Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

over."which lasted for three days. Then shewas ready to go.Ruth dressed up in her finest robeand went in before the king and, ofcourse, the king couldn't resist her sohe put out his silver sceptre to her.The king knew that she must havesomething very important on her mindso he asked her what she wanted. Allshe said was, "Will you and Hanna comeand have dinner with me today?" Theydid, and after they had eaten, the kingturned to Ruth once again and askedwhat she wanted him to do for her. Shereplied that she would like it very muchif they would come back again the nextday for dinner. They did, and again after they had eaten, the king turned toRuth and offered to give her whatevershe wanted, even to a quarter of hiskingdom. Ruth knew that this was thetime that she had been waiting for soshe asked for her life and the life ofher people. She told him that she wasa Jewess and that Hanna had sent outthe decree over the empire that all theJews should be killed on a certain day.This made Ahasuerus very angry, to saythe least, and so he got up from thetable and took a walk in the garden tocool off a bit. When he came back hefound Hanna pleading before the queenfor his life and that made him all themadder.While all of this was going on, "itseems that Hanna had taken all of thedisrespect from Mordecai that he couldstand, so he had built a guillotine out inhis front yard with the idea that hewould have this undesirable put todeath. They told the king about it andso they took old Hanna out and choppedhis head off.The story ends just as it should. Theking made Mordecai Prime Minister inHanna's place and he issued another decree which said that the Jews werefree to defend themselves against theirenemies. As it turned out, the Jewskilled their enemies and the day whichwas to bring their doom brought rathervictory. From that day until this theJews have celebrated every year theirdeliverance by God through the beautiful Queen Ruth. The feast which theyhold to celebrate this deliverance isknown today as "The Feast of the PassJUNIOR TOPICAugust 21, 1955THE SINNERS REFUGENumbers 35:9-34.Lola Weir, New York CongregationMemory Verse: "God is our refuge andstrength, a very present help in trouble."Psalm 46:1Psalms:76Memory Psalm: 34:1-6, page 79Psalm 46:1-6, page 118Psalm 57, page 142Psalm 142:1-5, page 345.God has always had a peculiar lovefor the land of Canaan since He promised it to Abraham and his descendents(Gen. 12:1-7). In our lesson today wesee Him give Moses a plan by whichthis land would not be polluted by bloodby the "avenger of blood" (v. 33). Thispractice of goelism, i.e. of the nearestrelation of an individual who was killedbeing bound to demand satisfactionfrom the author of his death, existedfrom very remote antiquity (Gen. 4:14;27:45). It seems to have been an established usage in the age of Moses; andalthough in a rude and imperfect stateof society it is a natural and intelligibleprinciple of criminal jurisprudence, itis liable to many abuses. The chief ofthese abuses we can see in our own history in the family fueds of the Kentucky mountain folk a few years back,and in spots today.God's provision to prevent these abuses in Canaan was the instruction to appoint six cities of refuge in convenient locations on both sides of the Jordan so that justice would be administered, rather than that revenge wouldreign. Anyone who killed had a rightto run to the nearest city of refuge forprotection. But only the one who killedaccidentally was allowed to go free in thecity. All were protected until after thetrial; the premeditated murderer wasdealt with by the law "the murderershall surely be put to death" (v. 16)by the "avenger of blood."The cities of refuge were to be easyof access, and to have smooth andgood roads to them, and bridges wherethere should be necessity. When therewere any cross roads, they took careto set up posts with an inscription,directing the way to the city of refuge.These cities were to be well suppliedwith water and all kinds of provisions.There the innocent could live safelyuntil the death of the high priest whenhe was at liberty to leave the city if hewanted to go.There is an application for us todayin this storyclearly after readingwhich you will see morethe referencesgiven and answering the questionsthoughtfully. Ps. 18:1, 2,; 1 Cor. 10:4;Num. 35:25-27; Deut. 33:27; Heb. 6:17-20.1. What does the word refuge mean?(See dictionary)2. Does the sinner need a refuge?Why?3. Who appointed the cities of refuge?Why were they located where theywere?4. Can you name them and locatethem on the map? (Joshua 20:7-9).5. Who could flee to these cities ofrefuge? v. 15,16. Who or what andwhere is our city of refuge today?7. Who can flee there? Rom. 3:23.8. Who was the "avenger of blood"?What was his work?9. Who is our "avenger of blood"?1 Peter 3:18.10. Who was to judge the sinner inIsrael? v. 24.11. Who is our Judge? Rom. 14:10; 2Cor. 5:10.12. The man who killed his neighboraccidentallyand fled tothe city ofrefuge, did he not have to pay anything for his sin? Think carefully before answering.13. How is our life changed after weenter our city of refuge? John 15:4;2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 3:1-3, 8-10.14. Are you sure you have availedyourself of our "city of refuge"? John1:12; Rom. 10:9, 10; 1 John 5:11-13.For handwork draw a mapof Palestine and name and locate the six citiesof refuge, or write the memory versein your notebook and illustrate it by adrawing that suggests "refuge" to you.SABBATHSCHOOL LESSONAugust 21, 1955Rev. W. J. McBurney(Lessons based on international Sunday SchoolLessons; the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyrighted by the International Council of Religious Education.)HOPE FOR THE EXILESIsaiah 55; Jeremiah 31; 50; Ezekiel 36PRINTED TEXT, Isaiah 55; Jeremiah31 :31-35MEMORY VERSE: Isaiah 55:3 "Inclineyour ear, and come unto me; hear,and your soul shall live."The 55th chapter of Isaiah is not addressed to any special group of people.It was written between the time of thecaptivity of Samaria, and the carryingaway of Judah. It was equally suitablefor those who were in captivity and forthose who were facing the world athome. It is a message for all people, solong as they live in this world.HO, EVERY ONE.Only those who thirst, who are conscious of their need, will listen. Ourrichest physical gifts, air and water, aresobountifully supplied that we forgettheir value. Other things we buy. Theycost labor, we pay money for them.Look at the evening paper; How oftenwe see in large letters the word FREE.Never is the offer true. This offer istrue. Though no amount of money couldpay for salvation, we canbuy it without money and without price.THAT WHICH IS NOT BREAD.Our physical lives are closely re-OOVENANTER WITNESS