CHAPTER VII.

THE FEAST OF PENTECOST.

The feast of Pentecost drew near. It derived this name, which is Greek, and its Jewish name of the Feast of Weeks,[93] from the circumstance that seven weeks or fifty days elapsed between it and the day after the Passover, on which the first-fruits of barley were offered, so that it was the fiftieth day from that time. It fell on the sixth day of the third month Sivan, and the days between the offering of the sheaf and it were solemnly reckoned every evening, at the time of supper. The master of the house, rising up with the rest of the company, said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, king of the world, who hast sanctified us with thy precepts, and commanded us to count the days of harvest,” adding, this is the fifth day, or one week, and the third day, and so on. In this way they thought that they were fulfilling the command of the law, “Seven weeks shall ye reckon; begin to reckon the seven weeks from the time when thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn; and thou shalt keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord thy God.”[94]

Footnote 93:

Exod. xxxiv. 22.

Footnote 94:

Deut. xvi. 9.

Helon wished, in virtue of his priestly office, to travel to Jerusalem; Abisuab and his wife were going up to present their new-born child before Jehovah; Sulamith was glad to join herself to her brother and sister-in-law; and Selumiel and Elisama had to comply with the law, which enjoins that all males should appear, thrice in the year, at each of the great festivals, before Jehovah. The preparations were already made, and the day of the pilgrimage was very near.

On the forty-seventh day Helon was sitting with Sulamith beside the fountain in the inner court of the Armon. They were conversing on the office of the priest: Sulamith expressed her joy in the thought that she should see her betrothed husband ministering at the altar of Jehovah; and Helon declared what increased delight he should have in every service, when he reflected that the eyes of his Sulamith accompanied him from place to place. As he spoke he saw in imagination her cedar-form, conspicuous among all who filled the court of the Women, and her dark eye watching him as he moved. As they conversed thus together, the well-known sound of cymbal and flute was heard, accompanied by more than a thousand human voices. “It is the Galileans going up to the festival,” said Sulamith, listening as the sacred sounds seemed to descend from heaven into the court where they were sitting. Helon hastened forth to greet them. Although Samaria was destroyed, they still took their ancient road by Bethabara and Jericho, in preference to that by Sichem, especially as in the former track their train was swollen by accessions from every village through which they passed. They were now about to pass through Jericho, and to encamp at the western gate. Welcomes and greetings met them from every house.

On the following morning, when the pilgrims from Jericho were going to unite with them, the long-standing hatred between the Jews and the Galileans displayed itself. The Galileans, who occupied the country which had formerly made a part of the kingdom of Israel, had adopted many customs from the heathens among whom they lived; inhabiting a fertile region they lived in the possession of many physical comforts, but neglected the cultivation of literature and knowledge, and their uncouth pronunciation, by which the guttural letters were confounded, bore witness to the low state of refinement among them. Their Jewish brethren were proud of superior knowledge, as the Galileans of superior wealth, and they seldom came together without some explosion. The present dispute was about precedence in the march. The men of Jericho claimed it, as genuine Jews and inhabitants of a city of priests, reproaching the Galileans that their ancestors were only the common people of the land, left behind when the great and noble were carried into captivity. The men of Jericho at length prevailed: Selumiel, as elder of the city, led the march with the heads of the courses of priests; the Levites struck up their music, and all the people sung together.

The city whose foundation is in the holy mountains, The gates of Zion, Jehovah loves More than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious is it to speak of thee O City of God! Of Zion it is said, This and that man was born in her. He, the Most High buildeth her. When God reckoned up the people He wrote, This man was born there.—Ps. lxxxvii.

Thus the train quitted the smiling fields of Jericho, and entered on the wilderness, which they crossed by a nearer way than that which led by the Oasis of the Essenes. By mid-day they had reached a verdant spot, shaded with palm-trees, and, encamping beneath them, opened their wallets, and distributing their provisions, endeavoured to exhilarate themselves amidst the desolation which surrounded them. Sulamith, sitting between her father and her bridegroom, had taken her sister’s first-born from her arms and playfully placed it on her lap, when a Galilean approached them and asked Selumiel, if Elisama and Helon from Alexandria were with him. Selumiel having pointed them out to him, he informed them that he was charged with the salutations of a young Greek of Alexandria, of the name of Myron, whom he had recently seen in his visit to Damascus. Myron had commissioned him at the same time to say, that his affairs would not allow him to come to Jerusalem at Pentecost. He regretted that he must thus lose their society on his return to Egypt, which had been a source of so much pleasure to him on his journey thence. If, however, they could wait, he requested to be informed by this Galilean, who was about to return to Damascus immediately after the feast.

