CHAPTER IV.

THE ADMISSION INTO THE PRIESTHOOD.

“O thou dream of my childhood and my youth, art thou then really about to be fulfilled? O pride and sorrow of my forefathers, sacred priesthood, art thou indeed about to be revived in their descendent? Praised be Jehovah!”

Such were the exclamations of Helon, when, a few days after the feast of the new moon, the morning dawned of the day on which he was to appear before the Sanhedrim, and to undergo their scrutiny, preparatory to his admission into the priesthood. The following day was the sabbath, when he was to offer his first sacrifice. He opened the door of the Alijah on Iddo’s house, while it was yet twilight, and after the performance of the Kri-schma threw himself on the ground before Jehovah, and thus prayed:

Behold thou desirest truth in the inward part, Teach me then hidden wisdom! Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; Wash me, that I may be whiter than snow. Make me to know joy and gladness, That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, And blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a pure heart, O God, And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, Take not thy holy spirit from me, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, And may a cheerful spirit support me. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways That sinners may be converted unto thee.—Ps. li.

The sun was rising as he quitted the Alijah. He looked towards the east, where his father’s sepulchre lay in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and then to the south-west towards Egypt, where the reflection of the rising sun streaked the edge of heaven with a ruddy glow, and mentally greeted his mother. Next to the image of his parents according to the flesh, that of Aaron, the great progenitor of the sacerdotal order, took possession of his mind, on this day, which was to witness his admission into their society. Elisama came to fetch him from the roof, and with a step of conscious dignity and pride conducted him to Iddo and the guests, who were assembled in the inner court. Having received their hearty congratulations, Elisama conducted his Helon to the temple-hill. Not even on the day when he made his first pilgrimage, and passed through the Beautiful gate and the gate of Nicanor, had the old man felt as he did on this morning, in which his kinsman was to revive the priesthood in his family. His heart beat not less high than Helon’s, and his aged eye was lighted up with youthful exultation and hope. He blessed Jehovah, who had given to him and to his deceased brother firmness to withstand all the solicitations which had been addressed to them, to assume the priesthood at Leontopolis.

Helon entered, with trembling steps, into the courts of the Lord. The Sanhedrim was standing along with the course of priests for the week, in the court of the Priests, and the morning-sacrifice was performed with the customary rites. As the priests on the pillars blew their trumpets at the pouring out of the drink-offering, and the Levites sung on the fifteen steps, the sound of their voices and their instruments seemed to him like the call of Jehovah to him. “To-day,” thought he, “I stand for the last time, as one of the people in the court of Israel, to-morrow I shall minister before the face of Jehovah!” When the sacrifice was over, the high-priest and the Sanhedrim withdrew into their hall of judgment. No meeting of this body was ever held for merely secular business, either on the sabbath or the day of preparation, but they often assembled to transact what related to the service of God.

With deep emotion Helon entered the hall; it was one of the largest and most splendid of all which the courts of the temple contained. It lay partly in the court of the Priests and partly in that of Israel, and was called also Gazith, because it was paved with marble. There, was an entrance from both courts, one called the Holy, the other the Common. In this all the courses of the priests were exchanged, and here the great council, or Sanhedrim, held its sittings.

The Sanhedrim consisted of seventy-one persons, partly priests, partly Levites, partly elders. In extraordinary cases the elders from all the tribes were convoked, who then formed the great congregation. The high-priest occupied the place of president, and was seated at the western end; he bore the title of Nashi, or Chief. On his right sat the Ab-beth-din, Father of the Council, probably the most aged man among the elders, and on his left the Wise Man, probably the most experienced among the doctors of the law. The remaining sixty-eight sat in a half circle, on either side, with a secretary at the end of each row. As the three chief persons belonged respectively to the sacerdotal order, to the body of the citizens, and the profession of the law, so the remaining members were made up of these three elements. The twenty-four courses of the priests were represented here by their heads, the elders were a deputation from the chiefs of families and of houses; the doctors of the law were the most learned of the Levites. The whole assembly was seated, with crossed feet, on cushions or carpets. The Sanhedrim was the supreme judicial and administrative court in Israel; every thing relating to the service of God, foreign relations, and matters of life and death, came under its cognizance. It was further their business to scrutinize every son of Aaron, who wished to enter as a priest into the service of Jehovah.

