they are the only scavengers. They were
sometimes even allowed in the courts of the houses, where they ate the
leavings from the table.

_Tombs_ were often cut in the face of the rock, after it had been cut
back to a perpendicular surface. The tombs were of all sizes, from mere
places in which the body was put, to large rooms with rock-cut shelves
on the sides. Many tombs of various grades of elaborateness are found in
the rocks about Jerusalem.

{491}

_The Temple_ of the New Testament period is called Herod's temple
because it was greatly enlarged and beautified by Herod the Great. He
began the work about 20 B.C., and most of it was done before the days of
Jesus, but Herod's successors continued to build and beautify for long
years after. The temple was now much larger than it was in the Old
Testament days, though it still stood in the same place. It was in the
eastern part of the city, and looked straight over the city wall and the
Valley of Jehoshaphat to the Mount of Olives on the east. South of it
was a slope that led down to the Valley of Hinnom, and north was the
castle of the city, occupied by the governor and the Roman soldiers. The
spot where it stood is still an open walled space, and in the center of
it is the so-called mosque of Omar, while to the north a garrison of
Turkish soldiers still occupies part of the site of the old castle.

_The Passover_ was the great family feast of the Jews. Many customs had
grown up about it as the ages had gone on. Those who could were glad to
celebrate the feast in Jerusalem, but of course only a few could do
that. The great event of the feast, which lasted seven days, was the
supper, when each family procured a lamb and ate it with certain
vegetables and with wine. It was a glad feast, and yet a solemn one. In
its course one of the children would ask why it was celebrated, and then
the father would tell the old, old story of how their fathers, long ago,
went out of Egypt in haste one night, and how this feast was in memory
of that great deliverance. Then he would tell how the nation still had
faith that their God could deliver from all trouble. At the end they
sang Psalms 115-118, Psalms 113, 114 having been sung at an earlier part
of the meal. These were called Hallel, which means praise, and if you
will read the psalms you will see why. Jesus and his disciples made a
sort of family, eating the feast thus together.

_Pilate_ was a Roman who was governor of Jud