CHAPTER VI.

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

The Feast of Trumpets, on the first day of the month Tisri, had been the beginning of a series of solemnities crowned by the Feast of Tabernacles, which began on the fifteenth and lasted till the twenty-second day. While some of the people of Israel were gathering in the latest gifts of the earth, and others preparing for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem; while some, who were compelled to remain at home, were beginning to dress their green bowers, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to collect branches from the adjacent country, to decorate their tabernacles in the vallies around the city; Helon returned to his friends in the house of Iddo. He said nothing of what had passed, but they all perceived immediately that he was become a new man. He embraced Sulamith with a pure affection, and a humbled consciousness of his past injustice; his manner towards all around was full of mild benevolence. There was none of the outward warmth and vehemence of manner which he had exhibited before, yet his mind was full of activity and joy. The calm composure of his whole demeanour was that of a man to whom the mysteries of life are solved, and who feels that omnipotent love defends and guides him through time and eternity. His thoughts and desires seemed all directed towards an invisible, eternal, future good; and yet never had his heart been more open to all the joys of nature, or more susceptible to the tenderest feelings of human affection. Sulamith had never loved him so much, nor ever been so beloved by him. The true happiness of her married life now began; all that had passed was in the strictest sense forgotten. She bloomed again, in more than her former beauty, like the rose of Jericho, when the morning sun drinks from its fragrant leaves the heavy dew which had weighed them down.

On the thirteenth day of the month Tisri, the companies of pilgrims began to arrive from every side. The native of Lebanon, the inhabitant of Beersheba, of Peræa, and Galilee, those that dwell on the seashore, and the stranger from Syria, Asia Minor, Cyprus, and Lybia, after their toilsome journies, greeted the temple and city of their God. From the roof of Iddo’s house, Helon and Sulamith looked down on the festal throng.

The sight which they witnessed on the following day, the day of the preparation for the festival, was peculiar to the precincts of Jerusalem. The courts of the temple, all the roofs of the houses, the mount of Olives, as far as its highest pinnacle, the valley of the Kedron, and the whole environs of the city were covered with a sudden verdure. The gardens and fields had already assumed the yellow hue of autumn, but the palms, the firs, the myrtles, and the pomegranates had been compelled to yield their more durable foliage for this occasion. The whole neighbourhood was parched by the heat of the sun, and the vineyards had been already stripped, but at once spring and summer appeared to return with all their variety of colours. The busy hands of men and women were every where in full activity, the children waited on the builders, and, as if by magic, Jerusalem seemed all at once filled and encircled by an encampment of green bowers, a lively and refreshing contrast to the mournful barrenness of the hills which were in the distance of the picture.

By the evening all was ready. The citrons and apples of Paradise glowed amidst the dark green of the bowers, their walls were hung with tapestry and their floors covered with carpets, and the large lamp burnt in the middle. When the evening star appeared in heaven above the western sea, every family, after the customary ablutions, left its dwelling to occupy its tabernacle. Iddo had resigned his house to strangers, and had erected himself a tabernacle in a vineyard on the mount of Olives, to which he and the family of Selumiel repaired, and placed themselves around the richly furnished table. He prayed, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the earth, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts and commanded us to dwell in tabernacles.” He then emptied the cup, the rest followed his example; and the same thing was done almost at the same instant in the surrounding tabernacles. The thousands of lamps in the bowers on the mount of Olives, in the vale of Kedron, and on the roofs of the houses in the city, seemed like stars of the earth, answering to those by which the heavens were already overspread. A gentle wind just stirred the leaves of the bowers, and the sounds of festivity and mutual congratulation echoed on every side, amidst songs and the music of cymbals and aduffes. Well may they rejoice whose sins are removed: if the people afflicted themselves before the atonement was made, it was natural that after it they should indulge in the mirth of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Towards midnight the lamps were gradually extinguished, and all was silent in the tabernacles. The women, the children, and the weakly persons returned to their houses, and the men laid themselves down to rest on the floor. But scarcely had the first beams of morning reddened the summits of the Arabian hills, when they all left their bowers to fill the courts of the temple. The usual ceremonies of extinguishing the lamps, killing the lamb, burning incense in the holy place, and offering the morning-sacrifice, were first gone through. The eight priests then ranged themselves on the sloping ascent of the altar, each with that part of the sacrificial instruments which was intrusted to his care, the last being he who bore the golden vessel with the wine of the drink-offering. At once all the instruments of music struck up together, the Water-gate was opened, and through its lofty folding-doors a priest entered with a golden ewer full of water which he had drawn from the spring of Siloah, whose softly flowing stream runs at the south-eastern foot of mount Moriah. All was silent, except the sound of the silver trumpets. The people made a wide opening for the priest, who approached the altar of burnt-offering and was met by him who bore the vessel of wine. As soon as they saw each other they both exclaimed, “With joy we draw water from the wells of salvation;”[162] and the people around repeated, “With joy we draw water from the wells of salvation.” The priest who had descended from the altar then took from the other the ewer of water, and mingled it with the wine. The Hallel was sung in the mean time by the Levites, the people who filled the courts holding a citron in the one hand and a bundle of palm, willow, and citron branches in the other.

