A UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES HELON'S PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM. N B r - UNIVERSiTY OF CAL1FURNIA, LIBRARY, lLOS ANGELES, CALIF. MELON'S PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM. A PICTURE OF JUDAISM, IN THE CENTURY WHICH PRECEDED THE ADVENT OF OUR SAVIOUR. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF FREDERICK STRAUSS, WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE TRANSLATOR. 'H 2OTHPIA 'EK TflN 'lOTAAIflN 'E2TIN. VOL. I. LONDON : PRINTED FOR J. MAWMAN, LUDGATB-STREEF. 1824. LONDON: PRINTED BY A. APPLEGATH, STAMFORD-STREKT. "FT XT, I 1 . I- CONTENTS. VOL. I. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. Page. Alexandria 1 CHAPTER II. The Departure 19 CHAPTER III. The Caravan 42 CHAPTER IV. The Halt at Casium 07 CHAPTER V. The Halt at Ostracine 94 CHAPTER VI. The Halt at Rhinocorura 117 CHAPTER VII. The Halt at Raphia 147 CONTENTS. BOOK II. CHAPTER I. Page. The Promised Land 179 CHAPTER II. The Pilgrimage 197 CHAPTER III. The Day of Preparation for the Passover 226 CHAPTER IV. The Paschal Lamb 259 CHAPTEB V. The Day after the Passover 290 CHAPTER VT. The Remaining Days of Unleavened Bread 290 CHAPTER VII. Close of the Feast of the Passover , 313 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. THE present work contains a picture of the Jewish people, in which their ecclesiastical and civil con-* stitution, their social and domestic life are repre- sented, as they existed at the time when the advent of the Messiah was at hand. From his boyhood the author had been inspired, by the perusal of similar works on Pagan anti- quities, with the wish to exhibit such a picture of the Jewish nation ; and, encouraged by men whose opinion he valued, he had at an early period of life formed the resolution to undertake it, had sketched the general outline of his work, and even executed particular parts of it. Just at this time, however, it pleased the Disposer of events to call him from the situation of leisure in which he had hitherto been placed, to the execution of an office, whose multiplied duties left him little time for any other occupations ; and he was compelled to abandon the design which he had so long cherished. It not without pain that he resolved to make this b X AUTHOR S PREFACE. sacrifice of an object which had long directed and animated his studies. The images which it had left in his mind recurred from time to time, and revived his former wishes. In particular, when- ever he had occasion, in the discharge of his pastoral duty, to narrate the histories of the Bible, the question arose in his mind, whether it might not be possible to delineate the peculiar system of life in which these writings originated, according to the picture which they had left in his own mind, without descending to all the minutiae of antiquarian detail ? In pursuance of this thought, he has devoted his few and interrupted hours of leisure, to the work which he now offers to the in- dulgence of the reader, for which he hopes with the more confidence, having had such large ex- perience of it on a former occasion. The plan of the work is the following. A young Jew, who had been enamoured of the prevailing Grecian philosophy, has returned to the observance of the law of his fathers, at one of those important crises in life which decide the character of suc- ceeding periods. Bent on the fulfilment of the law, which he believes it impossible to accom- plish any where but in the place where the altar of Jehovah is fixed, he makes a journey from Alex- andria, where he had been brought up, accom- panied by his uncle, to Jerusalem, in the spring of the year 1O9 before the birth of Christ, remains there during the half year which included the prin- AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xi cipal religious festivals ; becomes a priest ; enters into the married state; and, by the guidance of Providence, and varied experience, attains to the conviction, that peace of mind is only to be found in believing in Him who has been promised for the consolation of Israel. The plan now traced, while it offered an oppor- tunity of delineating the progress of an interesting change in the sentiments of Helon himself, seemed also to present the means of combining with this a living picture of the customs, opinions, and laws of the Jewish people. No period of their history seemed so well adapted to the design of this work, as that of John Hyrcanus. It is about this time that the books of the Maccabees close ; it is the last era of the freedom and independence of the people, whose character and institutions at the same time were so nearly developed and fixed, that very little change took place between this and the time of our Saviour. It was possible, therefore, to give a picture which, as far as relates to usages and manners, should be applicable to the times of the New Testament. By selecting this period, it was more easy to avoid the inconvenience of placing fictitious characters in contact with the real per- sonages of history, than if the time of our Saviour had been chosen. Hyrcanus and his sons have only in one instance been brought upon the scene, and even here care has been taken to keep them as much as possible in the back-ground, to avoid b2 xii AUTHOR'S PREFACE. mingling the individual realities of history with .1 series of events, which the author has invented to answer the design of his work. It was