Elisama entered the hall attended by Helon. He announced the name of the young man and of his father, and produced extracts from the registers, which ascertained the legitimacy of his birth. The tribe of Levi, when numbered in the wilderness, contained 22,000 males above a month old,[53] and 8580 males between thirty and fifty;[54] they were all devoted to the service of Jehovah; but only a single family, that of Aaron, had the privilege of furnishing priests for the altar; the rest of the Levites were only the servants of the priests.[55] In David’s time the number of the Levites from twenty years and upwards was 38,000;[56] that of the priests perhaps not 6000. Aaron had four sons, two of whom were punished with an early death in the wilderness, for their presumption: the other two, Eleazar and Ithamar, had such a numerous posterity, that these were divided into sixteen and eight, or twenty-four courses or families.[57] As only four were found among those who returned from the captivity, these were divided into the original number of twenty-four, which bore the name of the ancestor of each family.[58] Helon, by his father’s side, belonged to the course of Malchia, which was the fifth; and by the mother’s to that of Abia, which was the eighth.

Footnote 53:

Numb. iii. 39.

Footnote 54:

Numb. iv. 48.

Footnote 55:

Numb. iii. 5-10.

Footnote 56:

1 Chron. xxiii. 3.

Footnote 57:

1 Chron. xxiv. 4.

Footnote 58:

Ezra ii. 36-39.

Next, the passage of the law was read, in which Jehovah commands that no descendent of Aaron should ever be admitted to the priesthood, who had any natural imperfection or deformity of body, although he might still claim a subsistence from the provisions of the temple.[59] Helon was examined and found free from any of those imperfections which the law enumerates. Had he proved otherwise, he would have been clad in black, and dismissed, being only allowed in future to discharge menial offices about the temple. The outward worship of Jehovah was to be a mirror and emblem of the inward dispositions demanded from the worshipper; and therefore he required, that both his sacrifices and those who offered them should be without blemish.

Footnote 59:

Lev. xxi. 17.

Helon having undergone the necessary scrutiny, and having been found not only of pure descent but free from all bodily infirmity, was committed to the care of one of the ministering Levites, and conducted by him into the vestry, which stood near the gate of Nicanor. Here the Levite put on him the white sacerdotal robes, which one of the same body had made. They consisted of drawers reaching to the leg, the under-garment fitting close to the body and descending to the ancles, woven of one piece without a joining or a seam; the girdle of four fingers’ breadth, which went twice round the body, and, being tied in front, both ends hung down nearly to the feet;[60] it was woven so as to resemble a serpent’s skin, and embroidered with flowers, purple, dark blue, and crimson; lastly, the turban, which was wound firmly around the head in the form of a crown. The feet were bare.

Footnote 60:

Exod. xxviii. 39-43.

After being robed, Helon returned into the hall of the Sanhedrim, and the law of Moses relative to the priests was read to him;[61] “And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, None among them shall defile himself with a dead body among his people, except for the nearest of his kindred, for his mother and for his father, and for his son and for his daughter, and for his brother and for his sister, while she is still a virgin and lives with him, having no husband; for her he may defile himself. But he shall not defile himself for any one that belongeth to him among his people, least he desecrate himself. They shall not make their heads bald, nor shave off the extremity of their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, the food of their God, they are to offer; therefore must they be holy. They shall not marry a woman that is a harlot, nor one that has been polluted, for they are holy to their God. And thou shalt esteem them holy for they offer the food of thy God; they shall be holy unto thee; for I Jehovah who sanctify them am holy.” When this passage had been read, the high-priest blessed the candidate for the priesthood, and said, “Praised be God that no blemish hath been found in the seed of Aaron, and praised be he who hath chosen Aaron and his sons to stand and minister before God in his holy temple.” And all the members of the Sanhedrim said Amen! The sitting was thus ended, and Helon was led into the court of the Priests. Those of the course which was then on duty were standing there, and, greeting him, received him among their body.

Footnote 61:

Lev. xxi.

The family of Aaron was consecrated once for all in the wilderness, when they offered on eight successive days the sacrifice of initiation.[62] Since that time it had been only renewed, and each new priest began his ministration by a meat-offering,[63] on his presenting which the original unction was imputed to him. This Helon was to do on the following morning, and it fortunately happened that, owing to the delay occasioned by the return of the victorious army, the course to which he belonged entered on duty on this very sabbath.[64]

Footnote 62:

Lev. viii. ix.

Footnote 63:

Lev. vi. 20.

Footnote 64:

2 Chron. xxiii. 4-8.

Elisama offered on this joyful occasion a magnificent thank-offering of several bullocks, and invited the whole course of priests, who gradually arrived to be in readiness to begin their functions, to feast upon the sacrifice.

