families, who were themselves chosen by the heads of houses. The princes and the heads of families were called elders; their number was seventy-one, and besides them there were judges, and genealogists who kept the registers of the different families. Although at various times the supreme power was by turns in the hands of heroes, kings, princes and high-priests, yet the fundamental principle of the constitution was, that Jehovah was sole and absolute monarch of his people Israel, and that they obeyed him, under all intermediate magistrates, whatever their titles or offices might be. In earlier times the heads of families, the judges, and genealogists of each tribe, assembled occasionally together, under the presidence of the prince of the tribe, for the purpose of joint deliberation; sometimes these officers assembling from all the tribes formed a species of Diet,

The genealogist of each family was a very important person, and especially in the tribe of Levi, in which so many privileges were attached to purity and certainty of extraction. He who wished to serve as a priest before

Jehovah, must not only descend on the father's side from Aaron, but be of irreproachable birth on that of the mother. The series of Helon's paternal ancestors had been very exactly carried on in Egypt, and Elisama had brought documents thence with him to establish it. But his mother was also the daughter of a priest, and as her family lived in Judah, it was necessary that the genealogy on this side should be examined into, and the descent shown to be regular.

The following day was occupied with these researches. The genealogist showed the pedigree of his family to Helon; his name was formally entered under that of his mother, and he thus stood on her side among the children of the course of Abia, as on his father's he belonged to the course of Malchia.

On the fifth day our travellers returned to Jerusalem. Helon, rejoicing in the success of his journey, compared his own lot with that of the children of Habaiah, Hakoz, and Barzillai, of whom Ezra and Nehemiah write, that after their return from the captivity they sought for

their registers, and not being able to find them, forfeited their sacerdotal office.* On their return they past through Lachish, which Helon had not seen before, of which the prophet Micah said, "Thou art the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion." This town was taken by Joshua from a Canaanitish prince ;‡ it was fortified by Rehoboam.§ Amaziah was put to death in it; and the ambassadors of Hezekiah came hither with presents to Sennacherib. Next he saw Libna,** which, like Lachish, was situated in the plain of Sephela, and was memorable for its defection from king Joram. At last they came to Socho, near which is the grove of terebinths, where David fought with Goliath. In the earlier part of their day's journey they had also seen the cave of Adullam, doubly memorable as having afforded a hiding-place to David, and as being the place where Judas Maccabæus kept the first sabbath,

* Ezra ii. 61. Neh. vii. 63.

Josh. x. 32.

|| 2 Kings xiv. 19.

+ Micah i. 13.

§ 2 Chron. xi. 9.

¶2 Kings xviii. 14.

2 Kings viii. 22.

which we read of as having been celebrated after the atrocities of the king of Syria.*

Happy in having stored his memory with many pleasing pictures of the Land of Promise, infinitely more happy in the thought that there was now no obstacle to his admission into the priesthood, Helon greeted the Holy City a second time.

* 1 Sam. xxii. 1. 2 Maccab. xii. 38.

VOL. II.

E

CHAPTER III.

THE FEAST OF THE NEW MOON.

ELISAMA and Helon, as they drew near the gates of Jerusalem, soon perceived from the commotion among the people, from the triumphal preparations, some wholly, some only partially finished, and from the influx of strangers, that a public rejoicing was at hand. It resembled the preparation for the Passover, but there was more of mirth, and altogether a more worldly character in it. The acclamations of joy which had been heard on the first intelligence of the victory were now renewed, on the evening before the victors were to make their solemn entry into Jerusalem.

Iddo was standing at the gate of his house, a place in which, according to the custom of the