy name of his kingdom for ever and ever!” The goat

was then carried by an Israelite into the wilderness of Zuk, twelve

thousand paces from Jerusalem, and full of rocks: from the summit of one

of these he hurled the goat down that he might bear the sins of the

people into the desert.

The high-priest then took the skin and inward parts of the goat which

was for Jehovah, with the rest of the body, and sent it to be burnt

outside the city. The men who performed this office, as well as he who

carried the scape-goat to the wilderness, were unclean the rest of the

day.

These ceremonies made a deep impression upon Helon. He followed the

high-priest into the court of the Women, where he read the following

portion of the law. “And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, On the tenth

day of this seventh month shall be the day of atonement: it shall be a

holy convocation unto you and ye shall afflict yourselves and offer an

offering made by fire unto Jehovah. And ye shall do no work on that day:

for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before

Jehovah your God. For whosoever shall not afflict himself on that day

shall be cut off from among his people; and whosoever doeth any work on

that day him will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner

of work: it shall be unto you a statute for ever, in all your dwellings.

It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls;

on the ninth day of the month, from even unto even shall ye celebrate

your sabbath.”[161] The high-priest bathed himself, laid aside his

garments of byssus, and put on his pontifical array, his meil, his

ephod, his breastplate, and his turban with the name of Jehovah. In

these garments he approached the altar and offered a ram as a

burnt-offering for himself, and another for the people; with seven lambs

of the first year, and the fat of the sin-offering for himself and the

people. The people remained fasting in the temple; the hearing the law

was the principal occupation between the sacrifices. The fast continued

from evening to evening.

-----

Footnote 161:

Lev. xxiii. 26.

-----

When evening came the high-priest offered, before the usual sacrifice, a

bullock for a burnt-offering and a goat for a sin-offering. After the

evening-sacrifice he bathed himself, washed his hands and feet, changed

his pontifical robes for his garments of byssus, went again into the

holy of holies and brought out the censer. This was the fourth time that

he entered it on this day, the only day in the year when he appeared

before the ark of the covenant. Having bathed again and put on his

pontifical array, he burnt incense in the holy place and lighted the

lamps, concluding by giving his benediction to the people, who

prostrated themselves while they received it. Helon had felt during the

solemnities of this day the weight removed from his mind which had so

long pressed upon it. He prayed in the words of the Psalmist:

Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is

covered.

Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity,

And in whose spirit there is no guile.

When I kept silence my bones waxed old

Through my groaning all the day long.

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me;

My moisture was turned into the drought of summer,

Yet I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and my iniquity I did not conceal.

I said, I confess my transgressions unto Jehovah;

Thou forgavest the burthen of my sin.

For this let every one that is godly pray unto thee

While mercy may yet be found;

The floods of mighty waters shall not come nigh unto him.

Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble;

Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:

But he that trusteth in Jehovah shall be surrounded with mercy.

Be glad in Jehovah, and rejoice, ye righteous;

And shout for joy, all ye upright in heart.—Ps. xxxii.

His peace and joy increasing, as he poured out his soul in prayer before

the Lord, he continued;

Bless Jehovah, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Bless Jehovah, O my soul,

And forget not all his benefits;

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,

Who healeth all thy diseases,

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction,

Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercy,

Who satisfieth thy desire with good things,

So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Jehovah executeth righteousness

And judgment for those that are oppressed.

He made known his ways unto Moses,

His acts unto the children of Israel.

Jehovah is merciful and gracious,

Long suffering and plenteous in mercy.

He will not always call to judgment,

Nor keep his anger for ever.

He dealeth not with us according to our sins,

Nor rewardeth us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is his mercy towards them that fear him.

As far as the east is from the west,

So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father pitieth his children,

So Jehovah pitieth those that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame,

He remembereth that we are dust.

As for man, his days are as grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;

And the place thereof knoweth it no more.

The mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon those that

fear him,

And his righteousness unto children’s children;

To such as keep his covenant,

To those who remember his commandments to do them.

