The priests, seeing that he had carried the hearts of all the people, were greatly enraged, and, not being able to vent their hatred and fear in any other way, they hired a vile person by the name of Gazeel, a robber who, taking one of the blood-stained sacrificing knives by the altar, crept towards him behind the column, and, securing a favorable position to execute the deed, raised his hand to strike the Prophet from behind, when Jesus, turning his head, arrested the hand of the assassin in mid-air by a look. Unable to move a muscle, Gazeel stood betrayed to all eyes in this murderous attitude, like a statue of stone.
"Return to those who hired thee. My hour is not yet come, nor can they yet have any power over me."
The assassin bowed his head in abject shame and terror; the knife dropped from his hand and rang upon the marble floor, and he sank at Jesus' feet imploring forgiveness. The people would instantly have torn Gazeel in pieces, but Jesus said:
"Let him depart in peace. The day shall come when he will be willing to lay down his life to save mine. Ye priests go about to kill me," he added, fixing his clear gaze upon the group which had sent Gazeel. "For what do ye seek my life? I have come to my own, and to my Temple, and ye receive me not. The day cometh when this Temple shall be thrown down, and not one stone left upon another; and some who hear me shall behold and mourn in that day. Oh, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Thou shalt be left desolate and cast out among cities, because thou knewest not the day of thy visitation. Fly ye to the Jerusalem which is above, and which is above all, whose foundation is eternal, and whose Temple is the Lord God Almighty, who is also the light and glory thereof."
Upon hearing these words, there arose a great cry from ten thousand voices:
"Hail to Jesus, the king of Israel and Judah! Hosanna to the Prince of David! We will have no king but Jesus!"
At this shout, which was caught up and repeated beyond the four gates of the Temple, the priests cried aloud that the people were in insurrection.
Pilate, who was, with his guard, just leaving the Court of the Gentiles, hearing it, turned to ask what it meant. One of the priests, desirous of having Jesus slain, quickly answered, "That the people had proclaimed Jesus, the Nazarene, king."
Hearing this, Pilate sent off messengers to the Castle of David for soldiers, and with his body-guard turned back to the Temple gate, charging the people sword in hand.
The tumult was now fearful, and the bloodshed would have been great, but Jesus suddenly appeared before him—none saw how he had reached the place—and said: