Their reception in the house of Iddo surpassed all Helon’s expectations.

At the seasons of the festivals, no inhabitant of Jerusalem considered

his house as his own. Their city was the city of the whole people, not

of the inhabitants alone; and when Israel came up to appear before

Jehovah, every citizen regarded his dwelling as belonging to his

brethren as much as to himself. Jerusalem lies on the confines of Judah

and Benjamin. Its names, the Holy City, the City of the Congregation of

Israel, the Gate of the People, point out its destination. No other city

was ever in the same sense the capital and centre of a country.

“You are at home,” said their host, as he led them into his house; “and

at this time, I am not more so than you. The citizen of Jerusalem

considers himself, equally with his brethren, as a pilgrim at the

festival.”

In fact the whole house was filled with strangers. Elisama found among

them many old acquaintances—but great was his joy when he discovered, in

the number, Selumiel of Jericho, the brother of Iddo. His emotion

overpowered his utterance, and he could only press him silently, and

with tears in his eyes, to his breast. Selumiel had been the dearest

friend of his youth; he had lived long in Alexandria, and they had spent

the earliest days of manhood there together; they had imparted each to

the other all their youthful plans. At a later period they had been

separated, and had not met for more than thirty years: but their hearts

had remained united, and their joy at meeting was mutual. Elisama seemed

to be changed by the sight of him, as if youth itself had returned with

the friend of his youth.

While the feet of the guests were washing, which is the first duty of

hospitality in the East, and indeed properly their welcome, Elisama and

Selumiel were engaged in uninterrupted discourse, as if they had been

sitting alone in the court, and rapidly ran over earlier and later

times, Alexandria and Jericho. In the mean time Iddo and some of the

guests had joined Helon, and were congratulating him upon his first

pilgrimage. Selumiel and Iddo had in common a hearty and straight

forward character, by which they might have been known as brothers. But,

besides that they were attached to different parties in religion, Iddo

had more liveliness and cheerfulness. “My son out of Egypt,” he

addressed Helon, “to-morrow at this time, when the Passover begins, thou

wilt see what thou hast never seen before. Already, on the tenth of the

month, I chose a lamb without blemish for the occasion. Before sunset

this evening, I fetched the water into the house, with which the

unleavened bread is to be made. If you please you shall go with me after

supper and seek the leaven in the house. A young Israelite, who has come

for the first time to the Passover, should leave nothing unseen, but

learn all the practices of Israel in the most complete manner possible.

But I forgot, you are come from Hebron to-day, and must be weary.”

Helon seemed almost offended to be suspected of weariness, after a march

made under such circumstances. With glowing cheek he repelled the

imputation, and begged that Iddo would not spare him.

“Just like his father,” exclaimed his host, “jealous of nothing so much

as of being thought a genuine Aramæan Jew. To-morrow, I will conduct

thee to his grave in the valley of Jehoshaphat. In truth he was a

noble-minded man, an Israelite without guile. He died in this house, and

it was of thee, Helon, that he spoke to me in his last moments.” He then

related the circumstances of his death, and many anecdotes of his

intercourse with him. Their connection had been much the same as that of

Selumiel with Elisama. Helon listened to him, as if his father’s spirit

spoke from his lips, so intimate had been their friendship, so similar

their characters.

In such discourse the time passed rapidly, and a servant came to call

the guests from the cooling fountain of the inner court to the roof,

where they were to sup. Here Iddo was accustomed to entertain his guests

at the festival, when there was any one among them, on whom the

spectacle, beheld for the first time, was likely to make an indelible

impression. It was a fine, clear, cloudless night. The moon shone

sweetly upon Jerusalem and changed the night to a softer and cooler day

than that which had been twelve hours before. A breeze from the Mount of

Olives cooled the heated air. The neighbours had in like manner brought

their guests to sup on the roofs of their houses, and as far as the eye

could reach on every side, feasting and illumination were seen. A busy

hum ascended from the streets beneath, and the white tents glistened in

the valley of Kedron.

What a scene! The whole environs of Jerusalem were turned into an

encampment, all the hills and vallies, all the streets and open places

were covered with tents. It was impossible that the houses should

contain all the strangers, notwithstanding the unbounded hospitality

which was practised on these occasions, and hence it was necessary that

a large proportion of them should remain in tents during the festival.

In the pleasant season of the year, at which the Passover was held, this

had nothing inconvenient or disagreeable in it; it was the universal

custom at the feast of tabernacles, and it reminded them of the

patriarchal life, and the wandering in the desert. This gave to

Jerusalem a singular but very interesting appearance. All was motion,

life and animation, and the thought of the purpose for which these

myriads of men had come up from near or distant regions, filled the mind

with solemn and elevated feeling. A million of human beings have

frequently been assembled here on such an occasion, all for the purpose

of appearing with prayer and praise before Jehovah.

Carried away by the sight, Helon involuntarily exclaimed,

Behold how good and how pleasant it is

For brethren to dwell together in unity!

It is like the precious ointment upon the head of Aaron,

That ran down upon his beard,

That went down to the skirts of his garments.

So the dew of Hermon descends

Upon the hills of Zion:

For there hath Jehovah commanded his blessing,

Prosperity for ever more!—Ps. cxxxiii.

The guests gazed on him with surprise. “Why,” continued Helon, “do you

not see before your eyes the application of the psalm? On such an

evening as this, or at least in the view of such a spectacle as this,

must it have been composed. Is it not the dew of Hermon,—are not these

the sons of Israel from the Tyrian Climax and the plain of Jesreel,

which fall here on the hills of Zion?”

“Listen!” said Iddo. Through the uproar of the streets they could

discern a distant sound of cymbals, trumpets, and song, which came in

the direction of the New City. “The Galileans are entering by the gate

of Ephraim; they are late; and yet they cannot this time have been

obstructed by the Samaritans; Hyrcanus has removed that obstacle from

their way.” The distant sound of music and song, heard in this calm,

soft night, seemed to Helon even more beautiful than the jubilation with

which the march from Bethlehem had been attended. Penetrating through

all the tumult of the city, which he heard not as he drank them in, the

spiritual and ethereal tones seemed to him almost like the heavenly

host, when they ascend from earth, to keep an eternal festival before

the presence of Jehovah. On such an evening, what flight of imagination

could be too bold for a youth of such enthusiastic temperament?

The guests had laid themselves down upon the carpets, when Iddo took

Helon by the arm. Elisama had been compelled to occupy the place of

honour, and Selumiel and he were inseparable. “You will stay by me,”

said his host to Helon, “and we will occupy as is becoming, the lowest

place. Look down below on the square; there it was that Ezra once stood,

when the people returned from the captivity, and read the law to them.”

“I remember it,” said Helon; “it is written, Ezra read upon the open

place before the Water-gate, from the morning until mid-day, and praised

the Lord the great God; and the people answered Amen, Amen, with lifting

up their hands, and bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their

faces to the ground.”[105]

Footnote 105:

Neh. viii. 3.

“Often have I stood here,” said Iddo, “contemplating that spot, with

this history in my mind, and have thought, with gratitude to Jehovah who

has delivered his people, on that AMEN, sent up by the assembled

multitude, lifting their hands to heaven. But let us eat and be merry.”

Their mirth was such as suited the age and the piety of the company, and

their enjoyment was heightened by the expressions of joy which they

heard all around them. The old men discoursed of the felicity of the

times, and the glorious reign of Hyrcanus; above all, of the victory

which his sons had obtained over the Samaritans, and the destruction of

the abomination of Gerizim.

In the mean time the master of the house called upon his younger guests

to assist him in purifying his house from the leaven. This was the

evening of the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, the preparation day

for the Passover. Lest the command of Jehovah, to eat unleavened bread

for seven days, and to allow no leaven to be seen any where, should

chance to be violated, they performed the ceremony of putting away the

leaven on this evening. The master of the family gave each of his guests

a torch, and led them in a solemn procession through the house. He had

himself a dish and a brush in his hand, and he said “Praised be thou, O

Lord our God, king of the world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts,

and hast enjoined upon us to put away the leaven.” All present said

Amen. They then proceeded to examine every corner of the house, opening

every drawer, chest, and cupboard. Here and there lay a piece of

leavened bread, purposely left in the way; the master took it up, laid

it in his dish, and carefully swept the place. When the company had gone

round the house, to the outer door, he said, “Whatsoever leavened thing

there is in my house, which I have not seen nor put away, may it be

scattered in pieces and accounted as the dust of the earth.” The search

had lasted two hours; the dish was locked up, and the guests retired to

sleep.

Unable, however, to obtain sleep, from the crowd of feelings which

coursed each other through his mind, when he thought that he was at

length in Jerusalem, in the Holy City, Helon was one of the first who

arose. He went immediately to the roof of the house—the Alijah was open;

he entered it and performed his morning devotions, with a fervour which

he had never felt before, put the Tallith on his head, bound the

Tephillim on his brow and his hand, and recited the Kri-schma. His whole

body was in agitation; now he lifted his hand towards heaven, now threw

himself on his face on the ground, now bent his head to the middle of

his body. In the earnestness of his prayer he seemed to wrestle with

God. Here in the Holy City, how much had he to ask from the God of his

fathers!

When his prayer was ended, and he came out upon the roof, he looked down

upon Jerusalem, which now lay before him in all the brightness of

daylight. As yet all was still; even from the temple, which rose in

elevated majesty above the towers and palaces of the city, no sound was

to be heard. The loud tumult of the strangers on the preceding evening

was hushed, and it seemed as if the repose which announced the vicinity

of the sanctuary, had diffused itself around and reduced all to silence.