Among the rest he had invited the old man of the temple. He who bore this name was a venerable priest, nearly one hundred years old, of the course of Jojarib, to which the Maccabees also belonged. Engaged, since his twenty-fifth year, in the service of Jehovah, he had now past eighty years in the house of his God, and in the course of them had witnessed very eventful times. He had entered the temple, in the life of the excellent high-priest Onias III., and had endured the alternate yoke of the Syrians and the Egyptians; he had seen Antiochus Epiphanes, and known the victims of his sanguinary fury; he had been one of those who followed the valiant Mattathias to the wilderness; he had admired the heroic deeds of the members of the family of the Maccabees, Judas, Jonathan, Simon, and John Hyrcanus, and had served them in succession. In Egypt, where he had frequently dwelt, he had seen, forty years before, the foundation of the temple of Leontopolis, and he had beheld that of Gerizim levelled with the ground. As a doctor of the law, he was master of all the knowledge of divine or earthly things which Israel then possessed, and had been able to compare his experience with the word of God. He knew accurately the opinions of all the sects into which Israel was divided, and though he joined himself to none of them, yet was honoured by them all, and almost reckoned by all to belong to themselves. For a considerable time, during the last years of the high-priest Simon, and in the first years of Hyrcanus, he had discharged the honourable office of the Wise Man in the Sanhedrim, and in every year of the thirty-four that had elapsed since the new era of Israel’s emancipation began, some important affair had been decided by his counsel. In consequence of his increasing years, he had laid down all his offices, resigned his house and property to his children’s children, and taken up his abode in a single apartment in the temple, where he discharged the duty of a priest of the permanent course, as it was called, that is of those who dwelt in Jerusalem and supplied the place of any one in the other courses who could not serve in his turn. His piety, his wisdom, his earnest longing for the advent of the Messiah, and his affection for the house of the Maccabees, were become proverbial. He united so well the mild dignity of age with the fresh sensibility of youth, that he possessed a most decided influence over the principal persons in the state, but more especially on all the younger priests, whose teacher he might be considered, and who very generally adopted his opinions. Even the heathens admired the vigour and originality of his mind. What most surprised many of his countrymen was, that he, whom they would, before all others, have called a Chasidean, that is a man of extraordinary piety, laid no claim to so high a title, and contented himself with the humbler name of a just man.

The old man made his appearance, but declared that he came only to bid the youth welcome to the courts of the Lord. A feast, even in the temple, he said, did not befit a man over whom one hundred winters had already past. All rose up when he appeared, and, falling at his feet, kissed the border of his robe. Helon had heard of him in Alexandria, and Elisama had pointed out his venerable form to him, as he assisted at the sacrifice; and when he saw him appear in the banqueting room, for his sake, overpowered by such kindness and condescension, he too fell, in silent reverence, at his feet, and kissed the border of his garment. The old man raised him up, and said, “Praised be the God of Israel, who bringeth the seed of Aaron out of Egypt, to the place where is the memorial of his name.” He spoke of his grandfather, whom he had known at Alexandria, and said that Jehovah would bless that house for ever, on account of the zeal which every member of it had displayed for the honour of his law. He then called Helon from the company, observing to the rest, that before he partook of their feast, he would regale him with food of another kind. Helon with profound veneration followed the old man, who led him through the court of the Gentiles to Solomon’s porch, which with its lofty pillars formed the eastern boundary of this court. Here he placed himself on the ground and Helon beside him. He made the youth relate to him the history of his life, and the manner in which the desire of becoming a priest had been first awakened in him. He afterwards addressed a few of those questions to him, by which one who knows mankind penetrates into the bosom of a youth. His countenance gradually assumed an expression of pleasure and good-will, which led Helon to hope that his answers had been satisfactory.

“It cannot be said my son,” he at length began, “that the Hellenists have been wholly wrong in their allegories. They are right in the principle from which they set out, that the service of Jehovah contains a hidden and deeper wisdom. Does not David say,

Behold thou delightest in the truth in secret things, Teach me therefore thy hidden wisdom.—Ps. li. 6.

and Solomon in the Proverbs, ‘His secret is with the pious.’ Their error lay in this, that they sought to discover in heathen and human wisdom the secret meaning of our ordinances and laws. Here,” he continued, “is the place which Jehovah hath chosen; since he brought his people out of Egypt he has never fixed on any other city, among any other of the tribes, in which a house should be builded for his name to dwell in. I brought thee hither, that thou mightest see it in all its glory. Look how its courts rise one above another, from the place on which we stand to the altar of burnt-offering, and then to the sanctuary of Jehovah! Look and wonder! This Moriah is the place where Abraham was commanded to offer up his son Isaac, and where also was the threshing-floor of Araunah, at which the angel of Jehovah stretched out his hand over Jerusalem, to punish the sin of David.[65] David purchased the threshing-floor and built an altar there and offered sacrifice upon it, and when Jehovah heard him he exclaimed, ‘Here shall be the house of Jehovah, and the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel;’ and his son Solomon built the house and the altar. Dost thou know, Helon, the prayer which he offered at the dedication of the temple?” Helon without the least hesitation began: “And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no god like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart: who hast kept with thy servant David, my father, that thou promisedst him: thou speakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David that thou promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight, to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me, as thou hast walked before me: and now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house of prayer that I have builded! Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee to-day: that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there; that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, and hear them in heaven, thy dwelling-place, and when thou hearest, forgive. If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land, which thou gavest unto their fathers. When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee: if they pray towards this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel; that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. If there be in the land famine, if there be blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be the caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities, whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all the people of Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands towards this house; then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest, (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men,) that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. Moreover, concerning a stranger that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country, for thy name’s sake, (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched-out arm,) when he shall come and pray towards this house; hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have builded, is called by thy name. If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord, toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name; then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives, unto the land of the enemy, far or near; yet if they shall bethink themselves, in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; and so return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house I have built for thy name; then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven, thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause; and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them; for they be thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron, that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant; when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”[66]

