CHAPTER VI.

THE BETROTHMENT.

Selumiel led his friends from Egypt through the gate of Jericho. Not far from it stood a house distinguished from all in its neighbourhood by its size and the style of the architecture. It was the house of Selumiel, who filled the office of an elder in Jericho. He had scarcely bidden his guests welcome in the outer court, and invited them to enter the inner by the covered way, when his son met him with his new-born grandson. The joy of the old man was indescribable. “You see,” said he to his guests, when he had led them to the fountain under the palms, and had called the slaves to wash their feet, “you see by my joy at the sight of my grandchild, that notwithstanding all I have said in their praise, I do not belong to the highest class of the Essenes. While the slaves do their duty, allow me to take a short walk into the Armon.”

Helon, in the mean time, viewed with admiration the splendour and wealth of the mansion. Its general arrangement was that which is common to houses in the east; but the solidity of construction and elegance of finish which characterised each part, showed that it was the residence of a wealthy man. Marble, cedar of Lebanon, brass, gold, silver, ivory, silk, and whatever else contributes to the splendour of an oriental house, glittered here on every side.

Selumiel’s house was built in such a way, that it enclosed a large open quadrangular space, called Chazer, or Thavech, (the middle or inner court,) which, under a sky that was almost uninterruptedly serene, served as a great chamber, even on great and festive occasions. The pavement was composed of variegated marble, tastefully disposed. In the middle, where in houses of humbler construction a simple basin stood, was a fountain, enclosed with marble and surrounded with lofty palms, which cast such a cooling shade beneath, that our travellers felt themselves instantly refreshed. In the angles stood rows of vases filled with flowers, especially the roses of Jericho, and many other odoriferous shrubs, planted in bowers. Their grateful shade, and the ever fresh and green turf around the fountain, made the coolness as it were visible, which in the hottest days was to be found there. On the sides of this quadrangle stood three rows of pillars, forming two parallel porticoes. The floor of them was covered with carpets and cushions of very elaborate workmanship, and before some of the pillars hung curtains, which gave the space behind the convenience of an enclosed chamber. The cushions were embroidered with gold and silver, and the curtains were of silk, red, white, green, and blue. Against the interior sides of the porticoes were divans and sofas, elevations of the height of from two to three feet, which were surrounded with a lattice, and in the day time were covered with carpets and served as seats, in the night were used as beds. Above, the porticoes were covered by three galleries one above another, for the house had three stories, and each gallery had a parapet breast-high towards the court.

Round this court the principal parts of the house were disposed. The side which adjoined the street contained a small court, separated from the inner only by a wall and a door, contrary to the common mode of building, according to which this court lay beyond the outer wall and in front of the house, being connected with it by a covered way: some houses again had both the small internal court, which we have described in Selumiel’s house, and the larger exterior court, the latter then serving to receive horses and camels. In Selumiel’s house the court was furnished with a sofa, visitors were received here, and only those whom the master of the house specially invited into the interior went any further. The house-door, which was in the wall of the house and was covered with inscriptions, led to the outer court. In this court was a staircase, which led to the upper stories of the house and immediately to a little building directly over the small interior court, called Alijah, which rose like a tower upon the flat roof. An awning was fastened to the parapet of the roof in such a manner, that it could be drawn over the whole of the innermost court, and produce complete shade in the brightest sunshine.

The side of the court which was furthest from the street formed the communication with the Armon, or house of the women. The apartments of the females were universally in the east separate from those of the men, and in Selumiel’s mansion they formed a distinct house, divided and arranged much in the same way as we have already described, so that there were in fact two houses, having one side in common.

