CHAPTER II.

THE NUPTIALS.

Helon found no one in the front court, and hastily entered the inner court, followed by Myron. The slave came to tell them, that there was no one in the house.

“Where are they, then?”

“In Helon’s house,” said the slave with a smile; and informed him that Selumiel, Elisama, Iddo, the wife of Selumiel, Sulamith, and Abisuab with his wife, had gone out a few hours before, in order to receive him in the newly-purchased house. They had justly calculated that he would return this evening.

Helon heard this intelligence with joyful surprise, and easily divined the fact, that out of his affection for Sulamith, who wished not to be separated from her parents, Elisama had purchased a house for him in Jericho; and if not in Jerusalem, where could he be better pleased to dwell than in the City of Palms? The splendid mansion was to be a nuptial present to his beloved nephew. It is true that the property must return to its owner in the year of Jubilee, and the contract for it was therefore rather a lease than a purchase; but a considerable price had nevertheless been set upon it, which Elisama’s wealth enabled him easily to pay.

The slave showed them the way to the house which stood near the opposite gate, so that they had to traverse the whole length of the city. A slave had been waiting for some hours before the gate, and upon a signal given by him to those within, all the males of the company were in waiting to bid him welcome.

“See,” said Selumiel, “the rewards of self-denial!”

“Welcome, my brother, and henceforth fellow-citizen of Jericho,” said Abisuab.

Helon, with moistened eyes, threw himself into the arms of Elisama. All stood around, pouring out congratulations and blessings.

“What more do we want,” said Elisama, “but that thy mother from Alexandria were here?”

Helon looked around with inquiring eye. Selumiel took him by the hand, and led him through to the richly furnished inner court. Her mother and sister-in-law came with Sulamith from the Armon. After their greetings had been exchanged, Helon, at the command of Elisama, as now the master of the house, re-conducted them to their apartments. Bewildered with joy, he could scarcely speak. After a short interval they all returned to the house of Selumiel, to the evening meal, and at night Elisama, Helon, and the Greek, returned to the house of Helon, where they thenceforth resided. Myron was in astonishment at all he saw, and began to form a very different idea of Israel from that which he had entertained before.

On the following morning Helon arose early, and traversed the house which was to be the scene of his future happiness and duties. No other feeling in life resembles that with which the youth, on the point of emerging into manhood, wanders in solemn musing through the house in which he is to sustain the duties of husband and father. As he explored its courts, its porticoes, and chambers, by turns, he admired the commodious arrangement and tasteful architecture, and the costly furniture, or blessed the generous Elisama; or raised his thoughts in pious gratitude to Jehovah, and implored the continuance of his mercies. He ascended the roof, and looked westward towards the hills of Judah, and eastward to Nebo and Abarim. Entering the Alijah, he consecrated it as the future scene of his devotions by prayer to Jehovah. As he arose from his knees, turning involuntarily towards Jerusalem, he broke out in the words of the psalm:

Unless Jehovah build the house, They labour in vain that raise it; Unless Jehovah guard the city, The watchman waketh but in vain. In vain ye rise early and sit up late, And eat the bread of care; He giveth it to his beloved in sleep. Lo! children are a heritage from Jehovah, The fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, So are the children of youth: Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them! They shall not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.—Psal. cxxvii.

As he turned round, Elisama was behind him at the door, and was wiping the tears from his eyes. “May Jehovah bless thee,” said he. “His counsel is wonderful, and he will bring it to pass.”

“God grant me,” said Helon, “that I may keep his law with a perfect mind.”

“May he give thee what thy psalm says,” replied Elisama. “Now that thou art a priest and a husband in the promised land, I doubt no longer. Marriage is a divine ordinance, and the divine blessing rests upon it. This I myself experienced, alas, for too short a time! God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helpmate to be with him.[142] And the Preacher says, There is one alone, and not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother, yet is there no end of all his labour, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. For whom do I labour (he should ask himself) and bereave my soul of good? This also is vanity and a fruitless travail.”[143] Elisama sighed and proceeded, “Two are better than one: they have a good reward for their labour: for if they fall the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone! for when he falleth he hath not another to lift him up. Helon, I _had_ once a wife and a child—and I was happy. What have I done that such bliss—? but I will say no more. The children of my brother are my children; thou art my son; and I rejoice in thy happiness as my own. The marriage state is a service of Jehovah, and one of the most effectual means of the fulfilment of his law. By this image he has denoted the relation between himself and the people of his covenant. But let me hear thine own lips describe the blessing that awaits thee. Rehearse to me the conclusion of the book of Proverbs; and bethink thee what is implied in this, that the great master of wisdom could devise no better termination of his precepts, than the praises of a virtuous wife.”

Footnote 142:

Gen. x. 18.

Footnote 143:

Eccles. iv. 8.

Helon began:

Who can find a virtuous woman? Her price is above rubies, The heart of her husband trusts safely in her, And he shall have no want of spoil. She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life. She seeketh wool and flax, She worketh willingly with her hands; She is like the merchants’ ships, She bringeth her food from afar; She riseth while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household and tasks to her maidens. She considereth a field and buyeth it, With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard; She girdeth her loins with strength, And strengtheneth her arms; She enjoyeth the fruit of her labour, Her lamp goeth not out by night; She stretcheth forth her hand to the distaff, Her fingers hold the spindle. She openeth her hand to the poor, Yea, she stretcheth forth her hands to the needy. She feareth not the snow for her household, For all her household are doubly clad: She maketh herself coverings, She is clad in fine linen and in purple. Her husband is honoured in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh costly garments and selleth them, She delivereth girdles to the merchant, Strength and honour are her clothing; She feareth not for the future; She openeth her mouth with wisdom, On her tongue are precepts of kindness. She looketh well to her household, And eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed, Her husband and he praiseth her (saying) “Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all. Comeliness is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman that feareth Jehovah shall be praised. Praise her for the fruit of her hands; Let her works praise her in the gate.”