in the last years of the long reign of Hyr- canus that the opposing sects of Sadducees and Pharisees first became conspicuous, and the one hundred and ninth year before the Christian era is the date of the destruction of Samaria. In the description of the temple, however, I have allowed myself to anticipate a little, in order to describe its magnificence in the days of Herod, whose temple was that to Avhich our Saviour resorted. In the description of the customs of sacrifice and prayer, I have ventured to use, but with modera- tion, the accounts of later times. One thing it must be allowed to the author to remark, in order to prevent the misapprehensions of those, who do not know what properly belongs to a work like the present, and that is, that he is by no means to be understood as uniformly de- claring his own views ; and he particularly wishes this to be borne in mind in reading the first part.* * The translator wishes by no means to be supposed to agree even in those opinions, which, from the manner of bring- ing them forward, appear to be the author's own. The dis- courses of the old man of the temple with Helon, in the second volume, are evidently an anticipation of Christianity, founded upon the author's views of the doctrines of the New Testament. Those who agree with him in these views will think it reason- AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xiii It is well known that the want of a lively and distinct picture of those local and national pecu- liarities which are presented in the Bible, revolts many from the perusal of it, and exposes others to very erroneous conceptions. It is the author's prayer to Him, from whom these precious records have proceeded, that the present work may serve, under his blessing, to make the perusal of the Scriptures more attractive and edifying and he hopes those who shall drink with pleasure from his humble rill, will not be satisfied without going to the fountain of living waters. able, that such anticipations of the nature and office of the Messiah should be attributed to a Jew who was piously expect- ing his appearance ; those who do not, will perceive that the prolepsis which the author has allowed himself adds nothing to the evidence of the doctrines in question. I have passed over these parts of the work generally without remark, the only authority which could have been alleged in support of them being passages of Scripture, respecting the meaning of which the Christian world is far from being unanimous in its opinion. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. THE work which is now offered to the public, appeared in Germany in 1S20, unaccompanied by notes or even references to Scripture. The author alleged, as a reason for this omission, that the ma- jority of readers would not concern themselves about authorities, and that the few who did might easily find them. He was, however, soon con- vinced, by the expression of public opinion, that he had underrated the curiosity of the former class, as much as he had overrated the patience of the latter; and promised to remedy the deficiency. As the work had been partly translated into Dutch and illustrated with notes, by the Professors Van- derpalm and Clarisse, he purposed to add his own notes to theirs, when their translation should be completed. It was my original intention to have waited for the appearance of this appendix ; but as four years have now elapsed, and I have been unable to hear any tidings of it from Germany, I thought it better to endeavour to supply the TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xv defect. Having no clue whatever to guide me to the sources of the author's statements, it may happen that I have not assigned the precise autho- rity which he had in view ; and, in justice to him, the reader will not conclude, that all which is not fortified by a reference is destitute of a warrant from antiquity, but only that the passage in which it is found has not occurred to me. The liberty which I have used with the original consists wholly in retrenchments. Of these alter- ations some have been made to prevent repetition and diffuseness : in a very few instances what ap- peared evidently fanciful or unfounded has been silently effaced. The reader who is not acquainted with any other authority for Jewish antiquities than the Old and New Testament, will not, perhaps, be displeased to find here a brief statement of the sources whence the materials of the following work have been de- rived. He who chooses a distant age for the scene of such a fiction as this, and endeavours to give the form and colour of reality to the dim and broken outlines, will find himself at a loss, even in delineating the best known ages of Greece and Rome. But our author has undertaken a task of still greater difficulty. The Jews were entire strangers to those kinds of literary production, in which the living manners of a people are preserved to posterity : literature among them was devoted to higher objects than comedy, satire, and ethical XVI TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. description. The history of our Saviour, it is true, carries us into the very bosom of domestic life among his contemporaries ; and the knowledge which we thus acquire is peculiarly valuable, from the stamp of truth which is impressed on every part of it. But if we learn much from this source, there is still more of which we are left ignorant. Next to the books of