Elisama and Helon had been so much occupied with the splendour which they beheld around them, that they had allowed the slaves with their silver ewers to wait, without performing their office. Selumiel re-entered, and said, smiling, to Elisama, observing how he was occupied, “Doubtless you are used to see more splendid edifices in Alexandria.” “Nay,” said Elisama, laughing, “I recall what I said on the way. An elder of Israel who dwells so sumptuously and tastefully is assuredly no Essene.” Selumiel led his guests into one of the bowers, and after they had rested here a short time, to the richly spread table. When the dishes were taken away, and the dessert set on, the mother and her daughter appeared, to bid a solemn welcome to the guests from Egypt—a condescension which showed the esteem in which Selumiel held them. The mother, though advanced in years, was active and still handsome; but Sulamith her daughter, who stood by her side, was glowing in all the freshness of youthful beauty, and united in herself every charm by which a daughter in Israel could fix the attention of the beholder. From beneath the large eyebrows, coloured of a brilliant black, dark eyes, like those of the gazel, sent forth their quiet brilliancy, through the transparent veil which descended from the turban. Her tall and stately form was clad in a robe of fine cotton, which flowed down in folds like a wide mantle; the sleeves hung loose, except where they were fastened with costly bracelets; the ears and the nose were adorned with rings of gold, in which rubies, emeralds, and topazes were set. Helon, dazzled by so much beauty, on which he hardly dared to gaze, and agitated by an emotion which he had never felt before, thought he read in the looks with which the old men regarded his surprise, the interpretation of some words which had occasionally escaped Elisama and Selumiel, and which till now he had not understood.

When the females had retired, and the men continued their conversation, Selumiel’s son addressed himself to Helon, and proposed to him that in the coolness of the early morning on the following day he would be his guide through the region round Jericho, and as far as to the Dead Sea. Helon, lost in feelings to which he had hitherto been a stranger, had scarcely heard the conversation of the elders; but he was roused from his reverie by this offer, which it was the more difficult to decline without discourtesy, as an oriental seldom imposes on himself the fatigue of a walk. Yet it seemed to him as if he were forcibly torn from that world of delightful illusions, to which he had been just transported.

At the first dawn of the following day, the two young men issued from the mansion of Selumiel, into the streets of Jericho. The city is about six sabbath-days’ journies from Jordan, and three sabbath-days’ journies in circumference. It was considered at this time as the second city in Judea, and had been in ancient times one of the thirty-one royal cities of Canaan. It was chiefly inhabited by priests, whose number was estimated by some as high as 12,000.

The son of Selumiel was well acquainted with the ancient history of his nation, and had discovered Helon’s enthusiasm for every thing which recalled it. As they quitted the city he pointed to the other side of the Jordan. “There,” said he, “our forefathers encamped in the fields of Moab, opposite to Jericho, and thither Balak the king of Moab summoned Balaam to curse them.[81] The blue hill seen far in the distance is the hill of Abarim, and part of it is Nebo, to which Jehovah led Moses and showed him the land which he was not permitted to enter,[82] the future heritage of the children of Israel. Thence Joshua sent out spies to explore the land, and especially Jericho, when Rahab saved them by her humanity.[83] There,” pointing to the banks of the Jordan itself, “our fathers crossed the flood, Jehovah renewing the miracle by which they had passed through the Red Sea.[84] They destroyed the city, and not only exterminated every living thing, but their leader laid a curse on him who should rebuild it, which six hundred years afterwards fell on Hiel of Bethel, whose eldest son died when he laid the foundation of it, and the youngest when he set up the gates.[85] Yet its sanctity was recovered by the residence of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who long dwelt here, and the schools of the prophets which they superintended. In later times we must confess, with grief, that it was here the valiant chief and high-priest Simon, father of Hyrcanus, fell by the hand of his son-in-law.”[86]

Footnote 81:

Numb. xxii.

Footnote 82:

Deut. xxxiv.

Footnote 83:

Josh. ii.

Footnote 84:

Josh. iii.

Footnote 85:

Josh. vi. 26.; 1 Kings xvi. 34.

Footnote 86:

