The hum of gnats arose, the bat flew in circling
whirls over the tents, horns sounded from all quarters, the sun had set,
the Sabbath had commenced. 'The forge was mute, the fire extinguished,
the prance of horses and the bustle of men in a moment ceased. A deep, a
sudden, an all-pervading stillness dropped over that mighty host. It
was night; the sacred lamp of the Sabbath sparkled in every tent of the
camp, which vied in silence and in brilliancy with the mute and glowing
heavens.
Morn came; the warriors assembled around the altar and the sacrifice.
The high priest and his attendant Levites proclaimed the unity and the
omnipotence of the God of Israel, and the sympathetic responses of his
conquering and chosen people reechoed over the plain. They retired
again to their tents, to listen to the expounding of the law; even
the distance of a Sabbath walk was not to exceed that space which
lies between Jerusalem and the Mourft of Olives. This was the distance
between the temple and the tabernacle; it had been nicely measured, and
every Hebrew who ventured forth from the camp this day might be observed
counting the steps of a Sabbath-day's journey. At length the sun again
set, and on a sudden fires blazed, voices sounded, men stirred, in
the same enchanted and instantaneous manner that had characterised the
stillness of the preceding eve.
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