CHAPTER VII.

THE HALT AT RAPHIA.

The caravan halted in the neighbourhood of the ruins of Raphia; their

day’s journies had been short, on account of the quantity of merchandise

which they carried. Raphia does not properly belong to Egypt, and was

reckoned as a part of Syria; a hundred years before, Antiochus the Great

lost here a great battle with the Egyptians. The space which lies

between Egypt and Syria had been for ages past the theatre of war

between the adjacent countries; a circumstance that, before the

captivity, had been the source of frequent calamity to Israel, which

could scarcely fail of being involved either in the war or its

consequences. This thought occurred to the minds both of Helon and

Elisama, as they crossed the field of battle—but they derived some

consolation from the thought, that Judea’s conqueror had in his turn

been conquered here. Jehovah had indeed visited his people with

calamity, but their enemies, the instruments in his hands, had always

been punished for their ambition. Antiochus after the battle fled into

his own kingdom, and left Palestine again free.

When they all awoke after the sleep at noon, Myron began, “Venerable

Elisama, will you not relate to us the remaining part of the history of

your nation? The journey to Gaza will be the last that we shall make

together. Let us then pass these hours in something more improving than

listening to the noise of camels and the Phœnicians’ talk of buying

and selling.” Elisama placing himself in a convenient posture for

narration, thus began:

“When Israel sat and wept by the rivers of Babel, and hung their harps

upon the willows, ‘the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel the

prophet,[60] and carried him out in the spirit of the Lord, and set him

down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones; and caused him to

pass among them: and there were very many on the surface of the valley,

and they were very dry. And he spoke to me and said, Son of man, can

these bones live? And I said, Thou Lord knowest. And he said to me, Son

of man prophesy concerning these bones, and say unto them, Ye dry bones,

hear the word of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones,

Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live! And I

prophesied, as I was commanded, and as I prophesied they moved

themselves, and the bones came together, bone to bone. And I beheld and

saw that the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered

them, but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy

unto the wind; prophesy, O Son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith

the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these

slain, that they may live. So I prophesied, as I was commanded, and the

breath came unto them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an

exceedingly great multitude. And he said unto me, Son of man, these

bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are

dried up and our hope is lost. Therefore prophesy and say unto them,

Thus saith the Lord; Behold I will open your graves, and cause you to

come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.’

Footnote 60:

Ezek. xxxvii.

“Thus the prophet consoled Israel, on the banks of Chebar; but he lived

not to witness the deliverance which he announced. Not long however

after his death, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the king of

Persia, (who had conquered Assyria and Babylonia) by the means of the

astonishment excited in him by the prophecies communicated to him by

Daniel. Cyrus caused proclamation to be made through all his dominions,

saying, 'Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia; The Lord God of heaven hath

given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has commanded me to build

him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. Who is there among you of all his

people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah,

and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. And whosoever

remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place

help him with silver and gold, and with goods and with cattle, of

freewill, for the house of God at Jerusalem.’

“Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the

priests and the Levites, with all those whose spirit God had stirred up,

to go and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. And all that were

about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver and vessels

of gold, with goods and with cattle, and with precious things, besides

all that was freely given. And king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of

the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from

Jerusalem, and had put them in the temple of his gods, to the number of

5400, both gold and silver.[61]

Footnote 61:

Ezra i.

“The word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, respecting the seventy

years, was now fulfilled.[62] Forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty

men, with 7237 servants and maidens, 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels,

and 6720 asses went with Zerubbabel and Jeshua to the land of their

fathers out of captivity, full of thankfulness and praise. The

expression of their joy may still be heard in the 126th Psalm.

Footnote 62:

Jer. xxv. 11. xxix. 10.

When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion

We were like them that dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

And our tongue with singing.

Then said they among the heathen,

“Jehovah hath done great things for them;”

Yea, Jehovah hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.

Bring back, O Lord, our captives,

Like streams in a parched land.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

The sower goeth forth with weeping, bearing the seed;

He cometh back with rejoicing, bringing the sheaves.

“Thus they returned to the Holy Land, Israel and Judah one rod,

according to the words of Ezekiel. They take possession of the country,

build villages, and even raise Jerusalem out of her ruins, but without

repairing her walls. In the next month, Tisri, the whole congregation

assembled at Jerusalem, as one man, to the feast of tabernacles. They

set up the altar upon its base, amidst the ruins of the temple, and

offered thereon burnt-offerings, morning and evening, according to

custom, as the duty of every day required; and afterwards the

burnt-offerings of the new moons, and all the feasts of the Lord that

were hallowed.[63]

Footnote 63:

Ezra iii.

“In the second month of the second year of their return, they laid the

foundation of the temple of Jehovah, the expenses being supplied by

their voluntary contributions. All set their hands to the work, and the

Levites, from twenty years old and upwards, had the superintendence. The

foundation being laid, the priests stood in their apparel, and the

Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord with the

psalms of David, king of Israel, and they sung in responsive strains,

praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because he is good and his

mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a

loud shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the

house was laid. But many of the aged priests, and Levites and chiefs,

that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was

laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many shouted aloud

for joy; so that the people could not distinguish the shout of joy from

the noise of the weeping of the people.

“The prophets Haggai and Zechariah arose and encouraged the people to

persevere—but difficulties were thrown in their way by the Samaritans,

who, worshipping Jehovah along with their idols, had been desirous of

partaking in the building of the temple.[64] As their proposal was

rejected, they obtained an order from a king of Persia, a successor of

Cyrus, that the work should be stopped. But Jehovah aided his people:

the temple was at length completed; and Haggai prophesied: The glory of

this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former, saith

Jehovah of hosts, and I will give peace in this place.[65] The new

temple was dedicated, and the passover kept with joy.

Footnote 64:

Ezra iv. 2.

Footnote 65:

Haggai ii. 9.

“Under that Xerxes, whose millions, you Greeks, Myron, boast to have

overcome, Ezra, the priest and scribe, a teacher of the word of the

Lord, came from Babylon to Jerusalem. An Israelitish maiden was Xerxes’

queen, a Jew his prime minister, and Ezra was sent as viceroy to

Jerusalem, commissioned to appoint judges, superior and inferior, to

correct abuses and enforce the observance of the law. He came with a

company of not more than 6,000 men.[66]

Footnote 66:

Ezra vii.

“The work, however, proceeded slowly, and incessant wars interfered with

it. After thirty years Nehemiah came, as viceroy from the court of

Artaxerxes, and urged on the building and fortifying of Jerusalem, which

the Samaritans, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, had hindered in every

possible way. As Ezra had been the restorer of the worship of God,

Nehemiah was the restorer of the civil constitution of Israel. On his

arrival, he makes the circuit of the city in the stillness of the night;

then addressing the people, he encouraged them to labour. Half the young

men wrought at the fortifications, the other half kept watch in arms,

and the rulers stood behind. If danger threatened any where, the trumpet

was sounded and the people assembled from every part of the walls; for

even the builders wrought with a sword by their side. Neither Nehemiah

nor any other took off their clothes, except for the purpose of washing

them.[67]

Footnote 67:

Nehem. ii. 12 iv. 13.

“Thus were the walls completed; but the space included between them was

much greater than was necessary for the actual population, and very few

houses had been built. The feast of tabernacles was approaching. The

people assembled on the open space before the Watergate, and Ezra read

the law there, from morning until evening.[68] And the people lifted up

their hands and wept when they heard the words of the law. And Nehemiah

and Ezra said, This day is holy unto the Lord, therefore weep not nor be

sad: for the joy of the Lord is your strength! Finding from the law that

the time of the feast of tabernacles was at hand, they went to the hills

and fetched olive branches and pine branches, and myrtle branches and

palm branches, to make booths; and they made them 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 the whole congregation of those who were come out of

captivity made booths, and dwelt therein. For since the days of Joshua,

the son of Nun, until that day, the children of Israel had not done so.

After this the people cast lots, to decide who of them should occupy

Jerusalem; and who take up their abode in the towns. A tenth part was

destined to the city, where the chiefs already dwelt.[69]

Footnote 68:

Ibid. viii.

Footnote 69:

Nehem. xi. 1.

“When all these arrangements were made, the walls were consecrated. The

Levites were sent for from all parts, to give solemnity to the

consecration. The priests and Levites purified themselves and the

people, the walls and the gates. The princes of Judah stood upon the

walls. Two choirs, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, went round the

walls, as far as the temple. On the same day great sacrifices were

offered, and the people rejoiced greatly, so that the joy of Jerusalem

was heard afar off.