Footnote 162:

Isaiah, xii. 3.

This was the solemnity of which it was commonly said in Israel, “He who has not seen the joy of the drawing of water has seen no joy.” Helon regarded it as not only an expression of thankfulness for the early and the latter rain, to which the fruits of the earth now gathered in had owed their abundance, but as a memorial of the water which gushed forth in the wilderness at the stroke of Moses’ rod; besides that still higher meaning which it remained for the Messiah fully to disclose.

The special offering of this day,[163] consisting of thirteen bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year, with their meat-offering and drink-offering, and a goat for a sin-offering. On this day priests of all the courses were on duty, and at least four hundred and sixty-four. A multitude of Levites, skilful in their art were disposed on the fifteen steps, and the great Hallel was sung by them and the assembled myriads of the people. When they came to the Hosanna in the 118th Psalm, the people and priests moved around the altar, imitating the journey of Israel through the wilderness, holding, as before, a citron in one hand and a bundle of palm and myrtle branches in the other, repeating, “O Lord help, O Lord grant success.” As they passed the high-priest, they showered the fragrant leaves and fruit upon him, heaping the choice gifts of the earth upon the person of highest sanctity among the people. To the worshippers in general this solemnity combined a grateful acknowledgment of the gift of the fruits of the earth, with a memorial of the most important event in the history of God’s chosen people. But Helon looked forward to a time when all the promises of Jehovah should be fulfilled, and when to the shouts of Hosanna should be added, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!”

Footnote 163:

Numb. xxix. 12.

When the circuit of the altar was completed, and the high-priest from the summit of the fifteen steps had given his benediction to the people, one part of them presented their own thank-offerings, another repaired to the porticoes, to hear the law read and expounded.[164] In the sabbatical year the whole law was read at the Feast of Tabernacles.[165]

Footnote 164:

Neh. viii. 18.

Footnote 165:

Deut. xxxi. 10, 11.

Immediately after the evening-sacrifice, when the water of Siloah had been again mingled with the wine of the drink-offering, the multitude crowded to the court of the Women, which was illuminated by lamps of unusual size, disposed on four candelabra, fifty cubits in height. The Levites with their instruments stood on the fifteen steps, which led from the court of the Women to the court of Israel, and from the galleries over the porticoes the women were spectators of what passed below. The members of the Sanhedrim, the elders and chief men of the people took torches in their hands, sung psalms, and performed sacred dances, in honour of Jehovah; the youths displayed feats of corporeal strength and dexterity; and the festal assemblage did not disperse till a late hour of the night.

The feast lasted eight days: in the first seven the ceremonies of the commencement were repeated, but with this difference, the number of bullocks for the burnt-offering was diminished by one every day,[166] and in the six following days civil occupations might be pursued, which were forbidden on the first. The traffic, which took place at all the great festivals, was especially active at this time. The curious productions of Egypt, the imports and manufactures of Tyre, the spices of the east, the balsam of Gilead, and the corn and cattle of Galilee, were bartered or sold; and every one purchased what was necessary against the approaching season of winter. Helon, however, had no pleasure in seeing what he considered as a profanation of the house of God, and withdrew from the sight of it to pass his days in the tabernacle of Iddo, on the mount of Olives. On the third day he presented his thank-offering, which was truly to him what its name implied, an offering of peace. While Sulamith was engaged in preparing the meal from that part of the victim which belonged to the offerer, Helon availed himself of the permission which the priests enjoyed on festival days, to go into the holy place and see its magnificence.

