Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Volume 2 (of 2): A picture of Judaism, in the century which preceded the advent of our Savior.Strauss, Friedrich
History
Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Volume 2 (of 2): A picture of Judaism, in the century which preceded the advent of our Savior.
Strauss, Friedrich
Jews -- History -- To 70 A.D. -- Fiction
name shall be called in Israel, Mizraim, son of Abisuab, the son of
Selumiel. May his father rejoice in the son of his loins and his mother
in the fruit of her womb!”
The boy was then carried back to his mother, and all who were present
congratulated the father and the grandfather. Selumiel invited them to
the inner court, where they partook of refreshments and remained till
afternoon, when a splendid banquet was served up, consisting of every
thing which one of the wealthiest citizens of Jericho could collect for
such an occasion. Two oxen, twenty lambs, and twelve fatted calves were
killed; for the master of the feast was thought to show his wealth and
his hospitality by the unexpected abundance of every kind of food that
was produced. Every guest found in the fore-court a splendid caftan,
which he put on for the feast, and deposited there again on his
departure. These garments were always in readiness to be worn on festive
occasions, and their number and costliness was one of the surest pledges
of the master’s wealth. The guests, after their feet had been washed,
were anointed with costly ointment, and when they took their leave they
were perfumed, especially the beard.
Sulamith and her mother did not appear to-day, but confined themselves
to the chamber of Abisuab’s wife, and celebrated the festival there.
Helon had seen Sulamith only once and in passing on the preceding day,
but her image had remained involuntarily imprinted upon his mind. In the
midst of the lively conversation which passed at the banquet, the
proverbs which were quoted and the riddles which were propounded, she
was always present to his thoughts, and so animated the powers of his
mind, that his eloquence and ingenuity drew on him the attention of all.
His _mashal_ was the most pregnant and striking; his riddle, the most
ingenious; his solution the readiest and most happy. When he laid
himself down on the divan beside his uncle, he could not sleep nor rest,
and to calm the tumult of his breast, he arose, and passing through the
courts ascended the Alijah, in which at Alexandria he had passed many a
sultry night, and there, kneeling, prayed to the God of his fathers. But
his prayer partook of the general state of his feelings; unable to
collect his thoughts sufficiently for meditation, he could only pour out
before Jehovah the fulness of a grateful heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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