Jehovah hath established his throne in the heavens;

And his kingdom ruleth over all.

Praise Jehovah, ye his angels,

Mighty ones, that do his commands,

Hearkening to the voice of his word!

Praise Jehovah, all his hosts,

Ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure!

Praise Jehovah, all his works,

In all places of his dominion!

Praise Jehovah, O my soul!—Ps. ciii.

At evening he returned to the cell of the old man. A calm peace had

overspread his mind, to which he had long been a stranger. He no longer

prided himself in his imaginary self-righteousness, but he felt the

satisfactory assurance that his “transgression was forgiven, that his

iniquity was pardoned;” and in the midst of his gratitude to Jehovah, he

did not forget the filial effusion of thankfulness towards the venerable

man, whose counsels had taught him how to seek rest to his soul.

CHAPTER VI.

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

The Feast of Trumpets, on the first day of the month Tisri, had been the

beginning of a series of solemnities crowned by the Feast of

Tabernacles, which began on the fifteenth and lasted till the

twenty-second day. While some of the people of Israel were gathering in

the latest gifts of the earth, and others preparing for the pilgrimage

to Jerusalem; while some, who were compelled to remain at home, were

beginning to dress their green bowers, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem

to collect branches from the adjacent country, to decorate their

tabernacles in the vallies around the city; Helon returned to his

friends in the house of Iddo. He said nothing of what had passed, but

they all perceived immediately that he was become a new man. He embraced

Sulamith with a pure affection, and a humbled consciousness of his past

injustice; his manner towards all around was full of mild benevolence.

There was none of the outward warmth and vehemence of manner which he

had exhibited before, yet his mind was full of activity and joy. The

calm composure of his whole demeanour was that of a man to whom the

mysteries of life are solved, and who feels that omnipotent love defends

and guides him through time and eternity. His thoughts and desires

seemed all directed towards an invisible, eternal, future good; and yet

never had his heart been more open to all the joys of nature, or more

susceptible to the tenderest feelings of human affection. Sulamith had

never loved him so much, nor ever been so beloved by him. The true

happiness of her married life now began; all that had passed was in the

strictest sense forgotten. She bloomed again, in more than her former

beauty, like the rose of Jericho, when the morning sun drinks from its

fragrant leaves the heavy dew which had weighed them down.

On the thirteenth day of the month Tisri, the companies of pilgrims

began to arrive from every side. The native of Lebanon, the inhabitant

of Beersheba, of Peræa, and Galilee, those that dwell on the seashore,

and the stranger from Syria, Asia Minor, Cyprus, and Lybia, after their

toilsome journies, greeted the temple and city of their God. From the

roof of Iddo’s house, Helon and Sulamith looked down on the festal

throng.

The sight which they witnessed on the following day, the day of the

preparation for the festival, was peculiar to the precincts of

Jerusalem. The courts of the temple, all the roofs of the houses, the

mount of Olives, as far as its highest pinnacle, the valley of the

Kedron, and the whole environs of the city were covered with a sudden

verdure. The gardens and fields had already assumed the yellow hue of

autumn, but the palms, the firs, the myrtles, and the pomegranates had

been compelled to yield their more durable foliage for this occasion.

The whole neighbourhood was parched by the heat of the sun, and the

vineyards had been already stripped, but at once spring and summer

appeared to return with all their variety of colours. The busy hands of

men and women were every where in full activity, the children waited on

the builders, and, as if by magic, Jerusalem seemed all at once filled

and encircled by an encampment of green bowers, a lively and refreshing

contrast to the mournful barrenness of the hills which were in the

distance of the picture.

