“I HAVE been reading in ‘Stories from Virgil,’ Aunt Edith," said Charley, "of how Æneas and his chief captains took their dinner under a tree, putting their meat upon cakes of bread, and how when they began to eat the bread, Iulus cried out, 'What, eating our tables as well!' I thought directly of the traveler you told us of who dined with the poor people in the Lebanon, and ate his plate with each mouthful. How I wish we could have all our meals in that pic-nic style every day.”
“Oh, Charley, not on frosty and snowy days!" cried May; “and on the pouring wet days, why the bread-plates would get soaked through and through.”
“Pic-nic fashion only suits warm, dry countries, I think," said their aunt; "or beautiful June weather like this. But what do you say to our trying it this afternoon; shall we have tea under the great beech tree in the back garden?”
The children thought this a delightful plan, and were soon seated with their aunt under the old tree, eating and chattering, and admiring the graceful play of light and shade made by the sunlight streaming into their leafy bower. After tea, Charley reminded his aunt that she had promised to have another talk about the customs of the people in Bible-lands. "I should like," he continued, "to hear a little about their food, besides what you have told us. From the accounts in the Old Testament, they seem never to have had meat in the house; they just sent to the fields for a calf or a sheep, if a stranger came to dinner.”
“I think they were wonderfully quick in getting dinner ready long ago," said May. "Don't you remember when Abraham was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day, and saw three men coming, how he ran to meet them, and asked them to stay and rest under a tree-a beautiful, tall palm tree, I suppose it was; and how he told Sarah to make cakes, and tan himself to fetch a calf, and then brought the meat and butter, and milk out to the men under the tree? It seemed to take almost no time, Aunt Edith; only just while they were resting.”
“Perhaps, when St. Paul wrote, ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares,’ he may have been thinking of that beautiful scene in the life of Abraham neither he nor Sarah seem to have been aware at first that their visitors were other than ordinary strangers, yet with what kind and respectful attention Abraham treated them, unwilling that wayfaring men should pass by until he had given them water for their feet, and set food before them.”
“I wonder how soon he found out that they were angels; perhaps not until they said Sarah should have a son.”
“I think, Charley, when one of the company under the tree said, ‘Wherefore did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord?’ Abraham, and Sarah too, must have known who had deigned to take shelter from the noon-tide heat so close to their tent door; but it was no strange or terrible thing for the man who was called the ‘friend of God’ to know that God was so near him.”
“But how dreadful it must have been for Sarah to remember that she had said what was not true to God Himself!”
“She must indeed have been filled with sorrow and shame, May; but we must not forget that we, too, speak all our words, whether true or false, whether for good or for evil, in His holy presence. David remembered this when he said, ‘There is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.’ Sarah must have known that God had forgiven her, for when Isaac, the child whose name meant ‘Laughter,’ was born, his joyful mother said, ‘God hath made me to laugh.’”
“But I was going to tell you, Charley," continued his aunt, "that so little have Eastern customs altered as the long centuries have rolled by, that in parts of Arabia travelers are even now entertained as Abraham entertained his guests. Dr. Shaw says, speaking of Eastern hospitality, ‘The greatest prince of these countries is not ashamed to fetch a lamb from his herd and kill it, while the princess is impatient till she has prepared her fire and kettle to dress it.’”
“Oh, Aunt Edith, Abraham must have been like a prince; he was so rich in flocks, yet he ran to the herd and fetched the calf; and Sarah's name meant princess, and yet she made the cakes, and baked them on the coals, just as the Syrian women still bake their flat cakes!”
“Do you remember, May," said Charley, "how Nathan told David, in his parable, that the rich man spared to take of his own flock to dress for the wayfaring man who was come to him, but sent and fetched the poor man's pet lamb? So, you see, in David's time it was quite a common thing to take a lamb or sheep from the fields to provide dinner for a stranger.”
“What will you say when I tell you that Last year when some Syrian children had their school treat, and were taken by their teachers an excursion, they actually led the sheep which was to furnish their dinner along with them?”
“Oh, Aunt Edith, I should say it was a sad excursion for the poor sheep," said May.
“I don't believe I could have eaten any of the dinner," said Charley; "but do go on, Aunt Edith.”
“Not long ago," said his aunt, "I read an account of a strange dinner-party, which I will describe to you, as well as I can remember it. Some English travelers were invited to dine by the Sheikh of the country, who sent word that a sheep had been killed, and dinner would be ready at noon. On arriving at the place where the low, black tent was pitched, the guests found cushions and Turkey rugs spread upon the ground, so down they sat, Arab-fashion, and watched their hosts roast the green coffee-berries, pound them, and make the coffee. After pipes had been presented, the dinner appeared; a huge bowl filled with flat cakes and boiled rice, with the sheep crowning the whole, was placed before the strangers. The Sheikh and his brother refused to eat with them, so they turned up their coat-sleeves, and prepared to dine in the approved Arab style.”
“Oh, do tell us what the Arab fashion is like.”
