“Hush,” interposed Iddo, “to-day speak only of pleasing subjects. Our prince has subdued the rebellious daughter Gerizim. Jehovah ceases not to concern himself with the injuries of Joseph.”
“The prophet,” replied Elisama, “has declared that all the nations of the earth shall be united in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and when the Messiah comes the sceptre of Judah shall be extended over the whole earth.”
“Hyrcanus stands beside the altar,” said another of the company, “and the family of the Maccabees is flourishing. Who knows whether the Messiah will not speedily appear from among them?”
“No,” said Elisama, “the Messiah must come from the family of David, and the Maccabees are Levites of the family of Jojarib. The Jewish people and the priests consented that Simon should be their prince and high-priest, till God raise up the true prophet unto them. The Messiah, therefore, will not be a Maccabee though [Hyrcanus] unites in himself the three offices to which he will be anointed. But would that he who is promised were come! His way is prepared; Israel is once more free, and a people. What would I give, if in my grey hairs I might yet be permitted to behold him! What a glorious passover will that be, when He keeps it with us, in Baris or on Zion, and his people accompany him with palm branches and Hosannas! I envy you, Helon, for you may live to see that day.”
“It will be a happy day,” said Helon,[Helon,] “but not more happy than this.” The old men smiled at his enthusiasm, and rejoiced that among the youth of Israel there should be such joy in keeping the festivals of Jehovah.
It was now become late. The hired servant, stationed by the waterclock in the court, called the fifth hour of night, and the paschal meal was not permitted to last longer than to the end of the [first watch of the night], which terminated somewhere about an hour before midnight. There were two other watches between this and daylight, divided by the two cock-crowings. They heard the guests in the other apartments reciting the song of praise, and hastened to conclude. With the same prayer as before, they washed their hands again from the silver basin, and Iddo having again blessed the cup, they drank once more from it. This was called the cup of thanksgiving. The second part of the Hallel was now sung, consisting of the 115th, 116th, 117th, and 118th psalms. Helon thought of the words of Isaiah, “Ye shall sing as on the night of a holy feast, and rejoice in your hearts as when they go with a pipe to the mountain of the Lord, to the refuge of Israel.”[[116]] When the Hallel was finished, hands were again washed, and the cup was blessed and sent round for the fourth and last time. Helon would gladly have joined in praying the [great Hallel], as they call the series of psalms from the 120th to the 137th, after which it was customary to send round the cup a fifth time, but midnight was already too near. The company broke up, and all retired to rest, designing to be early in the temple on the following day.
CHAPTER V.
THE DAY AFTER THE PASSOVER.
While the paschal lamb was eaten by the people, the priests in the temple were cleansing the altar of burnt-offering. This was commonly done in the last watch of the night, towards the cock-crowing, but on this occasion during the first. Next they themselves partook of the paschal lamb, and [soon after midnight] the gates were opened, for the ingress of the children of Israel, many of whom were there, even at this early hour, in order to see the splendour of the illuminated temple. As soon as the watchman had answered in the affirmative the customary question of the priest, “Does it begin to be light as far as Hebron?” all the streets leading to the temple were filled with men, dressed in their gayest clothes. On no other occasion of the year was the temple so crowded as on the morning after the Passover.
The [usual morning sacrifice] was first of all offered. The lamps were extinguished, incense was burnt upon the altar, and the lamb was sacrificed to Jehovah, with the usual meat and drink offering. Then followed the special offering for the feast, two young bullocks, a ram, seven yearling lambs with meat and drink offerings. Next, a goat was offered as a sin-offering; the Hallel was sung, and the blessing pronounced. The whole body of the priests was assembled; on ordinary days, only some families of the fathers were present; on the sabbath the whole course; but on high festivals the whole twenty-four courses, the collective body of the priesthood.
Helon had been among the first who had come up to the temple of Jehovah, at the crowing of the cock. He beheld all with deep interest and profound devotion, and as he gazed on the temple and the splendid ritual performed in it, the fond wish of his early childhood awoke in his heart, that he too might be thought worthy to become a priest of Jehovah, and to minister at his altar. With increasing eagerness he looked for the appearance of the high-priest, the head and crown of the tribe of Levi and of all Israel. He had expected him to appear yesterday, and during the morning sacrifice, but he had not shown himself. Helon felt an enthusiastic admiration for the heroic family of the Maccabees, and none of them all had risen to such an eminence as John Hyrcanus. In Egypt, in Hebron, on the pilgrimage, and through the whole preceding day, he had been hearing the praises of the man whom he was now about to see.