lon, tell me, and give him this your daughter Sulamith to wife; and if not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand or to the left."* Then Selumiel and Abisuab answered, “The thing proceedeth from the Lord, therefore we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold Sulamith is before thee; take her and go thy way, that she may be the wife of thy nephew Helon." Elisama and Helon bowed themselves to the earth; and Elisama said, “I will pay thee for thy daughter ten thousand shekels." "I will give them to her for her dowry," said Selumiel," and add to them ten thousand more." Then Selumiel, turning to Sulamith, said, "Wilt thou go with this man into the land of Egypt, or remain with him in Jericho, as Jehovah shall appoint ?" Sulamith, sobbing, answered, "Yes." Then the mother led her daughter to Helon, whose joy was without bounds; she bowed down before him, and he took her by the hand and raised her up. The father, the mother, and the brother of the bride, along with Elisama, then drew near to them, and blessed them both, and said, "May ye grow and multiply a thousand times, and may your seed possess the gate of your enemies!"

The company which had assembled on the preceding day was again invited, and Selumiel said to his astonished guests, "Rejoice with me, my friends, and bless the God of our fathers. I have received from Jehovah two children, a grandson and a son-in-law."

Helon, so pro

Elisama remained in Selumiel's house. priety required, took up his abode in a neighboring house; but through the day he was chiefly in the Armon of his Sulamith. The more intimately he became acquainted with her, the higher his love and admiration rose. Every day discovered to him some new excellence, her deep piety, her gentle temper, her quick sensibility, her sound understanding, and playful, harmless wit. In whatever occupation he had seen her, whatever had been the subject of their conversation, he always returned home at evening more grateful to God. * Gen. xxiv. 49.

The sabbath and the new moon, all the solemnities of religion had become more interesting to him, and his confidence revived, that with such a daughter of Israel by his side, he should be able to keep the whole law, and perhaps even become a Chasidean.

THE

CHAPTER XXI.

FEAST OF

PENTECOST.

THE feast of Pentecost drew near. It derived this name, which is Greek, and its Jewish name of the Feast of Weeks,* from the circumstance that seven weeks or fifty days elapsed between it and the day after the Passover, on which the firstfruits of barley were offered, so that it was the fiftieth day from that time. It fell on the sixth day of the third month Sivan, and the days between the offering of the sheaf and it were solemnly reckoned every evening, at the time of supper. The master of the house, rising up with the rest of the company, said, "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, king of the world, who hast sanctified us with thy precepts, and commanded us to count the days of harvest," adding, this is the fifth day, or one week, and the third day, and so on. In this way they thought that they were fulfilling the command of the law, "Seven weeks shall ye reckon; begin to reckon the seven weeks from the time when thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn; and thou shalt keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord thy God."

Helon wished, in virtue of his priestly office, to travel to Jerusalem; Abisuab and his wife were going up to present their new-born child before Jehovah; Sulamith was glad to join herself to her brother and sister-in-law; and Selumiel and Elisama had to comply with the law, which enjoins that + Deut. xvi. 9.

* Exod. xxxiv. 22.

all males should appear, thrice in the year, at each of the great festivals before Jehovah. The preparations were already made, and the day of the pilgrimage was very near.

On the fortyseventh day Helon was sitting with Sulamith beside the fountain in the inner court of the Armon. They were conversing on the office of the priest: Sulamith expressed her joy in the thought that she should see her betrothed husband ministering at the altar of Jehovah; and Helon declared what increased delight he should have in every service, when he reflected that the eyes of his Sulamith accompanied him from place to place. As they conversed thus together, the well-known sound of cymbal and flute was heard, accompanied by more than a thousand human voices. "It is the Galileans going up to the festival," said Sulamith, listening as the sacred sounds seemed to descend from heaven into the court where they were sitting. Helon hastened forth to greet them. Although Samaria was destroyed, they still took their ancient road by Bethabara and Jericho, in preference to that by Sichem, especially as in the former track their train was swollen by accessions from every village through which they passed. They were now about to pass through Jericho, and to encamp at the western gate. Welcomes and greetings met them from every house.