By the evening all was ready. The citrons and apples of Paradise glowed

amidst the dark green of the bowers, their walls were hung with tapestry

and their floors covered with carpets, and the large lamp burnt in the

middle. When the evening star appeared in heaven above the western sea,

every family, after the customary ablutions, left its dwelling to occupy

its tabernacle. Iddo had resigned his house to strangers, and had

erected himself a tabernacle in a vineyard on the mount of Olives, to

which he and the family of Selumiel repaired, and placed themselves

around the richly furnished table. He prayed, “Blessed be thou, O Lord

our God, thou king of the earth, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts

and commanded us to dwell in tabernacles.” He then emptied the cup, the

rest followed his example; and the same thing was done almost at the

same instant in the surrounding tabernacles. The thousands of lamps in

the bowers on the mount of Olives, in the vale of Kedron, and on the

roofs of the houses in the city, seemed like stars of the earth,

answering to those by which the heavens were already overspread. A

gentle wind just stirred the leaves of the bowers, and the sounds of

festivity and mutual congratulation echoed on every side, amidst songs

and the music of cymbals and aduffes. Well may they rejoice whose sins

are removed: if the people afflicted themselves before the atonement was

made, it was natural that after it they should indulge in the mirth of

the Feast of Tabernacles.

Towards midnight the lamps were gradually extinguished, and all was

silent in the tabernacles. The women, the children, and the weakly

persons returned to their houses, and the men laid themselves down to

rest on the floor. But scarcely had the first beams of morning reddened

the summits of the Arabian hills, when they all left their bowers to

fill the courts of the temple. The usual ceremonies of extinguishing the

lamps, killing the lamb, burning incense in the holy place, and offering

the morning-sacrifice, were first gone through. The eight priests then

ranged themselves on the sloping ascent of the altar, each with that

part of the sacrificial instruments which was intrusted to his care, the

last being he who bore the golden vessel with the wine of the

drink-offering. At once all the instruments of music struck up together,

the Water-gate was opened, and through its lofty folding-doors a priest

entered with a golden ewer full of water which he had drawn from the

spring of Siloah, whose softly flowing stream runs at the south-eastern

foot of mount Moriah. All was silent, except the sound of the silver

trumpets. The people made a wide opening for the priest, who approached

the altar of burnt-offering and was met by him who bore the vessel of

wine. As soon as they saw each other they both exclaimed, “With joy we

draw water from the wells of salvation;”[162] and the people around

repeated, “With joy we draw water from the wells of salvation.” The

priest who had descended from the altar then took from the other the

ewer of water, and mingled it with the wine. The Hallel was sung in the

mean time by the Levites, the people who filled the courts holding a

citron in the one hand and a bundle of palm, willow, and citron branches

in the other.

-----

Footnote 162:

Isaiah, xii. 3.

-----

This was the solemnity of which it was commonly said in Israel, “He who

has not seen the joy of the drawing of water has seen no joy.” Helon

regarded it as not only an expression of thankfulness for the early and

the latter rain, to which the fruits of the earth now gathered in had

owed their abundance, but as a memorial of the water which gushed forth

in the wilderness at the stroke of Moses’ rod; besides that still higher

meaning which it remained for the Messiah fully to disclose.

The special offering of this day,[163] consisting of thirteen bullocks,

two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year, with their meat-offering

and drink-offering, and a goat for a sin-offering. On this day priests

of all the courses were on duty, and at least four hundred and

sixty-four. A multitude of Levites, skilful in their art were disposed

on the fifteen steps, and the great Hallel was sung by them and the

assembled myriads of the people. When they came to the Hosanna in the

118th Psalm, the people and priests moved around the altar, imitating

the journey of Israel through the wilderness, holding, as before, a

citron in one hand and a bundle of palm and myrtle branches in the

other, repeating, “O Lord help, O Lord grant success.” As they passed

the high-priest, they showered the fragrant leaves and fruit upon him,

heaping the choice gifts of the earth upon the person of highest

sanctity among the people. To the worshippers in general this solemnity

combined a grateful acknowledgment of the gift of the fruits of the

earth, with a memorial of the most important event in the history of

God’s chosen people. But Helon looked forward to a time when all the

promises of Jehovah should be fulfilled, and when to the shouts of

Hosanna should be added, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the

Lord!”