All the lofty emotions of his heart returned with equal strength, but

not the same impetuosity as on the preceding evening. His inward delight

was even greater, but it was calm and holy. He felt that near the

presence of Jehovah, in the solemn assembly of his people, on the spot

where the noblest and wisest of his countrymen had met together for such

high purposes, his joy ought to be tranquil and sober, and the emotion,

thus driven back upon the heart, only became the deeper and more vivid.

Helon felt that this was his initiation into a new life. When the day

dawns, on which all the visions of childhood and the dreams of youth are

about to be fulfilled—to which the man awakes, in the firm belief that

it will realize every thing for which his heart has longed, there is a

stillness, an earnest expectation, a humble confidence which take

possession of such a youthful bosom, from which it is easily

anticipated, that a period decisive for the formation of the character

has arrived, and that what is now felt and done will have a

predominating influence over all the future life.

Sallu came to him, to ask his commands. When he had received them, he

remained standing a little while and said, “Master, I am only a servant

in Israel, but I too am of the seed of Abraham, and I feel that this is

the land of our fathers and of their God. Let us not return into Egypt!”

When Elisama arose, his first occupation was to open the baggage and

take out thence the presents destined for his host. It was his rule

never to come empty-handed, and on this occasion he had indeed come with

his hands full. To the mistress of the house he sent all that remained,

and it was no trifling store, of the provisions for the journey, some

skins of delicious Chian wine, which he had purchased in the caravan,

and a quantity of the finest Egyptian linen. To Iddo he gave a turban

curiously wrought, of a costly stuff, and an Alexandrian robe of

ceremony, informing him that it had been his brother-in-law's, and that

his sister had destined it for him.

To Selumiel he carried a book. It consisted of several pieces of

papyrus, the stalk of which is divided with a needle into thin leaves,

which are then laid together and fastened with the water of the Nile.

Several of them were then laid upon each other and fitted together, and

on these oblong leaves the book was written. It was an Egyptian

invention and very highly prized. “I have brought you,” said he to

Selumiel, “the Hebrew work of Jesus Sirach, the same which his grandson

has translated into Greek. It is highly esteemed in Egypt both by Jews

and heathens. I could easily have procured a transcript of the Greek

version, from one of our literati in the Bruchion; but that would not

have answered my purpose; it was with difficulty that I could obtain

this copy of the Hebrew. I give it thee for the sake of the passage on

friendship. Read here; ‘A faithful friend is the medicine of life, and

they who fear the Lord shall find him. For he who feareth the Lord shall

be happy in his friendship, and as he is, such shall his friend be

also.’[106] And here too, ‘Forsake not an old friend.’” Selumiel smiled,

a thing which he rarely did, and said, “I accept the present, on the

condition that you come to Jericho with me, in order that I may be able

to return it.” “We shall see,” said Elisama, “but in so doing I should

be giving little, to receive much in return.” “Friendship,” said

Selumiel, “has all things in common.”

Footnote 106:

Eccles. vi. 16.

As our travellers came from a heathen land, it was necessary they should

be purified before they could go into the temple. This would have

prevented Helon from attending at the morning sacrifice, and besides he

wished first to discharge a duty of filial piety, and to visit the grave

of his father, before he appeared in the presence of Jehovah, whom his

father had taught him to honour.

When the ceremonies of bathing, cutting off the hair, and others in

which purification consisted, were over, he went forth to the valley of

Jehoshaphat, to his father’s tomb. It was by his own dying request that

he had been interred there; for Iddo would fain have given him a place

in the sepulchre of his own family. From the words of the prophet Joel,

“I will gather all nations, and will bring them down to the valley of

Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people,”[107] it had

become a prevalent opinion, that this would be the scene of the general

resurrection and of the judgment of Jehovah, and therefore many of the

Jews wished to be buried there. It took its name from the king

Jehoshaphat, who was said to have been interred in that place.

Footnote 107:

Joel iii. 2.

Iddo, Elisama, and Selumiel accompanied Helon. Leaving the city by the

Water-gate, they turned to the south-east and kept along the brook

Kedron. Willows and tall cedars threw their shadows upon the graves.

They wandered silently along the Kedron, till they saw a large stone,

such as the Jews are accustomed to place upon every grave, as a warning

rather than a monument, to prevent the passers-by from defiling

themselves unawares. To-day especially, it was necessary for them to

keep at a distance of several paces from it, if they would not render

themselves so far unclean, as to incapacitate them for taking any part

in the religious rites of the day. Helon felt an irresistible impulse to

throw himself upon the grave, but the others forcibly held him back.

Tears streamed from his eyes as he incessantly exclaimed, “My father! my

father!” With head and breast inclined forward he was supported by his

companions, scarcely conscious what he did, to the Horse-gate, where

they set him down. They spoke to him of the virtues of his father, of

his surviving parent at Alexandria, of the happiness of being buried in

the valley of Jehoshaphat. By degrees he became more calm; his tears

continued to flow, but they were rather the effusion of tenderness than

of sorrow, and he seemed to have found his father, rather than to have

lost him. Iddo, whose manner was somewhat abrupt, reminded him of his

obligations to them for having prevented him from making himself unclean

by throwing himself on the grave, which would have compelled him to keep

the feast, with the rest of those who were unclean, in the following

month. “Bethink thee, too, that Jehovah himself has commanded that we

should be cheerful on this day. Thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy

God, at the place which the Lord thy God has chosen that his name should

dwell there.”[108]

Footnote 108:

Deut. xii. 18.

They now made a circuit round the city, from the Horse-gate, which lies

northward from the Water-gate, till they came to the Water-gate again.

The whole circuit might be as much as five sabbath-days’ journies. Their

object in making it was rather to give Helon a general view of the

different quarters of the city, and divert his thoughts by variety of

scene, than to examine any part minutely, which indeed would now have

been impracticable, the whole ground being covered with tents.

Jerusalemforms something of an irregular oblong. In the middle of the

eastern side, which was one of the longest, rose the temple on mount

Moriah. Around the temple lay the city, divided into three parts, built

on three hills. Directly behind the temple, in the middle, and due west

from it, was the Lower City, on the hill Acra. On the other side

south-west from the temple, the Upper City crowned the hill of Zion;

north-west lay the New City, on the hill Bezetha; and a small hill,

Ophel, lay southward from the temple. Thus it might be said that the

city, though of an oblong shape, lay in a crescent round about the

temple.

Jerusalem stood on a very elevated range of hills; the last eighteen

sabbath-days’ journies in approaching it were almost a continued ascent.

Only towards the north, joining the New City, there was some level

ground, on the other three sides it was surrounded with vallies. On the

eastern side, where the temple stood, was the valley, which, from the

winter torrent which flowed through it, was called the valley of Kedron.

The Upper City was skirted on the south side by the valley Ben-hinnom,

where, under some of the last of the kings, children had been burnt to

Moloch, at a place called Tophet. On the western side, the valley of

Gihon bordered the Upper City, the Lower City, and the New City.

Two walls surrounded Jerusalem: one enclosed the Upper City and with it

the southern part of the temple; the other began from this, and

fortified the Lower City, joining the castle of Baris, which lay above,

to the north, near the temple. The New City had at this time no wall. On

the first wall were sixty towers, on the second fourteen, each twenty

cubits high.

The city had twelve gates, the number which Ezekiel had prophesied on

the banks of Chebar. But in regard to the position and names of the

gates, the instructions of Jehovah by his prophet had been as little

attended to as those which he had given in the same passage for the form

of the city (which was to have been a regular square) or for the

division of the country.[109] Every side was to have had three gates,

and each gate the name of one of the twelve tribes, but in rebuilding

the city they adopted the names and sites of those which the Chaldeans

had destroyed.

Footnote 109:

Ezek. xlviii. 30.; xlv.

In the middle of the eastern side was the Sheep-gate, which led from the

valley of Kedron to the temple. At the building of the walls under

Nehemiah,[110] the superintendence of it was on this account given to

the priests, and when it was ended, they consecrated it with

thank-offerings and prayer. Higher up towards the north, but on the same

side, was the Fish-gate, leading from the valley of Kedron into the New

City, and not far from it the Old-gate, leading from and to the same

places. It had its name from the circumstance of its not being

destroyed, when the others were razed by the Chaldeans.

Footnote 110:

Nehem. iii. 1.

On the north side was the gate of Ephraim, and quite towards the west,

the Corner-gate, both leading into the New City. On the west side the

Valley-gate led from the valley of Gihon and Siloam, into the Lower

City, and the Dung-gate and the Well-gate into the Upper City.

On the eastern side you entered from the vale of Kedron, by the

Water-gate, close to which was the open square, on which Iddo’s house

stood; and further up, by the Horse-gate and the Eastern-gate, into the

Upper City. Lastly, the gate Miphkad, or the gate of Judgment, so called

from justice having been long administered there, gave entrance into the

precincts of the temple. It was near the Sheep-gate from which our

survey began. In the space now described about 120,000 inhabitants

commonly dwelt, but at the time of the Passover not fewer than a million

have been assembled here.