“Nehemiah was compelled to return to court; but he revisited Jerusalem

after some years,[70] and laboured earnestly to induce the people to put

away their foreign wives, as Ezra had done at an earlier period.[71]

Their children spoke a mixed dialect, half Hebrew, half the language of

Ashdod, Ammon, or Moab. Malachi, the last of the prophets, enforced his

advice with the words of the Lord. Such support was necessary, for some

of the leading men were involved, and Manasseh, (the son of Joiada the

high priest) who had married the daughter of Sanballat, refused

compliance. Nehemiah expelled him from the city,[72] and as Sanballat

had just obtained from Darius Nothus permission to build a temple on

mount Garizim, Manasseh became high priest in it.

Footnote 70:

Nehem. xiii. 6.

Footnote 71:

Ezra ix. 10.

Footnote 72:

Nehem. xiii. 28.

“Thus Israel had been restored to the possession of the land of their

fathers, had rebuilt the holy city, raised the temple from its ruins,

and ordered the worship of God, according to the law. So far was the law

from having been lost in their captivity, that in some parts it had

never been fully practised by the people till now. The visitation of

Jehovah had wrought the designed effect on the minds of the people.

Since the days of Moses, an interval now of 1000 years, they had never

manifested such zealous obedience to the law. They had learnt, by long

and bitter experience, that obedience and national prosperity were

inseparably connected together. In their captivity the better part of

the people had sought each other out, had formed little associations,

and had been strengthened by the words of the prophets, whom Jehovah

sent to them for this purpose. These formed the chief strength of the

nation which returned from the captivity. Their peculiar institutions,

especially that of circumcision and the prohibition of eating unclean

food, tended powerfully to keep them, even in the midst of strangers, a

separate people; and the glorious prophecies, whose fulfilment they

still expected, seemed to belong to them only so far as they were the

pure unmixed descendents of those to whom the promises were given. The

greater part of those who returned were besides of the tribes of Judah

and Benjamin, who had before been most faithful to Jehovah, and most

closely connected with the temple. The baser part of the people remained

behind in foreign lands, just as they do now in Egypt. From this time,

therefore, a new period begins in Israel, in which the fruits of the

discipline which the people had undergone in preceding periods are

displayed. The voice of prophecy is henceforth dumb: for they had learnt

that lesson, which prophets were sent to impress upon them.

“It is true, that those revolutions in the kingdoms of the earth, which

are preparatory to the coming of the Messiah, often interrupted the

internal peace of Israel. The Persians, from whose subjection Judea was

not entirely free, were engaged in wars, in which we were obliged to

take part. The expedition of Alexander brought him to Jerusalem, but the

conqueror of the world acknowledged the merits of Israel on the heights

of Sapha, while Tyre sunk beneath his sword. In the division of his

empire, Palestine fell to the share of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, who took

many Jews with him into Egypt, and many emigrated thither of their own

accord. Antigonus wrested our country from Ptolemy, and for more than a

century it was the theatre of war between Syria and Egypt. But these

wars were not so much punishments of Israel, as the ways by which

Jehovah had decreed to weaken the heathen, and prepare the way for the

complete emancipation of his people. This alone was still wanting to

their happiness. Israel was obedient and walked all in the ways of the

Lord.”

“Allow me, venerable Herodotus, for so I must call you,” said Myron, “to

make a remark here. I know how much you dislike interruption, but this

will not displease you. On the contrary, it will gratify you to find

your own account confirmed by the mouth of a heathen. Hecatæus (it is

true he was a native of Abdera) has written a book respecting your

nation, in which he gives them the highest praise for the firmness with

which they adhered to their law, when in the midst of foreign nations,

in military service, and on other occasions.”

Elisama was pleased, and proceeded with his narrative. “At this time too

a work was undertaken, which would never have been thought of at an

earlier period, the collection of the oral traditions respecting the

law. Antigonus Socho, president of the great council, collected them in

a volume. In earlier times the simple law had been found too heavy a

burthen; now the people eagerly adopted explanations and additions, by

which it was enlarged and made more precise. Such obedience was

occasionally rewarded by Jehovah’s disposing the hearts of neighbouring

princes very favourably towards them. Antiochus the Great was so much

pleased with the faithfulness of Israel, that he commanded victims,

wine, oil, frankincense, meal, wheat, and salt, to be furnished for the

sacrifices; gave them wood from Lebanon for the repairs of the temple;

recalled the Jews who had left their country, and freed the nation from

all tribute for three years.

“Still the yoke of foreign dominion pressed heavily, till at last

Jehovah hardened the heart of Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, who

carried his cruelty to such a length, as to prepare the way for the

complete emancipation of Israel. This Antiochus, whom the surname of

Epimanes (_frantic_) would have better suited, bestowed on the wretched

Joshua, the brother of Onias the third, the office of high-priest, and

allowed him, in consideration of an enormous increase of tribute, to

open a Grecian gymnasium in Jerusalem, and grant to the Jews the

privileges of citizens of Antioch. A strange infatuation seized a part

of the people, to witness the contests of this gymnasium; even priests,

for this object, forsook their duties in the temple. His younger brother

Onias, (who as Joshua, in his passion for every thing Greek, had called

himself Jason, took the name of Menelaus) tempted Epiphanes by still

higher offers, abjured in Antioch the religion of his fathers, promised

an increase of three hundred talents of tribute, and by force of arms

installed himself high-priest. A report being spread, that Antiochus had

died in Egypt, Jason returned with 1000 men of the Ammonites, and

possessed himself of Jerusalem. Antiochus hastened back from Egypt, took

Jerusalem, plundered the city, cut to pieces 80,000 men, and sold as

slaves, or carried away captive, an equal number. He added impiety to

cruelty. Entering the temple with Menelaus, he reviled the God to whom

it was dedicated, directed all the gold and silver, the table of

shew-bread and the candlestick to be carried away, and then offered—I

can scarce relate the horrible atrocity, a swine upon the sacred altar,

and sprinkled the whole temple with the water in which a part of it had

been boiled. This was not all that Israel was doomed to bear from the

heathen. Some time after, being in Egypt, and being compelled to return

home by an embassy of the Romans, he vented his ill-humour upon

Jerusalem, sent thither 22,000 men, who marched in on the sabbath day,

plundered the houses, pulled down the walls of the city, turned the hill

of Zion into a fortification, and made the streets of Jerusalem flow

with the blood of its inhabitants. The daily sacrifice ceased. The

worship of the Grecian idols was commanded upon pain of death; the holy

scriptures were cut to pieces or taken away; the temple on Garizim

dedicated to Jupiter Xenius; that at Jerusalem to Jupiter Olympius. On

the altar of burnt-offering another was erected to these idols, and

groves and shrines of idolatrous worship were introduced into every

town. To practise circumcision, or to observe the sabbath, was forbidden

on pain of death. Two women were discovered to have circumcised their

children; the infants were bound on their breasts, they were led round

the whole city, and at last precipitated from the walls. Some had crept

into caverns near the city, in order to keep the sabbath—they were all

burnt alive. Every month, at the return of the day on which the king was

born, the Jews were forcibly driven to perform a sacrifice. On the

festival of Bacchus, they were made to appear in garlands of ivy in his

honour. Eleasar, an aged man and learned in the law, had his mouth

forced open, that he might swallow swine’s flesh; but in spite of force

or fraud, he preferred to die, rather than violate the law. A mother

with seven sons was taken, and scourging applied, to make them eat the

unclean food, but in vain. The executioners then took the eldest of the

sons, cut out his tongue, lopped off his hands and feet, and broiled him

in the fire, while he exhorted his mother and brethren, who were

standing by, to die undauntedly for the law. The other sons shared the

same fate, and last of all the mother, who had thus addressed her last

son, ‘My dearest child, whom I bore nine months beneath my heart, and

three years at my bosom, have pity upon me! Fear not the man of blood,

but die willingly, as thy brothers have done, that the God of mercy may

restore you with them living to my embrace!’ What miracles of

steadfastness under such torments! Israel was oppressed, as it had never

been before; but it stood the trial nobly, and deserved to obtain its

perfect freedom, which was at length accomplished in the following

manner.

“There lived in Modin a priest of the name of Mattathias, who had five

sons, and whose complaint it was that he had been born to behold the

oppression of his people and the desolation of the holy city, without

being able to give them aid. He rent his clothes, and he and his sons

put on sackcloth. When the captains of Antiochus came to Modin, and

seduced many of the people to apostasy from the law, and endeavoured by

promises of all kinds to persuade Mattathias, who was one of the most

considerable of the inhabitants, to offer sacrifice and burn incense, he

not only openly refused, but when a Jew, at the close of his speech,

went up to the altar and sacrificed to the idol, his zeal for the Lord

of Hosts was so kindled, that he ran up to him, slew both him who had

offered and the captain of Antiochus, and overturned the altar. This

done, he cried aloud through the whole city, ‘Whoso is zealous for the

law and will keep the covenant, let him go forth with me!’ This action

decided the emancipation of Israel.

