new king on the return to the palace. In the slight confusion that
followed after Uzziah had been "buried with his fathers," Isaiah
slipped quietly away and took the road to the Temple Mount.

Taking his way through the Water Gate, on the west side of the Temple,
he entered the Inner Court. Then he mounted the twelve steps leading
to the vestibule of the Temple proper. Two priests, who had just come
out of the chamber where the implements for sacrificing were kept,
bowed low to him and passed out into the Inner Court. Isaiah was
evidently so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not notice them, for
he did not return their salute, but walked forward to the entrance of
the Hekal, or Temple proper.

There he stood for a moment in silence; then he leaned wearily against
one of the entrance pillars. Behind him the Priests' Hall and the
Inner Court were deserted. Before him, in the Hekal, was the Altar of
Incense, on which coals from the recent sacrifices were still alive.
To the right of the Altar was the Menorah, the seven-light
candlestick, and to the left the table of showbread. Behind these hung
the golden curtains that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of
the Temple.

A thin line of blue and purple smoke rose from the live coals on the
Incense Altar and wound its way upward to the ceiling of the Hekal. As
Isaiah watched the rising smoke, it became thicker and thicker, and
filled the whole Temple. His eyes gazed from the Altar to the
glittering gold curtains behind it. The reflection from the coals, and
the playing of the blue and purple smoke on the golden sheets, caused
them to sheen and shimmer until they faded entirely away into the blue
and purple maze that filled the Hekal.