The arrangement of the city bore some analogy to that of the camp in the

wilderness. There the tabernacle was placed in the middle, and called

the camp of the Majesty of Jehovah; around it were encamped the 22,000

priests and Levites, and round them, in a still wider circle, was the

encampment of the twelve tribes, called the camp of Israel. So here at

Jerusalem, the temple was called the camp of the Majesty of Jehovah, the

exterior courts, the camp of the Levites, and the city, the camp of

Israel. Thus the stranger, when he came from foreign parts, to celebrate

the festival of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, found here the names

and divisions which had been in use among his ancestors in the desert,

and the whole city became as it were a permanent encampment, a standing

memorial of that wonderful event, which is incomprehensible to those who

consider Israel as only under human guidance. By remarks of this kind

Elisama endeavoured to divert Helon’s thoughts from himself, to what

concerned his nation. The names of the different parts and public

buildings of Jerusalem had recalled many historical events to his mind;

its glory under David and Solomon; its forlorn and ruined state when

Jeremiah poured forth his lamentations over its smoking ashes, its new

splendour when, under Nehemiah, it arose from its ruins.

On the day of preparation it was customary in Jerusalem to take an early

meal, in order to have time for the arrangements necessary before the

evening. The time of this meal, however, had been long past, when they

returned to the house; the unleavened bread had been already baked and

lay on the tables in the women’s saloon, and the cakes designed for the

festival had been taken from the oven in the adjacent room. That which

was the portion of the priest, was of greater size than the rest; it was

baked the first, and lay on a separate table, adorned with flowers. The

father of the family was to carry it to the temple in the afternoon.

“The first and best of every thing,” said he, “belongs to Jehovah; in

honouring his servants we think we honour him, and we set apart the

first portion for the priest who lives by the law.”

A short meal, at noon, was taken under the palm-trees in the inner

court, beside the fountain. The greatest neatness reigned in the whole

house—all the furniture and vessels, all the floors had been washed.

Only the white unleavened bread was seen at table. The pilgrims had

eaten it on their journey, but this was the day on which it began to be

exclusively used. It consisted of thin flat crumbling cakes, made of

water and meal, full of little holes, that not the smallest tendency to

acidity might be occasioned. It was the food of haste and sorrow, and

they had been commanded to eat it, as a memorial of their being thrust

out of Egypt, without time for the preparation of their food.

Immediately after the removal of the dishes and carpets, a fire was made

behind the women’s saloon, in a small garden belonging to the house.

When it blazed up, the guests and members of the family came and placed

themselves around it, and Iddo, bringing the dish which contained the

leaven, threw it into the fire, saying at the same time, “May all the

leaven which I have seen or not seen, which I have brought out or not

brought out, be scattered and destroyed, and accounted as the dust of

the earth!”

This ceremony had just been ended, and some other trifling preparations

for the festival been made, when the trumpets from mount Moriah

announced the commencement of the Passover, and a thousand horns, in the

streets, from the houses and the tents, replied to the signal. The walls

of the front court were hung with tapestry, which had before been

suspended between the holy and most holy place. Our pilgrims went up to

the temple to complete their purifications, and to show the impatient

Helon at least its general arrangement. It was now about the eighth

hour.

The ground-plan of the temple had been familiar to him from his youth.

The mountain Moriah had an average length and breadth of five hundred

cubits; its lowest part was towards the east. As it could not contain

all the buildings of the temple, Solomon had carried up a wall of great

height and strength from the valley of the Kedron, and filled the

intermediate space with earth, thus extending the mountain into the

valley. After the return from the captivity, the people are said to have

erected huge masses of masonry, composed of squared stones, from the

valley, on the eastern, southern, and northern sides, between three

hundred and four hundred cubits high.

Iddo led his friend through the Water-gate into the valley of Kedron,

that they might receive an impression of the magnificent exterior of

this wonderful work, before they explored the interior. They ascended a

flight of steps in the outer wall, and by the Beautiful-gate, called

also the gate Susan, entered the court of the Gentiles. This court, a

square of five hundred paces, had porticoes on all four sides, three on

the south and two on the others. The double row of pillars on the

eastern side was called the porch of Solomon. At its western end, but

more to the north, stood the sanctuary or temple, properly so called,

with its courts. Strangers from heathen countries and uncircumcised

persons were admitted into the court of the Gentiles, but were warned by

an inscription, in Hebrew and Greek, on the railing at the north-western

end, not to proceed any further. Behind this railing you ascended

fourteen steps and reached a level court, called _Chel_, ten cubits in

breadth, in which was the house of the exposition of the law. It ended

with five steps, leading to a second wall, which on the outside was

forty and on the inside twenty-five cubits high. In it was the

Lower-gate. Here began a court, called the court of the Women, or the

Outer court, one hundred and thirty-five cubits long and of equal

breadth. It was divided by a wall from the next court, the court of

Israel, which had also one hundred and thirty-five cubits of length from

north to south, and eleven of breadth from east to west. To go from the

court of the Women to the court of Israel, you ascended fifteen steps,

and passed through the gate of Nicanor. Next was the court of the

Priests, of the same dimensions as the court of Israel. At its

termination stood the altar of burnt-offering, fifteen cubits high and

fifty in length and breadth. Beside it was the bath which supplied the

place of the brazen sea in Solomon’s temple.[111] At the distance of

twenty-two cubits the sanctuary with its triple division arose; being

besides twenty-two cubits higher than the court of the Gentiles. Along

the sides of these courts were porticoes, and a multitude of

considerable buildings; the floor was throughout of marble.

Footnote 111:

1 Kings vii. 23.

When Helon reached the Beautiful-gate, it was scarcely possible to pass,

so great was the crowd of men and lambs. The children of Israel, out of

all the tribes from Dan to Beersheba, from the extreme point of Galilee

to the desert of Arabia, strangers from Egypt, Cyprus, Syria,

Cappadocia, and Babylon, were here assembled in their festive attire.

Every master of a house carried his lamb upon his shoulder, or had it

driven before him by his servants. In the spacious court of the Gentiles

stood vast flocks of lambs and kids, the dealers in which carried on a

very extensive traffic at the time of the Passover. The bleatings of the

sheep and the exclamations of their drivers resounded between the shouts

of joy and the hymns of praise.

Helon passed through the court of the Gentiles, scarcely noticing what

was going on there, to the enclosure behind the railing, keeping his eye

fixed upon the altar of burnt-offerings. He looked up the fifteen steps,

on which the Levites were already standing with their instruments,

through the gate of Nicanor, and gained a view of the interior of the

sanctuary. It was like a glimpse of heaven to him. He saw not the riches

and splendour of the gold; he felt not the pressure of the crowds around

him. A feeling of intense devotion wrapt his soul, and for a time

suppressed every other emotion.

His companions roused him, by directing his attention to the court of

the Priests. The evening sacrifice, which this evening was killed an

hour earlier than usual, was already brought to the altar, the holy

place was illuminated, and they were burning incense in it. Helon gazed

around him, on the sanctuary, the altar, the courts, and the multitude

which filled them, bewildered and overpowered, and incapable of fixing

his attention upon any single object in the scene. He did not even

notice the absence of the high-priest, whom in his imagination he had

always pictured as ministering at the altar, or in the holy of holies;

at this moment he was engaged in some of the adjacent buildings, making

preparations for the festival.

The paschal lamb must be killed between the two evenings, the greater,

which lasted from the middle of the seventh hour to the middle of the

tenth, (half past twelve to half past four) and the lesser, which lasted

till sunset, or about six o’clock. Iddo conducted Helon about this time

into the court of the Gentiles, where the slaves with Sallu were

waiting. The lamb must be without blemish, more than eight days and less

than a year old. The people had divided themselves into three great

bodies in the court of Israel. When the evening sacrifice was over, a

priest opened all the folding-doors of the court of the Priests, and

allowed one division to enter. The priests stood in a row, reaching from

the place where the lambs were killed to the altar, each holding in his

hand a basin, pointed at the bottom. Iddo was among the first. He

presented his lamb and mentioned the number of the company who were to

partake of it. They must not be fewer than ten, nor more than nineteen.

He then drew his knife through its throat, the priest who was nearest to

him received the blood in his basin, and handing it to his neighbour, it

was passed from one to the other, till it reached the priest who was

next to the altar, and who poured the blood upon it. Each as he handed

the full basin to his neighbour received an empty one from him with the

other hand; thus all was done with incredible despatch.

The father of each family killed the paschal lamb himself. In ordinary

cases the priests were the sacrificers, but once in the year the master

of the house was himself a priest, as a memorial that Israel was a

nation of priests. The Levites in the mean time sung on the fifteen

steps the great Hallelujah, and at each psalm the priests on the pillar

which stands by the altar blew the trumpet three times. Iddo carried the

lamb to the pillars, hung it to one of the hooks, and taking off the

skin and the fat, gave the fat to the priest, who salted it and laid it

upon the altar. He then carried the lamb home. So did every one of the

body who had been first admitted; and when they had all finished, the

folding-door opened again, and a second body was admitted. Without the

greatest regularity, it would have been impossible in so short a time

that such a multitude of lambs should have been killed. Helon descended

the steps with Iddo, who had also offered a thank-offering; and as he

paused at the gate and looked back, he mentally exclaimed, “Better is a

day in thy courts than a thousand elsewhere!”

CHAPTER IV.

THE PASCHAL LAMB.

The Passover was now begun. The day of preparation was past; every

master of a house had killed his paschal lamb on Moriah, attaining for

this day an equal dignity with the highest order in the state, and

exercising a sacerdotal function. The festival was called in Hebrew

_Pesach_, or according to the Chaldee pronunciation, which was then

become universal, _Pascha_, the deliverance, or the passing through. The

companies who were to eat the paschal lamb were already assembled, and

the lambs were roasting in the deep ovens in the women’s apartments.