1 Maccab. xvi. 14.

Helon thanked his companion for his information, dissatisfied with himself that the present and the past contended with each other for the possession of his mind. They continued their way to an eminence, from which they had a prospect scarcely to be equalled even in the Holy Land itself. They had here a view of the course of the Jordan. In its progress from its source in Antilibanus, a course of about one hundred sabbath-days’ journies, it had attained a breadth of thirty paces; it is about the depth of a man, and in the neighbourhood of Jericho it has a strong current. It abounds in fish, and its banks were overgrown with sedges, reeds, willows, and tamarisks, among which, jackals, lions,[87] and other wild beasts harboured. The river had just overflowed its banks,[88] in consequence of the melting of the snows of Lebanon, and this annual exundation greatly promoted the fertility of the adjacent fields. On the banks of Jordan lies Gilgal, the place where the people of Israel crossed over under Joshua, and erected twelve stones as a memorial. A little further on was Bethabara, where the pilgrims from Galilee crossed to the eastern side of the Jordan, in order to avoid going through the country of the Samaritans. Thus a great part of the beautiful valley of the Jordan lay before them, whose fertile fields are enclosed by hills on each side, on the east by the mountains of Judah, on the west by Abarim, with the summits of Pisgah and Nebo on Peor, followed by the mountains of Moab. Southward they beheld the plain of Jericho, ten sabbath-days’ journies in length, and almost three in breadth, extending to Engeddi, containing the celebrated grove of palms,[89] adorned with olives and balsam shrubs, and known in all the ancient world for its honey and its roses. Joining this plain the Dead Sea extended itself far to the south, called also the Sea of the Plain, from its vicinity to the plain of Jordan; the Salt Sea, from the taste of its waters; and the Eastern Sea, in contradistinction from the Mediterranean, which lay westward of Palestine. It was formed in the time of Lot and Abraham, by the destruction of the towns of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adama, and Zeboim, the place of which this lake now covers.[90] Its length amounts to eighty-three, its breadth to twenty-one sabbath-days’ journies; its waters, being impregnated with naptha and asphaltus, are salt and bitter; and all around it had the appearance of conflagration, because the frequent exundations of the lake covered the adjacent soil with a coating of salt. The fruits correspond with the water; the son of Selumiel related to Helon, that the apples of Sodom, as they are called, were beautiful to the eye, but bitter and unfit to eat, and that when they were dried, they were nothing but dust.

Footnote 87:

Jer. xlix. 19.

Footnote 88:

Josh. iii. 15.

Footnote 89:

Deut. xxxiv. 3.

Footnote 90:

Gen. xix. 24-26.

The world of external nature is but the mirror which reflects to us what interests our feelings in the world of man. Helon had never looked on the beauties of nature with so true a relish for them, as now that they gave him back the image of his own fond hopes and gay imaginations; nor had he ever felt so deeply the impression of her awful scenes, as now when they harmonized so well with the trembling anxiety which chastised his hopes.

On their return to the house they found all busy with preparations for the solemnity of the circumcision of Selumiel’s grandson, which was to take place on the following morning. At the third hour accordingly of the next day, a large company assembled in Selumiel’s house. Besides the two witnesses, who must be married persons of either sex, ten men were necessary, in whose presence the circumcision was to take place, and besides these had been invited the heads of all the courses of priests who lived in Jericho, the elders and the friends of Elisama. The family remembered the command of God to Abraham, when he spoke to him, and said, “This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy posterity after thee: every male child among you shall be circumcised, when he is eight days old; and the uncircumcised male child shall be cut off from his people, because he hath broken my covenant.”[91]

Footnote 91:

Gen. xvii. 9.

The rite was performed in the largest apartment of the house, and by the hand of the grandfather, in the presence of the whole assemblage. When the child was born and had been washed, rubbed with salt and wrapped in swaddling-clothes, the father had placed it on his bosom, as a sign that he acknowledged it as his own. He now fetched it from the apartment of the mother, who had been purified, by bathing, from the impurity of the first seven days after childbirth, and brought it to the room where the company was assembled. A psalm was sung, alluding to the covenant which God had made with his people Israel, and then the song of Moses after the deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The rite was then begun; in the midst of it, the father of the child said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, king of the world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts, and commanded us to enter into the covenant of Abraham.” Those who stood around replied, “Lord, as thou hast permitted this child to enter into the covenant of our father Abraham, grant also that he may enter into thy law, into the marriage-state, and into good works.” Selumiel then laid his hand upon the child’s head, and asked the father what its name should be. The name was commonly derived from the circumstances under which the child was born or circumcised. The father, in honour of the guests from Egypt, who were then present, replied, “His name shall be called Mizraim.” The grandfather then prayed, “O Lord our God, God of our fathers, strengthen this child and preserve him to his parents. His name shall be called in Israel, Mizraim, son of Abisuab, the son of Selumiel. May his father rejoice in the son of his loins and his mother in the fruit of her womb!”