-----

Footnote 163:

Numb. xxix. 12.

-----

When the circuit of the altar was completed, and the high-priest from

the summit of the fifteen steps had given his benediction to the people,

one part of them presented their own thank-offerings, another repaired

to the porticoes, to hear the law read and expounded.[164] In the

sabbatical year the whole law was read at the Feast of Tabernacles.[165]

-----

Footnote 164:

Neh. viii. 18.

Footnote 165:

Deut. xxxi. 10, 11.

-----

Immediately after the evening-sacrifice, when the water of Siloah had

been again mingled with the wine of the drink-offering, the multitude

crowded to the court of the Women, which was illuminated by lamps of

unusual size, disposed on four candelabra, fifty cubits in height. The

Levites with their instruments stood on the fifteen steps, which led

from the court of the Women to the court of Israel, and from the

galleries over the porticoes the women were spectators of what passed

below. The members of the Sanhedrim, the elders and chief men of the

people took torches in their hands, sung psalms, and performed sacred

dances, in honour of Jehovah; the youths displayed feats of corporeal

strength and dexterity; and the festal assemblage did not disperse till

a late hour of the night.

The feast lasted eight days: in the first seven the ceremonies of the

commencement were repeated, but with this difference, the number of

bullocks for the burnt-offering was diminished by one every day,[166]

and in the six following days civil occupations might be pursued, which

were forbidden on the first. The traffic, which took place at all the

great festivals, was especially active at this time. The curious

productions of Egypt, the imports and manufactures of Tyre, the spices

of the east, the balsam of Gilead, and the corn and cattle of Galilee,

were bartered or sold; and every one purchased what was necessary

against the approaching season of winter. Helon, however, had no

pleasure in seeing what he considered as a profanation of the house of

God, and withdrew from the sight of it to pass his days in the

tabernacle of Iddo, on the mount of Olives. On the third day he

presented his thank-offering, which was truly to him what its name

implied, an offering of peace. While Sulamith was engaged in preparing

the meal from that part of the victim which belonged to the offerer,

Helon availed himself of the permission which the priests enjoyed on

festival days, to go into the holy place and see its magnificence.

-----

Footnote 166:

Numb. xxix.

-----

Standing at the altar of burnt-offering, which was itself raised

forty-two steps above the court of the Gentiles, a space of twenty-two

cubits intervened between the spectator and the temple building. The

altar, therefore, was not within but in front of the temple, the blood

of atonement which was to reconcile man to God being thus shed between

them. Twelve steps ascend from the level of the base of the altar to the

temple; and where the pillars Jachin and Boaz stood in the temple of

Solomon,[167] the portico began. The building consisted of three parts,

the portico, the holy place, and the holy of holies. The portico was a

hundred cubits high, a hundred long, and twenty broad: the entrance,

which was seventy cubits, and twenty-five broad, stood open without

folding-doors. Within, the portico was ninety cubits in height, fifty in

length, and twenty in breadth, from east to west. Every part of it was

gilded. Opposite to the entrance was the curtain which closed the

passage into the holy place, fifty-five cubits in height and sixteen in

breadth, exhibiting the colours of the four elements, white, dark blue,

crimson, and purple. A large vine, with golden clusters, of the size of

a man, was represented over the entrance. The holy place had not the

same proportions as in Solomon’s; it was twenty cubits in breadth, sixty

in height, and forty in length. In it stood the golden candlestick, the

golden altar of incense, and the golden table of shew-bread. The holy of

holies, before the entrance to which a second curtain hung, was a cube

of twenty cubits. In this temple it was empty; but in that of Solomon it

had contained the ark of the covenant with the tables of the law, above

which was the cover or mercy-seat, and over that the two cherubims,

between which the glory of Jehovah dwelt. There were chambers of three

stories high on the sides, and over the holy and most holy place,

entered by doors in the portico, which served as repositories for the

treasures and other valuables. The whole of this part of the building

was ceiled with plates of gold, and the flat roof furnished with gilded

iron spikes, to prevent the birds from settling upon it.

