Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-10-29
Joash Came From Stock Which
Was Mighty Poor; Inaugu-
rated Better Era
WOMAN CROWNED HIM
International Sunday School
Lesson For Oct. 81 Is ''The
Boy Joash Crowned King
(By William T. Ellis)

Ine new Is ever wrapped up IN the
old; and the old repeats itself in the
new. To-day is yesterday come again
to life. Because they mirror the es-
sential realities of our own day, these
stories of Bible times are closely stud
led by the Sunday School millions
week by week. The intrinsic facts
of the case-the who's who among
the kings and counsellors and war
rtors-are not of great Importance.
II is poor pedagogy and bare piety
that would require the memorizing
of all the names of the Jewish rulers
Even the tangle of kings and queens
who pass before us in the present les
son cannot claim very much atten-
ton.
Clear and distinct two figures stand
forth as types, and of eternally con-
temporaneous 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 himself 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 he
redity 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 su-
preme upon the throne of Judah.
We shrink from telling the story
of the. Athaliahs and Jezebels to
youth, but they need to know, in
preparation for life, that there are
such women in the world. More
than one boy has come to harm be-
cause he supposed that all women
We're as good as his mother Thank
God, most of them are. But to "see
life whole and see it true" we have
to reckon with the bad as we'll as
leave the Ahabs and Jehoshaphats
and Jezebels and Athaliahs out of
our reckoning.
few weeks ago some teachers of
this lesson might have said, in con-
temptation of the bloodthirstiness
and massacres of this period, that
the world has outgrown such cruel
ties; they belonged to the dark ages.
Now, while we write, the soil of the
Bible lands is being redeemed with
the blood of hundreds of thousands
of Christian Armenians slain by the
Moslems. This is the worst perse-
cution in the history of the Christian
church. The enlightened" Young
TURK leaders, educated in Berlin and
Paris, are sponsors for atrocities
worse than any of the bloody deeds
of Abdul Hamid's reign We hear of
turkish women shooting down Chris |
ttans from sheer blood-lust, and of
shepherds on the plains, shooting any
Armenians who escaped. Evidently il !
passage of years to deliver the human
race from cruelty and savagery.
Good Branches of a Bad Tree
There is another woman in the
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 noble forebears-Ruth and
David and Solomon-for her auali-
ties. She became the wife of Je
hoiada, the high priest, and had no
part In the bloody politics of the pal
ace.
If we wonder at the badness Of
some women, what shall we saw
about the goodness of others. who.
with every temptation, by blood and
environment to go wrong, still de-
Velop only the qualities of purity.
strength and sweetness? ONLY the
angels know the struggle that many
girls and women, especially out in
their noblest womanhood. They are
the saviours of society. In such
fashion, Jehosheba stood, in a terrible
time, for the divine ideals of Justice
and mercy.
Her way of serving God and her
country was by taking care of a 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 a child. IF
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 surreptitiouslv
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. | wonder
how many Armenian babies will be
saved from the nationwide slaughter
because some Turkish women are bet
ter mothers than they are Moslems?
Some, surely.
The Boy For a Crown
al lie HopeS OF nation Wene
staked on the child Joash. Even after
he was crowned there were wiseacres
who wagged their heads ominously
ana cried, Blood will tell, and his
blood is bad" These croakers took
short views and reckoned only with
physical strains. But their solicitude
was natural. We look about us at
the spoiled children of parents who
themselves flout all higher laws, and
we wonder. Many man is piling up
millions for sons who have NOT been
fitted, by heredity or training. to in
herit SUCH responsibilities. l have in
n rhc,r. IA