The boy was then carried back to his mother, and all who were present congratulated the father and the grandfather. Selumiel invited them to the inner court, where they partook of refreshments and remained till afternoon, when a splendid banquet was served up, consisting of every thing which one of the wealthiest citizens of Jericho could collect for such an occasion. Two oxen, twenty lambs, and twelve fatted calves were killed; for the master of the feast was thought to show his wealth and his hospitality by the unexpected abundance of every kind of food that was produced. Every guest found in the fore-court a splendid caftan, which he put on for the feast, and deposited there again on his departure. These garments were always in readiness to be worn on festive occasions, and their number and costliness was one of the surest pledges of the master’s wealth. The guests, after their feet had been washed, were anointed with costly ointment, and when they took their leave they were perfumed, especially the beard.

Sulamith and her mother did not appear to-day, but confined themselves to the chamber of Abisuab’s wife, and celebrated the festival there. Helon had seen Sulamith only once and in passing on the preceding day, but her image had remained involuntarily imprinted upon his mind. In the midst of the lively conversation which passed at the banquet, the proverbs which were quoted and the riddles which were propounded, she was always present to his thoughts, and so animated the powers of his mind, that his eloquence and ingenuity drew on him the attention of all. His _mashal_ was the most pregnant and striking; his riddle, the most ingenious; his solution the readiest and most happy. When he laid himself down on the divan beside his uncle, he could not sleep nor rest, and to calm the tumult of his breast, he arose, and passing through the courts ascended the Alijah, in which at Alexandria he had passed many a sultry night, and there, kneeling, prayed to the God of his fathers. But his prayer partook of the general state of his feelings; unable to collect his thoughts sufficiently for meditation, he could only pour out before Jehovah the fulness of a grateful heart.

It was just beginning to dawn when he left the Alijah, and walked up and down upon the roof. The stars were dim; the hills of Moab lay in darkness, and the Dead Sea was wrapt in vapour, but on the summits of the hills of Judah the first distant beam of light appeared to break. “What are they doing now in the temple?” he asked himself; “perhaps they are changing the watch, or clearing the altar, or opening the gates that Israel may come up and appear before Jehovah. And how is the venerable old man of the temple employed?” He remembered with gratitude how much light he had derived from his conversations with him, and then the warning recurred to his mind which he had received from him. He now fully comprehended its meaning. In the journey through the desert, in the visit to the Essenes, in the discourse of Elisama and Selumiel, and the conversation of the priests at the banquet, he had found abundant proofs of the truth of the old man’s assertions respecting the parties by which Israel was distracted. He grieved to think that the highest and the noblest in Israel were arrayed against each other in hostile sects; that simplicity of faith and purity of life were so little honoured, and heathen philosophy, in a Jewish garb, exalted to the throne. “Should the Messiah come,” said he, “I verily believe that, after having disputed about his claims, they would finish by all rejecting him. The priests themselves descend from their dignity, as the appointed conservators of divine knowledge, to the wranglings of human philosophy, and the light of heavenly truth, which they should transmit pure and direct, is absorbed or diverted by the gross medium through which it passes; and thus this unhappy land, so awfully chastised by the justice of God, so graciously received back to favour by his mercy, is deprived of the bliss which Providence designed for it. Who could have believed,” he continued, “when a few weeks ago I approached Jerusalem, when I saw for the first time the temple and the priests, and all my wish was to be enrolled among them and to dwell on the hill which Jehovah has chosen for his peculiar presence, who could have believed that so short a time would have made every thing appear to me so tame and common? Is the fault my own, that I pass too easily from the one extreme to the other; or am I disappointed, that, instead of a perpetual ministration before Jehovah, I am only called at long intervals and for a short time to appear in his temple? Yet surely even this might be sufficient to keep alive my zeal, were it not that the moment he quits the temple the dreams of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes again take possession of the mind of a priest, and seduce him into transgressions of the law. What hope then, under such circumstances, of becoming a Chasidean? There was another priesthood of which Elisama spoke, as we stood together at the foot of that pointed hill. O that I could but be assured that I was not mistaken in the meaning of his often repeated hints!” As he spoke his face turned involuntarily towards the Armon. Some one came behind him and touched him on the shoulder; it was Elisama. He started, as if it were possible that he might have heard his soliloquy, and could scarcely return his uncle’s salutation, “I am glad,” said Elisama, with a serious look, “to find you here alone: for some days past I have wished for an opportunity of speaking to you alone on important matters. Let us go into the Alijah, we shall be most secure there from the danger of interruption.