These ovens were excavations in the ground, about two feet and a half

broad, and five to six feet deep. The sides were covered with stones,

which were heated by a fire kindled at the bottom, and then the lamb was

suspended within, on a piece of wood running lengthwise, and crossed by

another between the forefeet. It was expressly commanded by Jehovah, “Ye

shall not eat of it raw, nor sodden with water, but roast it with

fire.”[112] The fifteenth day of the month Nisan, or Abib (our April)

the first of the sacred year, was now arrived. The Jewish day began with

sunset, an emblem that primeval darkness had preceded the birth of

light, and that all life has its origin in a period of darkness.

Footnote 112:

Exod. xii. 9.

When all the preparations were ended, and the Passover just about to

begin, Helon hastened to the roof of the house. He looked down on the

open place and up to Moriah and Zion, to the mount of Olives, and on the

vallies of Gihon and Kedron. “Wherever I look,” thought he, “hundreds of

thousands of the children of Israel and the seed of Abraham reassembled

to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt. They have come up to the

hill where Jehovah hath made his name to dwell, and their minds are

filled with the thought of their fathers, and the mighty works which the

God of their fathers had done in their behalf. Well is it said, Israel

is Israel only in the Holy Land.” He entered the Alijah, and remained

long in fervent prayer. When he came again upon the roof, the last glow

of evening over Zion was illuminating the city, and the lamps which were

kindled in every house and tent shone through the thin veil of vapour

which was spread over the prospect. He lingered on the roof till the

golden margin of the western clouds had disappeared and the stars had

begun to twinkle in the firmament.

When he went down and entered the inner court, he saw within the

porticoes three rooms brilliantly illuminated. It was not possible for

all the guests to eat the Passover with the master of the house, because

each company was not to exceed twenty. Two other apartments had

therefore been prepared for other parties. On such occasions, we have

before observed, no citizen of Jerusalem considered his house as his

own, but cheerfully resigned it for the use of strangers, who, according

to ancient custom, acknowledged his courtesy, by the gift of the skin of

the paschal lamb. The light was streaming through the lattices of all

the rooms, and Helon entered, with a beating heart, that which was

appropriated to the use of Iddo and his peculiar guests. A multitude of

smaller lamps were suspended from the walls, and one of great size stood

in the middle. Costly carpets were spread on the floor, tapestry was

hung on the sides, and gold and silver glittered on the divan, though it

was not used on this evening; for the paschal lamb was to be eaten

standing. The air was filled with the fragrance of Arabian frankincense

and the most exquisite perfumes. The women were all richly clad,

especially the mistress of the house, who appeared this evening in all

her choicest ornaments, a mother in Israel in the city of God. It was

only on this day that the women ate with the men; even the men servants

and maid servants were not excluded. The whole household of every rank

and age, even the children, if they had begun to taste flesh-meat, must

be assembled, and all must be Levitically clean. Of the inhabitants not

disqualified by uncleanness none were to be absent, but strangers of the

gate, hirelings, and all uncircumcised persons: for such had been the

command of Jehovah, “There shall no stranger eat thereof.”[113] All the

rest were on this night brethren, for all had been delivered by Jehovah

from the house of bondage. The bondsman was as the freeman, the woman as

the man; and all partook alike of the festivity; all were the people of

Jehovah, and equal in his sight.

Footnote 113:

Exod. xii. 43.

In the middle of the room stood the table, which in the east is always

low, because the guests either lie around it on sofas, or sit on

carpets. On this occasion, however, there was neither sofa nor carpet

near the table, which stood apart, as if the preparations were but half

finished. It was about the middle of the second hour of evening (half

past seven) when the company, consisting of nineteen persons, assembled

around the table. Every one, though splendidly clad, appeared prepared

for a journey. With sandals on their feet, which at other times were not

worn in a room, but given to the slaves to be placed at the door, with

their garments girt, and a staff in their hands, they surrounded the

table. A large vessel filled with wine immediately from the cask, stood

upon it, and the meal began by the master of the house blessing it. He

laid hold of it with both hands, lifted it up with the right, and said,

“Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the world, who hast given

us the fruit of the vine;” and the whole assembly said, “Amen.” Next he

blessed the day, and thanked God for having given them the Passover: and

then, drinking first himself from the cup, sent it round to the rest.

When this was over, he began again; “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God,

thou king of the world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts, and

commanded us to wash our hands.” He and the whole company then washed

their hands in a silver basin, with water poured from an ewer of the

same metal. This was the emblem of purification, and implied, that every

one should come with a pure heart, as well as clean hands, to partake of

the paschal meal. The unleavened bread, (flat cakes with many small

holes in them,) the bitter herbs, a vessel with vinegar, the paschal

lamb, were placed upon the table, and last of all the _charoseth_, a

thick pottage of apples, nuts, figs, almonds, and honey, boiled in wine

and vinegar, and not unfrequently made in the form of a brick or tile,

to remind the Israelites of their Egyptian slavery, and strewed with

cinnamon, in imitation of the straw which was mixed with the clay. The

master of the house then spoke again; “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God,

who hast given us of the fruits of the earth.” He dipped some of the

herbs in vinegar, and the whole company did the same. At this moment,

the mistress touched her little grandson, a child of ten years old.

Children were always present at this festival, and one design of its

establishment was, that the son should learn from the lips of his father

the event to which it referred, and the remembrance of it might thus be

propagated to the most distant posterity.[114] The child understood the

hint, and asked his grandfather, why on this night alone the guests

stood around the table, instead of sitting or lying. With dignity and

solemnity, the grandfather, turning to the child, related to him how

their forefathers had been oppressed in Egypt, and how the Lord had

brought them out thence with a mighty arm. He described to him the

evening which preceded their flight from Goshen, their busy preparation,

and their anxiety to conceal it from the Egyptians. The lamb was slain

and the blood sprinkled on the door-posts, that the destroying angel of

the Lord might pass by their houses when he slew the first-born of the

Egyptians. It was to be roasted, not boiled, that it might be sooner

ready, and strengthen more those who partook of it; it was to be eaten

in a standing posture, as by men prepared for instant departure; it was

to be consumed entire, for the whole people were to quit their dwellings

and never to return to them; and no bone of it was to be broken, for

this is the act of men who have time and leisure for their meal. The

bitter herbs were then eaten, and the 113th and 114th psalms sung. This

formed the first half of the great song of praise, which was called

emphatically the Hallel, consisting of six psalms, from the 113th to the

118th, sung on all great festivities. A second washing of the hands

followed, the cup was a second time blessed and sent round. The master

broke off a piece of the unleavened bread, wrapped it in the bitter

herbs, and, having dipped it in the charoseth, ate it, and then

distributed a portion to each of the company, who did the same; and now

the eating of the lamb began, in which the paschal feast properly

consisted. Along with the lamb the boiled flesh of the thank-offering,

which Iddo had made in the temple, was placed upon the table, and

blessed by the master of the house. The lamb was wholly consumed, it

being forbidden by the law that any part of it should remain till the

next day. If any part were not eaten, it was to be burnt. The bones were

not to be broken, for every thing was to remind them of their hasty

flight from Egypt.

Footnote 114:

Exod. xii. 26.

Festivity and cheerful conversation now reigned among the whole

assemblage. Whether it be that a people, which had suffered so much

calamity and oppression, naturally enjoys the more keenly a temporary

interval of pleasure, or that every approach to God is to the pure mind

a source of joy and peace, certain it is, that no nation has ever more

carefully studied to remove all trace of sorrow from religious services

than the Jews. If the service of the law was a heavy burthen, the

service of God was freedom and happiness. All the regulations enjoin

this, all the customs of Israel proceed from this principle, that the

marks of mourning should be carefully removed from their worship. To

praise, to give thanks and sing, to make a joyful noise unto the Lord,

to be glad on the day which he had made, to rejoice in him, are all

expressions by which their religious services are described. The same

principle was kept in view in the purifications which preceded the

Passover. He who had touched a dead body was held to be unclean, and

excluded from the feast. It was a sin for the high-priest to make

himself unclean, even by the body of his nearest relative: for he was to

exhibit the divine life in all its purity before the people. How

earnestly do Ezra and Nehemiah exhort the people to lay aside their

mourning, when the law was read at the feast of tabernacles, and the

curse on its violation made known! “This day is holy unto the Lord your

God; mourn not nor weep; neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is

your strength. Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet; for this

day is holy unto the Lord.”[115]

Footnote 115:

Neh. viii. 9.

The company in Iddo’s house were not unmindful of these precepts, and

the time passed on rapidly in animated discourse. The servants were not

excluded from their share; the innocent playfulness of the children was

not repressed, and the gaiety of the females lent wings to the

conversation. Iddo was the most animated of all, and Helon thought he

had never seen an old man so full of vivacity. “See, thou mother in

Israel,” said he to his wife, “the Lord has blessed us and permitted us

to keep one Passover more, before we are gathered to our fathers. Let us

thank him for his mercy, by the cheerfulness with which we celebrate it.

Who knows but this may be our last? seldom does a year elapse, but some

one dies of those who kept the Passover together at the beginning of it,

and our turn, though long delayed, must come at last. We were blithe in

our youthful days, half a century since, what prevents our being so

still? Thou hast seen thy children and children’s children. Join with me

in her praise, my friends.—The Lord has given her store of children and

of guests; and she has received them both as the gift of God, and tended

them faithfully!”

