The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-12-02
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially For The Repub-
leans Readers by Rev. U. s.
Wright, ID.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1926.
RUTH AND NAOMI.
Book of Ruth.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1926.
RUTH AND NAOMI.
Book of Ruth.
Thy people shall be my people, and
thy God my G0d.-Ruth ZIG.
STORED HISTORY.
1.-The book of Ruth lies like beau
tiful gem between the armine of the
Judges and the purple of Kings" For
charm and beauty it viii be hard to
find in any literature the equal of
these brief chapters, Its story is
quickly told. 1t chronicles the 1am-
lily of Elimalech of Bethlehem who in
the days Of famine determined to mi
CRATE to Moab where bread might be
had. SO he, his wife and his two
boys packed up their belongings and
settled somewhere beyond the purple
hills that beckoned at sunset from
the city's gate. 1t was to be a tenn
porary move, merely for work, but
the days heightened into years and
the boys did what others have done
they married girls of the land and
the family was anchored. But death
stepped in, uprooted their tree and
left three widows under single roof.
Naomi's heart hunger for home
brought her back to Bethlehem with
Ruth whose love for the old lady re-
fused to allow her to face the
hardships of unprovided age alone.
Setting herself determinedly to pro-
vide for the wants of both, she began
cleaning in the fields of Boaz only to
have the farmer fall desperately in
love with her. The marriage is soon
arranged and into the home presently
comes a child's cry and a grandchild
is Graded by Naomi. The foot note
explains that this baby boy becomes
the grandfather of the great David.
1t is a perfectly familiar form of
writing that we eagerly read in his
torical novels and get picture of the
times far surprising the mere re-
counting of facts. The line of David
is illumined and the blood stream that
emerged in the Christ carries mingled
with it that of this alien girl who for
loves sake turned her face toward
Bethlehem, the home of the royal line.
There is another reason for its ap-
pearing. There came a day in the
life of Israel when aliens were eX-
cluded, when marriages with women
of Other blood was being tabooed in
Jerusalem, and families were being
broken up by the process. This little
tract is bit of the finest propaganda
ever written in favor of a more lib
eral policy on the part of Judaism.
Even their greatest ruler carried the
blood Of an alien in his veins. All
folks of other races are not pariahs,
and it bears a message as pertinent
for America as it ever carried for
Judah.
IN THE MIGRANTS BAGGAGE.
Into a strange community they
went just to get a job. They were
not interested in conditions or in GUS
toms that differed from their own
They were mere y asking for a chance
to live and work. Moab seems to have
been generous enough for there is no
hint of lack in the story and Moab did
not shut her doors to their pre-
ence as we so often do. They did not
live in foreign quarters" or in Little
jerusalem" Their boys were given
free entree among the daughters of
the land and no one seems to have
chided the children for marrying a
Jew and q foreigner And the home
was generous also-there was no con-
deming the boys for their choice In
deed there was far more than the
mere acquiescence for these brides
were brought into the home itself and
all its life was shared with them.
There was no race superiority" on
either side. Verify some of our Col
den age" lies invitingly in the past
instead of beacon for advance. And
these migrants, the least desirable of
immigrants because it is the attrac-
ton of the job and not the desire to
become a citizen of the country,
brought Jewish baggage with them.
Their God was kept in foreign land.
Some folks moving even among our
selves do not do so well, for they aban-
don the Church as they go. The songs
of Bethlehem were still sung. The
altar fires of Jehovah were still light
ed. They moved their religion with
them and were evidently not ashamed
of it. And such was the impression
made and such the friendliness of
Moab that it was felt as no menace
that they held to their own church in
the new land. They made their re-
ligion attractive because they were
loyal to its best and lived it on that
level.
THE DISASTER AND THE
DECISION.
The migrant stayed longer than he
QXnpctad His Urava wac tbara Tho