The paschal lamb must be killed between the two evenings, the greater, which lasted from the middle of the seventh hour to the middle of the tenth, (half past twelve to half past four) and the lesser, which lasted till sunset, or about six o’clock. Iddo conducted Helon about this time into the court of the Gentiles, where the slaves with Sallu were waiting. The lamb must be without blemish, more than eight days and less than a year old. The people had divided themselves into three great bodies in the court of Israel. When the evening sacrifice was over, a priest opened all the folding-doors of the court of the Priests, and allowed one division to enter. The priests stood in a row, reaching from the place where the lambs were killed to the altar, each holding in his hand a basin, pointed at the bottom. Iddo was among the first. He presented his lamb and mentioned the number of the company who were to partake of it. They must not be fewer than ten, nor more than nineteen. He then drew his knife through its throat, the priest who was nearest to him received the blood in his basin, and handing it to his neighbour, it was passed from one to the other, till it reached the priest who was next to the altar, and who poured the blood upon it. Each as he handed the full basin to his neighbour received an empty one from him with the other hand; thus all was done with incredible despatch. The father of each family killed the paschal lamb himself. In ordinary cases the priests were the sacrificers, but once in the year the master of the house was himself a priest, as a memorial that Israel was a nation of priests. The Levites in the mean time sung on the fifteen steps the great Hallelujah, and at each psalm the priests on the pillar which stands by the altar blew the trumpet three times. Iddo carried the lamb to the pillars, hung it to one of the hooks, and taking off the skin and the fat, gave the fat to the priest, who salted it and laid it upon the altar. He then carried the lamb home. So did every one of the body who had been first admitted; and when they had all finished, the folding-door opened again, and a second body was admitted. Without the greatest regularity, it would have been impossible in so short a time that such a multitude of lambs should have been killed. Helon descended the steps with Iddo, who had also offered a thank-offering; and as he paused at the gate and looked back, he mentally exclaimed, “Better is a day in thy courts than a thousand elsewhere!” CHAPTER IV. THE PASCHAL LAMB.