CHAPTER IV.
THE PASCHAL LAMB.

The Passover was now begun. The day of preparation was past; every master of a house had killed his paschal lamb on Moriah, attaining for this day an equal dignity with the highest order in the state, and exercising a sacerdotal function. The festival was called in Hebrew Pesach, or according to the Chaldee pronunciation, which was then become universal, Pascha, the deliverance, or the passing through. The companies who were to eat the paschal lamb were already assembled, and the lambs were roasting in the [deep ovens] in the women’s apartments.

These ovens were excavations in the ground, about two feet and a half broad, and five to six feet deep. The sides were covered with stones, which were heated by a fire kindled at the bottom, and then the lamb was suspended within, on a piece of wood running lengthwise, and crossed by another between the forefeet. It was expressly commanded by Jehovah, “Ye shall not eat of it raw, nor sodden with water, but roast it with fire.”[[112]] The [fifteenth day of the month Nisan], or Abib (our April) the first of the sacred year, was now arrived. The Jewish day began with sunset, an emblem that primeval darkness had preceded the birth of light, and that all life has its origin in a period of darkness.

When all the preparations were ended, and the Passover just about to begin, Helon hastened to the roof of the house. He looked down on the open place and up to Moriah and Zion, to the mount of Olives, and on the vallies of Gihon and Kedron. “Wherever I look,” thought he, “hundreds of thousands of the children of Israel and the seed of Abraham reassembled to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt. They have come up to the hill where Jehovah hath made his name to dwell, and their minds are filled with the thought of their fathers, and the mighty works which the God of their fathers had done in their behalf. Well is it said, Israel is Israel only in the Holy Land.” He entered the Alijah, and remained long in fervent prayer. When he came again upon the roof, the last glow of evening over Zion was illuminating the city, and the lamps which were kindled in every house and tent shone through the thin veil of vapour which was spread over the prospect. He lingered on the roof till the golden margin of the western clouds had disappeared and the stars had begun to twinkle in the firmament.

When he went down and entered the inner court, he saw within the porticoes three rooms brilliantly illuminated. It was not possible for all the guests to [eat the Passover] with the master of the house, because each company was not to exceed twenty. Two other apartments had therefore been prepared for other parties. On such occasions, we have before observed, no citizen of Jerusalem considered his house as his own, but cheerfully resigned it for the use of strangers, who, according to ancient custom, acknowledged his courtesy, by the gift of the skin of the paschal lamb. The light was streaming through the lattices of all the rooms, and Helon entered, with a beating heart, that which was appropriated to the use of Iddo and his peculiar guests. A multitude of smaller lamps were suspended from the walls, and one of great size stood in the middle. Costly carpets were spread on the floor, tapestry was hung on the sides, and gold and silver glittered on the [divan], though it was not used on this evening; for the paschal lamb was to be eaten standing. The air was filled with the fragrance of Arabian frankincense and the most exquisite perfumes. The women were all richly clad, especially the mistress of the house, who appeared this evening in all her choicest ornaments, a mother in Israel in the city of God. It was only on this day that the women ate with the men; even the men servants and maid servants were not excluded. The whole household of every rank and age, even the children, if they had begun to taste flesh-meat, must be assembled, and all must be Levitically clean. Of the inhabitants not disqualified by uncleanness none were to be absent, but strangers of the gate, hirelings, and all uncircumcised persons: for such had been the command of Jehovah, “There shall no stranger eat thereof.”[[113]] All the rest were on this night brethren, for all had been delivered by Jehovah from the house of bondage. The bondsman was as the freeman, the woman as the man; and all partook alike of the festivity; all were the people of Jehovah, and equal in his sight.

