BOOK I. CHAP. I.

ALEXANDRIA.

The whole house was in commotion. The camels were receiving their load in the inner court, and drinking, before their journey, from the fountain beneath the palm trees. The slaves ran this way and that way: in the apartments of the women the maid-servants were busily preparing the farewell meal for the son of their mistress, who, while she hurried in different directions and issued her commands, was repeating the words of the forty-second Psalm.—

As the hart panteth for the water-brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God! My soul thirsteth for God, The living God! When shall I return And appear before the face of God!

She had been born in the Holy Land, and her deceased husband had brought her to Egypt. The country in which her youthful days had been spent, and the journies to Jerusalem, in which she had borne a part, rose up to her remembrance, and with overflowing eyes she proceeded:

My tears have been my food day and night, While they say unto me continually “Where is thy God?”

The thought of her deceased husband rushed upon her mind, and her tears flowed in a fuller stream. Yet with a lighter heart, and with a less faltering voice, she proceeded: (ver. 4.)

When I remember these things, my heart melteth within me; How I had gone with the multitude to the house of God, How I had gone with the voice of joy and praise, With the multitude that kept the festival.

At this moment Helon met her. She embraced him and said, “So once I went to the holy city, but now I must remain a captive in a strange land. All the day long this psalm of the sons of Korah dwells upon my mind. Thy father sang it the last evening that we spent together. Immediately after, he set out for the promised land, and returned no more.”

Helon was moved by the distress of his mother. His feelings had been the same as hers, but he was near the accomplishment of his wishes. He was about to visit the holy city, and the grave of his father in the valley of Jehoshaphat; and raising himself from his mother’s embrace, he replied, “Hast thou forgotten the thrice repeated chorus of that psalm?”

Why art thou cast down, O my soul, And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him Who is my deliverer and my God.

Sallu, a young Jew, who had been purchased as a servant of the family six years before, now entered the apartment. He was dejected, and anxiously asked Helon, “Wilt thou not take me with thee, master?” The mother replied, “Thou art free; yesterday thy six years expired, and it shall be Helon's last employment before his departure solemnly to emancipate thee.” The youth kept his eyes fixed upon Helon, as if he was still asking him, “Wilt thou not take me with thee, master?” “Why dost thou refuse thy freedom, Sallu?” said Helon. “Master,” replied he, “when thy father bought me, six years ago, I was a houseless, friendless boy. I have been brought up with thee, and if I now must leave thee, I shall be again without a friend or a home. I will not leave thee: thou art going to Jerusalem, and, if I go not with thee, I shall never behold the altar of my God, nor the place to which I direct my prayers. Take me with thee, and I will be a servant in thine house all my days. I have called the elders, and they will be here immediately.”

They endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose. Helon painted to him the value of freedom, and the mercy of Jehovah towards the bondsmen in Israel, in appointing their release in the seventh year. His mother promised him that he should not go forth empty handed; that she would give him “of her flock, and of her barn, and of her wine-press, of all in which the Lord her God had blessed her,” as the Lord had commanded by Moses in the law.[5] But Sallu replied, “Nay but I will remain with thee: it is best for me to be here.” The elders had now arrived.

Footnote 5:

Deut. xv. 14.

“This youth,” said one of them, “will be a servant of thy house. Come together to the gate.”

The elders, with Helon, his mother, and Sallu, went through the covered way, as far as the gate which opened to the outer court. Sallu stood beside the gate-posts. The elder asked him, “Wilt thou not leave Helon?” Sallu replied, “I will not leave him; for I love him and his house.” Then Helon took an awl, and piercing his ears against the door-post, made him his servant for ever. The elders pronounced a blessing, and Helon put a ring through the ears of Sallu, as a sign that he was become his property. The youth bounded for joy, and exclaimed, “I have bought thee with my blood. Wilt thou not now take me with thee to the Holy Land?” “Go,” said Helon, “to look after the camels, and prepare thyself for the journey.”

The mother invited the elders to partake of the farewell supper with her and her son, at which Elisama was also to be present. They consented, and went back with her into the inner court (the _thavech_.) Helon remained awhile behind, to inspect the preparations for the journey. The slaves were equipping three stately dromedaries, which, young, high-spirited, and fleet, deserved the name of ships of the desert. They had taken a long draught at the well, while the slaves laid in order the baggage which contained the food and clothing of the travellers, and presents for their host in Jerusalem. In the east, the expressions of friendship were made by deeds rather than by words, and the travellers destined for their host costly caftans, Egyptian linen, a robe of thread of gold, and some books written on papyrus. The camels, kneeling down, received the burthen on their backs.

