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 northeast 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.

The first step had now been taken. Helon left the castle, full of exultation, and congratulating Israel that such a hero as Hyrcanus sat upon its throne. On their return home Elisama announced to Iddo his intention of making a journey with Helon to Joppa, where the keeper of the genealogical register of their family dwelt. "Since you are now to be an

inhabitant of the Promised Land," said he to Helon, "it is right that you should become

acquainted with it and with your kinsmen who dwell in it. We shall return in time to witness the triumphal entry." Helon requested that they might take Anathoth in their way, a place which he felt an indescribable longing to see, as being the native town of his prophet Jeremiah. Elisama agreed, and as soon as the sabbath was ended preparations for the journey were hastily made.

CHAPTER II.

THE JOURNEY TO JOPPA.

THE Crowing of the cock had already announced the near approach of morning, yet all was still in the streets of Jerusalem and in the temple, when Elisama, Helon, and the faithful Sallu, their upper garments girt short around them, with sandals on their feet, and staves in their hands, passed through the gate of Ephraim, and took the road to Anathoth.

They entered the territory of the tribe of Benjamin as soon as they had passed the gate. Jerusalem lay on the confines of Judah and Benjamin, as the metropolis of the whole people, and not belonging to any one tribe exclusively. Since the return from the captivity the distinction of the tribes had been obliterated, with the

exception of that of Levi, and, strictly speaking, only the name remained in the case of the others, as a cherished memorial of former times.

A beautiful and fruitful plain, yet with something of declivity, lay before them, the only level ground in the immediate vicinity of the city. On whichever side you quit Jerusalem, the ground falls, for Jerusalem stands elevated and conspicuous on the surface of the earth, as it does in the history of the world. It was growing light when they came into the King's valley, so called because it was here that Melchisedec, priest of the Most High God and King of Salem had met Abram,* returning triumphant from his battle with Chedorlaomer and his confederate kings, and brought wine and bread to the patriarch and blessed him, and said, "Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand." Here too

Gen. xiv. 18.