Footnote 65:

2 Sam. xxiv. 16.

Footnote 66:

1 Kings viii.

“Praise Jehovah,” said the old man, when Helon had finished, “for the blessing of a father who has so well instructed thee in the holy Scriptures. It becomes a young priest to be able to give an answer from them to every question that is put to him. Thou hast repeated Solomon’s dedication prayer: his temple was founded amidst acclamations, and destroyed amidst tears: this was founded amidst tears, but its glory shall surpass that of the first temple, when He comes, for whom we wait. He shall walk through this temple, stand in this porch of Solomon, pass through this Beautiful Gate, approach the altar of burnt-offering, and give this house its highest consecration. Helon, the whole earth lies under a curse; it bears thorns and thistles, and the ground is accursed on account of man, who has sinned thereon. Jehovah will take away the curse, when he comes to his temple, and from this spot the change is to begin. It has been for nearly a thousand years a holy land, free from the curse, a type of what the whole earth is one day to become. This Naaman the Syrian felt, when he had discovered, by the cleansing of his leprosy, that there was a prophet in Israel, as he showed by carrying away three mules’ burden of earth into his own country.[67]

Footnote 67:

2 Kings v. 17.

“Learn too from this prayer, how holy is the place in which thou art, and in which thou shalt in future serve Jehovah. Pray to him in his temple, that his eyes may be open towards thee, and that he may make the light of his countenance to shine upon thee. Go now to the feast, and if thou desirest to hear more, come to the old man in the temple. There is his apartment.”

The venerable man blessed him, and then crossed the court of the Gentiles. Helon watched him, till he disappeared, and then remained for a long time wrapt in thought, till some one came to summon him to the company. The feast concluded early, for the course of Malchia had to prepare, on the evening before the sabbath, for entering upon its office. About the ninth hour all labour had ceased, the trumpets had announced the sabbath, the Levites had baked the shew-bread, the twelve priests had carried it in solemn procession to the porch, and hence two of them had taken it into the holy place, and had deposited it upon the table of shew-bread: the old shew-bread had been removed, and the two censers of incense of the preceding week had been replaced by two new ones. The rest of the priests and the Levites laid themselves down betimes to sleep. Helon could not sleep. The past and the future were both too interesting. A feeling of mingled joy and awe shot through his frame when he heard the bars of the temple gates closed, and found himself shut in within the sanctuary of Jehovah; it seemed as if he were here protected from every earthly evil, as if nothing could now prevent him from fulfilling the law of the Lord, and becoming complete in his obedience. Often was he disposed to have cried aloud, “Better is a day in thy courts, than a thousand elsewhere!” At times lost in thought, at times wrapt in devotion, he passed the sleepless hours, while the priests slumbered around him. When he heard the step of the guard of Levites, in the court of the Gentiles, or when the guard of priests, as they went their rounds in the court of Israel, with lighted torches in their hands, approached the place where he lay, he envied the happy persons who were not only allowed, but whose duty it was, to traverse the courts and porticoes and palaces of the sanctuary, beneath the stars of heaven. When the two companies of the priests, uniting after their separate rounds, greeted each other with the words, “All is peace,” the sounds came to his mind with a significance that was indescribable.

At an early hour the watch came again to waken those who slept. The priests bathed themselves, and went to the vestry to put on their robes. Next they assembled in the hall Gazith, to cast lots for the division of the offices for the day. The first lot, which decided who should cleanse the altar of burnt-offering from the ashes of the preceding day, fell upon Helon, to his great astonishment. Then followed the lots of those who were to sacrifice the lamb, to sprinkle the blood upon the altar, to trim the lamps, to bring the parts of the victims to the altar of burnt-offering, to burn incense in the holy place, &c.

One of the priests now opened the curtain of the portico, and another the gate of Nicanor, and some of the Levites threw open the outer gates of the temple, that the children of Israel might enter. The crowing of the cock announced the time when the cleansing of the altar of burnt-offering was to take place. The priests called out to Helon, “Beware of touching any vessel, before thou hast washed thy hands and feet and sanctified thyself.” He washed himself again, mounted with trembling steps the sloping ascent to the altar, which was fifteen cubits high. He cleared the burning coals from the ashes and collected these in a heap at an appointed place. This was his first service as a priest. As he performed it, he could not help inwardly praying that the flame in his heart might in like manner be purified from every thing that made it burn dim.