“Many followed him into the desert, and a multitude of pious Jews soon

collected about him. They traversed the whole country, throwing down the

altars of the idols, circumcising the children on whom that rite had not

yet been performed, and attacking the ungodly. Mattathias succeeded in

maintaining the law against all the power of the heathens. He was

already far advanced in age, and having blessed his children, encouraged

them to vigorous resistance, reminded them of the deeds of their

fathers, and recommended his third son, Judas, for their leader; and the

second, the wise Simon, for their counsellor; he died and was buried

with his fathers at Modin.

“Judas, surnamed Maccabeus, or _the Hammer_, continued the good work

which his father had begun. After gaining several glorious victories

over the Syrians, he entered in triumph into Jerusalem. And when they

saw how the sanctuary was laid desolate, the altar defiled, the posts of

the gates burned, the space around grown over with grass and trees, and

the cells of the priests fallen to ruin; they rent their clothes and

made great lamentations, they strewed ashes upon their heads, fell down

on their faces, and blew the trumpet, and cried towards heaven. The

priests who were with them purified the temple. The desecrated altar was

pulled down and a new one built. The sacred vessels were renewed, a

golden lamp-stand, an altar of incense, and a table of shew-bread made.

They placed the incense on the altar, lighted the lamps, laid the

shew-bread on the table, hung up the curtains, and restored the temple

to its former state. On the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, they

arose early and offered again according to the law, on the altar of

burnt-offering, with song and pipe, harp and cymbal. This was the first

offering since the time when the heathen defiled the sanctuary. This

festival of the new altar was continued for nine days, and there was

great joy among the people, that their disgrace was taken away. It was

resolved that it should be annually observed, as a remembrance for ever.

They then built strong walls and towers around the sanctuary on the hill

of Zion. Judas proceeded from victory to victory, till at length he lost

his life in an unsuccessful battle, after he had made a league with the

Romans. His brother Jonathan followed him, and maintained himself and

upheld the law in very difficult circumstances. He was appointed

high-priest. The heroic defender of Judea was made prisoner by stratagem

and shamefully put to death. He was great in council, still greater in

the field, and those who saw him were compelled to confess that Jehovah

had raised him up to be the guardian of the people in their time of

need. I saw him in my youth at Ptolemais, at the espousals of king

Alexander Balas, of Syria, with the daughter of the king of Egypt. There

sat the hero, in a robe of purple, among kings at table, and surpassed

them all in royalty of mien.

“Simon, the last of the sons of Mattathias, now took the command of the

army. It was he whom his dying father had called the Wise, and commanded

his brethren to obey him. For four and twenty years he had served his

brethren with counsel, and, though older than Judas and Jonathan, had

filled a subordinate station with so much humility, as well to deserve

the honour of finally establishing the independence of Israel. He had

scarcely erected a monument at Modin, to his father and his valiant

brothers, renewed the covenant with the Romans, and sent an embassy to

Demetrius in Syria, when the Romans declared Israel free, and Demetrius

formally renounced all claims upon them. This happy consummation, by

which Israel has been placed securely on an eminence of prosperity

unknown before, became an era to us, and we are now in the thirty-fourth

year of freedom. The people dwell in the land, serve no foreign master,

possess the temple and the law, and fulfil it gladly. Would that this

same period had not also witnessed the erection of the Oneion at

Leontopolis!

“I cannot refrain from adding a few events of the latest times. Simon

retook Gaza; Jerusalem was purified. He besieged the garrison in the

castle, and when they surrendered and retired, he entered with branches

of palm and the sound of the harp, singing praises to God for having

delivered Israel from tyranny, and commanded that this day should be

kept as a perpetual festival. He built walls all around the temple-hill,

made the castle still stronger, and took up his own residence there. The

people, as an expression of their gratitude, chose him as their prince

and high-priest, till God should raise up the true Prophet. While Simon

lived, Judah had peace, every man cultivated his own field, the land was

productive, and there was fruit in the vine. The elders exercised

authority and preserved good order, and the condition of the citizens

was greatly improved.

“What shall I say of John Hyrcanus, his son and successor? Thou wilt see

him thyself, Helon, in all his majesty; and wert thou, Myron, to see

him, thou wouldest never jest again at Israel’s expense. While we were

enduring in Egypt the cruelty of the abandoned Ptolemy Physcon, and the

men of science and eminence in the arts were flying from the country,

Israel was happy under its wise and heroic prince. If the oppression of

the Syrians was felt for a short time, Hyrcanus soon shook off the yoke,

and himself conquered the Syrian cities, Madeba, Samega, and others. He

next humbled the Samaritans, and removed that offence of every Jew, the

temple on mount Garizim. He gave the Idumeans their choice, to

expatriate themselves, or to receive circumcision, and thus united the

seed of Esau with the posterity of Jacob. He has built the castle of

Baris in the holy city. He is distinguished, above all the princes and

fathers of Israel, by uniting in himself the threefold office which the

Messiah is to bear, king, leader, and high-priest. At this moment he has

just annihilated the power of the Samaritans by the conquest of their

capital.

“To such a pitch of glory and to such hopes has Jehovah exalted his

people; to him be the praise! He setteth us up on high. Since the days

of Abraham, no period has occurred, in which Israel was so free and so

pure. Great was indeed the splendour of the reign of Solomon; nor can we

now boast, that silver and gold are like the stones of the street—but in

his days neither sovereign nor people were strict in the observance of

the law. Now, what zeal, what earnestness for the law is manifested! Our

fathers in those days were little better in this respect than the

Hellenists in our own.

“I praise my God that he has permitted me to behold the glory of his

people, and to feast my thoughts with the contemplation of it, though I

am not permitted to dwell with my brethren in the Land of Promise, under

the sceptre of Hyrcanus. How important the present condition of Israel

is, may be judged from the long preparations by which it has been

brought about, and the difficulties which opposed and retarded it.

Had not the Lord been on our side

May Israel now say,

Had not the Lord been on our side,

When men rose up against us,

Then they had swallowed us up alive,

When their wrath was kindled against us;

The waters had overwhelmed us,

The stream had gone over our soul,

The proud waters had gone over our soul.

Blessed be the Lord!

He hath not given us a prey to their teeth,

Our soul is escaped, as a bird out of the snare of the fowler;

The snare is broken, and we are escaped.

Our help is in the name of Jehovah;

He made heaven and earth.—Ps. cxxiv.

“I perceive, Myron, that your eyes are turned towards the west, and I

read your meaning. You think that the Romans, before whom already

Carthage and Corinth have fallen, and to whom so many nations have bowed

the neck, may threaten the liberty of Israel. But stern and implacable

as they are to all their enemies, they keep faith with their friends and

allies; and he whom they aid may think himself secure upon his throne.

Besides, Israel has still higher hopes. Let me only remind you of the

commencement of my narrative, in which I showed, that Israel was

destined to communicate the faith of Abraham to all nations, by means of

the law; and that the Messiah is to be the Patriarch of the human race.

To bring this to pass, Israel became a nation in Egypt, received the law

from Sinai, conquered the Holy Land under the judges, obtained a temple

under its kings, and was taught obedience by the vicissitudes of

calamity and prosperity in successive centuries. All now exists

together—Israel is a nation, has the law and obeys it willingly. The

time therefore cannot be remote, when all the nations of the earth shall

be blessed in the seed of Abraham and the son of David. The sins which

are still found in Israel alone prevent his immediate appearance. As

soon as they repent, and keep but one sabbath as they ought, the

expectation of Israel will come. For thus has Isaiah prophesied; ‘Thus

saith the Lord; my salvation is near and my righteousness is about to be

revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that

layeth hold on it, that keepeth the sabbath free from pollution, and

restraineth his hand from doing any evil.[73] He that is promised shall

come and that speedily. Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the

glory of the Lord is risen upon thee! The Gentiles shall come to thy

light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.’[74] In this hope I

conclude my narrative, which, long as it has been, is too short for the

subject, with that psalm, so full of thankfulness and hope:

Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises to our God;

For it is pleasant, and praise is comely.

Jehovah doth build up Jerusalem,

He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel;

He healeth the broken in heart,

And bindeth up their wounds.