On the following morning, when the pilgrims from Jericho were going to unite with them, the long-standing hatred between the Jews and the Galileans displayed itself. The Galileans, who occupied the country which had formerly made a part of the kingdom of Israel, had adopted many customs from the heathen among whom they lived; inhabiting a fertile region, they lived in the possession of many physical comforts, but neglected the cultivation of literature and knowledge, and their uncouth pronunciation, by which the guttural letters were confounded, bore witness to the low state of refinement among them. Their Jewish brethren

*

*"Thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.". Mark

χίν. 70.

were proud of superior knowledge, as the Galileans of superior wealth, and they seldom came together without some explosion. The present dispute was about precedence in the march. The men of Jericho claimed it, as genuine Jews and inhabitants of a city of priests, reproaching the Galileans that their ancestors were only the common people of the land, left behind when the great and noble were carried into captivity. The men of Jericho at length prevailed: Selumiel, as elder of the city, led the march with the heads of the courses of priests; the Levites struck up their music, and all the people sung together,

The city whose foundation is in the holy mountains,

The gates of Zion, Jehovah loves

More than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Glorious is it to speak of thee

O City of God!

Of Zion it is said,

This and that man was born in her.

He, the Most High buildeth her.

When God reckoned up the people

He wrote, This man was born there. Ps. lxxxvii.

Thus the train quitted the smiling fields of Jericho, and entered the wilderness, which they crossed by a nearer way than that which led by the Oasis of the Essenes. By midday they had reached a verdant spot, shaded with palm-trees, and encamping beneath them, opened their wallets, and distributing their provisions, endeavored to exhilarate themselves amidst the desolation which surrounded them. Sulamith, sitting between her father and her bridegroom, had taken her sister's first-born from her arms and playfully placed it on her lap, when a Galilean approached them and asked Selumiel, if Elisama and Helon from Alexandria were with him. Selumiel having pointed them out to him, he informed them that he was charged with the salutations of a young Greek of Alexandria, of the name of Myron, whom he had recently seen in his visit to Damascus. Myron had commissioned him at the same time to say that his affairs would not allow

him to come to Jerusalem at Pentecost. He regretted that he must thus lose their society on his return to Egypt, which had been a source of so much pleasure to him on his journey thence. If, however, they could wait, he requested to be informed by this Galilean, who was about to return to Damascus immediately after the feast.

"A fair opportunity," said Selumiel's son, "for you, Helon, to meet him in the north of Judea, and bring him to the festivities of the marriage; while you at the same time visit that part of the Holy Land which you have not seen. I know what you are going to object- but while preparations for the nuptials are going on, uo one can be more easily spared, even by the bride, than the bridegroom." Selumiel agreed; and notwithstanding the remonstrances of Helon and Sulamith, it was finally arranged that the Galilean should carry back word to Damascus, that Helon would meet Myron, in three weeks' time, at Dan, the frontier town of Judea on the north.

The pilgrims resumed their march, the desert was soon left behind, and Bethany with its gardens and olive-yards appeared. The train ascended the mount of Olives and wound along its western descent, among the cedars in the valley of Jehoshaphat. The temple, which was seen from this side under its most imposing aspect, was brightening with the glow of sunset; and the whole city, with its hollows and eminences, and the white tents which in some places were erected, and in others erecting, partook of the illumination of the evening lights. Companies of pilgrims hastened from all sides to the city, but none drew the attention of the spectators more than that which was descending the mount of Olives.

Selumiel and his party were received with undiminished hospitality into the house of Iddo, who poured out his hearty congratulations to Sulamith and Helon, telling the latter that from the time when he had first seen him, he had anticipated that they should be more nearly related.

When the friendly greetings and compliments were con> cluded, they repaired to supper, and Iddo counted the fortyeighth day from the offering of the first-fruits.