Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-10-28
THE WOMAN WHO SAVED A KING.
TIE International Sunday School
Lesson for October 81 10 1.-THE Boy
Joash Crowned king."-ii Kings
f1.1.o0
NV William T Ellis

Lesson for October 81 10 1.-THE Boy
Joash Crowned king."-Ii Kings
11:1-20.
(By William IT. Ellis.)
Clear and distinct two figures
stand forth as types, and Of eternally
contemporaneous interest. The first
is a woman, Jehosheba, wife of the
high priest who saved the boy Joash,
who became king, from massacre;
and the other is the baby prince him
self. All others are but background,
for our present purpose.
A Bad Family Line.
Like many another youth Of our
own day, whom the scientists would
| foredoom to failure, because his her
edity Is bad. Joash came from stock
! which, in the immediate past, was
mighty poor. His grandmother was
the wicked queen Athaliah, daughter
Of the Infamous Jezebel, wife of
Ahab, the king who gave Elijah so
much trouble.
Athaliah had slain all the members
of the royal family whom she could
/ find, that she herself might sit SUI.
preme upon the throne of Judah.
Good Branches Of Bad Tree.
/ IL
story besides Athaliah. Her own
daughter, Jehosheba. was as good as
her mother was bad. Like her little
nephew, Joash, she seemed to revert
to her nobler fOrbears-Ruth and Dav-
i'd and Solomon-for her qualities. She
became the wife Of Jehoiada, the high
priest, and had no part In the bloody
politics Of the palace.
Her way of serving God and her
country was by taking care of baby
boy. We rejoice in all the new oppor-
tunities for noble self-expression open
to women but, after all. her greatest
work is the training of child. II
ever she turns aside from that, it will
be black day for her and for the
race. When the carnival of cruelty
was at its height, and Athaliah was
Staying all who had royal blood in
their veins, Jehosheba surreptiously
got possession of the baby prince
Joash, only one year old. The eternal
mother instinct In her heart warmed
to the helpless infant, and at the risk
OF her life, she hid the babe and his
nurse for six years In one of the re-
mote rooms Of the temple.
| The Boy for q Crown.
| All the hopes of nation were
staked on the child Joash. Even
after he was crowned there we're wise
acres who wagged their heads omin-
ously and cried, blood will tell and
his blood is bad" These croakers
took short views and reckoned only
with physical strains. But their soil
cltude was natural We look about
us at the spoiled children of parents
who themselves fout all higher laws
and we wonder. Many man is piling
up millions for sons who have not
been fitted, by heredity or training
to inherit such responsibilities.
have in mind boy whose blood was
of the best, but who. inheriting mil
lion in boyhood. and over-indulged,
became a wastrel and grief to his
family.
Society as a whole has no greater
problem than this one Of what our
boys and girls are to become. The
increased attention paid to the Sun
day school and to the public schools
shows how sensible we are of that
truth. 1t Is more important to pro-
duce a generation OF noble men and
women than 1t is to produce vast
material wealth. SO let us reserve
our highest awards for those who
have our Joashes in their keeping.
A good mother and godly train
ing can smash into smithereens all
the bad blood ever transmitted. God
sends nobody into the world with a
ball and chain to his ankle. AS
Henry Van Dyke says, There are
many potential men in every man,
and which OF them is to emerge, he
chooses for himself by a thousand
silent. moral preferences" One living
Jehosheba, guiding boy in the house