Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Volume 2 (of 2): A picture of Judaism, in the century which preceded the advent of our Savior. — John Shaqi
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
A dim remembrance of the connection of this place with some past event
of his life came into Helon’s mind, and he at length recollected his
dream. “I have had,” said he to his host, “an extraordinary dream, which
I have been unable to shake off and which ended with Golgotha.” When he
had related it to him, Iddo replied, “Remember the words of Elihu,
In a dream, in visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth upon men,
In slumberings upon their bed
God giveth instruction unto men.—Job xxxiii. 15.
A part of the dream is on the point of being fulfilled, in your
receiving the sacerdotal unction, and we will hope that the rest
portends only good. What Golgotha should mean I do not understand.”
Helon purified himself in the evening, by the prescribed ablutions, from
the uncleanness which he had contracted by the contact of the grave.
Still he was not permitted to enter the temple for seven days to come;
for so long the uncleanness lasted which was produced by touching a
sepulchre. But the prohibition applied only to the temple.
The following day was a sabbath. Elisama took the presents which he had
destined for the high-priest, and Helon and he went together to the
castle of Baris. It was a stately edifice erected by Hyrcanus. It stood
at the north-east corner of the temple, on a steep rock fifty cubits
high, and formed a quadrangle, in the midst of which a splendid palace
stood. Besides a court, it was surrounded with a wall, on the four
corners of which were towers, that on the south-east side being the
highest, for the purpose of commanding the temple from it.
The high-priest received the stranger, sitting in the inner court, by
the fountain, and bade them welcome. Elisama had been known to him
before, and Hyrcanus rejoiced to see him after an interval of many
years. With lofty panegyrics of his government, and the heroic deeds of
himself and his progenitors, Elisama laid his Egyptian presents at his
feet, consisting of valuable or curious productions of nature and art
from that country, and then made application for Helon’s admission into
the priesthood. The high-priest lent a favourable ear to the request,
but observed, that as the triumphal entry of his sons was to take place
on the approaching new moon, he could not before that time admit Helon
to the temple service, and he recommended it to Elisama to employ the
interval in examining the genealogical table of the young candidate.
Having promised them all necessary aid in carrying their purpose into
effect, he dismissed them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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