“This can be no other than our Myron,” said Elisama. “How long since was he here?” “About three weeks,” replied his host. “It is the same,” said Elisama. “He came with us from Egypt as far as Gaza. The Greeks are a nation of scoffers, but it shall one day fare with them, praised be Jehovah, as it has fared with Samaria in our days.”
“Were that glory also reserved to our Hyrcanus,” said his host, “I would do what this man has done,” pointing to a Nazarite who had just entered the court.
It was a wild looking figure which presented itself to their view. His upper garment was of rough hair, and his locks hung far down upon his shoulders, tangled and neglected, and showing that it was long since they had been shorn.
Helon had never yet seen a Nazarite, for they were seldom to be met with but in the Holy Land. But he was acquainted with all the passages in the law relative to this kind of vow,[26] by which a man for a time consecrated himself, abstained from wine and from all the produce of the vine, and allowed no razor to come upon his person, nor any contact of a dead body to pollute him. This Nazarite was a Jew of Maresa, who had been one of those that had lost their house and home, when, a year and a half before, the Samaritans, at the command of the king of Syria, had inflicted great injury on the Jews, who had settled again in Maresa, subsequently to its devastation by Judas Maccabæus. In his wrath he had vowed himself to Jehovah, till the time when the atrocities of the Samaritans should cease and Samaria be razed to the foundations. He was just come from the camp of Israel, and was expressing his joy and gratitude that Jehovah had so soon accomplished the object of his vow. He had seen the houses and the ramparts of Samaria levelled, amidst the songs of the soldiery, and the spot on which the city had stood furrowed with trenches of water and converted into a desert. He had much to relate of the preparations which Hyrcanus had made for the reception of his victorious sons, and he announced his intention of going up to the Holy City, at the next feast of the new moon, to have his head shorn there, and offer a sacrifice for the termination of his Nazarite’s vow. This led them into a wide field of discourse, and the Nazarite remained to partake of the evening meal, though he could not taste the choice wine with which the citizen of Joppa regaled his guests. One remark of the Nazarite threatened to destroy the harmony of sentiment which had hitherto reigned between him and Elisama. He praised, among others, Hilkiah and Ananias, (the sons of that Onias who had built Leontopolis) who, being the principal advisers of Cleopatra the queen of Egypt, had prevailed on her not to consent to the sending of the auxiliaries whom, to the amount of six thousand men, her son and joint regent, Ptolemy Lathyrus, had despatched to Antiochus Cyzicenus, to raise the siege of Samaria. Every thing which was connected with the Hellenists of Egypt was intolerable to Elisama, and above all, to hear their chiefs mentioned with praise in the Holy Land itself. Their host made peace between them, remarking that Jehovah had himself decided in this case, by the miserable and ignominious fate which had befallen these auxiliaries; and they were completely reconciled when the Nazarite spoke of Iddo as his friend. They separated in peace and love, and with the hope to meet again in a few days in the presence of Jehovah, at the rejoicings for the victory. On the following morning, Elisama, quite refreshed, grasped his staff, and, with Helon and Sallu, set out for Ziklag.