-----

Footnote 167:

1 Kings, vii. 21.

-----

Helon contemplated with sacred awe the dwelling place of God. In company

with the other priests he ascended, in mental prayer and with deep

humility, the twelve steps; and was led through the apartments which are

around and over the holy and most holy place, and then descended again

into the portico. The curtain before the holy place was withdrawn. Helon

in his ministrations in the court of the priests had often seen thus

far, and with veneration contemplated the abode of the glory of Jehovah;

but now his trembling foot entered its hitherto unknown precincts. The

golden lampstand was on the southern side, whose seven lamps were

kindled every evening; towards the north, the table of shew-bread, on

which the loaves of the presence were placed every week; and in the

middle the altar of incense, of acacia wood, a cubit in length and

breadth, and two cubits in height, on which, morning and evening, a

priest burnt incense, while the lamb was offered. Only the foot of a

priest might enter the holy place; into the holy of holies none but the

high-priest’s, and that only once in the year, on the day of atonement.

What gave a higher interest to the indescribable feelings which occupied

Helon’s mind, as he stood before the veil of the holiest place, was the

company of the old man of the temple, who had dissuaded him from

entering on the festival of Pentecost, promising to be his guide at the

Feast of Tabernacles. He had prepared himself and Helon by a long and

fervent prayer. The old man manifested an unusual degree of emotion. On

ordinary occasions, the frame of his mind seemed equally removed from

grief and joy, from emotion and apathy, but now he was visibly agitated,

and his venerable form seemed to acquire a supernatural dignity from the

feeling with which he laboured. In passing through the sacred building

profound silence was always observed; but when they returned from it he

still remained silent; and Helon, much as he wished to ask him questions

respecting the import of all he saw, durst not speak to him while he saw

him in this mood. The old man led him to Solomon’s porch, where he had

received him on the first evening, and pointed with his hand to the

courts of the temple which were within their view. After a long silence,

during which he was strongly agitated, he said, “Kneel down, my son! I

will give thee my blessing. I promised thy father and thy uncle to do

for thee what I have done: I am hastening to where they already are; may

we meet there again! Jehovah has guided thee by my means; be thine own

spirit henceforth thy guide; for thou wilt see me no more on earth.”

Helon, astonished and overpowered, sunk upon the ground and received the

old man’s blessing; and while he lay weeping on the earth, he had

disappeared. Helon went to his cell; it was open, but there was no man

within. He hastened to Selumiel, who told him that the old man often

disappeared for a long time together, and that his words were always

true.

They returned together after the meal to Iddo’s tabernacle on the mount

of Olives. When they had seated themselves, the figure of a stranger

appeared among them, whom they did not at first recognise. It was Myron.

In the first moment of their surprise they seemed doubtful how to act;

Iddo was inclined to thrust him out by force; when Myron, whose pale

face and shrunk figure had prevented their knowing him at first,

exclaimed, “Let Helon decide!” He turned to him and said; “On the day

when my foolish thoughtlessness a second time gave a wound to the

happiness of your life, I fled into the wilderness of Judah. A priest

found me wandering, brought me back to Jerusalem, and received me

hospitably. He told me what had befallen you; and I testified to him my

deep remorse and penitence. He seized the opportunity to persuade me to

abandon the fables and follies of the religion in which I had been

brought up, and to turn to the worship of the one true God. This evening

an aged and venerable man entered the house of my host, and bade me seek

thee out, and tell thee, in his name, that thou shouldest receive me not

only into thy friendship, but into thy faith. Behold me ready to become

a proselyte!”

“This,” said Helon, “must be the old man of the temple; his word shall

be obeyed.” He embraced the friend of his youth, and begged him to

forgive his groundless suspicions. “O,” said he, “had Elisama but lived

to see this day! He had always hope that thou wouldest be one of us. Did

I not too always predict, that if thou shouldest see Israel in all its

glory in the Land of Promise, thou wouldest desire to become a partaker

in their hopes?” “The God who made heaven and earth hath done this,”

said Myron; “he has severely punished my folly, and in the midst of my

chastisement made me to know your law and your hopes. I now understand

why in every land I have found prophecies which pointed to Judæa for

their accomplishment.”