All present congratulated the venerable pair, and Iddo continued, “Why

didst not thou, Selumiel, bring thy wife and Sulamith, who is lovelier

than the fairest rose of Jericho? A prize for some fortunate youth, for

as Solomon has said, ‘A virtuous wife is more precious than pearls.’”

“What would Israel be,” said Elisama, as the sounds of festivity from

the adjacent apartments penetrated into theirs, “what would Israel be

without the festivals of Jehovah? Here we are all assembled before the

Lord, to praise his faithfulness which is great, and his mercy which is

renewed every morning. What compared with these are the Grecian games at

Olympia and Nemea? Would that Myron were here! We children of Israel are

_one_ people; we have _one_ God, and _one_ city of the Lord; and every

Jew in Egypt, Asia, Syria, and Chaldea, always turns his eyes in his

prayers towards this one place. Think, my friends, that while so many

hundreds of thousands are assembled in Jerusalem, millions in the

remotest countries, into which our people has been scattered, cast

longing looks this evening towards us, envying us our joy, and desiring

nothing more, than to to be in the Holy City and in the courts of

Jehovah! I only regret that Gerizim and Leontopolis——”

“Hush,” interposed Iddo, “to-day speak only of pleasing subjects. Our

prince has subdued the rebellious daughter Gerizim. Jehovah ceases not

to concern himself with the injuries of Joseph.”

“The prophet,” replied Elisama, “has declared that all the nations of

the earth shall be united in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and when the

Messiah comes the sceptre of Judah shall be extended over the whole

earth.”

“Hyrcanus stands beside the altar,” said another of the company, “and

the family of the Maccabees is flourishing. Who knows whether the

Messiah will not speedily appear from among them?”

“No,” said Elisama, “the Messiah must come from the family of David, and

the Maccabees are Levites of the family of Jojarib. The Jewish people

and the priests consented that Simon should be their prince and

high-priest, till God raise up the true prophet unto them. The Messiah,

therefore, will not be a Maccabee though Hyrcanus unites in himself the

three offices to which he will be anointed. But would that he who is

promised were come! His way is prepared; Israel is once more free, and a

people. What would I give, if in my grey hairs I might yet be permitted

to behold him! What a glorious passover will that be, when He keeps it

with us, in Baris or on Zion, and his people accompany him with palm

branches and Hosannas! I envy you, Helon, for you may live to see that

day.”

“It will be a happy day,” said Helon, “but not more happy than this.”

The old men smiled at his enthusiasm, and rejoiced that among the youth

of Israel there should be such joy in keeping the festivals of Jehovah.

It was now become late. The hired servant, stationed by the waterclock

in the court, called the fifth hour of night, and the paschal meal was

not permitted to last longer than to the end of the first watch of the

night, which terminated somewhere about an hour before midnight. There

were two other watches between this and daylight, divided by the two

cock-crowings. They heard the guests in the other apartments reciting

the song of praise, and hastened to conclude. With the same prayer as

before, they washed their hands again from the silver basin, and Iddo

having again blessed the cup, they drank once more from it. This was

called the cup of thanksgiving. The second part of the Hallel was now

sung, consisting of the 115th, 116th, 117th, and 118th psalms. Helon

thought of the words of Isaiah, “Ye shall sing as on the night of a holy

feast, and rejoice in your hearts as when they go with a pipe to the

mountain of the Lord, to the refuge of Israel.”[116] When the Hallel was

finished, hands were again washed, and the cup was blessed and sent

round for the fourth and last time. Helon would gladly have joined in

praying the great Hallel, as they call the series of psalms from the

120th to the 137th, after which it was customary to send round the cup a

fifth time, but midnight was already too near. The company broke up, and

all retired to rest, designing to be early in the temple on the

following day.

Footnote 116:

Isaiah xxx. 29.

CHAPTER V.

THE DAY AFTER THE PASSOVER.

While the paschal lamb was eaten by the people, the priests in the

temple were cleansing the altar of burnt-offering. This was commonly

done in the last watch of the night, towards the cock-crowing, but on

this occasion during the first. Next they themselves partook of the

paschal lamb, and soon after midnight the gates were opened, for the

ingress of the children of Israel, many of whom were there, even at this

early hour, in order to see the splendour of the illuminated temple. As

soon as the watchman had answered in the affirmative the customary

question of the priest, “Does it begin to be light as far as Hebron?”

all the streets leading to the temple were filled with men, dressed in

their gayest clothes. On no other occasion of the year was the temple so

crowded as on the morning after the Passover.

The usual morning sacrifice was first of all offered. The lamps were

extinguished, incense was burnt upon the altar, and the lamb was

sacrificed to Jehovah, with the usual meat and drink offering. Then

followed the special offering for the feast, two young bullocks, a ram,

seven yearling lambs with meat and drink offerings. Next, a goat was

offered as a sin-offering; the Hallel was sung, and the blessing

pronounced. The whole body of the priests was assembled; on ordinary

days, only some families of the fathers were present; on the sabbath the

whole course; but on high festivals the whole twenty-four courses, the

collective body of the priesthood.

Helon had been among the first who had come up to the temple of Jehovah,

at the crowing of the cock. He beheld all with deep interest and

profound devotion, and as he gazed on the temple and the splendid ritual

performed in it, the fond wish of his early childhood awoke in his

heart, that he too might be thought worthy to become a priest of

Jehovah, and to minister at his altar. With increasing eagerness he

looked for the appearance of the high-priest, the head and crown of the

tribe of Levi and of all Israel. He had expected him to appear

yesterday, and during the morning sacrifice, but he had not shown

himself. Helon felt an enthusiastic admiration for the heroic family of

the Maccabees, and none of them all had risen to such an eminence as

John Hyrcanus. In Egypt, in Hebron, on the pilgrimage, and through the

whole preceding day, he had been hearing the praises of the man whom he

was now about to see.

He was standing upon the lowest of the fifteen steps, which led from the

court of Israel to that of the women, when there arose a cry among the

thousands who surrounded him, “The high-priest is coming!” He came from

an adjoining building and walked towards the altar. The breastplate with

its precious stones beamed from his breast. Over the ordinary white robe

of the priests, which descended in folds to his feet, he wore a

magnificent upper robe of a blue purple. The bells between the

pomegranates, on the borders of his robe, gave a clear sound as he

walked. Over this upper garment he had a third, which was shorter,

called the ephod, splendidly embroidered with purple, dark blue, crimson

and thread of gold, on a white ground. On his head was a white turban,

and over this a second, striped with dark blue. On his forehead he wore

a plate of gold, on which the name of Jehovah was inscribed; and being

at once high-priest and prince, this was connected with a triple crown

on the temples and back part of the head.

The priests made way for him, as he entered in his glory, and stepped in

majesty along. Arrived at the altar, he looked round on the innumerable

multitude that were assembled, while silent congratulations were

addressed to him by every heart. Helon thought on the splendid

description of the high-priest Simon, the son of Onias, in the book of

Jesus the son of Sirach.

“When he came from behind the veil, he was as the morning star in the

midst of a cloud; and as the moon at the full. As the sun shines on the

temple of the Most High; as the rainbow with its beautiful colours; as

the beautiful rose in spring; as the lily by the rivers of waters; as

the branches of the frankincense tree in time of summer; as fire and

incense in the censer; as a vessel of beaten gold, set with all manner

of ornaments of precious stones; as a fair olive-tree, budding forth

fruit; as a cypress tree growing up to the clouds! When he put on the

robe of honour, and was clothed with all his glory, and when he went up

to the holy altar, he adorned the sanctuary all around. When he took the

portions out of the hands of the priests, and stood by the hearth of the

altar, and his brethren stood around him, he was as a young cedar in

Lebanon, and they surrounded him like palm-trees. All the sons of Aaron

in their glory had the oblations of the Lord in their hands before all

the congregation of Israel. And he fulfilled the service at the altar,

and offered up a pious oblation unto the Most High. He stretched out his

hand to the cup and poured out the blood of the grape, he poured it at

the foot of the altar, a sweet smell to the Most High, King of all. Then

shouted the sons of Aaron and blew the curved trumpets and made a great

noise to be heard, for a remembrance before the Most High. Then all the

people straightway fell down upon the earth upon their faces, and

worshipped the Lord God Almighty, the Most High: the singers also sang

praises with their voices, there was made sweet melody with great

variety of sounds. And the people besought the Lord, the Most High, by

prayer, that he would be merciful, till the worship of the Lord was

ended and they had finished the service. Then he went down and lifted up

his hands over the whole congregation of the children of Israel, and

gave them the blessing of the Lord with his lips, and wished them peace

in his name. And they bowed themselves down to worship a second time,

that they might receive a blessing from the Most High; and said, ‘Now

therefore bless ye the God of all, who alone doeth wondrous things every

where, who keeps us alive from the mother’s womb and deals with us

according to his mercy: may he grant us joyfulness of heart, and that

there may be peace in our days in Israel for ever, and that his mercy

may abide with us, and that he may deliver us at his time.’”[117]

Footnote 117:

Eccles. i.

