Volume 2

344 Life of Jesus Christ
account of her. Philip had one son, and his present wife
was much younger than himself.
Jesus was received cordially and hospitably in
Betharam. The morning after His arrival He cured many
sick Jews, and taught that evening in the synagogue, as
also on the next morning, His instructions turning upon
the tithes and the offering of the firstborn, and the sixtieth
of Isaias. 1
Abigail was held in esteem by the inhabitants of
Betharamphtha. She sent gifts down from her castle to
the Jews for the more honorable entertainment of Jesus
and His disciples. On the first of the month of Tisri the
new year was celebrated, which fact was announced from
the roof of the synagogue by all kinds of musical instruments,
among them harps and a number of large trumpets
with several mouthpieces. I saw again one of those wonderful
instruments I had formerly seen on the synagogue
of Capharnaum. It was filled with wind by means of a
bellows. All the houses and public buildings were
adorned on this feast day with flowers and fruit. The
different classes of people had different customs. During
the night many persons, most of them women clothed in
long garments and holding lighted lanterns, prayed upon
the tombs. I saw too that all the inhabitants bathed, the
women in their houses and the men at the public baths.
The married men bathed separate from the youths, as
also the elder women from the maidens. As bathing was
very frequent among the Jews and water not abundant,
they nlade use of it sparingly. They lay on their back in
tubs and, scooping up the water in a shell, poured it over
themselves; it was often more like a washing than a bath.
They performed their ablutions today at the baths outside
the city, in water perfectly cold. Mutual gifts were interchanged,
the poor being largely remembered. They
commenced by giving them a good entertainment, and on
a long rampart were deposited numerous gifts for them,