Scripture, the Antiquities and History of the Jews by Josephus, are the most authentic sources of information. Philo, occupied in pursuing the phantoms of allegorical interpret- ation, gives less aid than might have been expected from his voluminous writings. Among the Fathers of the Christian church, Jerome, who was long resident in Palestine, his left us, in various works, very important information respecting the geogra- phy, natural history, and customs of the country. Of the heathen writers, even the gravest and most learned so pervert and confound every thing re- lating to the manners and religion of the Jews, .that they cannot be trusted for any thing beyond geo- graphy, and the details connected with it. The Rabbinical writings of the Jews are chiefly occupied with that traditional law, which, in our Saviour's time, had almost strangled, by its para- sitical growth, the genuine stock of the Mosaic institutions : but they also contain much informa- tion respecting civil and religious customs, espe- cially the ritual of the second temple. According to the Jewish doctors, there existed two kinds of TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. XV11 law ; the written, promulgated on Sinai, and pre- served in the Mosaic books ; and the oral, delivered at the same time,* but handed down, traditionally, by a succession of teachers, to the captivity ; and thence from Ezra to the time of Rabbi JudahHak- kadosh, (the holy,) who lived about the middle of the second century after Christ. As the dispersion of the Jews had rendered the oral transmission of their learning more difficult and uncertain, he re- duced the traditions of the doctors into a system, to which the name of the MISHNA (repetition) was given. It consists partly of civil and criminal laws, partly of a ritual for the great Jewish festivals j in both, the Mosaic precepts bear a very small pro- portion to the later additions. The Mishna itself was soon found to need commentary and supple- ment ; and the Gemara of Jerusalem was compiled by Rabbi Jochanan, and two disciples of Judah Hakkadosh, to supply its deficiencies. This col- lection appears to have been received as of autho- rity by the Jews of Palestine, who cultivated Rab- binical learning in the academies of Tiberias and Jafhia. In the sixth century, Rabbi Asa, president of the school of Sora, in the Babylonian territory, where the Jews were numerous and flourishing, compiled another Gemara. The original work of the Mishna, with the addition of one or the other of these Gemaras, forms the Talmud (doctrine) * See Maimoaides, Preface to the Mishna, ia Sureahusius, vol.i. XV111 TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. of Jerusalem or Babylon.* The Talmud is the oracle of the Jewish doctors, venerated by the greater part of them as of equal if not greater au- thority than the law itself ; though many, as the whole sect of Karaites, deny its authority. Pro- bably the first step towards the religious improve- ment of the modern Jews, must be the abandon- ment of the Talmud, and a return to the simplicity of the Mosaic law. Besides this great repository of their traditions, the Jews have commentaries of their Rabbins, of . uncertain age, on books of Scripture, under the name of Medraschim ; and collections of" their sayings. I do not mention here their cabalistical writings ; which are, evidently, too fanciful and absurd, to furnish materials to the antiquary. After participating in the darkness of the middle ages, Jewish literature and science revived with great brilliancy in the eleventh and twelfth cen- turies, from the connection of the Jews with the Saracens of Spain, and their acquaintance with the Aristotelian philosophy. Of the learned men who arose about this time, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and David Kimchi, are most celebrated for their gram- matical and critical works : Moses Ben Maimon, or Maimonides, for the vigour of his understanding, and his knowledge of the ancient rites and cere- monies of his nation. He gave consistency and * Basnage, Hist, of the Jews, b. iii. c. 5 7. TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. XIX systematic form to the Jewish doctrines, and his articles are the standard of Jewish orthodoxy. The age at which these authors lived, however, prevents us from receiving them as original testimonies to any thing which concerns the state of the Jews before the destruction of their polity. The ques- tion how far Rabbinical authority can be relied on for Jewish antiquity, resolves itself at last into the credibility of those who wrote in the first five cen- turies after the Christian era, and especially of the Mishna and the Gemaras. It is now pretty generally admitted, that these works are very delusive guides, in respect to the times of the Old Testament. But it might be thought, that, having been compiled at so short an interval after the destruction of Jerusalem, we might have trusted to them safely for information respecting the times of the preaching of the Gospel, and the immediately preceding period. And it cannot be denied that some advantage is to be de- rived from them in this way, but much less than might have been expected.