Helon’s uncle, Elisama, who was to be his guide on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, arrived, examined the preparations, and appointed to the slaves the hour of departure. Helon and he then went together into the inner court, where the elders were sitting under the palms beside the fountain, and enjoying the refreshing coolness of the evening. This inner court, around whose sides ran a portico and a gallery, was paved with green, white, yellow, and black marble. An awning of various colours was stretched over it to shelter from the burning rays of the sun; and in the middle was the fountain with its lofty palms. In Alexandria, as in the east generally, this was the place for the reception of visitors.

The meal was prepared, and the elders arose from beside the fountain to place themselves on cushions around the table. A venerable man with hoary locks took the place of honour, the middle place, on the middle cushion. The seven-branched lamp shed a bright light around, from its one and twenty flames. The slaves had strewed the table, the cushions, and the floor with the flowers of spring. Sallu came with a silver basin, poured water on the hands of the guests, and when he had wiped them sprinkled on them the fragrant nard. The most delicate productions of fertile Egypt were served up; among which the mother had not forgotten the fish of the Nile, that her son might taste them once more before his departure. Helon lay before Elisama, or, as it was called in the east, in his bosom.

Elisama, acting as father of the house, blessed the bread. He spread both his hands over it, and said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who causest bread to grow out of the earth;” and the rest answered “Amen.” As this was an entertainment, the wine also was blessed. Elisama took the cup with both hands, then holding it with the right, at the height of a yard above the table, he praised the Lord and said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who hast given unto us the fruit of the vine;” and the rest again replied, “Amen.” The bread and wine were blessed with both hands, that the fingers might be a remembrance of the number of the commandments. This done, he repeated the twenty-third Psalm:

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the soft flowing waters, He refresheth my soul, He leadeth me in the straight path For his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou preparest a table for me In the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over Surely goodness and mercy follow me all my life, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

This was the prayer with which the festive meal was usually hallowed in Israel. The guests helped themselves and enjoyed the feast. When the last dish was removed, Elisama began: “It is long since I repeated that beautiful psalm, with such a feeling of devotion as to-day. One might think that it had been written expressly for the feast on the evening before our departure for the Holy Land. 'Happy the people that know the sound of the trumpet!'”

Helon’s kindling glance, thanked Elisama for thus expressing the sentiment of which his own heart was full. But one of the elders replied, “The sound of the trumpet is heard also in Leontopolis, and the psalm might be repeated with equal propriety, before a journey to the nome of Heliopolis.”

“I always maintain,” said Elisama, “that Israel is Israel nowhere but in the Holy Land.”

“But does not the law itself declare,” said the elder, “Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land?[6] Did not the patriarchs of our nation always repair to Egypt in their distress, and did not the land of Ham almost always show a brotherly compassion for the children of Shem? Why did our forefathers always resort to this land of wonders, rather than to Syria or Mesopotamia? Does it not appear as if some secret guiding of Providence had always impelled Israel to unite himself with his brethren of Misraim? Was not our father Abraham himself in Egypt?” “And well did Pharaoh reward him by his treatment of Sarah,” interrupted Elisama. “Jehovah himself forbad Isaac to go down to Egypt.”[7]

Footnote 6:

Deut. xxiii. 7.

Footnote 7:

Gen. xxvi. 2.

“Yet,” replied the elder, “Jacob came hither with seventy souls; Joseph was proclaimed the father of the land, and Pharaoh said to him, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in the land of Egypt.[8] Moses was born here and brought up at court, and Jeremiah also was here.[9] When Alexander founded this city, he brought a multitude of our nation hither; the first Ptolemy settled a hundred thousand of them in different parts of the land, and because the kings thought us to be the brethren of the Egyptians, we have obtained the privileges of the highest rank of citizens, and are called, like the conquerors themselves, Macedonians. The Lord has moved the heart of the king and queen, and Onias, the son of Onias, has built us a temple in Leontopolis, which is an exact copy of that on mount Moriah. Soon shall we be still more highly exalted. You know that let the schemes of Ptolemy Lathyrus be what they may, his mother Cleopatra, who is joint regent with him, has the administration in her hands, and by her means (a thing unheard of in any other country) two of our nation, Hilkias and Ananias, the sons of Onias, are at the head of the army.”

Footnote 8:

Gen. xli. 44.

Footnote 9:

Jer. xlii.

“The God of Israel bless Cleopatra our queen! May he increase her a thousandfold, and cause her seed to possess the gate of their enemies,” exclaimed the elders.

“What thou hast said of our fathers, and of their journies into Egypt is true; but acknowledge also,” said Elisama, “that they never failed to return to the Holy Land, when they had an opportunity; and we will do the same.”

“No,” said the elder, “we have our own temple in Egypt, our Oneion.”