In the middle of the room stood the table, which [in the east is always low], because the guests either lie around it on sofas, or sit on carpets. On this occasion, however, there was neither sofa nor carpet near the table, which stood apart, as if the preparations were but half finished. It was about the middle of the second hour of evening (half past seven) when the company, consisting of nineteen persons, assembled around the table. Every one, though splendidly clad, appeared prepared for a journey. With sandals on their feet, which at other times were not worn in a room, but given to the slaves to be placed at the door, with their garments girt, and a staff in their hands, they surrounded the table. A large vessel filled with wine immediately from the cask, stood upon it, and the meal began by the master of the house blessing it. He laid hold of it with both hands, lifted it up with the right, and said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the world, who hast given us the fruit of the vine;” and the whole assembly said, “Amen.” Next he blessed the day, and thanked God for having given them the Passover: and then, drinking first himself from the cup, sent it round to the rest. When this was over, he began again; “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts, and commanded us to wash our hands.” He and the whole company then washed their hands in a silver basin, with water poured from an ewer of the same metal. This was the emblem of purification, and implied, that every one should come with a pure heart, as well as clean hands, to partake of the paschal meal. The unleavened bread, (flat cakes with many small holes in them,) the bitter herbs, a vessel with vinegar, the paschal lamb, were placed upon the table, and last of all the charoseth, a thick pottage of apples, nuts, figs, almonds, and honey, boiled in wine and vinegar, and not unfrequently made in the form of a brick or tile, to remind the Israelites of their Egyptian slavery, and strewed with cinnamon, in imitation of the straw which was mixed with the clay. The master of the house then spoke again; “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who hast given us of the fruits of the earth.” He dipped some of the herbs in vinegar, and the whole company did the same. At this moment, the mistress touched her little grandson, a child of ten years old. Children were always present at this festival, and one design of its establishment was, that the son should learn from the lips of his father the event to which it referred, and the remembrance of it might thus be propagated to the most distant posterity.[[114]] The child understood the hint, and asked his grandfather, why on this night alone the guests stood around the table, instead of sitting or lying. With dignity and solemnity, the grandfather, turning to the child, related to him how their forefathers had been oppressed in Egypt, and how the Lord had brought them out thence with a mighty arm. He described to him the evening which preceded their flight from Goshen, their busy preparation, and their anxiety to conceal it from the Egyptians. The lamb was slain and the blood sprinkled on the door-posts, that the destroying angel of the Lord might pass by their houses when he slew the first-born of the Egyptians. It was to be roasted, not boiled, that it might be sooner ready, and strengthen more those who partook of it; it was to be eaten in a standing posture, as by men prepared for instant departure; it was to be consumed entire, for the whole people were to quit their dwellings and never to return to them; and no bone of it was to be broken, for this is the act of men who have time and leisure for their meal. The bitter herbs were then eaten, and the 113th and 114th psalms sung. This formed the first half of the great song of praise, which was called emphatically the Hallel, consisting of six psalms, from the 113th to the 118th, sung on all great festivities. A second washing of the hands followed, the cup was a second time blessed and sent round. The master broke off a piece of the unleavened bread, wrapped it in the bitter herbs, and, having dipped it in the charoseth, ate it, and then distributed a portion to each of the company, who did the same; and now the eating of the lamb began, in which the paschal feast properly consisted. Along with the lamb the boiled flesh of the thank-offering, which Iddo had made in the temple, was placed upon the table, and blessed by the master of the house. The lamb was wholly consumed, it being forbidden by the law that any part of it should remain till the next day. If any part were not eaten, it was to be burnt. The bones were not to be broken, for every thing was to remind them of their hasty flight from Egypt.

Festivity and cheerful conversation now reigned among the whole assemblage. Whether it be that a people, which had suffered so much calamity and oppression, naturally enjoys the more keenly a temporary interval of pleasure, or that every approach to God is to the pure mind a source of joy and peace, certain it is, that no nation has ever more carefully studied to remove all trace of sorrow from religious services than the Jews. If the service of the law was a heavy burthen, the service of God was freedom and happiness. All the regulations enjoin this, all the customs of Israel proceed from this principle, that the marks of mourning should be carefully removed from their worship. To praise, to give thanks and sing, to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, to be glad on the day which he had made, to rejoice in him, are all expressions by which their religious services are described. The same principle was kept in view in the purifications which preceded the Passover. He who had touched a dead body was held to be unclean, and excluded from the feast. It was a sin for the high-priest to make himself unclean, even by the body of his nearest relative: for he was to exhibit the divine life in all its purity before the people. How earnestly do Ezra and Nehemiah exhort the people to lay aside their mourning, when the law was read at the feast of tabernacles, and the curse on its violation made known! “This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not nor weep; neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet; for this day is holy unto the Lord.”[[115]]

The company in Iddo’s house were not unmindful of these precepts, and the time passed on rapidly in animated discourse. The servants were not excluded from their share; the innocent playfulness of the children was not repressed, and the gaiety of the females lent wings to the conversation. Iddo was the most animated of all, and Helon thought he had never seen an old man so full of vivacity. “See, thou mother in Israel,” said he to his wife, “the Lord has blessed us and permitted us to keep one Passover more, before we are gathered to our fathers. Let us thank him for his mercy, by the cheerfulness with which we celebrate it. Who knows but this may be our last? seldom does a year elapse, but some one dies of those who kept the Passover together at the beginning of it, and our turn, though long delayed, must come at last. We were blithe in our youthful days, half a century since, what prevents our being so still? Thou hast seen thy children and children’s children. Join with me in her praise, my friends.—The Lord has given her store of children and of guests; and she has received them both as the gift of God, and tended them faithfully!”

All present congratulated the venerable pair, and Iddo continued, “Why didst not thou, Selumiel, bring thy wife and Sulamith, who is lovelier than the fairest rose of Jericho? A prize for some fortunate youth, for as Solomon has said, ‘A virtuous wife is more precious than pearls.’”

“What would Israel be,” said Elisama, as the sounds of festivity from the adjacent apartments penetrated into theirs, “what would Israel be without the festivals of Jehovah? Here we are all assembled before the Lord, to praise his faithfulness which is great, and his mercy which is renewed every morning. What compared with these are the Grecian games at Olympia and Nemea? Would that Myron were here! We children of Israel are one people; we have one God, and one city of the Lord; and every Jew in Egypt, Asia, Syria, and Chaldea, always turns his eyes in his prayers towards this one place. Think, my friends, that while so many hundreds of thousands are assembled in Jerusalem, millions in the remotest countries, into which our people has been scattered, cast longing looks this evening towards us, envying us our joy, and desiring nothing more, than to to be in the Holy City and in the courts of Jehovah! I only regret that Gerizim and Leontopolis——”