* It is not necessary to have recourse to works, which, like the Entdecktes Judenthum of Eisenmenger, have been written pur- * " Ne credant se ex Talmude multum in antiquitatibus Hebraicis profecturos. Nam ubi Judaei, post destructionem templi, inter se adhuc disputant, quomodo hrec vel ilia res sus- cipienda fuerit, quam tuto horum decision! credas, qui te multo quarn antea incertiorem relinquunt." Schottgen. Ilor. Heb.ii. 804. XX TRANSLATORS PREFACE. posely to expose the Talmuds to contempt ; it is sufficient even to consult the professed extracts of what is useful in them, such as the works of Light- foot (a name not to be mentioned without respect and gratitude) to be convinced how large a pro- portion is frivolous subtlety or groundless fiction. Indulging themselves in an unbounded license of invention, to solve difficulties, or exaggerate the glories of their nation and religion, they incur the usual penalty of those who violate the truth, and are suspected of falsehood, even when they may be innocent. The rule which Schottgenius lays down eligendum est quod Scrlpturce Sacrec magis convenit et quod cteteris paribus aliorum antiquiorum auctoritas scquendum suaserit affords no guide in respect to those accounts which Scripture does not confirm, nor yet by its silence necessarily invalidate. Here an author can only follow his own judgment and feeling of probability. The reader must determine for himself, whether, in the Pilgrimage of Helen, only due weight has been given to Rabbinical autho- rity. I have endeavoured to enable him to ascertain, by the references, what rests on this, and what on more solid ground. The descriptions given by travellers of the pre- sent manners of the people of Palestine, Syria, and Arabia, have furnished another and less fallacious means of completing the picture of Jewish life. Allied to the children of Israel, according to the testimony of Scripture and their own traditions, by TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. XXI a common origin, and experiencing little change from age to age, these nations still present the strongest conformity with the manners described in the Bible ; nor has any thing contributed more to its illustration, than the use which modern critics have made of oriental voyages and travels. The Arab Sheikh, among his flocks and herds, recalls the very image of patriarchal times ; allowing for the change which religion has made, the mourning and the festivity, the diet, dress, and habitation, of the present natives of these regions, will be found nearly what they were two thousand years ago. It is true, that we advance a step further, when, from the present state of the east, we describe what it was at this distant period, than when we merely illustrate scriptural allusions from modern oriental manners : but among the various descrip- tions which might be given, that will be nearest to the truth which is most accordant with the known usages of eastern nations j and though this pre- sumption can never amount to a positive proof of its accuracy, the reader is not misled, provided he is informed on what he relies. The author has also occasionally attributed some of the practices of the modern Jews to their ancestors of the Asmonean period ; and, perhaps, the singular in- flexibility which characterises the manners not less than the faith of this people, may justify him in so doing. The reader may possibly think that too flattering XX11 TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. a portrait of the Jews lias been drawn in the Pilgrimage of Helon. Whoever is acquainted with an earlier work of the same author, Die Glockentone, will perceive at once, that the piety, enthusiasm, and ardent feeling, the sensibility to the rcliglo loci, which mark the hero of the narrative, are the characteristics of the writer's own mind. And as every variety of temperament exists in every age of the world, there is nothing unnatural in the creation of such a character as that of Helon among the Jewish people, if it only acts and is acted upon, according to the principles and motives of the times to which it is referred. If, in the description of the national character, he has heightened its virtues, or touched its faults with a lenient hand, it must be remembered, that this was the almost inevitable consequence of that warm interest in his subject, without which he could have had no power to engage his readers' feelings. To those who cannot be satisfied, unless the Jews are described as sunk in all the vices which mark a people for the vengeance of heaven, I would suggest how improbable it is, that the religious and moral advantages which they enjoyed should not have made them better than those whose corrupt religion, if it had any, had a perni- cious influence on their morals or that Providence should select the instruments of the moral regene- ration of mankind from among a people, whose depravity equalled or exceeded that of the heathen TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. XX111 world. Were this a proper place for entering on such a discussion, it might not be difficult to show how unjustly we identify the whole body of the people with the hypocritical Pharisees whom our Lord rebuked ; or infer their ordinary character from what Josephus says of the atrocities com- mitted by them, when stung by oppression, en- gaged in a desperate struggle for independence and existence, and maddened by faction and fana- ticism ; under the influence of which, Christian nations have manifested an equal disregard of justice and humanity. The translator may perhaps be singular in re- garding the Jewish people, even in the last days of their national independence, as