When the wood for the offering of that day had been prepared, and the watches and the singers chosen, after a short interval some of the priests exclaimed, “Light, light!” the others replied, “Is it light towards Hebron?” and when the question was answered in the affirmative, and the first beam of dawn struck upon the roof of the sanctuary, the chief of the course of priests exclaimed, “Priests, to your duties! Levites, to your steps! Children of Israel, to your station!”

The last words did not refer to the whole people of Israel, but only to the Men of the Station, who represented the people at the sacrifice, in the same way as there were substitutes for the priests in the temple, chosen out of all the courses of priests. These substitutes of the people resided in Jerusalem, and were divided according to the twelve tribes.

All hastened to their respective posts. The service of Jehovah began with the cleansing the altar of incense in the holy place, and laying the wood on the altar of burnt-offering. A male lamb of a year old, without blemish, was brought to the north side of the altar of burnt-offering, the men of the station laid their hands upon it, in the name of the people; one priest killed it, another received the blood, a third sprinkled the altar with it, while others first extinguished five of the lights in the seven-branched lamp in the holy place. Incense was then brought in and burnt upon the altar of incense, and the remaining lights extinguished.

The sun had now risen: the pieces of the animal which had been killed, the usual meat-offering, as well as that which the high-priest offered daily, and that which Helon was to present, and the drink-offering, were all brought to the place between the altar of burnt-offering and the sanctuary, heaved before Jehovah, and then brought to the opposite side of the altar. The pieces were sprinkled with salt, the Kri-schma was prayed, and the flesh laid upon the altar and offered as a burnt-offering to the Lord. The meat-offering which belonged to it was next burnt, and the high-priest’s meat-offering followed. Helon had already heaved the offering, by which he renewed the priesthood in his family, and now brought it to the altar. It consisted of incense and the half of a tenth-deal of an epha of wheat-flour, baked in oil.[68] He salted both and then threw all the incense, but only a handful of the meal, into the fire; for all the rest belonged to the priests.[69] Lastly, the drink-offering of wine was poured into a pipe, which ran from the altar to the brook Kedron, and the daily burnt-offering was closed. While the drink-offering was pouring out, the Levites played and sang upon the fifteen steps the 92d psalm, it being the sabbath day, and the two priests, upon the pillar near the altar, accompanied with their trumpets.

Footnote 68:

Numb. xv.

Footnote 69:

Lev. vi. 14.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto Jehovah, To sing praises unto thy name, O thou 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, makest me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works, And thy thoughts are very deep! A brutish man knoweth it not, A fool doth not understand it. Though the wicked spring as grass, Though the workers of iniquity flourish, Yet they shall be destroyed for ever. But thou, Jehovah, art Most High for evermore. For lo, thine enemies, O Lord, Lo, thine enemies shall perish; All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. But thou wilt exalt my horn as an unicorn’s, I am anointed with fresh oil; Mine eye shall see my desire on my enemies, Mine ear shall hear it on the wicked that rise against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that are planted in the house of the Lord, They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bring forth fruit in old age, They are fresh and full of sap: To show that Jehovah is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.—Psal. xcii.

After this daily-offering, the special-offering for the sabbath-day, consisting of two lambs of the first year, was offered,[70] accompanied with other psalms. At the close, the chief priest of the course gave his blessing,[71] and the people replied by similar benedictions.

Footnote 70:

Numb, xxviii. 9, 10.

Footnote 71:

Numb. vii. 23.

Helon had been present at many sacrifices, but this was the first time that as a priest he had stood beside the altar of burnt-offering. Seen so much more nearly than before, every thing appeared in a new light to him; he felt that something more profound must be hidden under this veil of outward ceremonies, and he longed to be able to interrogate on this subject the old man of the temple, who, when the sacrifice was over, had betaken himself to his cell. Helon had several times watched his countenance during the sacrifice, that he might read in it if possible the interpretation of the rite. The priests dispersed after the sacrifice was over. Helon also left the court of the Priests, and as he was entering the court of Israel, he met Elisama, who with feelings of the most animated pleasure had stood there the whole morning, to watch the first ministrations of his Helon. He pressed his hand, and would have embraced him but for the sanctity of the place. Helon regarded him with a look which expressed the fulness of his happiness, and tears stood in the eyes of both. “I have to greet thee in the name of Iddo,” said Elisama. “And I thee in the name of the old man of the temple,” said Helon. “Art thou going to him?” replied Elisama. “Go, and the God of thy fathers go with thee!”