This description had often awakened the enthusiasm of Helon, but now he

saw it realized, in the most impressive service ever performed in

Israel—that of the morning after the Passover. There stood the

high-priest, spiritual and temporal sovereign of the people, on the

mountain of Jehovah, in sight of his sanctuary, and looked through the

lofty portico, full upon the curtain of the most holy place. On the

other side, through all the courts even to the foot of mount Moriah, was

a countless multitude, all occupied with prayer and praise, all waiting

anxiously for his blessing, and expecting to be purified by his

offering. Around him were all the priests of Israel, obedient to his

nod, ministering to him in the most sacred employment of the people,

their appearance before Jehovah. He himself, the man who bore the name

of Jehovah on his brow, with every thing that oriental splendour could

accumulate, lavished on him, in honour of that name, surrounded by the

flames of the altar of burnt-offering, which flashed up to heaven! It

was a sight to awaken every sublime religious feeling of such a mind as

Helon’s.

The Hallel was sung. The priests, stationed on the pillars near the

laver, accompanied the song with the sound of their trumpets and the

Levites on the fifteen steps sung it, with their cymbals, cornets and

flutes. David had appointed four thousand Levites for musicians and

singers, and their number was probably not much smaller now.[118] The

multitude responded, with its hundred thousand voices, to the song of

the choir; and when the Hallelujah, with which the psalms begin and end,

was thrice repeated with the united volume of vocal and instrumental

sound poured forth at once, a less lively imagination than Helon’s might

have fancied that Jehovah himself appeared in the flames of the altar,

to receive the homage of his people. It was here only that one of these

psalms, so full of the boldest flights and of the deepest emotion, must

be heard, to be fully felt. Such a moment had inspired them; such a

moment alone could revive that intensity of feeling, which is necessary

fully to comprehend them.

Footnote 118:

1 Chron. xxiii. 5.

Helon was so absorbed, that the wave of the people had forced him,

unconscious of it, far down to the extremity of the court. He could only

see from a distance the movements of the high-priest about the altar.

His majestic figure, as he passed to and fro before the flames which

arose in the back ground, received from them a strong illumination,

which to Helon’s fancy gave something solemn and unearthly to the form.

When the sacrifice and the Hallel were ended, the people fell on their

knees, and bowed their faces to the earth to receive the high-priest’s

blessing. He washed his hands with the usual solemnities, and advanced

to the steps of the Levites, praying thus; “Praised be thou, O Lord our

God, thou king of the world, who hast sanctified us with the

consecration of Aaron, and commanded us to bless thy people Israel in

love.” He then turned first to the sanctuary and afterwards to the

people; then lifting his arms to the height of his shoulder, and joining

his hands together, so as to leave five intervals between the fingers,

with eyes cast down on the ground, he laid the name of Jehovah on the

people and said,

The Lord bless thee and keep thee,

The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee,

The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee and give thee

peace!—Num. vi. 24.

At every repetition of the word _thee_, he turned to the north and the

south. The people replied; “Praised be the name of his kingdom for

ever!” They continued a while when the benediction was concluded, each

praying to himself, while the high-priest, turning to the sanctuary,

said, “O Lord of the whole world, we have done what thou hast commanded

us, and thou wilt do what thou hast promised. Thou wilt behold us from

the habitation of thy holiness; thou wilt look down from heaven and

bless thy people Israel!”

The offerings which were now concluded had a reference to the whole

people; it remained that individuals should offer for themselves, both

thank-offerings and burnt-offerings, in order not to appear empty-handed

before Jehovah. The thank-offerings might only be offered on this day,

the burnt-offerings on the following day also. Elisama had bought a goat

without blemish, for a thank-offering, in the court of the Gentiles. The

choicest parts, the breast and the shoulder, belonged to the priest, the

fat to Jehovah; all the rest was cooked in some of the out-buildings of

the temple: for Iddo had made engagements for their feasting there. On

this day no other flesh might be eaten, than that of thank-offerings;

the majority of those who sacrificed carried the portions which they

retained for themselves, to consume them in their houses or their tents.

Elisama had invited to his feast, his host, his host’s family, and some

Levites; bearing in mind the precept, “Thou shalt not neglect the

Levites as long as thou livest upon the earth.”[119] They assembled in a

saloon allotted for this purpose, in one of the courts on the south.

Elisama, as the offerer of the sacrifice, blessed the bread and the

wine, and they were all merry and thanked the Lord. Helon, to whom this

meal, eaten within the precincts of the temple, seemed like an

anticipation of his future priestly functions, thought of the passage of

Isaiah, “They that have gathered corn shall consume it and praise

Jehovah, and they that bring in their wine shall drink it in the courts

of the sanctuary.”[120]

Footnote 119:

Deut. xiv. 27.

Footnote 120:

Isaiah lxii. 9.

They remained together till the evening sacrifice, and Helon did not

leave the temple till after it, in order that he might witness the

ceremony of the wave-sheaf. This is the commencement of harvest, which

begins at the time of the Passover, with the barley (in the warm valley

of the Jordan still earlier) and is finished about Pentecost, with the

wheat. Every thing which concerned the people of Israel, the harvest

especially, must begin and end with religious solemnity.

At sunset, the citizens who had been appointed to cut the wave-sheaf by

the Sanhedrim came down through the courts, accompanied by a great

concourse of people, and Helon joined in the procession. They went to

the nearest field of barley before the city: the sixteenth of Nisan was

begun, and the evening star was already visible in the sky. The person

who was appointed to reap asked aloud, “Is the sun gone down?” The

people who stood around answered, Yes.—“Shall I cut.” “Yes.”—“With this

sickle?” “Yes.”—“In this basket?” “Yes.” The questions, thrice repeated,

being thrice answered in the affirmative, he cut as much as would

furnish an omer, and binding the sheaves together, carried them to the

temple. The barley was there roasted by the fire, cleared from the husk,

ground into meal, bolted thirteen times, and the omer (a measure

containing about forty-three eggshells) of the finest meal was kept till

the following day.

Helon, having witnessed this ceremony, reluctantly left the temple, and

in his dreams seemed to live over again the events of this interesting

day. The stately form of the high-priest seemed to be before him, and

the sacred name upon his brow to shine with a lustre too dazzling for

him to behold. Then he appeared to be in the crowd, urged by some

irresistible but inexplicable impulse, to force his way amidst the waves

of people, seeking something which he could not find, and examining

every face, but without finding that of which he was in search. Again,

he seemed to be beside the high-priest, and a feeling of unutterable joy

spread through all his frame. His uncle appeared to him pale and sad,

and beckoned him from the temple to the valley of Jehoshaphat, where he

sat by his father’s tomb and wept. A graceful and lovely form stood by

his side, and pointed towards the west; he followed her, and as they

went she too turned pale and sighed. A murky, sultry atmosphere gathered

around him; the lightning struck a lofty cedar, the deadly vapour almost

choked his breath, and he ran forward, a long and dreary way, without

finding any resting place. At length a star appeared, and twinkled on

him with so mild a ray that his oppression was relieved and his

cheerfulness returned. He looked around him, and found himself on the

north-west side of the city, on a plain which he darkly remembered that

Iddo had called Golgotha. In his astonishment he awoke.

CHAPTER VI.

THE REMAINING DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.

It was the morning of the second day after the Passover. Helon was lying

by Elisama on the divan. Glad to be delivered from his dream, he started

up, performed his morning devotions in the Alijah, saluted Moriah and

Zion from the roof, and endeavoured to shake off the disagreeable

impressions of the night, which returned upon him with something of an

ominous import. When he came down into the court, he found Iddo sitting

under the palm-trees. He endeavoured to think only of his present

happiness, and he felt, that as man is never more purely and vividly

happy than in the morning of childhood, so the morning of each day is

the time, when he has the most lively consciousness of every thing that

is agreeable in his condition.

They all went together to the temple to pray. After the usual morning

sacrifice of a lamb, followed, as the day before, an offering

appropriate to the festival, of two young bullocks, a ram, and seven

yearling lambs, as a burnt-offering; and a goat, as a sin-offering. The

high-priest ministered as before at the altar, and the priests around

him. The crowd was scarcely less than yesterday, and nearly the same

ceremonies were repeated.

Next followed the offering of the first-fruits, the omer of barley-meal

which had been prepared from the sheaves, cut the preceding evening. A

priest fetched the meal, in a golden dish, from an apartment in one of

the buildings, mixed it in the presence of all the people with a _log_

(six eggshells) of the finest oil, and scattered upon it a handful of

incense. He brought it to the high-priest, who stood beside the altar,

and he waved it towards all the four winds, from east to west and from

south to north, and then ascended the altar. On the southern side lay

salt, with which he salted the meal and threw a handful of it, with

another of incense, upon the flame. Immediately after, a special

sacrifice, a lamb with the meat and drink offering that belonged to it,

was offered; and the high-priest concluded by giving his benediction.

The harvest was now solemnly begun, and Israel might pursue its joyful

labours. The spectators dispersed themselves in different directions;

and many of the pilgrims, who had neither time nor means to spend the

whole week of the festival in Jerusalem, returned home on this day.