“It is considered a great breach of good manners to use more than one hand, May; and the correct thing is to make little balls of rice, and cleverly jerk them into the mouth, while the meat must be torn from the bones with the fingers. You will not be sorry to hear that after the travelers had finished their meal, and the great bowl had been handed to the crowd outside, who soon made an end of the contents, a little silver basin, covered with a perforated plate, was carried round, and water from a silver ewer poured over their hands. I have seen one of these small hand-basins, so common in the East; the ewer, which was very prettily shaped, would not hold more than a pint of water.”
“I remember," said Charley, "that Elisha was spoken of as the man who poured water upon the hands of Elijah.”
“I suppose they cannot afford to use much of their precious water for washing," said May. "But can you tell us any more about the Arabs?”
“A modern traveler has given a curious account of a tribe he met with near the Dead Sea, who wore a sheepskin, with the woolly side in, thrown over their mantles. At sundown, when they were going to prepare their evening meal, the use of these skins became apparent. Each man took a handful or two of grain, and, after pounding it between two stones, kneaded it with salt and water upon the outside of his sheepskin, thrust his cake into the hot embers, and his supper was soon ready. You may imagine with what interest the traveler looked on, calling to mind the kneading-troughs which the Israelites ‘bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders' at the time of their hurried departure from Egypt.”
“Oh, how very interesting! I always thought those kneading-troughs were wooden trays, like ours. How much easier they must have been to carry away," said May. "Things were often really so very different from what we fancy them, or even from what the pictures make them," she added, thoughtfully.
“You know, Aunt Edith," said Charley, when the Jews said they were Abraham's children, the Lord said to them, ‘If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.’ How unlike Abraham that Pharisee was who asked Jesus to eat with him! Abraham ran and begged those who came to him to let water be fetched that they might wash their feet, but Jesus had to say to Simon, who had invited Him, ‘Thou gavest me no water for my feet!’”
“Almost everywhere in the East it was the custom to offer a guest water for his feet, and sweet oil, as soon as he entered the house; and if the host wished to treat any visitor with especial attention, he would welcome him at the door with the kiss of peace, and himself unloose his sandals. The proud Pharisee neglected to bestow upon the Guest whom he had invited the common, every-day attentions due from the host to all who sat at his table; it was reserved for the poor woman who came unbidden to the house to supply what Simon had neglected to give, as she stood, probably among the servants, ‘at His feet, behind Him, weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed (them) with the ointment,’ or fragrant myrrh.”
“I have often wondered," said Charley, "how she had the courage to come in when they were all at dinner; but I daresay she had seen Jesus, and perhaps knew what He had done for other people, and so felt she must get to Him anyway.”
“I think you are right, Charley; this woman, ‘who was a sinner,’ hearing that Jesus was at the house of the Pharisee, seems to have thought of nothing except that the One whom she knew to be the Friend of sinners was there, and that where He was, was the only place for her-however unwelcome she might be, however intrusive in the eyes of others. At the same time, you must remember that it was then, as it is now, no unusual thing in the East for strangers to come in during meal-time, stand about the room, or even sit down and talk with those at table.”
“There was another woman who anointed the Lord, and she had an alabaster box of very precious ointment; she was another woman, wasn't she, Aunt Edith?" said May.
“Yes," replied her aunt; "we are not told the name of the woman of whom we have been speaking, but we know that it was Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who anointed the head and the feet of her Lord, as He sat at meat in the house of Simon the leper at Bethany; do you remember who sat at table with Him?”
“Oh, yes," said Charley, "Lazarus, who had been called out of his grave, was there. It says, ‘the house was filled with the odor of the ointment;’ how very sweet it must have been!”
“What is spikenard?" asked May.
“It is an Indian plant, which grows straight and tall, and, is the color of a green ear of wheat; it is still dried, and brought to Syria, mixed with other fragrant plants. ‘Nard’ was a general name for perfumes.”
“It must have been God who put it into the heart of Lazarus's sister to keep her box of sweet ointment till she could give it all to Jesus, for it was just what He liked her to do. Every time she looked at Lazarus, who had been dead, she must have wanted to thank the Lord for raising him; but how surprised she must have been when Judas and the others said, ‘Why is this waste?’”
“Just as the hard thoughts of Simon the Pharisee about the poor woman of whom St. Luke tells us, brought from Jesus those words which must have been so sweet to her, ‘Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much,' so the murmuring of those around the table of Simon the leper was answered by the Lord Himself. ‘Let her alone,’ He said; ‘why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on Me...she hath done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying!’”
“Yes,” said Charley, "it didn't matter to Mary what Judas or anyone said, when she heard Jesus say that what she had done should be told all over the world, for a memorial of her. Aunt Edith," he continued, "I have seen a picture of the Last Supper, in which Jesus and the disciples are sitting at the table, almost as we do; but when I learned in Roman history of the couches upon which they lay at dinner, Mr. Elton told me that the Romans, in the very old time, used to have seats, and would have thought it very much beneath such a brave people as they were, to lie down at their meals; but that in the times of the Emperors they had copied the customs of the Eastern people, whom they had conquered, and liked to have beautiful couches, made of costly woods, or ornamented with tortoiseshell, and covered with splendid embroidered rugs. Did the Jews sit at table, or use couches?”
