The Crown and the Cross: The Life of Christ by Frank G. Slaughter Page B

Each placing his hands upon a lamb, thereby laying his sins upon it, the twenty men allowed to sacrifice at one time threw the animals to the floor and quickly cut their throats while the priests gathered the blood in bowls of gold and silver and dashed it against the base of the altar from which it drained away through openings in the floor. The dead lambs were quickly dressed and the fat removed and burned on the altar of sacrifice. As the Levites sang the hallel, the hymn of praise and thanksgiving, the carcasses of the animals were carried off by their buyers to be cooked and eaten at the paschal feast that evening.
    All this Jesus watched with wide-eyed interest, but when it was over He did not go with the other boys to the booths where the animals for sacrifice were sold with much excited haggling over prices, or to the tables where the money-changers argued over the value of foreign coins. Instead, He hurried to the Porch of Solomon where the teachers sat, each with his back against a column, in the midst of a small circle of his disciples and students. Around them the crowds came and went, pausing to listen or ask a question before going on to hear what subjects were being discussed by other teachers who held forth here, especially during the festival season, interpreting the Law, in which they claimed to be expert. To a studious boy, this was the most exciting of the temple activities, and Jesus reluctantly left the Porch of Solomon when Joseph called to Him that they must return to the Mount of Olives so that the lamb could be prepared for the Passover feast.
    At the camp on the hillside there was much bustling back and forth. While Joseph and several of the men from Nazareth dug a pit and built a fire to obtain a hot bed of coals, others prepared the lamb which had been slaughtered in the sacrifice. Early in the afternoon it was spitted upon a wooden stake, care being taken not to break any bones, and placed over the coals. The children took turns in rotating the spit so that the lamb would cook evenly, while the women prepared the unleavened cakes and dates and raisins mixed in vinegar which were an important part of the paschal meal. Meanwhile the children were rounded up and dressed in their best clothes, as were the adults, in preparation for the feast.
    As darkness fell, the gleam of hundreds of cooking fires shone on the hillsides where paschal offerings were being prepared and the aroma of roasting flesh pervaded the entire area. When it was time for the ceremony to begin, each family gathered in its own tent, while the men distributed the meat of the lamb according to the number who would eat and the women arranged the children in a group around the improvised table upon which the food was placed.
    In the tent of Jesus’ family the ceremony was opened by sipping a cup of wine which Joseph blessed, followed by a ceremonial washing of the hands as all spoke a prayer together. Next each ate a small amount of the bitter herbs and vinegar mixed with raisins and dates, symbolic of the clay from which Israelites had been forced to make bricks while slaves in Egypt. Now, according to custom, the youngest child asked the reason for the feast and Joseph answered with the well-known story of how the Israelites had been spared while the firstborn of Egypt were struck down. Only when this traditional tale had been told did they turn to roasted flesh of the lamb and the unleavened cakes that were the main courses of the feast.
    Many of the children were asleep in the tents before the ceremony ended, just before midnight, with the singing of the beautiful hallel:
    Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!
    Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore!
    As He stood alone to one side of the group, Jesus’ heart swelled with pride and His eyes shone when He looked out across the glowing campfires to the great shadow of the temple.
IV
    While they were camped on the