The old man was sitting before a roll of one of the prophets, and invited Helon to seat himself beside him. After a time he asked him, what had seemed most impressive to him in the psalm which he had heard sung that day on the fifteen steps?

“The close,” replied Helon, “in which it is said, of those who are planted in the house of the Lord, that they continue green even in old age.”

“And who are they?” asked the old man. “The sons of Levi,” Helon replied. “Repeat to me, if thou knowest it, the blessing with which Moses blessed them before his death.”

Helon began,

Moses said unto Levi, Thy holy one beareth thy light and thy truth, He whom thou didst prove at Massah, With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; Who saith unto his father and his mother, I see them not; And to his brother, I acknowledge him not; And to his sons, I know nothing of them. For they have observed thy word And kept thy covenant. They teach Jacob thy judgments, And Israel thy law. They shall put incense before thee, And whole burnt-offerings on thine altar. Bless, O Jehovah, his substance, And accept the work of his hands. Smite through the loins of them that rise against him, That those who hate him rise not again.—Deut. xxxiii. 8.

“Thou hast said what is required of the tribe of Levi,” said the old man. “It was not without reason that to the whole tribe no portion was given in Israel: for, ‘Jehovah is their heritage.’ He had first of all chosen the eldest-born in every family to be his ministers, and still the priesthood so far rests upon them that they must be ransomed for five shekels on the thirtieth day.[72] In this way the office is transferred to the tribe of Levi. Others have so much to do with worldly things, that they could not instruct their children from their infancy in the knowledge of the law. But the sons of Levi with their children are to live only for the temple and the laws, and on this account the rest of the people give up three-tenths of their income, of which one-tenth supports the Levites, the second is for the expenses of sacrifices and feasts, and for coming up to Jerusalem at the festivals; the third is for the maintenance of the king.[73] Thus the priest and the Levite, free from the ordinary cares of life, are devoted exclusively to Jehovah. They are to present the offering of Jehovah, the bread of their God. Hence the purity which they are so carefully to preserve, not allowing themselves to come in contact with any thing which might defile them. The sacerdotal order is the most exalted in the world. Yet its dignity lies not in any preeminence of its own; but in God’s choice of it, to preserve and make known his law. Be not thou therefore unduly exalted, but rejoice that thou art permitted, as a priest of Jehovah, to minister in his temple. Before the full light of day is spread over heaven and earth, some one spot is brightened by a partial gleam. But has that spot done any thing to merit this distinction? Give thanks then to Jehovah that thou standest in the earliest beams of that dawn which is the harbinger of light to all mankind. When He comes for whom we wait, the brightness of his rising shall illuminate the whole earth, and the heathens shall walk in his light.”

Footnote 72:

Exod. xiii. 12-16; Numb. iii. 12, 13.

Footnote 73:

Lev. xxvii. 30-33; Numb. xviii. 21-32; Deut. xii. 17-19; xiv. 22-29; xxvi. 12-15; 1 Sam. viii. 15.

The old man ceased, and departing, left Helon alone, who remained till near the ninth hour, when the evening-sacrifice began; and he hastened forth, that he might not be too late for his duties. The evening-sacrifice on the sabbath was in no respect different from that on ordinary days. The priests had prepared the incense, the Levites the meat-offering; Helon arranged his own, which consisted of the other half of the tenth-deal of the epha, of which he had offered one-half in the morning. The ceremonies and sacrifices already described were repeated; the lamb was killed and its portions burnt, the daily meat-offering, the meat-offering of the high-priest, and lastly, that of Helon, were presented; incense was burnt again in the holy-place, and the seven-branched lamp lighted for the night. The drink-offering was poured out upon the altar, accompanied by the songs of the Levites, and the trumpets of the priests, and followed by the benediction, which closed the service of the day. It was about the twelfth hour. But the flame continued long after it was dark to shoot up from the altar of burnt-offering, and even through the whole night the embers continued glimmering. The consecrated vessels were restored to their places: the whole course of Malchia had been in attendance this day, as it was the sabbath, but only a sixth part of them prepared themselves for service on the morrow. When all was finished in the temple, the priests prepared their meal and then laid themselves down to rest.

So closed the first day of Helon’s sacerdotal life; his heart was agitated, as it had been at his first entrance into the land of his fathers; but the sanctity of the place forbade every violent expression of his emotions. He had become more serious, it might almost be said more manly; and his joy and gratitude, instead of dissipating themselves in words, seemed to reserve their energy for action and the fulfilment of duty. A new life seemed to have begun in the temple of Jehovah.