Footnote 166:

Numb. xxix.

Standing at the altar of burnt-offering, which was itself raised forty-two steps above the court of the Gentiles, a space of twenty-two cubits intervened between the spectator and the temple building. The altar, therefore, was not within but in front of the temple, the blood of atonement which was to reconcile man to God being thus shed between them. Twelve steps ascend from the level of the base of the altar to the temple; and where the pillars Jachin and Boaz stood in the temple of Solomon,[167] the portico began. The building consisted of three parts, the portico, the holy place, and the holy of holies. The portico was a hundred cubits high, a hundred long, and twenty broad: the entrance, which was seventy cubits, and twenty-five broad, stood open without folding-doors. Within, the portico was ninety cubits in height, fifty in length, and twenty in breadth, from east to west. Every part of it was gilded. Opposite to the entrance was the curtain which closed the passage into the holy place, fifty-five cubits in height and sixteen in breadth, exhibiting the colours of the four elements, white, dark blue, crimson, and purple. A large vine, with golden clusters, of the size of a man, was represented over the entrance. The holy place had not the same proportions as in Solomon’s; it was twenty cubits in breadth, sixty in height, and forty in length. In it stood the golden candlestick, the golden altar of incense, and the golden table of shew-bread. The holy of holies, before the entrance to which a second curtain hung, was a cube of twenty cubits. In this temple it was empty; but in that of Solomon it had contained the ark of the covenant with the tables of the law, above which was the cover or mercy-seat, and over that the two cherubims, between which the glory of Jehovah dwelt. There were chambers of three stories high on the sides, and over the holy and most holy place, entered by doors in the portico, which served as repositories for the treasures and other valuables. The whole of this part of the building was ceiled with plates of gold, and the flat roof furnished with gilded iron spikes, to prevent the birds from settling upon it.

Footnote 167:

1 Kings, vii. 21.

Helon contemplated with sacred awe the dwelling place of God. In company with the other priests he ascended, in mental prayer and with deep humility, the twelve steps; and was led through the apartments which are around and over the holy and most holy place, and then descended again into the portico. The curtain before the holy place was withdrawn. Helon in his ministrations in the court of the priests had often seen thus far, and with veneration contemplated the abode of the glory of Jehovah; but now his trembling foot entered its hitherto unknown precincts. The golden lampstand was on the southern side, whose seven lamps were kindled every evening; towards the north, the table of shew-bread, on which the loaves of the presence were placed every week; and in the middle the altar of incense, of acacia wood, a cubit in length and breadth, and two cubits in height, on which, morning and evening, a priest burnt incense, while the lamb was offered. Only the foot of a priest might enter the holy place; into the holy of holies none but the high-priest’s, and that only once in the year, on the day of atonement. What gave a higher interest to the indescribable feelings which occupied Helon’s mind, as he stood before the veil of the holiest place, was the company of the old man of the temple, who had dissuaded him from entering on the festival of Pentecost, promising to be his guide at the Feast of Tabernacles. He had prepared himself and Helon by a long and fervent prayer. The old man manifested an unusual degree of emotion. On ordinary occasions, the frame of his mind seemed equally removed from grief and joy, from emotion and apathy, but now he was visibly agitated, and his venerable form seemed to acquire a supernatural dignity from the feeling with which he laboured. In passing through the sacred building profound silence was always observed; but when they returned from it he still remained silent; and Helon, much as he wished to ask him questions respecting the import of all he saw, durst not speak to him while he saw him in this mood. The old man led him to Solomon’s porch, where he had received him on the first evening, and pointed with his hand to the courts of the temple which were within their view. After a long silence, during which he was strongly agitated, he said, “Kneel down, my son! I will give thee my blessing. I promised thy father and thy uncle to do for thee what I have done: I am hastening to where they already are; may we meet there again! Jehovah has guided thee by my means; be thine own spirit henceforth thy guide; for thou wilt see me no more on earth.” Helon, astonished and overpowered, sunk upon the ground and received the old man’s blessing; and while he lay weeping on the earth, he had disappeared. Helon went to his cell; it was open, but there was no man within. He hastened to Selumiel, who told him that the old man often disappeared for a long time together, and that his words were always true.