He telleth the number of the stars,

He calleth them all by their names.

Great is our Lord, and of great power,

His understanding is infinite.

The Lord lifteth up the oppressed.

He casteth the wicked down to the ground.

Sing unto Jehovah with thanksgiving!

Sing praises upon the harp unto our God!

He covereth the heaven with clouds,

He giveth rain upon the earth,

He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains,

He giveth to the beast his food,

And to the young ravens when they cry.

He delighteth not in the strength of the horse,

Nor takes pleasure in the swiftness of a man:

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him,

In those that hope in his mercy.

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Praise thy God, O Zion!

For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates,

He hath blessed thy children within thee;

He maketh peace in thy borders,

He filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.

He showeth his word unto Jacob,

His statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

He hath not done so with every nation,

They have not known his judgments.

Praise Jehovah!—Ps. cxlvii.

Footnote 73:

Isaiah lvi. 2.

Footnote 74:

Isaiah lx. 1.

“Amen!” exclaimed Helon. “Amen!” responded Elisama; and even Myron

repeated “Amen!”

END OF BOOK THE FIRST.

BOOK II.

CHAPTER I.

THE PROMISED LAND.

The way from Raphia to Gaza was travelled with very different feelings

by the several members of our party.

Helon, as he proceeded, was constantly looking to the right, towards the

hills of Judah, which rose black and dark in the starry night, to the

eastward of the road which they travelled along the coast. His feelings

grew more intense with every glance; passages from the Psalms and the

Prophets perpetually rose to his lips; and all the fatigues of the

journey over the stony and sandy soil were forgotten in the reflection,

that every step brought him nearer to the Promised Land. The history of

his people passed in review before his mind, and his imagination applied

every thing around him to cherish the illusion. Instead of a caravan of

Phœnician traders, he seemed to be in the pastoral encampments of

Abraham; with Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness; in the

caravan of the queen of Sheba, when she came to visit Solomon; or

amongst the exiles returning with Zerubbabel, to rebuild the ruined

sanctuary.

Elisama was seated on his horse, his mind full of the glory of Israel

which was about to be revealed; in the midst of the bitterness against

the heathens, which was become a necessary excitement to his aged heart,

and the inward ill-will which he harboured against Myron, he rejoiced in

the triumph which he had gained over him by his narrative, which had

been so complete, as to force the Greek, at last, to assent to the

praises of Israel.

Myron’s feelings were of a very mixed kind, and some of them far from

being pleasant. He felt the Jewish pride in all its force, and was

perpetually tempted to keep it within bounds, by applying to it the keen

edge of Attic wit. Yet when he reflected on the other hand, that the

society of these Jews had enabled him to pass his time more pleasantly

and instructively, than he would have done among the Phœnicians, and

that the journey was now at an end, he thought it was not worth while to

offend them, and so held his peace. He had a further reason for not

wishing to come to a rupture with his fellow-travellers, that he might

not lose the invitation to Jerusalem upon which he reckoned. For,

notwithstanding all that was offensive to him, he could not but

acknowledge, that the Jews were a people in the highest degree

remarkable, and he had a great curiosity to see what they were in their

native land, where he had often been told they could alone be fairly

judged of.

With these feelings they came late at night to Gaza. Elisama, while the

tents were erecting, paid the conductor of the caravan the sum agreed

upon for the journey. As he intended, according to the ancient custom of

his people, to make the journey to the passover on foot, he had already

bargained with some one in the caravan for the purchase of the horses.

They reposed for some hours, and rose again before the dawn.

The caravan still lay buried in profound slumber. By the time that the

camels were loaded and themselves ready to depart, the morning began to

dawn, and a singular spectacle was unfolded by it. The camels were

crouching in a wide circle around the baggage, the horses, and the

merchandise; and their long necks and little heads rose like towers

above a wall. The men had encamped round fires or in tents. Most of the

fires had burnt out, only here and there dying embers occasionally shot

a flame, which feebly illuminated the singular groups around. Within the

great circle all was still, save that the watchmen with their long

staves were going their rounds, and calling their watchword in the

stillness of the hour. In the distance were heard the hoarse sounds of

the waves, breaking on the shore. On the other side of the camp was Gaza

with its towers and ruins; and the fiery glow of morning was lightening

up the scene of the fearful accomplishment of the word of prophecy.

Gaza, once so populous, magnificent, and strong, when she committed the

shameful outrage on Sampson, had no longer any gates at the spot where

the mighty hero once lifted them up, and placed them on the hill

opposite to Hebron.[75] Jeremiah had taken the wine-cup of fury from the

hand of Jehovah, to cause the nations to drink of it to whom the Lord

had sent him, and Gaza was amongst them, that they might reel and be mad

because of the sword that he sent amongst them.[76] The shepherd of

Tekoah had foretold this in yet plainer language.

Footnote 75:

Judg. xvi. 1-3.

Footnote 76:

Jer. xlvii.

Thus saith Jehovah,

Three transgressions of Gaza have I passed unnoticed,

But the fourth I cannot overlook.

And I will send a fire on the walls of Gaza,

Which shall devour the palaces thereof.—Amos i. 6, 7.

Zephaniah[77] had said, “Gaza shall be forsaken;” and last of all

Zechariah[78] had declared,

Ashkelon shall see it and fear,

Gaza also shall see it and grieve,

The king shall perish from Gaza,

And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

Footnote 77:

Zeph. ii. 4.

Footnote 78:

Zech. ix. 5.

What the prophets foretold against Gaza, which was one of the five

principal cities of the south-west of Canaan, Alexander the Great had

fulfilled. Her ruins bore witness also to the prowess of the later

heroes of Israel, Jonathan and Simon. The city had been originally

allotted to the tribe of Judah, and the Philistines never prospered in

their unjust possession of it. It was the seat of the worship of Dagon,

a monstrous idol, whose lower half had the form of a fish, and the upper

of a woman. Helon regarded the city as a monument of Israel’s revenge,

placed on the very confines of the Promised Land. To-day he was to enter

that land, and it seemed as if this awful spectacle had been exhibited

to him, to impress indelibly upon his mind the transition from the land

of the heathen to the land of Jehovah.

Lost in these thoughts, he stood unconscious of what was going on around

him. Myron placed himself beside him, and, for a long time, watched him

with earnest curiosity. “In good truth,” he at last suddenly exclaimed,

“this is oriental contemplation! Helon, thou thinkest on Jerusalem!”

Helon, disagreeably startled from his sublime reflections, replied, “I

was not thinking on Jerusalem, but on that city of the heathens, on

which, as our prophet predicted, ‘baldness is come.’”

“It is indeed a revolting sight,” said Myron, “and your prophet’s

anticipation has proved correct. But you are about to depart to-day for

Jerusalem. How I wish I could accompany you, and enter this temple,

whose magnificence I have heard you describe, along with the train of

pilgrims to the passover!”

“You would find yourself,” said Helon, “in a more disagreeable

situation, than even on the journey from Pelusium to Gaza.”

“I should be able to stand my ground nevertheless,” said Myron: “I must

now however go to Sidon. But I have a plan to propose.” He then told him

what his own occupations were, and suggested, that as they would

probably be terminated about the time when Elisama and Helon would have

celebrated the two festivals, he should join them at Jerusalem, and

after visiting together some other parts of the Holy Land, they should

return to Egypt in company. With the address of a Greek he contrived to

make his proposal acceptable even to Elisama, who, offended as he was at

his sarcasms upon the Jewish people, cherished a hope that by knowing

them better he might be persuaded to become, if not a proselyte of

righteousness, at least a proselyte of the gate. Helon was convinced,

that no true peace was to be derived from all the boasted wisdom of the

Greeks, and ardently desired that the friend of his youth, who had

sought this peace with him in philosophy, might be brought to confess

with him, that it was only to be found in the law of Jehovah; and

Elisama had often observed that the scoffer is most easily converted

into a worshipper.

The zeal for making proselytes, by which Israel was distinguished, may

be easily accounted for. Accustomed, for nearly two thousand years, to

believe, and on no less authority than that of God himself, that

salvation should proceed from them, and in them all nations of the earth

be blessed, they could not for a moment relinquish the desire of

carrying this prediction into effect; at this time they were more

peculiarly urged to it by the openly expressed veneration or secret

acquiescence of the wisest men. Religious faith, although the most

deeply seated in the breast of any of our sentiments, is, singular as it

may appear, that which we are most eager in communicating to others.