As on the following day he attended the usual morning-sacrifice, although only as a spectator, he observed a woman who was undergoing the ceremony of purification after childbirth. She had bathed herself at home, first on the seventh and afterwards on the fortieth day, and she now brought to the temple a burnt-offering and a sin-offering—a lamb of the first year for the former, a turtle-dove for the latter.[74] The priest sprinkled her with the blood of the sin-offering, and she was purified, and praised the Lord, who had done great things for her, had preserved her own life, and had given a son into her arms. Helon beheld the ceremony with profound attention. The old man approached him, and after the rites of the morning-sacrifice were ended, turning to Helon, said to him, “Son of Adam, remember that for thee, too, a mother once offered a sin-offering and a burnt-offering.”

Footnote 74:

Lev. xii.

“I know it,” replied Helon, “but I have been in vain endeavouring to discover what is the import of this purification of the mother.” “Compare it,” said the old man, “with what thou thyself didst, to obtain purification at the festival of the new moon, after having touched a grave. Since man defiles, at his death, those who lament his departure with the tears of affection, and by his birth those who embrace him with joy, can he himself be pure by nature?”

Helon started. After a pause the old man continued: “Does not David say, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me! And did not God say to the first man, In the day that thou eatest of the tree, thou shalt die the death? Is any thing more necessary, in order to prove that the birth of man is in sin, and that his death is the wages of sin? Forty days, after the birth of a male, eighty, after that of a female, (the sex which first sinned,) is the mother unclean. For a burnt-offering she brings a lamb, for a sin-offering a turtle-dove, and reconciled by the blood of these innocent animals, she is permitted to appear before Jehovah. See what are the consequences of our birth!

“A red heifer, without blemish,[75] that has never borne the yoke, is brought before a priest, led by another priest out of the Holy City, and killed yonder on the mount of Olives. The priest dips his finger in the blood and sprinkles it seven times towards the temple; then he burns the cow with the hide and the hair, and throws upon it cedar-wood, hyssop, and a red thread. Another priest collects the ashes, and carries them to an appointed place. All the three are rendered unclean. When any one who has denied himself with a dead body is to be made clean again, these ashes are mixed with water, and one who is himself clean sprinkles it upon him upon the third and the seventh day; and while thus he that was unclean becomes clean, he that was clean becomes unclean. See what are the consequences of our death!”

Footnote 75:

Numb. xix.

The old man continued his walk in the court of the Priests, and left Helon standing in the greatest astonishment at the new and profound views which had been opened to him. He saw him not again till after the evening-sacrifice on the second day after the sabbath, when the family of the course of Malchia, to which Helon belonged, had been called to take its turn in ministering at the altar. He found the old man engaged in prayer, and was invited by him to place himself beside him on the carpet. After a short silence he began; “I trust that from our previous conversations you have clearly perceived, that the earth with all its inhabitants is unholy, and every individual a sinner! Is Jeremiah still the favourite prophet of your house?” Helon replied that he was. “Do you understand a passage in his prophecies, in which the same thought is twice repeated, ‘Behold the days are coming, saith Jehovah, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and act wisely, and shall execute justice and judgment in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell in security; and this is the name by which he shall be called, Jehovah who is our Righteousness’.’[76] What means this?” “Instruct me,” replied Helon. “This is the Messiah: on the earth which lies under the curse, man, himself sinful, cannot exhibit that righteousness which is acceptable to God. Therefore Jehovah himself will be our righteousness in the Messiah. He is the great object of prophecy, from its commencement in the days of our first parents to the present day, a period of near four thousand years, till the appearance of him for whom we wait, the Consolation of Israel. But on account of the dulness of the people’s heart this intimation is given in a twofold way, audibly by the words of holy writ, and visibly in the sacrifices. The sacrifices are visible prophecies of the Lord who is our righteousness. How often does Jehovah declare, that he has no pleasure in sacrifices and burnt-offerings, i. e. when they are not presented with a reference to the Messiah. Taken in this connection, they have a reconciling virtue. Every sacrifice, therefore, has a double import. The sacrificer lays his hand upon the victim’s head, and thus transfers his own sin to it, and so far sacrifice is a memorial of the offerer’s guilt: but on the other hand, when Jehovah accepts the sacrifice and permits the blood to be sprinkled and the flesh to be burnt upon his altar, he confirms the promise which Moses made at the establishment of the covenant in the wilderness. ‘Behold, this is the blood of the covenant which Jehovah maketh with you concerning all these laws.’[77] The Messiah will be the true offering. As Isaiah prophesies that God will ‘Lay our sins upon him and inflict chastisement upon him that we may have peace,’[78] so by this means he will become our righteousness, and the promise of God is confirmed and fulfilled in him. But these are dark, sacred, unfathomable thoughts, who can comprehend them in all their extent? Thus much is certain, that in his sacrifice all others will be united, and what are now called by different names, will form only one. Till he comes, there are various sacrifices according to our various necessities; some for the people collectively, as on the day of atonement and at the Passover; others for individuals; morning and evening sacrifices for each day; sabbath-offerings for the week; offerings at the new moon for the month, and at the annual festivals for the whole year. There are trespass-offerings for sin; thank-offerings of gratitude for blessings received. But enough of these things, on which it is so easy but so dangerous to enlarge. Yet hope not to understand them, till light from heaven has beamed upon thee here. Keep these principles in view, pray for divine illumination, and the dark shall become light to thee. Thou knowest, even from those heathens who were the objects of thy former admiration, that there are things the knowledge of which cannot be learnt, but must be given.”