They returned together after the meal to Iddo’s tabernacle on the mount of Olives. When they had seated themselves, the figure of a stranger appeared among them, whom they did not at first recognise. It was Myron. In the first moment of their surprise they seemed doubtful how to act; Iddo was inclined to thrust him out by force; when Myron, whose pale face and shrunk figure had prevented their knowing him at first, exclaimed, “Let Helon decide!” He turned to him and said; “On the day when my foolish thoughtlessness a second time gave a wound to the happiness of your life, I fled into the wilderness of Judah. A priest found me wandering, brought me back to Jerusalem, and received me hospitably. He told me what had befallen you; and I testified to him my deep remorse and penitence. He seized the opportunity to persuade me to abandon the fables and follies of the religion in which I had been brought up, and to turn to the worship of the one true God. This evening an aged and venerable man entered the house of my host, and bade me seek thee out, and tell thee, in his name, that thou shouldest receive me not only into thy friendship, but into thy faith. Behold me ready to become a proselyte!”

“This,” said Helon, “must be the old man of the temple; his word shall be obeyed.” He embraced the friend of his youth, and begged him to forgive his groundless suspicions. “O,” said he, “had Elisama but lived to see this day! He had always hope that thou wouldest be one of us. Did I not too always predict, that if thou shouldest see Israel in all its glory in the Land of Promise, thou wouldest desire to become a partaker in their hopes?” “The God who made heaven and earth hath done this,” said Myron; “he has severely punished my folly, and in the midst of my chastisement made me to know your law and your hopes. I now understand why in every land I have found prophecies which pointed to Judæa for their accomplishment.”

“Praised be Jehovah,” exclaimed Iddo, “who increaseth his people Israel, and hath spoken by his prophet the word of which this day we behold the accomplishment, 'Arise, shine for thy light is come and the glory of Jehovah riseth upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness thy people: but Jehovah shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light.'”[168]

Footnote 168:

Isaiah, lx. 1.

Myron, in his usual hasty and decided manner, pressed his speedy reception as a proselyte, and his friends were desirous that this festival should be made still more solemn by his conversion. In later times accessions from among the heathens to the Jewish religion had become very common, and they were regarded as a pledge of the approach of the time when the promises of God should be fulfilled, which, as they understood them, implied the dominion of Israel over the whole earth.

Iddo and the priest with whom Myron had lodged endeavoured to prevail on him, by submitting to circumcision, and baptism to become one of the family of Abraham and an heir of its promises, after which, on the offering of three turtle-doves, he would become a proselyte of righteousness, and be permitted to bring his sacrifice, like a native Jew, into the court of the priests. Myron was more inclined to become only a proselyte of the gate; and Helon took his part, and asked what more was necessary, since he could thus enjoy the benefits of the law, could partake in all the civil privileges of Israel, and dwell in their gates? “Would there not too,” he asked, “be danger that he should be seduced by the Hellenists to join the worship at Leontopolis, if he returned to Egypt in every respect a Jew?”

On the following morning they conducted Myron before the tribunal which sat in the gate of Nicanor. In the presence of three witnesses, Helon, Selumiel, and the priest his host, he solemnly abjured idolatry, professed his belief in all the truths which are revealed in the law, and promised obedience to the seven Noachic precepts, as they were called; namely, to abstain from idolatry, to worship only the true God, to avoid incest, not to commit theft, or robbery, or murder, to maintain judgment and justice, and to abstain from blood and all that contained blood, consequently from things strangled. He then presented his offering, but he was not allowed to come any further than to the enclosure between the court of the Gentiles and the court of Israel. From this time he bore the name of a devout man, one that feared God, a stranger or proselyte of the gate.

As Helon and Myron spent the last day but one of the feast in Iddo’s tabernacle on the mount of Olives, Helon read to him the description which Nehemiah gives of the first celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles after the captivity:[169]

Footnote 169:

Neh. viii. 13.

“And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month. And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the Watergate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths; for since the day of Joshua, the son of Nun, unto that day, had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days: and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according unto the manner.”