Only those remained behind, who purposed to offer the burnt-offerings of

the appearance before Jehovah, and these were the wealthier part of the

worshippers. Elisama, Helon, and Sallu went down into the neighbourhood

of the porch of Solomon, to purchase a victim for this purpose. A dealer

in cattle, from Capernaum in Galilee, furnished them with a calf of

extraordinary beauty, which they drove to the gate on the northern side,

at which the sacrifices were admitted. Here they were compelled to wait

a considerable time, as a large number had been admitted just before

their arrival. At length they entered: the animal was examined and

killed on the north side of the altar, the offerers having first washed

their hands, and laid them upon it. The priests received the blood and

sprinkled it on the altar. The sacrificers then took off the skin, took

out the fat and the entrails, and divided the flesh. The whole was given

to the priest, along with the meat and drink offering; he salted it and

threw it into the fire. A burnt-offering was to be wholly consumed,

except the skin, which belonged to the priest. While the priest was

sacrificing at the altar, Elisama, Helon, and Sallu were praying that

Jehovah would graciously accept their offering; and when it was ended,

they and the rest of those who had been admitted with them, went out at

the southern gate. Helon, while he had witnessed the solemn ceremonial

and the deep and reverent silence of the spectators, had felt the

dignity of the priestly office, and as he prayed, had said with David,

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after;

To dwell in the house of the Lord, as long as I live,

To behold the glorious worship of the Lord,

And to wait in his temple!—Ps. xxvii. 4.

In the afternoon Iddo conducted him to one of the places of public

instruction, called by the Greek name of Synagogue. Such buildings had

come into use only since the captivity, but there were already a

considerable number of them in Jerusalem. In the days of David and

Solomon we find no trace of them. It is true, we find very early mention

of the schools of the prophets, from which they may be considered to

have taken their rise. In the days of Elisha it was customary to visit

the prophets on the day of the new moon and on the sabbath.[121] In the

captivity the people must have felt the necessity much more of

assembling on solemn days, to obtain consolation and hope from the

discourses of some man learned in the scriptures. On the fifth day of

the sixth month, it happened, we are told in the book of the Prophet,

that Ezekiel “was sitting in his house and the elders of Judah were

sitting before him.”[122] After the return from the captivity this

custom was kept up, from the experience of its utility; and these

assemblages were held at first in the porticoes of the temple,

afterwards in buildings appropriated to the purpose. Sacrifices could be

offered only in one place, the temple, but prayer might be offered, and

instruction communicated, any where.

Footnote 121:

2 Kings iv. 23.

Footnote 122:

Ezek. viii. 1.

They went into a synagogue in the Lower City, where an eloquent

expounder of the law was accustomed to teach. The arrangement of the

building had a good deal of resemblance to that of the temple. A large

quadrangular space was surrounded on all sides with covered walks or

porticoes, resting upon a double row of columns. In the middle, a

circular roof rested upon four pillars, and beneath it, on a raised

place, lay the rolls of the law. The people stood upon the open space,

which was covered with an awning, and in rainy weather took shelter in

the porticoes, one of which was set apart exclusively for the women.

Before the rolls of the law stood the reader and expounder, who was also

called the apostle or ambassador of the assembly. He read the law and

the letters of other congregations; he delivered the prayer, and thus,

as it were, was the messenger of the people to God, and the interpreter

of their desires. Besides him there was also a ruler of the synagogue,

or superintendent of the school, who maintained order, several elders of

the congregation who assisted him in his functions, a gatherer of alms,

and a servant. Any one who chose, not excepting strangers, might stand

up and teach.

The synagogue was already full when Helon and his friends entered it,

and after the usual salutation, the service began by praising God. The

reader then going up to the rolls, which lay under the circular roof,

read a passage from the law, which he at the same time interpreted to

the people. After a second ascription of praise, he read the following

passage from the prophet Jeremiah: “Ah Lord God; behold thou hast made

the heavens and the earth, by thy great power and thy stretched-out arm,

and there is nothing too hard for thee: thou showest loving-kindness

unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquities of the fathers into the

bosom of the children after them. The great the mighty God, the Lord of

Hosts, is thy name: great in counsel and mighty in work art thou, whose

eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to every one

according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings; who

hast shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, and

in Israel, and among other men, and hast made thee a name, as it is at

this day, and hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of

Egypt, with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with a

stretched-out arm, and with great terror; and hast given to them this

land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land

flowing with milk and honey.”[123] When he had read this passage, and

translated it into the common dialect of the country, the celebrated

teacher of the law, whom we have mentioned, rose up, and proposed to

deliver a discourse.

Footnote 123:

Jer. xxxii. 17-22.

Myron had objected to his friend Helon, that the people of Israel were

destitute of skill in all the fine arts; and in respect to eloquence,

resembled their lawgiver, who was “slow of speech and of a slow

tongue.”[124] To the former part of the imputation Helon had already

replied; to the latter he might have answered, that although his nation

never possessed an Isocrates or a Demosthenes, no people ever had

orators, whose eloquence was more vigorous, animated, or spirit-stirring

than the prophets in Israel. What artificial rhetorician, of the schools

or the Agora, ever graved his words so deep in the hearts of his hearers

as they did? They spoke the word of Jehovah, by the command and

inspiration of Jehovah; the Greeks, the words of human wisdom, at the

suggestion of vanity, or to promote the purposes of ambition. How

different is the effect of a discourse, in which a divine power dwells,

from those which have been composed with the strictest adherence to the

rules of art!

Footnote 124:

Exod. iv. 10.

Such might have been Helon’s answer to his friend; for such was his own

experience, in listening to the orator in the synagogue. His language

was simple and unartificial, but for this very reason the energy of the

prophet’s words, which he expounded, was the more strongly felt. First

of all he went through the passage which had been read, and explained

the contents of the prayer, which, sublime in itself, was still more so

from the circumstances in which it was spoken. He painted the forlorn

condition of the people when the land fell into the hands of the

Chaldeans, and the prophecy which was involved in the purchase of the

field of Anathoth. When he came to speak of the signs and wonders which

Jehovah had shown in Egypt, and of his having brought out his people

with an out-stretched arm, he pointed out to the audience, that this

great deliverance was to be regarded as an everlasting pledge of his

redeeming mercy. For a thousand years past it had served this purpose,

and every Passover revived and strengthened the impression. He painted

to them the condition of Israel in Goshen, their inhuman oppressions,

the evening of the first Passover, their wanderings in the wilderness,

their rebellions against God, and the firmness of their lawgiver. Thence

he past rapidly to the glorious days of the first temple, and described

the magnificence of Solomon and the prosperity of Israel, while the eyes

of all his audience glistened with sympathetic delight. Next he spoke of

the captivity in Babylon, of the silent tears of the people as they sat

by the streams of the Tigris and Euphrates, and of the evening of the

Passover, when the fourteenth day of Nisan came and no paschal lamb

could be eaten, but only the unleavened bread. No one drew his breath

while he delineated the picture of this misery. “Unhappy, forsaken

people!” he exclaimed; “ye had sinned and Jehovah visiteth the

iniquities of the fathers upon their children. O thou almighty and

jealous God, thine eyes are open on all the ways of the children of

men!” He paused for a moment, as if overpowered by the contemplation of

the might and justice of Jehovah. Every bosom was agitated. “Woe, woe to

me and to my children!” exclaimed at once a woman, so carried away by

the words of the speaker, that she forgot herself and the presence of

the multitude. “Woe to us all,” resumed he, “if we forsake Jehovah, the

living fountain, and hew out to ourselves broken fountains which hold no

water.” In conclusion he praised the restoration of the worship of God,

and the happy times in which they lived; and earnestly exhorted them to

celebrate the feast of unleavened bread and of the appearance before

Jehovah, with becoming gratitude, and faithfully to observe the law, in

the land flowing with milk and honey into which he had brought them.

When the discourse was ended, praise was again ascribed to God, and the

prayer called Kri-schma repeated. This was a feast-day; but

independently of this, it was the duty of every adult Jew, on the second

and the fifth day of the week, as well as on the sabbath, to pray, with

the Tallith on his head, and the Tephillim on his brow and on his hand.

The benediction was given, to which the assembly replied Amen! and at

the close of all, alms were collected for the poor.

As they left the assembly, Helon remarked to Elisama, how much superior,

in regard both to sacrifice and instruction, was the condition of Israel

to that of the heathens. They offer sacrifice to their gods—but they are

ignorant of the law; they have temples and altars, but no houses of

religious instructions; they have priests, but none to explain their

duty to them. On the following day, the third after the Passover, the

same offerings were made as before; but the evening increased the

solemnity, by the approach of the sabbath. It was announced as usual by

six blasts of the trumpet, blown by a priest out of the chamber which

was situated on the southern side of the temple, at the extremity of the

court of Israel, and which served at the same time for the watch-room of

the priests and Levites. In the country towns the annunciation was made

by blasts of the horn. At the ninth hour (three in the afternoon) the

first blast was sounded, as a signal for the cessation of all labour in

the field. Troops of reapers and other labourers were immediately after

seen coming from all the adjacent country into Jerusalem. At the tenth

hour, the second blast was sounded, to announce the time of closing the

shops and manufactories, completing the domestic preparations for the

sabbath, and putting on their best attire. In every house, two loaves

were placed upon the table, as a memorial of the double measure of

manna, gathered in the wilderness on the day before the sabbath. At the

third blast, the mother of the family lighted the two lamps, which were

to burn through the whole of the sabbath. Light, being the symbol of joy

and of knowledge, was appropriate to such a solemnity; hence the altar

blazed, and the household lamp was kindled. The mother, assuming the

priestly office, spread out her hands towards the lamp when she had

lighted it, and said “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, King of the

world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts, and commanded us to light

the sabbath-lamp.” The fourth, fifth, and sixth blasts followed each

other rapidly, as soon as the sun was set; and the sabbath was now

begun.

To take a family meal was the first thing done. The master of the house

filled the cup, when all were assembled around the table, and blessed

it, and said, “On the sixth day were the earth and the heavens and all

their glory completed. For God finished by the seventh day all the work

which he had done, and rested on the seventh day from all his labour,

and hallowed it, because on it he rested from all the work which he had

created and made.”