“But it is contrary to the law of the Lord; on Moriah only should the temple and the altar stand. Jehovah spoke to Moses saying,[10] ‘To the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither shall ye come, and thither shall ye bring your burnt-offerings: but take heed that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in any place that thou seest; in the place which the Lord shall choose there shalt thou offer thy burnt-offerings, and do all that the Lord thy God requires of thee.’ And five hundred years after, when the temple was built, he said to Solomon, when he appeared to him in the night, ‘I have heard thy prayer and have chosen this place to myself, as a house of sacrifice.’[11] And this place is Moriah, where Abraham was about to offer up his own son.”

Footnote 10:

Deut. xii. 1-14.

Footnote 11:

2 Chron. vii. 12.

“Knowest thou not,” continued the elder, “what Isaiah, the greatest of all the prophets, said two hundred years later? Our high priest wrote the passage to the king and queen at the building of the Oneion. In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of Hosts: one shall be called Irhaheres, Leontopolis.”[12]

Footnote 12:

Is. xix. 18.

Elisama replied, “I adhere to the words of the psalm, ‘The Lord hath chosen Zion and delights to dwell therein.’[13] To Isaiah also the Lord spoke, saying, ‘I will comfort you as one whom his mother comforteth, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.’[14] We might say to you of Alexandria, what the Lord said by the mouth of Jeremiah, 'Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt!'”[15]

Footnote 13:

Ps. cxxxii. 13.

Footnote 14:

Is. lxvi. 13.

Footnote 15:

Jer. xlvi. 11. 20.

“Yet Jehovah, in the same chapter, calls Egypt a fair heifer.”

“True, but he threatens her; ‘destruction cometh from the north,’ and in us will his word be fulfilled, 'ye shall be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.'”[16]

Footnote 16:

Jer. ii. 36.

“Now accursed be he who reviles the Oneion, the temple of the Lord, and Egypt and the queen,” exclaimed the elder, in vehement indignation. They had long ceased to eat, as their conversation became more animated, and sat upright upon their cushions. The elder started on his feet, and seemed about to offer some violence to Elisama; but a grey-headed elder, who had hither only listened, interposed between them, and with the calmness of age said to them both, “Peace, my children! There is enough of strife in Israel; let not us increase it. Do thou remain in Egypt, and thou Elisama take thy way to Jerusalem. The Messiah cometh and will teach us all things.”

The mother entered the room. “What sayst thou, dejected mother in Israel,” continued the aged man. “She could not,” she said, “divest herself of the fear that one of the travellers would never return. So it had been six years before. Her only comfort was, that her deceased husband had been buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and nothing would have induced her to consent to Helon’s departure, but the thought that he would visit his father’s grave. Ye all knew him,” said she, turning to the guests, “he was a stay of Israel in a foreign land.”

The elders turned to Helon and said, “Blessed be thou, for thou art the son of an upright man, and one that feared God.” “As to thy apprehension that one of us may not return,” said Elisama, “let us rather hope, that we shall bring back with us a new member of the family, a future mother, either from Jericho or from Anathoth.”

The mother smiled, with a significant look, which seemed to say that she already knew more of this matter. The elder, who had scarcely recovered from his passion, seemed not well pleased that the number of Aramæan Jews in Alexandria should be increased. Helon blushed, and observed the modest silence which became a youth in Israel, in the presence of his elders.

“Of the two,” said the old man, “thou wouldst rather receive thy new relation from Anathoth.” “True,” she replied, “many of our friends live there, and there the holy prophet Jeremiah was born.” The mention of Jeremiah was sufficient to kindle Elisama. His forefathers had accompanied the prophet, when, after Ishmael’s outrage upon Gedaliah,[17] he was carried into Egypt, by the people who feared the vengeance of the king of Babylon; and he had sojourned with this family. “While there lives one of our race,” exclaimed Elisama, “never shall it be forgotten by us that we once entertained a prophet of the Lord. His writings are our favourite study, and by them we are directed to seek the Holy Land.”

Footnote 17:

Jer. xli. xlii. xliii.

The discourse assumed a more cheerful character. The last cup was emptied. Sallu washed the hands of the guests, and sprinkled them with fragrant oil. Elisama pronounced the thanksgiving, and the old man rising up, took Helon’s hand and said, “Farewell, and take with thee my blessing.” Then, laying his hands upon the young man’s head, he said—

“He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth. May Jehovah be thy keeper, thy shade on thy right hand! May Jehovah preserve thy going out and coming in, From this time forth and for evermore?”—Ps. cxxi.

The other elders also blessed him, but it was evident that they would have done it with a more hearty good will, if he had been going to Leontopolis. All the guests took leave, and returned to their respective abodes.