objects rather of commiseration than abhorrence 5 but surely there can be no question, that the language in which they are perpetually spoken of must tend to retard the event, which every true Christian earnestly desires, the removal of that veil of prejudice which hides from them the evidence of the divine origin of the Gospel. Beneath the exterior appearance of passive submission, which fear and oppression have taught the Jew to assume, and the habits of sordid worldliness to which our unjust laws con- demn him, lurks a deep-seated animosity against the Christian name a name associated in his mind with the brutal outrages of fanatic mobs, the extortion and cruelty of tyrannical rulers ; and though last, not least in bitterness, the harsh and xxiv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. contumelious language with which his nation is assailed, as if they were branded with the curse of heaven, and a perpetual memorial of its vengeance. While the feeling continues which such reproaches necessarily perpetuate, the efforts of Christians for the conversion of the Jews will probably be as fruitless as they have hitherto been. It would well become the disciples of the religion of love, to set the example of conciliation ; and to renounce the use of language which is equally unfavourable in its influence on those who employ and those who endure it. Tuque prior, tu parce, genus qui duels Olympo ! MELON'S PILGRIMAGE JERUSALEM. BOOK I. CHAP. I. ALEXANDRIA. THE whole house was in commotion. The camels were receiving their load in the inner court, and drinking, before their journey, from the fountain beneath the palm trees. The slaves ran this way and that way : in the apartments of the women the maid-servants were busily preparing the farewell meal for the son of their mistress, who, while she hurried in different directions and issued her commands, was re- peating the words of the forty-second Psalm. As the hart panteth for the water-brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God ! VOL. I. B 2 MELON S PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM. My soul thirsteth for God, The living God ! When shall I return And appear before the face of God ! She had been born in the Holy Land, and her deceased husband had brought her to Egypt. The country in which her youthful days had been spent, and the journies to Jerusalem, in which she had borne a part, rose up to her remembrance, and with overflowing eyes she proceeded : My tears have been my food day and night, While they say unto me continually " Where is thy God ? " The thought of her deceased husband rushed upon her mind, and her tears flowed in a fuller stream. Yet with a lighter heart, and with a less faltering voice, she proceeded : (ver. 4.) When I remember these things, my heart melteth within me ; How I had gone with the multitude to the house of God, How I had gone with the voice of joy and praise, With the multitude that kept the festival. i At this moment Helon met her. She embraced him and said, "So once I went to the holy city, but now I must remain a captive in a BOOK I. CHAP. I. 3 strange land. All the day long this psalm of the sons of Korah dwells upon my mind. Thy father sang it the last evening that we spent together. Immediately after, he set out for the promised land, and returned no more." Helon was moved hy the distress of his mother. His feelings had been the same as hers, but he was near the accomplishment of his wishes. He was about to visit the holy city, and the grave of his father in the valley of Jehoshaphat ; and raising himself from his mother's embrace, he replied, "Hast thou forgotten the thrice repeated chorus of that psalm ? " Why art thou cast down, O my soul, And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise him Who is my deliverer and my God. Sallu, a young Jew, who had been purchased as a servant of the family six years before, now entered the apartment. He was dejected, and anxiously asked Helon, " Wilt thou not take me with thee, master?" The mother replied. " Thou art free ; yesterday thy six years 4 HELON S PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM. expired, and it shall be Helen's last employment before his departure solemnly to emancipate thee." The youth kept his eyes fixed upon Helon, as if he was still asking him, Sf Wilt thou not take me with thee, master ? " " Why dost thou refuse thy freedom, Sallu ? " said Helon. " Master," replied he, " when thy father bought me, six years ago, I was a house- less, friendless boy. I have been brought up with thee, and if I now must leave thee, I shall be again without a friend or a home. I will not leave thee : thou art going to Jerusalem, and, if I go not with thee, I shall never behold the altar of my God, nor the place to which I direct my prayers. Take me with thee, and I will be a servant in thine house all my days. I have called the elders, and they will be here immediately." They endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose. Helon painted to him the value of freedom, and the mercy of Jehovah towards the bondsmen in Israel, in appointing their release in the seventh year. His mother promised him that he should not go forth BOOK I. CHAP. I. 5 empty handed; that she would give him "of her flock, and of her barn, and of her wine- press, of all in which the Lord her God had blessed her,"* as the Lord had commanded by Moses in the law.