“A fair opportunity,” said Selumiel’s son, “for you, Helon, to meet him in the north of Judea, and bring him to the festivities of the marriage; while you at the same time visit that part of the Holy Land which you have not seen. I know what you are going to object—but while preparations for the nuptials are going on, no one can be more easily spared, even by the bride, than the bridegroom.” Selumiel agreed; and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Helon and Sulamith, it was finally arranged that the Galilean should carry back word to Damascus, that Helon would meet Myron, in three weeks time, at Dan, the frontier town of Judea on the north.

The pilgrims resumed their march, the desert was soon left behind, and Bethany with its gardens and olive-yards appeared. The train ascended the mount of Olives and wound along its western descent, among the cedars in the valley of Jehoshaphat. The temple, which was seen from this side under its most imposing aspect, was brightened with the glow of sunset; and the whole city, with its hollows and eminences, and the white tents which in some places were erected, and in others erecting, partook of the illumination of the evening lights. Companies of pilgrims hastened from all sides to the city, but none drew the attention of the spectators more than that which was descending the mount of Olives.

Selumiel and his party were received with undiminished hospitality into the house of Iddo, who poured out his hearty congratulations to Sulamith and Helon, telling the latter that from the time when he had first seen him, he had anticipated that they should be more nearly related. In the midst of his friendly greetings and compliments, however, it was plain that something weighed upon his mind; and when the women had retired into the Armon, and the men were sitting around the fountain in the court, he asked whether they had heard of the event which had occurred in their absence. They asked him of what kind, and he replied respecting the high-priest. They had heard imperfect rumours of it on the way, and requested him to relate the circumstances more fully.

“You know,” he began, “that Hyrcanus has from his youth inclined to the party of the Pharisees, though with moderation. I must confess that I have been astonished how he, who himself possesses the gift of foreknowledge, uniting, as the Messiah shall hereafter do, the triple office of high-priest, king, and prophet, and to whom a voice foretold the approaching victory of his sons over the Samaritans, when he came out of the Holy of Holies, on the last day of atonement, how such a man should not have seen through these hypocrites. It is true, he was brought up by them, and their influence, which since the time of Jonathan has been unfortunately on the increase, has been very serviceable to him in the support of his government. They have now scandalously repaid his over-confidence in them. At one of the feasts which were held in the castle of Baris, in celebration of the victory over the Samaritans, the pious prince, moved by gratitude towards Jehovah, called upon those who were present to tell him if there were any point in which he had neglected to fulfil the commands of God, and his duties towards men. As was natural, they broke out into the warmest encomiums on his administration. One of them only, the haughty Eleazar, whom you know, Selumiel, alleged that he could mention an instance of his violation of the law. Hyrcanus urged him to speak, and he said, ‘Thou canst not legally be high-priest, for thy mother was a bondwoman.’ The accusation was as groundless as it was insolent: Hyrcanus was stung by it to the quick, and even the rest of the Pharisees blamed him who had made it, for uttering a falsehood. The banquet was interrupted; Jonathan, the confidential friend of the high-priest and a zealous Sadducee, advised him to call the council together, and lay the matter before them. He did so, but the Pharisees, who predominate there, proposed only the imprisonment of the offender; and the high-priest chose rather that the indignity offered to him should pass unavenged, than that this inadequate punishment should be inflicted. He has now, however, seen the Pharisees in their true colours, and he and his sons, it is to be hoped, will in future be on their guard against these hypocrites. They will seek to do him mischief, but the conquerors of Samaria may set them at defiance.”

All were astonished and shocked at the recital; Selumiel strengthened Iddo in his displeasure. Elisama lamented that Israel should be distracted by such dissensions, and that a canker should be at the root of its fair appearance of prosperity. Helon rejoiced in the prospect of that domestic felicity with his Sulamith, which should remove him from the scene of these unholy contentions of party spirit. They repaired to supper, and Iddo counted the forty-eighth day from the offering of the first-fruits.