Whatever too has been long suppressed, breaks forth with redoubled force

when the obstacle is removed. Besides, the religious sentiments of the

Jews were not, like those of the heathens, the speculations of human

reason, but _truths_, confirmed by the sanction of God; and their zeal

in making proselytes was not the vain desire to swell the numbers of a

sect, but to deliver those who were under the dominion of error.

Myron and our travellers took leave of each other, in the hope of

meeting after a few months. He went through the camp to seek for company

as far as Tyre, and they took the road to Hebron.

From Gaza two roads conduct to Jerusalem. One passes by Eleutheropolis

and the plain of Sephela; the other through the hills by Hebron.

Although the former was the easier and more customary, Elisama preferred

the latter. He had a friend in Hebron, whom he had not seen for many

years, and in whose company he wished to perform the pilgrimage; and he

was desirous of making Helon’s first entrance into the Land of Promise

as solemn and impressive as possible. By taking the easier road, they

must have gone a long way through the country of the Philistines, and

not have been joined by pilgrims, till they reached Morescheth, and then

only in small numbers. On the other road, they entered immediately on

the Jewish territory, and their way conducted them through scenes

adorned with many an historical remembrance. They had not proceeded far

inward from the sea, in the direction of the river Besor, when they

reached the confines of Judah; they stood at the foot of its hills, and

the land of the heathen lay behind them. Helon seemed to feel for the

first time what home and native country mean. In Egypt, where he had

been born and bred, he had been conscious of no such feeling; for he had

been taught to regard himself as only a sojourner there. Into this

unknown, untrodden native country he was about to enter, and before he

set his foot upon it, at the first sight of it, the breeze seemed to

waft from its hills a welcome to his home. “Land of my fathers,” he

exclaimed, “Land of Promise, promised to me also from my earliest

years!” and quickened his steps to reach it. He felt the truth of the

saying, that Israel is Israel only in the Holy Land. “Here,” said

Elisama, “is the boundary of Judah.” Helon, unable to speak, threw

himself on the sacred earth, kissed it and watered it with his tears,

and Sallu, letting go the bridles of the camels, did the same. Elisama

stood beside them, and as he stretched his arms over them, and in the

name of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, blessed their going

out and their coming in, his eyes too overflowed with tears, and his

heart seemed to warm again, as with the renewal of a youthful love. See,

he exclaimed,

The winter is past, the rain is over and gone,

The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of the singing of birds is come,

The voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The figtree putteth forth her green figs,

The vines give fragrance from their blossoms.—Cant. ii. 10.

They proceeded slowly on their way; Helon gazed around him on every

side, and thought he had never seen so lovely a spring. The latter rains

had ceased, and had given a quickening freshness to the breezes from the

hills, such as he had never known in the Delta. The narcissus and the

hyacinth, the blossoms of the apricot and peach, shed their last

fragrance around. The groves of terebinth, the oliveyards and vineyards

stood before them in their living green: the corn, swollen by the rain,

was ripening fast for the harvest, and the fields of barley were already

yellow. The wide meadows, covered with grass for the cattle, the

alternation of hill and valley, the rocks hewn out in terraces, and

filled with earth and planted, offered a constant variety of delightful

views. You might see that this was a land, the dew of which Jehovah had

blessed, in which the prayer of Isaac over Jacob had been fulfilled,

when the patriarch said, “God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the

fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine.”[79] Helon drank of

the pure, clear mountain stream, whose sparkling reflection seemed to

him like a smile from a parent’s eyes on a returning wanderer, and

thought the sweet water of the Nile, so praised by the Egyptians, could

bear no comparison with it. Elisama reminded him of the words of the

psalm:

“Thou lookest down upon our land and waterest it,

And makest it full of sheaves.

The river of God is full of water.

Thou preparest corn and tillest the land,

Thou waterest its furrows and softenest its clods;

Thou moistenest it with showers, thou blessest its springing,

Thou crownest the year with thy blessing,

And thy footsteps drop fatness.

They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness,

And the hills are encompassed with rejoicing:

The pastures are clothed with flocks,

And the fields are covered with corn:

All shout for joy and sing.”—Ps. lxv.

Footnote 79:

Gen. xxvii. 28.

Helon replied to him from another psalm:

The springs arise among the valleys,

They run among the hills.

Here the thirsty wild beast cools itself,

The wild ass quenches his thirst.

The fowls of heaven dwell beside them,

And sing among the branches.

He watereth the hills from his clouds above;

The fruit of his works satisfieth the earth.

He maketh grass to grow for cattle,

And herb for the service of man,

Preparing bread from the earth

And wine that maketh glad man’s heart;

The fragrance of the oil for ointment,

And bread that giveth strength.

The cedars of Lebanon, tall as heaven,

He has planted, he watereth them!—Ps. civ.

“This,” exclaimed both together, “is indeed the Land of Promise;” and

Helon called to mind the words of the prophet Ezekiel, “Thus saith the

Lord Jehovah, I lifted up my hand to bring them out of Egypt into a land

which I had promised for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, a

land that is the glory of all lands.”[80]

Footnote 80:

Ezek. xx. 6.

These words Helon repeated incessantly as he proceeded. The pure

mountain air, which he had never drawn before, inspired the body, as the

feeling of home refreshed the mind. This moment, and that in which he

had returned to the law, moments of deep and indelible interest, seemed

to rise like lofty summits, far above the ordinary level of the events

of life. When he thought on the narrative of his uncle, he was inclined

to compare the former of these events with the terrific annunciation of

the law from Sinai—the latter, with the joy of Israel, when, under the

command of Joshua, they crossed the Jordan, and first set their feet on

the Promised Land.

During the whole of this journey to Hebron, external impressions seemed

to have no other power over him, than to awaken trains of thought,

connected with the subject by which his whole soul was occupied. When

Elisama pointed out to him Minois and Gerar, which lay far to the south;

and reminded him that Gerar was the place where Abraham had involved

himself in difficulties by the concealment of the truth from

Abimelech;[81] and where the pious Asa had defeated the Ethiopians;[82]

these hints were sufficient for his imagination to cover the plains with

the flocks of the patriarch, and the hosts of the virtuous king of

Judah.

Footnote 81:

Gen. xxvi.

Footnote 82:

2 Chron. xiv. 13.

They passed near Beersheba, which had given rise to the expression so

common in scripture history, “from Dan to Beersheba,” to denote the

whole extent of the Holy Land, from north to south. Beersheba was the

frontier town on the south, distant from Dan a hundred and sixty

sabbath-days’ journies, or fifty-three leagues. Elisama related how

Abraham and Isaac had dug a well here, and called it Beersheba, in

memory of the oaths exchanged between them and Abimelech;[83] how

Jehovah had here appeared to Jacob, and permitted him to go down to

Egypt to his beloved Joseph;[84] how Elias the Tishbite had fled hither

from the face of Ahab and Jezebel;[85] how Samuel’s sons had judged the

people here;[86] and how, in latter times, it had become a seat of

idolatrous worship under Uzziah; in consequence of which, Amos had given

the warning, “Pass not to Beersheba,”[87] and had denounced calamity on

those who say, “The worship of Beersheba liveth.”[88] At the return from

the captivity this was one of the first cities which the exiles

repeopled. Notwithstanding the length of the journey, which they

performed on foot, Elisama seemed to feel no fatigue; and every hill or

valley, every town or village, which they passed, gave him fresh

occasion to produce his inexhaustible store of historical recollections.

Their road lay by Debir, called also sometimes Kiriath Sanna, sometimes

Kiriath Sepher; and it reminded him of the heroic prize, the hand of his

own daughter Achsa, which Caleb had proposed to the man who should

conquer it.[89]

Footnote 83:

Gen. xxi. 3.; xxvi. 33.

Footnote 84:

Gen. xlvi. 1.

Footnote 85:

1 Kings xix. 3.

Footnote 86:

1 Sam. viii. 2.

Footnote 87:

Amos v. 5.

Footnote 88:

Amos viii. 14.

Footnote 89:

Judges i. 12.

At length Hebron rose before them, and each approached it with

characteristic feelings. Helon viewed it only as having been for seven

years the city of David’s residence;[90] and could have imagined, that

the tones of the sweet singer’s harp still lingered about its walls.

Elisama longed to see the friend of his youth, and to repose under his

hospitable roof. There was an unusual commotion beneath the towering

palms at the gate and in all the streets. It was evident that they were

preparing to depart for Jerusalem on the morrow.

Footnote 90:

2 Sam. ii. 11.

They were received with the cordial welcome of early but long separated

friends. Elisama had scarcely laid himself down, to have his feet

washed, when the discourse between him and his host flowed as freely as

if the old man had only walked a sabbath-day’s journey. Helon observed,

that here the ancient custom was preserved of crouching upon the carpet

at meals; while in Alexandria they reclined on Grecian cushions. He fell

asleep, and night prolonged the dreams of day.