The preparations for the nuptials were speedily made in both houses. The numerous female companions of Sulamith assembled in Selumiel’s Armon. The bride, who had just completed her fourteenth year, was conducted to a bath, at which, gratification for all the senses was properly provided for her, and for all her young companions. After bathing, she was anointed with the choicest perfumes, and her friends brought their gifts, consisting of clothes and costly articles, most of them made by themselves. Her hair was perfumed and braided, her eyebrows deepened with a powder of brilliant black, and her nails coloured red. Next, the young maidens, her companions, arrayed her in the nuptial robes, of the finest texture and most brilliant colour, which flowed with ample folds to her feet. The girdle was clasped around her waist, the veil hung down from her head, and high above all her other ornaments rose a crown, from which the bride was called _the crowned_.

The evening was come, and the stars twinkled on the court, where all was prepared for festivity. Now appeared Helon, anointed and crowned in a similar manner, with the sons of the bride-chamber. They were the young priests and Levites of Jericho, who had been invited for this purpose; and Myron was among them. Each of them, to the number of seventy, bore a staff in his hand, on which was fixed a shallow vessel filled with burning oil and pitch. The festal train was admitted into Selumiel’s inner court; the bride and the virgins came forth from the Armon, and the youths and maidens, with aduffes and guitars, sung, in alternate strophes, the praises of the bridegroom and the bride.

Now began the ceremony of conducting the bride to the bridegroom’s house. The seventy youths, with their flambeaux, headed the procession; the bride was surrounded by her bridemaidens. Thus Sulamith left her father’s house: arrived at the threshold, the feelings which she had struggled to suppress, the mingled emotions of hope and fear, of regret and joy, overpowered her, and she burst into a flood of tears. The mother too wept, pressed her beloved daughter to her breast, and blessing her said, “Be thou the mother of a numerous posterity, like Rachel and like Leah!” Selumiel supported his child in his strong paternal arms, and said, “God, I thank thee that I have lived to see my child happy!”

The sounds of joy were heard from the companions. Sulamith was placed in a litter, and her nurse beside her. All the females were closely veiled; Sulamith in a veil of flame-colour. The long train moved through the streets of Jericho. A multitude of persons preceded, carrying the clothes, trinkets, and new furniture of the bride. As each carried only one thing, the procession was very long. Next came the friends of the bridegroom with Helon; then the bride in her litter, accompanied by the virgins. The rest of Helon’s friends, male and female servants, and children, closed the train. All the inhabitants of Jericho hastened from their houses, or looked down from their roofs.

Thus at length they reached the house of Helon. The bride paused at the threshold of the dwelling, in which so much happiness or misery might await her, as if with a timid irresolution. She adorned the door-posts with woollen fillets, and anointed them with oil, and at length the virgins suddenly lifted her over the threshold, the boundary between her past and her future life. The nuptial train entered the courts, and the bride solemnly took possession of the Armon, while the male part of the company remained in the outer apartments, where a splendid feast was served up to them. When all had eaten and were satisfied, males and females assembled in the inner court; the virgins presented the bride, the youths the bridegroom, to Selumiel. In evident agitation, he said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who didst create Adam and Eve! Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who causest Zion to rejoice in her children! Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who makest the bride and the bridegroom to be glad together!” Then taking the right hand of his daughter, he placed it in the right hand of Helon, and pronounced the benediction: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you, and help you together, and give his blessing richly upon you! Jehovah make the wife that comes into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, who built up the house of Israel![144] May thy house be as the house of Malchia, thy fathers’ father, and your sons be priests to minister before Jehovah in his temple!”

Footnote 144:

Ruth, iv. 11, 12.

Selumiel, while he pronounced this blessing, struggled with an emotion which he was unwilling to betray; and Elisama stood near him, giving freer vent to his feelings. The bride sobbed beneath her veil, and Helon was melted into tears.

Kindred and friends now approached the married pair, and bestowed on them their congratulations. The feast ended with the usual ceremonies.

On the following morning the nuptial festivities began afresh, and lasted for seven days,[145] each distinguished by some new expression of joy. Numerous presents were brought to the newly married pair by the guests; and others given to them in return. The company exercised their ingenuity in riddles and _maschals_; or a grave and learned rabbi would discourse on the sanctity and duties of the marriage state, and the honour and happiness of those who might thus be appointed to give birth to the Messiah.

Footnote 145:

Judges, xiv. 17, 18; Tob. xi. 19.

This protracted festival was at times wearisome to Sulamith and Helon, who longed to begin their tranquil, solitary, and domestic life. In the mean time, Helon was delighted to discover every day some new perfection in Sulamith, some new resemblance to the maidens and mothers of Israel in times past. Her domestic virtues assimilated her to Sara; her poetical imagination to Miriam, the sister of Moses; her disinterestedness and self-devotion to the daughter of Jephthah; and her artless piety to Hannah, the mother of Samuel.