“When we left Egypt it was all thy wish to see the land of thy fathers: thy mother had another wish. Thou art of that age when the youth of Israel take to themselves wives. Doubtless we are all agreed in this, that thy wife should not come from any Hellenistic family. Among the Aramæan Jews of Alexandria, there was none with whom so near a connection would have been honourable for us. Besides it is thy mother’s wish that her daughter-in-law should be, as she herself was, a native of the Holy Land. I have been occupied in looking round for a wife for thee. What sayest thou to Sulamith, the daughter of Selumiel?”

Helon fell at his uncle’s feet, and embracing his knees exclaimed, “Is it possible? Ah! give me Sulamith!”

“Rise,” said Elisama. “May Jehovah bless you both! I have already settled the conditions with Selumiel in Jerusalem, and we kept silence, only that we might see whether Sulamith would please you. He wished to have a priest for a son-in-law, and one who should not come empty-handed.”

“O give my whole fortune, if he demands it,” said Helon.

“At this moment he is speaking with Sulamith.” Looking through the lattice of the Alijah, he saw Selumiel passing along the court, and called to him to come up to them. He came and Helon fell before him on his face.

“I know enough,” said he, “I will call my wife and daughter—follow me to the large saloon of the Armon.”

He led them from the Alijah through the outer and inner court to the Armon, which no foot of a male stranger had ever trodden before. He left them standing in the richly adorned saloon, and went to call Sulamith and her mother. They came with him, and the brother also made his appearance. The mother was in tears: Sulamith stood with her face completely veiled. Elisama then came forward and said, “If ye will deal kindly and truly with my nephew Helon, tell me, and give him this your daughter Sulamith to wife; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”[92] Then Selumiel and Abisuab answered, “The thing proceedeth from the Lord, therefore we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold Sulamith is before thee; take her and go thy way, that she may be the wife of thy nephew Helon.” Elisama and Helon bowed themselves to the earth; and Elisama said, “I will pay thee for thy daughter 10,000 shekels.” “I give them to her for her dowry,” said Selumiel, “and add to them 10,000 more.” Then Selumiel, turning to Sulamith, said, “Wilt thou go with this man into the land of Egypt, or remain with him in Jericho, as Jehovah shall appoint?” Sulamith, sobbing, answered, “Yes.” Then the mother led her daughter to Helon, whose joy was without bounds; she bowed down before him, and he took her by the hand and raised her up. The father, the mother, and the brother of the bride, along with Elisama, then drew near to them, and blessed them both, and said, “May ye grow and multiply a thousand times, and may your seed possess the gate of your enemies!”

Footnote 92:

Gen. xxiv. 49.

The company which had assembled on the preceding day was again invited, and Selumiel said to his astonished guests, “Rejoice with me, my friends, and bless the God of our fathers. I have received from Jehovah two children, a grandson and a son-in-law.”

Elisama remained in Selumiel’s house. Helon, so propriety required, took up his abode in a neighbouring house; but through the day he was chiefly in the Armon of his Sulamith. The more intimately he became acquainted with her, the higher his love and admiration rose. Every day discovered to him some new excellence, her deep piety, her gentle temper, her quick sensibility, her sound understanding, and playful, harmless wit. He looked on with delight when, in the course of her daily occupations, she prepared the meal for bread, kneaded it in flat round cakes, and baked it in the deep oven. He stood beside her when, as became a female, she wove cloth for the garments of the men. He lent his aid when she prepared the perfumed ointments, and rubbed upon a smooth marble stone the sandalwood, the juice of the date-palm, the kernel of the Behen-nut from Egypt, oil of sesame, fragrant reed from Lebanon, oil of myrtle, cypress, and mastix, and the juice of the pomegranate-rind. In whatever occupation he had seen her, whatever had been the subject of their conversation, he always returned home at evening more grateful to God. The sabbath and the new moon, all the solemnities of religion had become more interesting to him, and his confidence revived that with such a daughter of Israel by his side, he should be able to keep the whole law, and perhaps even become a Chasidean.