“Praised be Jehovah,” exclaimed Iddo, “who increaseth his people Israel,

and hath spoken by his prophet the word of which this day we behold the

accomplishment, 'Arise, shine for thy light is come and the glory of

Jehovah riseth upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover the earth and

thick darkness thy people: but Jehovah shall arise upon thee, and his

glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy

light.'”[168]

-----

Footnote 168:

Isaiah, lx. 1.

-----

Myron, in his usual hasty and decided manner, pressed his speedy

reception as a proselyte, and his friends were desirous that this

festival should be made still more solemn by his conversion. In later

times accessions from among the heathens to the Jewish religion had

become very common, and they were regarded as a pledge of the approach

of the time when the promises of God should be fulfilled, which, as they

understood them, implied the dominion of Israel over the whole earth.

Iddo and the priest with whom Myron had lodged endeavoured to prevail on

him, by submitting to circumcision, and baptism to become one of the

family of Abraham and an heir of its promises, after which, on the

offering of three turtle-doves, he would become a proselyte of

righteousness, and be permitted to bring his sacrifice, like a native

Jew, into the court of the priests. Myron was more inclined to become

only a proselyte of the gate; and Helon took his part, and asked what

more was necessary, since he could thus enjoy the benefits of the law,

could partake in all the civil privileges of Israel, and dwell in their

gates? “Would there not too,” he asked, “be danger that he should be

seduced by the Hellenists to join the worship at Leontopolis, if he

returned to Egypt in every respect a Jew?”

On the following morning they conducted Myron before the tribunal which

sat in the gate of Nicanor. In the presence of three witnesses, Helon,

Selumiel, and the priest his host, he solemnly abjured idolatry,

professed his belief in all the truths which are revealed in the law,

and promised obedience to the seven Noachic precepts, as they were

called; namely, to abstain from idolatry, to worship only the true God,

to avoid incest, not to commit theft, or robbery, or murder, to maintain

judgment and justice, and to abstain from blood and all that contained

blood, consequently from things strangled. He then presented his

offering, but he was not allowed to come any further than to the

enclosure between the court of the Gentiles and the court of Israel.

From this time he bore the name of a devout man, one that feared God, a

stranger or proselyte of the gate.

As Helon and Myron spent the last day but one of the feast in Iddo’s

tabernacle on the mount of Olives, Helon read to him the description

which Nehemiah gives of the first celebration of the Feast of

Tabernacles after the captivity:[169]

-----

Footnote 169:

Neh. viii. 13.

-----

“And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers

of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe,

even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the

law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel

should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month. And that they

should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem,

saying, “Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine

branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick

trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and

brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his

house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and

in the street of the Watergate, and in the street of the gate of

Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of

the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths; for since the day

of Joshua, the son of Nun, unto that day, had not the children of Israel

done so. And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the

first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And

they kept the feast seven days: and on the eighth day was a solemn

assembly according unto the manner.”

“It is not to be denied,” said Myron, when it was finished, “that the

Dionysian festivals of the Greeks have considerable resemblance to the

Feast of Tabernacles; the mixt offering of water and wine reminds me of

the gift of Bacchus; the bundle of palm, myrtle, and willow branches, of

the Thyrsus; the Hosanna, of the Evoe; the procession round the altar,

of the Dionysian train; the dance in the court of the Women, of the

dances of the Grecian youths. The torch too is in both cases found in

the hands of the votary. But the resemblance of the Dionysia of the

Greeks to the Feast of the Tabernacles is that of a distorted image to

the faithful picture.”

