“It may be so,” said Helon, musing. “The old man in the temple has taught me, that the sacrifices are but a visible prophecy, commanded to the people from their want of a more spiritual faith. But I will neither deny nor affirm any thing in this matter. The Messiah comes who will remove all our doubts. Meanwhile let us rejoice in the belief, that in the manner which Jehovah in his counsels has decreed, 'the law shall go forth from Zion and his word from Jerusalem; and he shall teach the Gentiles his ways and they shall walk in his paths.'”[[171]] The friends embraced each other, and descending from the mount of Olives Helon went up to the altar in the temple.
[The last day of the Feast] of Tabernacles was the most joyous of all. The drawing of the water, the Hosanna, the nightly illumination and dance had been repeated every day; the seventh day was called the great Hosanna and the day of Willows. The altar of burnt-offering was decked with branches of willow, all bent inwards, as an emblem that earthly glory must bow before the majesty of God. Instead of once, the people went seven times around the altar with their branches and their citrons. The last meal was taken in the tabernacles, whose green decorations had already begun to fade; but to the freshness which had charmed the eye when the feast began, succeeded the mind’s remembrance of seven happy days which had been passed in them. The father of the family pronounced the blessing over the last cup of wine which they were to drink here, and when it was emptied gave his benediction to the company, who left the tabernacle with that melancholy with which we quit a spot where we have enjoyed much happiness. The women and children, and even Myron and Helon, carried away a citron, a pomegranate, a branch, or a leaf, as a memorial of the festival. In the evening the illumination and the dance as before described were repeated. This part of the festivities, as well as the drawing of the water, ceased on the eighth day, which was added as a special sabbath to the full week of the feast. On this day no circuit was made around the altar, and the offering consisted only of one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old, as a burnt-offering, with their usual meat and drink offerings, and a goat for a sin-offering. Besides Azareth, Day of Convocation, it was called the [Day of Rejoicing in the Law], because every year on this day the reading of the law and the prophets ended, and began afresh on the following sabbath. Thus what every one had begun in his own synagogue at home, he completed here in the midst of the assembled people. This took place on the twenty-second day of the month, in which, up to this point, there had been only four common days.
CHAPTER VII.
THE CONCLUSION.
The tabernacles were broken up, and only the scattered leaves, flowers, and fillets testified that they had been. The pilgrims were preparing for their departure, and exchanging their farewell salutations. Many took leave of Jerusalem never to behold it again. The autumn wind blew chill, and where a solitary tabernacle still remained as a monument of the festival, its green was changed to an autumnal yellow. The circle of the Jewish feasts was closed, the half year of harvest was at an end, and the dark and rainy season of winter was fast approaching, when no pilgrim’s song was heard on the roads to Jerusalem; a winter which to many would prove the winter of death.
The companies of travellers arranged themselves for their departure. Selumiel and his family, with Myron and Iddo, took the road by Bethany to Jericho. As they passed through the hollow between the southernmost and the middle summit of the mount of Olives, Helon thought of the tears which he had shed on that spot at Pentecost, when he exclaimed, “The path of obedience is difficult.” Now returning a happy husband, with the peace of God in his heart, he was inclined to say, “Easy is the path of obedience to him who walks in it with faith.” They halted at noon at the Oasis, beneath the palms, and arrived late in the evening at Jericho. On the following day the Galileans crossed the Jordan on their return home.
Helon, Sulamith, and Myron began to make preparations for their departure to Alexandria, from which they were to fetch the mother of Helon. When they were about to begin their journey symptoms of the plague showed themselves at Jericho. This is the most terrific of all diseases, as rapid in its operation as the leprosy is slow, and producing an equally miserable death. Those who are seized with it are suddenly attacked by pains in the head and loins; the speech becomes inarticulate, and not unfrequently is lost altogether, as well as the sense of hearing. The eyes become dull and heavy; lethargy succeeds, the strength is prostrated, fever, delirium, and melancholy seize the sufferer, and he commonly dies on the third day, unless a plague-boil preserves him for a miserable existence. If the disease spreads, all intercourse is at an end. The streets, the fountains, and the houses are heaped with dead; infected persons are abandoned by their nearest relatives; and despair and licentiousness walk hand in hand. The people call the plague the arrows of God.
As the plague commonly rages most destructively on its first breaking out, Selumiel considered this circumstance as a divine warning to withdraw from Jericho with his whole family, and go into Egypt. Preparations were speedily made, friends and household were commended to Jehovah, and the city of palms abandoned as if a curse were upon it. They hastened by Bethel, Gibeon, and Lydda, to Joppa, where Helon’s host was requested to procure for them, as speedily as possible, an opportunity of sailing to Alexandria in a Phœnician ship.
Helon looked from the heights of Joppa to the hills of Judah, and blessed the beloved land which had been to him not only a land of promise but a land of fulfilment. The image of his pious mother, all whose expectations he was about to accomplish and surpass, her joy at seeing him again, and the prospect of returning to the land of her fathers and visiting the grave of her husband, her blessing bestowed on him and Sulamith—all these things occupied his mind with delightful anticipations.
His host seemed uneasy. Helon supposed he might apprehend that they had brought infection with them, and might communicate it, and he hastened to set him at ease on this point. His host shook his head in answer to Helon’s assurances, and looked sorrowfully at him. At length he said, “It is not to myself but thee that my grief relates. Collect all thy firmness; in vain dost thou go to Alexandria to bring back thy mother. She is dead! The tidings of the death of Elisama and the rumour of thy wife’s unfaithfulness reached her together, and her heart broke with its double weight of sorrow.”
Sulamith uttered a piercing shriek, and Myron wept in grief and shame. Helon felt what an affectionate child feels when bereaved of a mother, but he knew that the hand of Jehovah guided him; that the Lord woundeth, but also healeth; that his ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts. “Comfort me, O Jehovah,” he exclaimed, his eyes raised to heaven, “comfort me as one is comforted by his mother!” Then seating himself in a corner he gave vent to those tears which soften the anguish of the heart to a tender sorrow.