After a short rest the sacks and wine-skins were unpacked from the camels, while others produced their humble stores from their mantles or their bosoms. The upper garments were spread for carpets, on which they lay for rest, or crouched to eat. Now you might see that these pilgrims were a band of brothers. It is true, the very poorest had brought something with him. For weeks before, ever since the feast of tabernacles, they had denied themselves, in order to save something for this festival; and on this day at least the command of Moses might appear to have been literally fulfilled, “There shall be no beggar among you.” But besides this the rich had provided for the poor a supply of those things which on ordinary occasions they were not able to procure themselves. Some sent to the old men a cup of generous wine, or regaled the children with confectionary and fruits. From Tekoah, the birthplace of the prophet Amos, which was not far off, came asses loaded with the celebrated honey of Tekoah; and from Beth-Cherem, celebrated for its wines, others with large and sweet raisins. From the cheerful mirth which pervaded the whole assembly, and the delightful coolness of the water and the trees, they seemed more like a company celebrating, in a fine evening, the festival of the new moon, than a caravan halting at mid-day. No one felt the heat or complained of weariness, except a few aged and weakly persons, who indulged themselves in a short rest. Behind a hill the walls of Tekoah were discerned in the distance, and beyond it the desert of Tekoah, the free pasture of the bees, for whose honey the town was celebrated. “Does not this scene remind thee of the prophet-herdsman of Tekoah?” said Elisama to Helon. “How should it not,” replied Helon, “when I see his prophecy almost fulfilled before my eyes?”[101] Footnote 101: Amos ix. 11. In that day will I raise up the fallen tabernacle of David, And close up its breaches, and raise up its ruins, And build it afresh as in the days of old, That they may conquer the remnant of Edom, And of all nations whom I will consecrate to myself, Saith Jehovah who doeth this. Behold the day cometh, saith Jehovah, When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him that soweth seed. And the mountains shall drop sweet wine, And all the hills shall stream. I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel And they shall build the desolate cities, And plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof, They shall make gardens and eat the fruit of them, And I will plant them firmly in their land, And they shall no more be plucked out of their land which I have given them, Saith the Lord thy God.