“You might have gone further,” said Helon, “and have added that such is

the relation generally of heathenism to Judaism. The heathens have

mingled poetry and fable with the tradition which they received from the

family of Noah; they have disfigured by human inventions the divine

truths which they learnt from the Jews. How indeed could it be

otherwise, since Jehovah found it necessary to preserve this knowledge

pure in Israel, by renewing and impressing more deeply the communication

of it by means of the law?”

“I understand now,” said Myron, “what you alluded to before, and I see

the history of antiquity in an entirely new light. The Greeks differ

from the Egyptians only in this, that they have given their distorted

images a more graceful form.”

“Bless Jehovah,” said Helon, “that thou hast returned at last to the

true source; and pray to him that all the heathens may come to draw from

it. The advent of the Messiah, who shall accomplish this, cannot be far

distant. He shall be the light of the Gentiles and the consolation of

Israel. The sceptre is already departed from Judah[170] and is in the

hand of Levi; and the seventy weeks of Daniel are hastening to their

close.”

-----

Footnote 170:

Gen. xlix. 10.

-----

“And tell me,” said Myron, “my former friend, but now my brother in

faith, shall my heathen brethren in those days become proselytes of the

gate, or proselytes of righteousness? To me it seems, if I may venture

to confide to you my opinion on such a subject, that this distinction

points to an important difference in the laws of Jehovah themselves. I

have bound myself by an oath to obey those precepts of universal

morality, which are contained equally in the Noachic and Mosaic law; and

I have professed my belief in all the truths which your lawgiver taught;

but I have not bound myself to all the rites and ceremonies which your

nation practises. How then, if the former were what is truly valuable,

what all nations alike need; and in the days of which you speak shall

alike know; and if the latter were only important for their tendency to

preserve the others?”

“It may be so,” said Helon, musing. “The old man in the temple has

taught me, that the sacrifices are but a visible prophecy, commanded to

the people from their want of a more spiritual faith. But I will neither

deny nor affirm any thing in this matter. The Messiah comes who will

remove all our doubts. Meanwhile let us rejoice in the belief, that in

the manner which Jehovah in his counsels has decreed, 'the law shall go

forth from Zion and his word from Jerusalem; and he shall teach the

Gentiles his ways and they shall walk in his paths.'”[171] The friends

embraced each other, and descending from the mount of Olives Helon went

up to the altar in the temple.

-----

Footnote 171:

Micah, iv. 2.

-----

The last day of the Feast of Tabernacles was the most joyous of all. The

drawing of the water, the Hosanna, the nightly illumination and dance

had been repeated every day; the seventh day was called the great

Hosanna and the day of Willows. The altar of burnt-offering was decked

with branches of willow, all bent inwards, as an emblem that earthly

glory must bow before the majesty of God. Instead of once, the people

went seven times around the altar with their branches and their citrons.

The last meal was taken in the tabernacles, whose green decorations had

already begun to fade; but to the freshness which had charmed the eye

when the feast began, succeeded the mind’s remembrance of seven happy

days which had been passed in them. The father of the family pronounced

the blessing over the last cup of wine which they were to drink here,

and when it was emptied gave his benediction to the company, who left

the tabernacle with that melancholy with which we quit a spot where we

have enjoyed much happiness. The women and children, and even Myron and

Helon, carried away a citron, a pomegranate, a branch, or a leaf, as a

memorial of the festival. In the evening the illumination and the dance

as before described were repeated. This part of the festivities, as well

as the drawing of the water, ceased on the eighth day, which was added

as a special sabbath to the full week of the feast. On this day no

circuit was made around the altar, and the offering consisted only of

one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, as a

burnt-offering, with their usual meat and drink offerings, and a goat

for a sin-offering. Besides Azareth, Day of Convocation, it was called

the Day of Rejoicing in the Law, because every year on this day the

reading of the law and the prophets ended, and began afresh on the

following sabbath. Thus what every one had begun in his own synagogue at

home, he completed here in the midst of the assembled people. This took

place on the twenty-second day of the month, in which, up to this point,

there had been only four common days.

CHAPTER VII.

THE CONCLUSION.