* But Sallu replied, " Nay but I will remain with thee : it is best for me to be here/' The elders had now arrived. tf This youth," said one of them, " will be a servant of thy house. Come together to the gate." The elders, with Helon, his mother, and Sallu, went through the covered way, as far as the gate which opened to the outer court. Sallu stood beside ' the gate-posts. The elder asked him, "Wilt thou not leave Helon? " Sallu replied, " I will not leave him ; for I love him and his house." Then Helon took an awl, and piercing his ears against the door-post, made him his servant for ever. The elders pronounced a blessing, and Helon put a ring through the ears of Sallu, as a sign that he was become his property. The youth bounded for joy, and exclaimed, " I have bought thee * Deut. xv. 14, 6 HELON'S PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM. with my blood. Wilt thou not now take me with thee to the Holy Land ?" " Go," said Helon, t( to look after the camels, and prepare thyself for the journey." The mother invited the elders to partake of the farewell supper with her and her son, at which Elisama was also to be present. They consented, and went back with her into the inner court (the Thavech.) Helon remained awhile behind, to inspect the preparations for the journey. The slaves were equipping three stately dromedaries, which, young, high-spirited, and fleet, deserved the name of ships of the desert. They had taken a long draught at the well, while the slaves laid in order the baggage which contained the food and clothing of the travellers, and presents for their host in Jeru- salem. In the east, the expressions of friend- ship were made by deeds rather than by words, and the travellers destined for their host costly caftans, Egyptian linen, a robe of thread of gold, and some books written on papyrus. The camels, kneeling down, received the burthen on their backs. BOOK I. CHAP. I. 7 Helen's uncle, Elisama, who was to be his guide on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, arrived, examined the preparations, and ap- pointed to the slaves the hour of departure. Helon and he then went together into the inner court, where the elders were sitting under the palms beside the fountain, and enjoying the refreshing coolness of the evening. This inner court, around whose sides ran a portico and a gallery, was paved with green, white, yellow, and black marble. An awning of various colours was stretched over it to shelter from the burn- ing rays of the sun j and in the middle was the fountain with its lofty palms. In Alexandria, as in the east generally, this was the place for the reception of visitors. The meal was prepared, and the elders arose from beside the fountain to place themselves on cushions around the table, A venerable man with hoary locks took the place of honour, the middle place, on the middle cushion. The seven-branched lamp shed a bright light around, from its one and twenty flames. The slaves had strewed the table, the cushions, and the 8 HELON'S PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM. floor with the flowers of spring. Sallu came with a silver basin, poured water on the hands of the guests, and when he had wiped them sprinkled on them the fragrant nard. The most delicate productions of fertile Egypt were served up ; among which the mother had not forgotten the fish of the Nile, that her son might taste them once more before his departure. Melon lay before EHsaina, or, as it was called in the east, in his bosom. Elisania, acting as father of the house, blessed the bread. He spread both his hands over it, and said, " Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who causest bread to grow out of the earth;" and the rest answered "Amen." As this was an entertainment, the wine also was blessed. Elisama took the cup with both hands, then holding it with the right, at the height of a yard above the table, he praised the Lord and said, " Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who hast given unto us the fruit of the vine ; " and the rest again replied, "Amen." The bread and wine were blessed with both hands, that the fingers might be a BOOK I. CHAP. I. 9 remembrance of the number of the command- ments. This done, he repeated the twenty- third Psalm : The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the soft flowing waters, He refresheth my soul, He leadeth me in the straight path For his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou prepares! a table for me In the presence of mine enemies ; Thou anointest my head with oil ; My cup runneth over, Surely goodness and mercy follow me all my life, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. This was the prayer with which the festive meal was usually hallowed in Israel. The guests helped themselves and enjoyed the feast. When the last dish was removed, Elisama began : " It is long since I repeated that beautiful psalm, with such a feeling of devotion as to-day. One might think that it had been written expressly for the feast on the evening before our departure for 10 MELON'S PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM. the Holy Land. ( Happy the people that know the sound of the trumpet !' ' Helen's kindling glance, thanked Elisama for thus expressing the sentiment of which his own heart was full. But one of the elders replied, "The sound of the trumpet is heard also in Leontopolis, and the psalm might be repeated with equal propriety, before a journey to the nome of Heliopolis."