Footnote 76:

Jer. xxiii. 9.; xxxiii. 16.

Footnote 77:

Exod. xxiv. 8.

Footnote 78:

Isaiah liii. 5.

While they were speaking, Elisama came to the door and announced that Selumiel of Jericho was standing without, and that he wished to speak with the old man. He himself called Helon aside, while Selumiel conversed with the old man, and told him that in the ensuing week he was going to Jericho, and wished him to accompany him, as his week of service would expire on the morrow. Helon was unwilling to leave Jerusalem, but he bethought himself that it became a priest to honour his father and his mother, or those who stood in this relation to him, that his days might be long upon the earth. He therefore assented to the proposal of his uncle, especially as he heard that their journey would take them near the Oasis of the Essenes, whom he had a great desire to see. Elisama left him well pleased, and Helon hastened back into the court of the Priests.

On the fifth day the old man called Helon after the morning-sacrifice, and commanded him to follow him to his apartment. Both of them seated themselves on the carpet, and the old man began with unusual energy.

“Thy week of service is drawing to a close, and Selumiel tells me that he purposes to take thee to the pleasant city of Jericho. The angel of the Lord encamp on the journey about those that fear him! But as I foresee that he will introduce thee to the knowledge of the Essenes, I must, ere thou depart, give thee one admonition; and O, young man! remember that it is written, ‘Days should speak and length of years should give understanding.’

“Eighty years have now passed over me, since I began to be acquainted with men of every variety of religious opinion among my people. I was then, as thou art now, young, without an adviser, and easily attracted and deceived by every new wisdom which appeared. I wish to guard thee against errors into which I fell; for it is a bitter feeling at last to discover that we have been wandering from the truth. Thou rejoicest in Israel and the temple, and holdest the Hellenists alone in abhorrence. But believe me that there are things yet more to be abhorred in Israel itself, nay even in those that are within the walls of the temple. There is a fearful division and confusion in Israel; seven sects wage war against each other. May it fare with thee as with the old man! Thou wilt find many things in all of them which will not displease thee, but pray to God that thou mayest be enabled to see, that each of them has more or less departed from the right way, and mingled human wisdom with the divine law. Thou wilt find in all, honourable and upright men, but also among all, the proud man and the hypocrite; and all, without exception, are deficient in the humility and the simplicity which are essential to the knowledge of divine truth. I do not reckon among them the _proselytes of the gate_, whom we have in all nations; and I mention them only that I may omit none, and may begin where I have least to blame. Praise Jehovah that their number is constantly increasing, and pray that he would guide them yet further—that they may renounce every thing that is heathenish, and become proselytes of righteousness. It is still worse with the _Hellenists_, who have been punished, by the blindness with which they have plunged into allegory, for that worldly-mindedness which made them disdain to return to the land of Promise. This the _Essenes_ did in some measure, and for this, and for their rigid obedience to the law, I praise them—but why do they imitate foreign manners in the land of Jehovah, pride themselves on vain wisdom, drawn from their ancient books, and despise the temple of our God? The _Pharisees_ are their opponents, and while I justly praise their zeal for the faith of our fathers, I must blame them for mixing oral traditions so lightly with the written law, and for the pride which has prompted them to do it. For this fault they are justly reproved by the _Sadducees_: but much greater is their departure from the truth, who reject the prophets of Jehovah, and resemble more the disciples of a heathen Epicurus, than of the Lord who spake on Sinai. I say nothing of the _Samaritans_, who like ourselves expect a Messiah, but prefer the desolate Gerizim to our Moriah. What confusion in Israel! What dissension and mutual hatred! There is still a small handful, whom I will not call a sect, men of pious, peaceful minds, who wait in simplicity and humility for the appearance of the Messiah, who reject every other word but that of God, and keep his ordinances in his temple. Of their number I reckon myself one—Elisama also belongs to them, as do nearly all the Aramæan Jews who live in the Diaspora. In Jerusalem, however, there are few such to be found. Now thou art forewarned, go, and Jehovah bless and keep thee!”

This was the last interview which Helon at this time had with the old man. On the sixth day, the last before the new sabbath, the course of Malchia finished its term of service after the evening-sacrifice. Helon quitted the temple, and hastened to join his friends in the house of Iddo.