After a short pause, he proceeded, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who

hast created the fruit of the vine, King of the world, who hast

sanctified us by thy precepts, and commanded us to keep thy sabbaths,

and hast appointed them to us of thy good pleasure, as a memorial of the

work of creation. It is also the beginning of the assembling of thy

saints, and of the going out of Egypt: for thou hast chosen us out from

among all nations, and hast sanctified us and hast appointed to us the

holy sabbath. We praise thee, O Lord, that thou hast made the

sabbath-day holy.” The cup was emptied, the master of the house blessed

the bread also in the usual form of words, and the meal began.

In the mean time the course of priests had been changed in the temple,

that which had been on duty in the preceding week, giving place to that

whose turn of service it was for the week following. The shew-bread was

changed, twelve of the priests bringing each one of the new loaves in a

golden dish, and two others censers with incense. Then all the children

of Israel laid themselves down to rest, in their own houses or in the

temple, in joyful expectation of the sabbath-dawn.

The sabbath was so solemnly and strictly kept, that it was not allowed

to be broken even by the greatest of the festivals; it may indeed be

said, that as being the oldest, it was the root and parent of all the

rest. It was not merely a day of cessation from labour; its celebration

was a weekly acknowledgment, that the One God was worshipped as the

creator of heaven and earth; and thus it stood in the closest connection

with the first of the ten commandments which God had given upon mount

Sinai. The command for its observance, however, is as ancient as the

first revelation made by God to man, forming a part of the narrative of

the creation. At the giving of the law, the precept for its observance

was renewed and enforced, “Remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy;”

and its high import was expressed by the words, “Verily my sabbaths

shall ye keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your

generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth you.

Six days shall ye work, but the seventh is the sabbath, a holy rest unto

the Lord.”[125] And in the renewal of the law it is said, “Thou shalt

remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the

Lord thy God brought thee out thence with a mighty and an outstretched

arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the

sabbath-day.”[126] So the prophets call the sabbath the sign of the

covenant between Jehovah and his people.[127] It was besides a day of

remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt, a weekly passover. The

violation of the sabbath was punished with the severest penalties.

“Whosoever maketh the sabbath unholy shall surely be put to death;” and

when it is added, as an explanation, “whosoever _doeth any work_ on the

sabbath-day, he shall surely be put to death,” this deeper meaning is

conveyed, that there is a rest, which is more holy than labour. Outward

rest, consisting in the cessation of motion and exertion, was the sign

of that holy and inward rest. While in the desert Moses commanded the

children of Israel, saying, “Behold the Lord hath given you the sabbath;

therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Let

every man therefore remain in his own place, and let no man go out on

the seventh day.”[128] What a picture do these words convey, of so many

millions of human beings, by whose activity the surrounding desert was

enlivened on every other day, but of whose existence every trace seemed

to vanish, as the sun went down on the evening when the seventh began!

In pious fear of transgressing this law, the Jews, in later times, never

went further than two thousand cubits; because they reckoned that the

remotest tent in the camp would be one thousand cubits distant from the

tabernacle, and that their forefathers must have gone and returned this

distance, in order to appear before Jehovah.[129]

Footnote 125:

Exod. xxxi. 13.

Footnote 126:

Deut. v. 15.

Footnote 127:

Ezek. xx. 12.

Footnote 128:

Exod. xvi. 29.

Footnote 129:

This is the foundation of the reckoning by a sabbath-day’s journey,

which was between six and seven stadia of the Greek measure, and

somewhat less than a mile of our own.

But if the sabbath was a mark of the covenant between Jehovah and his

people, and also a day of rest, it could not be otherwise than a day of

joy; and so it was always considered in Israel. In the burning east,

rest is of itself a pleasure; and as every thing else connected with the

service of Jehovah bore the character of cheerful enjoyment, so also did

the sabbath. “If,” says Isaiah, “thou turn away thy foot from the

sabbath, and do not thy pleasure on my holy day, and callest the sabbath

a delight, a solemnity of Jehovah, a day of honour; then shalt thou

delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride over the high

places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob

thy father—the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”[130]

Footnote 130:

Isaiah lviii. 13, 14.

If, however, the sabbath could not be suspended by the festivities of

the Passover, they might receive additional solemnity from the sabbath.

Helon felt its sanctity with double force, in this combination. He had

risen early in the morning, and could scarcely wait till the hour

arrived, for his going up with the old men to the temple, for the first

time in his life, to spend a sabbath there. The morning sacrifice

consisted on this day of the usual offering of a lamb; then followed the

special offering of the sabbath, two lambs of a year old, with the meat

and drink offering that belonged to them. Last of all, the

festival-offering, which consisted of two young bullocks, a ram, seven

yearling lambs as a burnt-offering, and a goat as a sin-offering. In the

mean time the sabbath psalm was sung by the Levites from the fifteen

steps.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,

And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High!

To show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning,

And thy faithfulness every night,

Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery,

Upon the harp with a solemn sound.

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work,

I will triumph because of the works of thy hands.

O Lord! how great are thy works;

Thy thoughts are very deep!

A brutish man knoweth not this,

Nor doth a fool understand it.

When the wicked spring as the grass,

And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,

It is that they may be destroyed for ever:

But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.

For lo! thine enemies, O Lord,

For lo! thine enemies shall perish!

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

But thou exaltest my horn like the unicorn’s;

I am anointed with fresh oil;

And mine eye shall see my desire on mine enemies,

And mine ear shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.

The righteous flourisheth like the palm-tree,

He groweth like a cedar in Lebanon.

They that are planted in the house of the Lord

Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall still bring forth in old age,

They shall be full of sap and flourishing,

To show that Jehovah is just,

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.—Ps. xcii.

Helon remained the whole day in the temple, witnessed the

evening-sacrifice, and heard the sound of the trumpet which proclaimed

that the sabbath was at an end. The old men retired soon after the

morning-sacrifices leaving him to his own reflections, and rejoicing

that one was found among the youth of Israel, so full of enthusiasm for

the service of Jehovah. Helon, as he wandered about the courts of the

temple, was revolving a design, which had long been forming in his

bosom, and which had been rapidly matured by the feelings of the last

few days.

CHAPTER VII.

THE CLOSE OF THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER.

Although the greater part of the people had already returned to their

homes, to begin the harvest, and large companies had taken their

departure every morning with the music of cymbals and psalms, all the

priests and Levites still remained, and a great multitude of the people.

Not fewer than 100,000 men were still to be seen assembled in the courts

of the temple.

One day Helon was present at the evening-sacrifice, and was witness of a

novel scene. He was standing beside the thirteen chests, which were

placed in the court of the Women. Each of these chests was inscribed

with the name of the gift which was to be deposited in it. Some were for

the capitation tax, others, for the money which remained over and above

of the destined sum when the victim had been purchased; others, for

voluntary gifts for the benefit of the temple. A Jew of Cyrene came to

bring the capitation tax of his countrymen. The law had enacted as

follows: “The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, when thou takest the sum of

the children of Israel, they shall give every man a ransom for his soul

unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, that there may be no plague

among them when thou numberest them: this shall they give, every one

that is numbered a half-shekel, according to the shekel of the

sanctuary: a half-shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one,

from twenty years and upwards, shall give an offering to the Lord; the

rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than a

half-shekel, that it may be for a memorial unto the children of Israel

before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.”[131] The shekel

is a coin which contains twenty gerahs,[132] and has at different times

been of different values, but since the time of the high-priest Simon,

has been equal to a Grecian stater. The coin, as struck by him, has a

beautiful stamp: on the one side is seen, in the centre, the budding rod

of Aaron, with the legend around it, “The holy Jerusalem:” on the other

side is a pot of manna, and the words “Shekel of Israel.” Whole and half

shekels were coined. It was such a half-shekel that every Jew of twenty

years and upwards was bound to give, as an acknowledgment of his

belonging to the people of Jehovah. It might be considered as a

capitation tax levied in the last month of the ecclesiastical year. On

the first day of this month, Adar, the Sanhedrim sent messengers through

the whole country, who demanded the half-shekel, and fifteen days were

given for the payment. On the fifteenth day of Adar, the receivers of

the half-shekel took their seats beside the chests, in the court of the

Women, and all who were twenty years and upwards brought their

contribution. If any one neglected to do so, compulsory measures were

resorted to, in order to obtain it. To the very poorest persons a

further respite of a year was granted, and for this reason a chest for

the past year was placed by that which received the contributions of the

present. At this time a multitude of the poorer class were seen

soliciting alms from the rich, to enable them to discharge their debt.

This was the only kind of begging which the law allowed in Israel.

Strangers, who came to Jerusalem chiefly at the festivals, were

accustomed to take these opportunities of discharging the debt,

especially at the Passover, which was some weeks later than the day of

the month Adar, on which it became due.

Footnote 131:

Exod. xxx. 11.

Footnote 132:

Numb. iii. 47.

The Cyrenian had brought the sum which was due from his Jewish brethren

in Cyrene, and was about to deposit it in the chest. But it was

necessary that it should be paid in shekels, and he had only foreign

coin. As this was a case of frequent occurrence, the receivers of the

shekel were also money-changers, and had their tables beside the chests.

For a certain premium they gave Jewish shekels for the Cyrenian coins.

Helon witnessed the proceeding with no small dissatisfaction.