“In the time of our Lord the custom of reclining at table was common, especially at entertainments; it is thought that the Persians first introduced the triclinium, of which I can show you a picture.
Let me see," said May. "Oh. yes; they are all lying down, and the servants are waiting. What does triclinium mean?”
“The word means ‘three couches.’ You see these couches, were each large enough for three people to occupy, and were arranged at three sides of the table; one couch was called ‘highest,’ another ‘middle,’ and the third ‘lowest.’ You know the Pharisees ‘loved the uppermost rooms,’ or places at feasts; the middle place upon a couch was considered the place of honor.”
“Then when Jesus sat down to the Passover supper with His disciples," said May, "John's place must have been on the same couch with Him, for it says, ‘he leaned on His breast at supper.’ Oh, how much better I understand it all now; he was close beside the Lord, and he just looked up, and said, ‘Lord, who is it?’”
“We do not read of the triclinium in the New Testament" said Charley; "it always says, ‘as He sat at meat,’ or ‘they sat at the table with Him.’”
“The word is only once used (Mark 7:44And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. (Mark 7:4)), and is there translated ‘tables’; if you Look at the place, you will see the margin gives ‘beds.’ A room was said to be ‘furnished,’ which literally means ‘spread,’ when provided with a table and couches; such furnished rooms were kept ready in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover, for the use of people who came from a distance. At table it was the custom for the master of the house to say grace, or ‘bless the food,’ both at the beginning and end of the meal.”
“How many times we read that Jesus ‘gave thanks,’" said May: "when the people sat round upon the grass, and when He gave the disciples the cup of wine, and said, ‘Take this, and divide it among yourselves.’”
Their aunt now told the children that she feared they would take cold if they stayed out of doors longer; but that if they would carry the chairs into the house, she would find an interesting little story to read to them before they went to bed. "I wrote it down," she said, "from the lips of a friend, who is the missionary spoken of in the story. He now lives at Ramleh, which is believed to be the ancient Arimathæa.”
“Oh," said both the children, "that was the city from which Joseph of Arimathæa came; but do read, Aunt Edith.”
“Not long ago a missionary was traveling among the mountains of Galilee. He was not alone, for his wife—a lady lately come from England—accompanied him. As she was not very strong, nor well accustomed to ride for many hours together, her husband had arranged with the Arab, who was their guide, that they should make the journey to the place where they were going in two days, not traveling more than seven hours a day. The guide readily agreed, and was paid accordingly. But an Arab cannot be trusted, and so, as the travelers rode on, hour after hour, and did not come to the place where they had arranged to spend the night, they began to fear that their guide had deceived them. It was even so. In order to get two wages for one day's work, he had purposely led them past the halting-place, and intended to push on to the journey's end that night.
“What was to be done? The missionary feared for his wife to take such a long ride, so he resolved to stop at the first village they came to, and try to get shelter for the night.
“At last they reached a small village on a mountain height, but they were not well received. ‘You must wait,’ they were told, ‘till the chief comes home; we shall then know whether to let you in or not.’ As the weary travelers stood waiting in the yard, they remembered that it was the time of the evening meal, and, as they knew that it is the custom of the country if a guest arrives after three o'clock to give him whatever may be in the house, they were the less surprised at not having been welcomed more warmly.
“‘These people are very poor,’ they said to each other. It must seem hard to them to give the meal they have prepared for themselves to strangers whom they have never seen; and yet they would consider the honor of the house gone forever if they let us in and did not offer us all they had. Let us tell them we have our supper with us, and only desire a room in which to lie down and rent.'
“When the poor people heard that the strangers were provided with food, they willingly admitted them, and offered to cook the chicken they had brought with them. After supper they were shown to the guest chamber. I daresay you have never been in such a poor room as this was: its only furniture was a mat spread for sleeping upon, and a small oil-lamp, but the missionary and his wife were very thankful even for such a resting-place. Utterly wearied, the poor lady threw herself upon the mat, and had all but fallen asleep when she heard a noise as of footsteps at the chamber door, and, raising her head, saw two old women creep cautiously into the room. What could they want? You may imagine the joyful astonishment of the missionaries when, after the evening greeting, quickly came the question, 'Can you tell us the story of Jesus?'
“Forgetting his weariness, the missionary began at once, in that bare room in the little village standing alone on one of the mountain heights of Galilee, to tell to those simple country-women, whose hearts God had touched, the wonderful story they had asked for. He had been thinking much of the Life, and death, and ascension of our Lord, for he was writing, in very simple words, a little book of Bible lessons for the Arab children. So he just told them the ‘old, old story, simply, as to a little child,’ and, as the hours went on, the missionary's wife, still lying on her mat, too tired to speak, heard her husband's voice as he
‘Told "the story" slowly,
That they might take it in;
That wonderful redemption,
God's remedy for sin.'
And by the dim lamp-lights he saw the rapt faces of the eager listeners, to whose ears it was no twice-told tale, but the ‘good news of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.’”