CHAPTER II.

THE PILGRIMAGE.

At the first crowing of the cock, all was in motion; their host was

making the last arrangements for his departure, the neighbours entered

to announce that the march was about to begin. Refreshments were offered

to the travellers, and especially to Elisama; but he declared with

earnestness, that, even amidst the idolaters of Egypt, he had scarcely

ever allowed himself to taste food early in a morning, and much less

would he do so in Israel, and in the city of David, and on a pilgrimage

to Jerusalem. The commotion in the street became greater and greater,

and it was scarcely dawn, when they set forth. All the doors of the

houses were open, all the roofs were covered with persons watching their

departure. Helon, as he passed through the streets of Hebron in the

ruddy light of the dawn, and by the palm trees at the gate, was reminded

that Hebron was one of the oldest cities in the world, even older than

Zoan in Egypt;[91] that it had been conquered by Joshua, and given as a

portion to Caleb, the bravest and most faithful of the explorers of the

land;[92] that it had afterwards become a city of the priests, and had

been for seven years the residence of David; that it had been taken by

the Idumeans, and reconquered by the Maccabees,[93] and once more

incorporated with Judah. But when he had passed the gate, and gained a

view of the lovely valley full of vine-yards and corn-fields, and looked

around on the region where patriarchs had tended their flocks and

pitched their tents, and lived in friendly communion with Jehovah, all

the high and enthusiastic feelings of the preceding day were renewed in

his mind. From all the cross-roads, men, women, and children were

streaming towards the highway to Jerusalem. They had scarcely proceeded

a sabbath-day’s journey, when they saw the grove of terebinths; cymbals,

flutes, and psalms resounded from the midst of it, and hundreds were

standing under the turpentine-tree of Abraham, a tree of immense size

and wide-spreading branches. Helon entered the grove of Mamre with

feelings of religious veneration. Here Abraham had dwelt, here the

angels had appeared to him; beneath these trees Isaac had been promised,

and the rite of circumcision instituted; here Ishmael had been born, and

driven from his father’s tent; and not far off was the cave of

Machpelah, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah

were buried.[94] And on this spot, consecrated by so many recollections,

the children of these patriarchs were now preparing to depart, on their

festal pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The occasion and the place seemed to

banish from all hearts every other feeling but piety and good-will;

mutual greetings were exchanged; friends and relations sought each other

out, and associated themselves for the journey, and all faces beamed

with joy. “It is time to set out,” said some of the elders to the judge

of Hebron: “already has the priest asked the watchman on the temple,

Does it begin to be light towards Hebron?” The priests and elders led

the procession; the people followed, and the slaves with the camels were

placed in the midst of them, the Levites had distributed themselves with

their instruments among the multitude, and as they set forward they sung

this psalm:

How am I glad when they say unto me,

I will go up to the house of Jehovah!

My foot hath stood already in thy gates, O Jerusalem!

Jerusalem, thou beautifully built;

Chief city, where all unite together!

Thither do the tribes go up,

The tribes of Jehovah to the festival of remembrance,

To praise the name of Jehovah.

There are the thrones of judgment,

The thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem;

May they prosper that love thee!

Peace be in thy walls,

Prosperity in thy palaces!

For my brethren and companions’ sake,

I wish thee peace!

For the sake of the temple of our God,

I bless thee with good.—Ps. cxxii.

Footnote 91:

Numb. xiii. 22.

Footnote 92:

Josh. xiv. 14.

Footnote 93:

1 Mac. v. 65.

Footnote 94:

Gen. xiii. 18.; xviii. 1.; xxiii. 17.

It is impossible to conceive of the soul-felt exultation with which this

psalm was sung, and of its effect on old and young. Now the voices rose,

like the notes of the mounting lark, on the summit of the hills, now

sunk again in the depths of the valleys. How differently did it operate

now upon the heart of Helon, and when he sung it before to his solitary

harp on his roof in Alexandria! How did he bless the memory of Samuel,

who had given his schools of the prophets the harp and the flute;[95]

and of David, who, bred up among them, did not forget them even when

seated on his throne,[96] but appointed Levites for the cultivation of

music; and himself often laid down his sceptre, to assume the harp. It

was on such a pilgrimage, with such accompaniments, that the sublimity

and force of the psalms, and the superiority of Jewish poetry, made

itself fully felt.

Footnote 95:

1 Sam. x. 5.; xix. 20.

Footnote 96:

2 Chron. vii. 6.

Helon was astonished at the effect which they had upon himself and all

around him. The youths and maidens bounded for joy, and tears of

pleasure stood in the eyes of the aged. Those who were going up for the

first time to the festival looked and listened to those who had already

been there, as if to hear from them an explanation of the full meaning

of what they sung. The old heard in these festive acclamations the echo

of their own youthful joys, and while their hearts swelled with the

remembrance of the feelings of their earliest pilgrimage, they beat yet

higher with gratitude to Jehovah, who had permitted them, in their grey

hairs, to behold such glorious days for Israel, the Syrian tyranny

overthrown, and Hyrcanus seated on the throne.

Sublime are the acclamations of a people freed from a foreign yoke! But

here was more. It was the fraternal union of a whole people, in the

holiest bond of a common faith, going up to appear before the altar of

Jehovah, and to commemorate the wonders of love and mercy which he had

manifested towards their forefathers. They seemed a band of brothers.

“In Alexandria,” said Helon, “Jew is against Jew, and family against

family—but here is one holy people, loving each other as the children of

one Israel, joint heirs of one great and blessed name.” Every one had

bidden adieu to the occupations and the anxieties of ordinary life. They

had come to give thanks and to pray, and no sounds but those of

thankfulness and prayer were heard among them. The hostilities and

alienations produced by self-love and the collision of interests

appeared to have been left at home, and the general joy dispersed every

melancholy feeling which an individual might have been disposed to

indulge. On these pilgrimages they seemed as free from care as the

people of old, when, rescued from Egyptian bondage, they were fed by

manna from heaven, on their way to the land that flowed with milk and

honey. Jehovah had promised to protect the whole country, so that no

enemy should invade its borders, while the people went up, thrice in

every year, to appear before him[97]—how much more confidently might

each father of a family intrust his own household to his protection!

Nothing was more remarkable than that the aged and the weakly were able

to bear this journey of thirty-six sabbath-days’ journies, over hill and

dale, without complaining of fatigue. It seemed as if the strong had

given to the weaker a portion of their own vigour; or rather, as if

Jehovah himself had strengthened the feeble knees for this journey. They

expressed these sentiments, by singing, immediately after the former,

the following psalm:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills

From which my help cometh.

My help cometh from Jehovah,

The Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved;

He that keepeth thee will not slumber,

He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth.

Jehovah is thy guardian,

Thy shade upon thy right hand:

The sun shall not smite thee by day,

Nor the moon by night.

Jehovah shall preserve thee from all evil,

He shall preserve thy soul.

Jehovah preserveth thy going out and thy coming in,

From this time forth and for evermore.—Ps. cxxi.

Footnote 97:

Exod. xxxiv. 23.

It was a beautiful sight, when the procession came from the plain among

the hills. The rocky walls, between which their path sometimes lay,

re-echoed with their songs. Helon withdrew a little from the line, to an

eminence which commanded a view in both directions, and could see the

train, covering both the ascent and the descent of the hill, spreading

over the plain, and winding like a wreath around the hill beyond.

In every town and village to which they came, they were received with

shouts of joy. Before the doors of the houses stood tables with dates,

honey, and bread. New crowds of persons, dressed in their holyday

attire, were waiting at the junction of the roads, in the fields, and at

the entrance of the towns, and joined themselves to the long procession.

Here and there before the houses, in the fields or in the vineyards,

stood an unclean person, or a woman, or a child, who had been compelled

to remain at home, and who replied with tears to the salutation of the

passing multitude. It seemed as if the people carried all joy with them

from the country to Jerusalem, and only sorrow was left for those who

remained behind. Before a house in Bethshur, stood a fine boy of ten

years old. Tears streamed from his large dark eyes, and the open

features of his noble countenance had an expression of profound grief.

His mother was endeavouring to comfort him, and to lead him back into

the court, assuring him that his father would take him the next time.