“It is not to be denied,” said Myron, when it was finished, “that the Dionysian festivals of the Greeks have considerable resemblance to the Feast of Tabernacles; the mixt offering of water and wine reminds me of the gift of Bacchus; the bundle of palm, myrtle, and willow branches, of the Thyrsus; the Hosanna, of the Evoe; the procession round the altar, of the Dionysian train; the dance in the court of the Women, of the dances of the Grecian youths. The torch too is in both cases found in the hands of the votary. But the resemblance of the Dionysia of the Greeks to the Feast of the Tabernacles is that of a distorted image to the faithful picture.”

“You might have gone further,” said Helon, “and have added that such is the relation generally of heathenism to Judaism. The heathens have mingled poetry and fable with the tradition which they received from the family of Noah; they have disfigured by human inventions the divine truths which they learnt from the Jews. How indeed could it be otherwise, since Jehovah found it necessary to preserve this knowledge pure in Israel, by renewing and impressing more deeply the communication of it by means of the law?”

“I understand now,” said Myron, “what you alluded to before, and I see the history of antiquity in an entirely new light. The Greeks differ from the Egyptians only in this, that they have given their distorted images a more graceful form.”

“Bless Jehovah,” said Helon, “that thou hast returned at last to the true source; and pray to him that all the heathens may come to draw from it. The advent of the Messiah, who shall accomplish this, cannot be far distant. He shall be the light of the Gentiles and the consolation of Israel. The sceptre is already departed from Judah[170] and is in the hand of Levi; and the seventy weeks of Daniel are hastening to their close.”

Footnote 170:

Gen. xlix. 10.

“And tell me,” said Myron, “my former friend, but now my brother in faith, shall my heathen brethren in those days become proselytes of the gate, or proselytes of righteousness? To me it seems, if I may venture to confide to you my opinion on such a subject, that this distinction points to an important difference in the laws of Jehovah themselves. I have bound myself by an oath to obey those precepts of universal morality, which are contained equally in the Noachic and Mosaic law; and I have professed my belief in all the truths which your lawgiver taught; but I have not bound myself to all the rites and ceremonies which your nation practises. How then, if the former were what is truly valuable, what all nations alike need; and in the days of which you speak shall alike know; and if the latter were only important for their tendency to preserve the others?”

“It may be so,” said Helon, musing. “The old man in the temple has taught me, that the sacrifices are but a visible prophecy, commanded to the people from their want of a more spiritual faith. But I will neither deny nor affirm any thing in this matter. The Messiah comes who will remove all our doubts. Meanwhile let us rejoice in the belief, that in the manner which Jehovah in his counsels has decreed, 'the law shall go forth from Zion and his word from Jerusalem; and he shall teach the Gentiles his ways and they shall walk in his paths.'”[171] The friends embraced each other, and descending from the mount of Olives Helon went up to the altar in the temple.

Footnote 171:

Micah, iv. 2.

The last day of the Feast of Tabernacles was the most joyous of all. The drawing of the water, the Hosanna, the nightly illumination and dance had been repeated every day; the seventh day was called the great Hosanna and the day of Willows. The altar of burnt-offering was decked with branches of willow, all bent inwards, as an emblem that earthly glory must bow before the majesty of God. Instead of once, the people went seven times around the altar with their branches and their citrons. The last meal was taken in the tabernacles, whose green decorations had already begun to fade; but to the freshness which had charmed the eye when the feast began, succeeded the mind’s remembrance of seven happy days which had been passed in them. The father of the family pronounced the blessing over the last cup of wine which they were to drink here, and when it was emptied gave his benediction to the company, who left the tabernacle with that melancholy with which we quit a spot where we have enjoyed much happiness. The women and children, and even Myron and Helon, carried away a citron, a pomegranate, a branch, or a leaf, as a memorial of the festival. In the evening the illumination and the dance as before described were repeated. This part of the festivities, as well as the drawing of the water, ceased on the eighth day, which was added as a special sabbath to the full week of the feast. On this day no circuit was made around the altar, and the offering consisted only of one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, as a burnt-offering, with their usual meat and drink offerings, and a goat for a sin-offering. Besides Azareth, Day of Convocation, it was called the Day of Rejoicing in the Law, because every year on this day the reading of the law and the prophets ended, and began afresh on the following sabbath. Thus what every one had begun in his own synagogue at home, he completed here in the midst of the assembled people. This took place on the twenty-second day of the month, in which, up to this point, there had been only four common days.