The following day was the preparation for Pentecost, and was passed in bathing, cutting off the hair, and other purifyings. An hour after the evening-sacrifice Helon went up to the temple and knocked at the door of the old man’s cell. “Welcome to Azereth!” he exclaimed, as Helon entered. Azereth, or Day of Assembly was the name given to the day of Pentecost as well as to the seventh of the Passover, and to the eighth of the Feast of Tabernacles. “Will it in truth be Azereth to Hyrcanus and the Pharisees?” said Helon. “Did I not tell thee, young man,” he replied, “that it would be so? Believe me, this scene is only the commencement of long and ruinous dissensions between the council and the prince. God grant that I may not live to see them! But for thee, at least, priest and bridegroom both, it is truly Azereth, and in a different sense from the seventh day of the Passover.” “Give us thy blessing,” said Helon; and as he knelt down the old man stretched out his hands upon his head and blessed him. Helon then asked him to explain the design of the feast which was about to commence. “As,” said he, “when the first barley sheaf was offered, we prayed to Jehovah for his blessing upon the harvest, so now that both the barley and the wheat are gathered in, we thank him that he has given us the early and the later rain, and dew from heaven, and the appointed weeks of harvest. Thus the Pentecost is a harvest feast: but it is also a commemoration of the giving of the law: for it was on this fiftieth day, the sixth after Israel’s arrival in the wilderness of Sinai, and the third after the purification of the people, that Moses led them out of the camp to meet Jehovah, and to receive the law amidst the thundering and lightning, and the sound of the trumpet. But pray to God that he would disclose to thee the sublimer meaning which lies hidden under these more obvious purposes. Bethink thee of that approaching time, when all the gifts of Jehovah shall be poured out upon his kingdom on earth, when all prayers shall be granted, and the law shall be universally known and kept in its purest and most spiritual sense. Let this thought guide thy devotions at the feast. And now, if thou art pure, go to the evening-sacrifice. Hark! the trumpets announce that the Pentecost is about to begin.”

Helon departed, was present at the evening-sacrifice, and remained in the temple through the night with all the priests who had assembled at Jerusalem for the festival. On the following day the principal duty fell to the course whose week was just beginning; but there was so much to be done beyond the common offices, that they needed the aid of the others. The dissensions of the Pharisees and Sadducees were more visible than ever, and ceased not even in the temple and on the holy night.

The gates were opened, and among the rest who filled the courts before the crowing of the cock, Iddo, Selumiel, Abisuab, and Elisama presented their victims to the priests; and Sulamith with the wife of Iddo and her own sister-in-law were in the court of the Women. The ordinary morning-sacrifice was first offered, then the special offering of the festival, consisting of seven lambs of the first year, a young bullock and two rams for a burnt-offering, a goat for a sin-offering, and two yearling sheep for a thank-offering. The difference between the offerings on this occasion and at the Passover was, that there were then two bullocks and one ram offered, and now two rams and one bullock.[95] When the drink-offering was poured out, the priests blew upon their pillars, the Levites sung on the fifteen steps, and the whole congregation sung the great Hallel.

Footnote 95:

Lev. xxiii. 18.

Now came the special-offering of the Pentecost. It consisted of two loaves and a tenth of an epha of fine wheat flour, the first-fruits of the harvest, which a priest had waved before Jehovah towards all the four winds of heaven, in the open space between the altar and the sanctuary. When this offering had been presented to Jehovah, the sacrifices of individuals began. Selumiel, his son, and Elisama, brought their noble victims; thousands followed them, and among the rest, Helon offered his thank-offering, and paid to the Lord the vow which he had formed in the happy hour of his betrothment. Selumiel’s son offered for the purification of his wife, as it chanced to be the fortieth day from her delivery, a lamb of the first year as a burnt-offering and a turtle-dove as a sin-offering. She prayed while they were slain, and a priest, bringing the blood of the sin-offering in a dish, sprinkled her with it, and thus she became clean. She had brought her first-born in her arm, and presented him before Jehovah; and her husband redeemed him, according to the law, by the payment of five shekels.[96] For thus said Jehovah, “Behold I have taken the Levites unto myself among the children of Israel, instead of all the first-born; therefore the Levites shall be mine. For the first-born are mine, since the time when I slew all the first-born in Egypt: then did I set apart all the first-born in Israel, both of man and beast, that they should be mine. I am Jehovah.”[97]

Footnote 96:

Numb. xviii. 15.

Footnote 97:

Numb. iii. 12.

When all these were ended, and the blessing given to the people in the name of Jehovah, Iddo, with the assistance of his own slaves and of Sallu, presented his own thank-offering. The wife of Abisuab, Sulamith, and the wife of Iddo, partook of the feast which the sacrifice furnished in one of the apartments of the temple, and in addition to them some priests and Levites who had been bidden. Helon, once more in the temple, in sight of the crowds of worshippers who poured in streams along its courts, within hearing of the solemn sound of the temple music, surrounded by all the circumstances which made this consecrated spot a little world within itself, and seated by his Sulamith, forgot his native country Egypt, his longing for his mother and his home, the factions of Pharisees and Sadducees; and nothing occupied his thoughts, but the wish to live in the Holy Land as a priest of Jehovah, and to endeavour to fulfil the law, with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength.

The Feast of Pentecost lasted only one day.