But the boy listened neither to her consolations nor her promises, and

continued to exclaim, “O father, father, let me go to the temple! I know

all the psalms by heart.” He stretched out his arms to the passers-by in

earnest entreaty, and happening to see among them a man of the

neighbourhood whom he knew, he flew to him, and clinging to his girdle

and his upper garment, besought him with tears to take him with him,

till the man, moved by his earnestness, asked his mother to allow him to

go, promising to take care of him till he should find out his father.

“And this,” said Helon, “is the object of children’s longing in Israel;

so early does the desire of keeping the festival display itself! Brought

up in Palestine, he felt it would have been with him exactly as with the

child.”

They now passed through a wood and then descended a lofty hill whose

slope was wholly covered with vines. In the valley before them lay the

pools of Solomon. They slackened their pace, and the following psalm was

sung:

How lovely are thy tabernacles, Lord of hosts!

My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord,

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

As the bird that findeth her house,

As the swallow, a nest for her young,

So I thine altars, O Lord of hosts,

My king and my God!

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house;

They are still praising Thee;

Blessed is the man who placeth his confidence in Thee

And thinketh of the way to Jerusalem!

Should they pass through the valley of sorrow

They find it full of springs.

Blessings be on him who goeth before them,

They increase in strength as they go on,

Till they appear before God in Zion.

O Lord of hosts, hear my prayer!

Give ear, O God of Jacob!

O God, our shield, look down,

Behold the face of thine anointed!

A day in thy courts is better than a thousand.

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God

Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For Jehovah our God is a sun and shield;

Jehovah giveth grace and glory,

No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts,

Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee!—Ps. lxxxiv.

They were now arrived at the pools of Solomon, into which the brook

Etham was received, and which had formerly supplied Jerusalem with

water, by means of a costly aqueduct. The three pools lay on different

levels, one below another, on a sloping ground. Around each was a double

row of noble palms, in which the whole of this spot abounded. Here,

beside the springs and in the refreshing shade of the trees, the

pilgrims encamped to rest at noon. They had accomplished twenty-six

sabbath-days’ journies of their march and ten yet remained.

This aqueduct of Solomon’s was a stupendous work. The fountain of Etham,

whose waters the pools received, was about one hundred and fifty paces

above them. The pools were of an oblong form, the highest one hundred

and sixty, the second two hundred, the lowest two hundred and twenty

paces in length, and all ninety paces in breadth. The celebrated gardens

of Solomon lay beneath these reservoirs, and were a work equally

admirable in their kind. They lay in a rocky valley, enclosed by high

hills, and were five hundred paces long and two hundred broad. A

solitude, which had nothing in it wild or savage, made them a delightful

retreat. In the stillness of this glen, amidst fruit-trees of every

variety, the king might find a noble recreation from the cares of

royalty. From these extraordinary gardens Solomon derived his imagery,

when he said, “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse;”[98] and when

he speaks in the same passage of a spring shut up, and a fountain

sealed, we are reminded of the fountain of Etham, which Solomon is said

to have sealed with his own signet ring. Both may serve to explain the

words of the Preacher. “I made me great works, I builded me houses, I

planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted

trees in them of all kind of fruits; I made me pools of water to water

therewith the wood of green trees.”[99] Both the reservoirs and the

aqueduct appeared, by the solidity of their construction, to have been

designed to last for ever, and were worthy of the king by whom they were

made, and of his times, of which the Book of Chronicles declares, that

“Silver was in Jerusalem like stones.”[100] Our travellers blessed his

memory, as they drank, beneath the shade of the palms, the refreshing

draught of the cool rock water. It was just mid-day, the heat of the sun

was intense, and all longed for repose and coolness.

Footnote 98:

Canticles iv. 12.

Footnote 99:

Eccl. ii. 4.

Footnote 100:

2 Chron. ix. 27.

After a short rest the sacks and wine-skins were unpacked from the

camels, while others produced their humble stores from their mantles or

their bosoms. The upper garments were spread for carpets, on which they

lay for rest, or crouched to eat. Now you might see that these pilgrims

were a band of brothers. It is true, the very poorest had brought

something with him. For weeks before, ever since the feast of

tabernacles, they had denied themselves, in order to save something for

this festival; and on this day at least the command of Moses might

appear to have been literally fulfilled, “There shall be no beggar among

you.” But besides this the rich had provided for the poor a supply of

those things which on ordinary occasions they were not able to procure

themselves. Some sent to the old men a cup of generous wine, or regaled

the children with confectionary and fruits. From Tekoah, the birthplace

of the prophet Amos, which was not far off, came asses loaded with the

celebrated honey of Tekoah; and from Beth-Cherem, celebrated for its

wines, others with large and sweet raisins. From the cheerful mirth

which pervaded the whole assembly, and the delightful coolness of the

water and the trees, they seemed more like a company celebrating, in a

fine evening, the festival of the new moon, than a caravan halting at

mid-day. No one felt the heat or complained of weariness, except a few

aged and weakly persons, who indulged themselves in a short rest.

Behind a hill the walls of Tekoah were discerned in the distance, and

beyond it the desert of Tekoah, the free pasture of the bees, for whose

honey the town was celebrated. “Does not this scene remind thee of the

prophet-herdsman of Tekoah?” said Elisama to Helon. “How should it not,”

replied Helon, “when I see his prophecy almost fulfilled before my

eyes?”[101]

Footnote 101:

Amos ix. 11.

In that day will I raise up the fallen tabernacle of David,

And close up its breaches, and raise up its ruins,

And build it afresh as in the days of old,

That they may conquer the remnant of Edom,

And of all nations whom I will consecrate to myself,

Saith Jehovah who doeth this.

Behold the day cometh, saith Jehovah,

When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,

And the treader of grapes him that soweth seed.

And the mountains shall drop sweet wine,

And all the hills shall stream.

I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel

And they shall build the desolate cities,

And plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof,

They shall make gardens and eat the fruit of them,

And I will plant them firmly in their land,

And they shall no more be plucked out of their land which I have given

them,

Saith the Lord thy God.

They waited another hour in this pleasant valley, till the great heat of

noon was moderated. During this time some youths came to Helon, and said

to him, “Though you speak our language you are not a youth of Judah,

your turban betrays you.” Helon informed them that he was an Aramæan

Jew, a native of Alexandria indeed, but one who had chosen Jerusalem, in

preference to Leontopolis. They acknowledged him with joy as one of

themselves, and invited him to accompany them in a walk around the

encampment. Helon gladly accepted the offer.

What a multitude of interesting groups presented themselves on every

side, as they wandered from one palm tree to another! Every party as

they passed offered them wine, mead, honey, dates and the like, and

greeted them with friendly words. Boys had insinuated themselves among

the circles of the men, and listened, with fixed eyes and open mouth, to

every word which they uttered respecting Jerusalem and the festival. The

boy whom Helon had seen weeping so bitterly before the solitary house

had found out his father, was lying in his lap and repeating to him the

psalms which he had learnt. A group of maidens were listening to a

description of the magnificent vestments of the high-priest. They past

by a company of men, who were speaking of the heroic deeds of Hyrcanus

and the Maccabees, and rejoicing that Edom and Samaria had been made

subject by him to Israel. One feeling of joy pervaded all bosoms, but it

expressed itself in various ways, according to the age or sex of each.

One group rivetted the attention of Helon so long, that he did not leave

them till it was near the time of departure. Under almost the furthest

palm trees sat seven robust young men, with an equal number of women and

several children. “This is Mardochai of Ziph, with his children and

children’s children,” said one of the youths who accompanied Helon. They

approached him, took him by the hand, and congratulated him upon being

able to go up to the feast, with such a train of his descendents. “Yes,”

exclaimed the old man, while tears trembled in his dark eyes, “Jehovah

hath abundantly blessed me. I see my offspring, like the sand on the

seashore—children and children’s children, to the number of fifty

souls!”

This aged pair had not for several years gone up to the festival: but

their children had now persuaded them to appear once more before

Jehovah. They had been the last in the procession, and their sons and

daughters had been obliged almost to carry them in their arms—a burthen

which they had joyfully sustained—for they had refused either to ride or

be conveyed in a carriage. “Where could a psalm of degrees be more in

its place?” said a lively youth of the company. At the word several of

them ran to fetch their musical instruments, and standing around the

deeply moved old man, they sung the following psalm:

Blessed is every one that feareth Jehovah,

That walketh in his ways.

For thou shalt eat of the labour of thy hands:

Happy art thou, and it is well with thee!

Thy wife is a fruitful vine, by the walls of thine house,

Thy children, like olive plants around thy table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth Jehovah:

Jehovah will bless thee out of Zion.

Thou shalt see the prosperity of Jerusalem thine whole life long,

Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children.

Peace be upon Israel!—Ps. cxxviii.

During this time others had come up, and soon the news was spread

through the whole assemblage, that Mardochai of Ziph was once more among

them; and nearly all the pilgrims came and formed a circle about him.

The judges and elders of Hebron were among them, and all greeted the

venerable pair and wished them peace.

“Ye shall lead the procession!” said an elder of Hebron! “The place of

honour belongs to you. The pilgrims of Hebron cannot advance with any

blessing better or more rare.”

The sons took their father, the daughters their mother, in their arms,

the priests and elders followed, and the march began again to complete

the ten sabbath-days’ journies which they were still distant from

Jerusalem.

Far from the expressions of joy being exhausted by all the songs and

acclamations of the morning, they seemed only to be beginning, when they

set forward again. From the pools of Solomon they took their way through

the hills to Bethlehem. The cymbals, cornets, and timbrels of the

Levites struck up their music again, and many a soul-inspiring psalm was

heard from the lips of an assemblage now swollen to several thousand

persons. In a pilgrimage to the temple, could _he_ be forgotten, whose

pious heart first conceived the wish to build a house for Jehovah? The

warrior-bard was commemorated in the following psalm:

Lord remember David!

All his afflictions.

How he sware unto the Lord

And vowed unto the Mighty One of Jacob;

Surely I will not go into mine house,

Nor go up into my bed;

I will not give sleep to mine eyes,

Nor slumber to mine eyelids,

Until I find out a place for the Lord,

A habitation for the Mighty One of Jacob.

Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah,

We found it in the fields of Jaar:

Let us go into his tabernacle,

Let us worship at his footstool!—Ps. cxxxii.

It seemed as if the multitude could not leave the last strophe, which

they repeated over and over again. They then went on to the second part

of the psalm, which was probably sung at the dedication of the temple,

and repeated in the same way the elevating words with which it

concludes,

Jehovah hath chosen Zion,

He hath desired it for his habitation.

The instruments now struck in with a louder tone, and the multitude

lifted up its voice, as the words of Jehovah were repeated.

This is my rest for ever;

Here will I dwell: for I have chosen it.

I will abundantly bless her provision,

I will satisfy her poor with bread;

I will clothe her priests with salvation,

Her holy ones shall shout aloud for joy.

There will I exalt the might of David

And prepare a lamp for mine anointed.

His enemies will I clothe with shame,

But on his head shall the crown flourish.

Proceeding in this way they reached Bethlehem Ephratah, “little among

the thousands of Judah,” and yet so highly honoured. Both its names

allude to the fertility of the country in which it stands. Bethlehem

signifies _the place of bread_; and Ephratah, _fruitful_. In its

luxuriant pastures Jacob fed his flocks; in its fertile fields Boaz was

reaping when he found his kinswoman Ruth. Here his seven sons were born

to Jesse, and here the man after God’s own heart grew up, till the day

when he came forth to avenge the honour of his people on the boastful

heathen.

Bethlehem is a small town, six sabbath-days’ journies from the holy

city. It is situated upon a narrow, rocky ridge, surrounded by vallies

and hills, having an extensive view over the diversified country in its

neighbourhood, the region around Jericho, the Dead Sea, and the Arabian

mountains. Before its gates you look to the plain of the valley of

Rephaim, and all around is the garden of God. The Kedron flows through

its fruitful fields, which are thickly set with olives and figtrees,

with vines and corn. But its greatest glory is that of which Micah

prophetically speaks, “And thou Bethlehem Ephratah, who art little among

the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth that is to be

Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from

everlasting.”[102]

Footnote 102:

Micah v. 2.

In Bethlehem they met with another company of pilgrims, coming from

Lachish, Adullam, and Libna, which lie westward of Bethlehem. All who

could, endeavoured to make Bethlehem in their way to Jerusalem on these

occasions. It was the city of David, the road passed by the grave of

Rachel, and it was dear to many, as the city to which the greatest of

all the promises had been given.

The elders of the different cities had soon agreed about the order of

the march from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. The venerable pair, Mardochai of

Ziph and his wife, were borne before, the elders followed, but without

any distinctive badge, and the people arranged themselves as they chose.

Some time, however, elapsed before they set out. There were greetings of

friends and acquaintance, who met after a long interval; those who had

travelled furthest needed refreshment. At length the Levites began their

music and their songs, and the people set forward. They had soon

descended from the heights of Bethlehem into the valley of Rephaim. As

the living stream poured down from the hills, among the corn-fields and

mulberry-groves of the vale, this was the praise of Jerusalem which

ascended in a mingled strain of voices and instruments.

They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion,

Which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.

As the mountains are around Jerusalem,

So the Lord is round about his people,

From henceforth and for evermore:

For the sceptre of the wicked shall not remain on the lot of the

righteous.

Do good, O Lord, unto those that are good,

To them that are upright in their hearts!

As for those that turn aside into crooked ways,

Jehovah shall destroy them, with all the workers of iniquity.

Peace be upon Israel!—Ps. cxxv.

When they had proceeded about two sabbath-days’ journies, or a little

more, from Bethlehem, they approached the grave of Rachel.[103] At

another time this place of the rest of Jacob’s beloved wife, the hardly

earned recompense of his labours, might have produced some melancholy

emotions, but now such thoughts were banished by the universal joy.

Helon remarked to Elisama, that this was not the time of which their

prophet had spoken: “In Rama was heard a voice, lamentation and bitter

weeping; Rachel weeping for her children.”[104] “May it be always so

with the children of Israel,” replied Elisama.

Footnote 103:

Gen. xxxv. 16.

Footnote 104:

Jer. xxxi. 15.

The eager haste of the multitudes now increased with every step, and

their impatience for the first sight of Jerusalem was expressed in the

following psalm:

Great is the Lord; and greatly to be praised

The mountain of his holiness in the city of our God.

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole land

Is mount Zion, on the north of the city of the great King.

God is known in her palaces for a refuge,

We think of thy loving-kindness, O God,

In the midst of thy temple.

As thy name, so thy praise reacheth to the ends of the earth.

Thy right hand is full of righteousness.

Let the hill of Zion rejoice,

Let the daughters of Judah be glad

Because of thy judgments!

Walk about Zion, go round about her!

Tell her towers!

Mark well her bulwarks!

Consider her palaces!

That ye may tell it to the generation following.

For this God is our God, for ever and ever.

He will be our guide, as in our youth.—Ps. xlviii.

Expectation had reached the highest pitch. The last strophes were not

completely sung; many were already silent, eagerly watching for the

first sight of Jerusalem. All eyes were turned towards the north; a

faint murmur spread from rank to rank among the people, only those who

had been at the festival before continued the psalm, and these solitary

scattered voices formed a solemn contrast with the silence of the rest

of the multitude. Helon’s heart was in his eye, and he could scarcely

draw his breath. When the psalm was concluded, the instruments prolonged

the sound for a moment, and then all that mighty multitude, so lately

jubilant, was still as death.

All at once the foremost ranks exclaimed, Jerusalem, Jerusalem!

Jerusalem, Jerusalem! resounded through the valley of Rephaim.

“Jerusalem, thou city built on high, we wish thee peace!” The children

dragged their parents forward with them, and all hands were lifted up to

bless.

The high white walls of the Holy City cast a gleam along the valley:

Zion arose with its palaces, and from Moriah the smoke of the offering

was ascending to heaven. It was the hour of the evening sacrifice.

Scarcely had the multitude recovered a little, when they began to greet

the temple and the priests:

Bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord,

Who stand by night in the house of the Lord!

Lift up your hands towards the sanctuary,

And bless the Lord.

So will Jehovah bless thee out of Zion;

He who made heaven and earth.—Ps. cxxxiv.

They had now reached the termination of their march. The day of

preparation was beginning; the following evening was the Passover. From

the gates of Jerusalem came forth, in every direction, the pilgrims who

had already arrived and the inhabitants of the city, to welcome the new

comers from Hebron and from Libna. The venerable pair, Mardochai of Ziph

and his wife, who were still borne in front, received the blessings of

all who met them.

Close by the gate, some one from behind laid hold of Elisama; “Art thou

Elisama of Alexandria?” Elisama turned round and recognised Iddo, an old

and faithful friend of his family. The old men met with inexpressible

delight, and Elisama presented Helon to Iddo. The pilgrims had now

reached the city, and were dispersing in different directions to their

respective quarters. Iddo conducted the strangers through the Water-gate

to his house on the open place.

CHAPTER III.

THE DAY OF PREPARATION FOR THE PASSOVER.