A PUZZLE STORY | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 20, 1881

A PUZZLE STORY.*

A good mother had two little daughters. The age of the elder was that of the little girl mentioned in Luke 8:42. Her name was the same as that of a woman who was a convert under the preaching of St. Paul. You will find it in Acts 16:14. Her appearance is described in Esther 1:11, last clause of the verse. I wish that her heart had been the same, but that may be more truly described in Prov. 21:4, second clause, and also by the two adjectives which are the first words of the twenty-fourth verse of the same chapter. Psalms 55:4, first clause, describes the feelings of the mother when she thought of the pride and self-will of her little girl.

The little incident I am about to relate will show how true are the words of Solomon in Prov. 14:3, first clause, and in Prov. 22:15, first clause.

A gentleman who was the same relation to this little girl that Abram was to Lot, Gen. 12:5, gave her what a woman is described in Luke 15:8 as lighting a candle to find. He told her she might spend it as she liked best.

Now, there was nothing she liked so much as the articles named in Ex. 11:2, last clause, particularly the kind referred to in Isaiah 3:19, the first two there named, and also the first spoken of in verse twenty-one of the same chapter.

Unfortunately for her she could not purchase these, and she was obliged to wait until she should find something less costly. Meantime, she went out with her mother to purchase an article named in Isaiah 3:20, the first named, although it was not, probably, of the kind worn by the Jewish maidens.

This self-willed little girl wanted it trimmed with either one of the two articles mentioned in Job 39:13. Because her mother objected, she felt as Jonah did, Jonah 4:1, and she also did what Jacob is said to have done after kissing Rachel, Gen. 29:11. Her mother reprimanded her in the words used to Jonah, Jonah 4:9, and she replied in very much the same words which the prophet used on that occasion. This made her mother realize more than ever that the ornaments which this little girl needed were those referred to in 1 Peter 3:3, 4, and lest her heart should become like that of the king spoken of in Ex. 8:15, she took her by the hand and led her where Paul recommends that children should first show piety, 1 Tim. 5:4.

On opening her purse, this little girl found that she had in her experience reversed the statement in Luke 15:32, last clause, and that she had brought it home in the same state that Naomi returned to Bethlehem-Judah, Ruth 1:21.

This good mother had another little daughter whose name was the same as that of the aged prophetess mentioned in Luke 2:36. The description of her may be found in Song of Solomon 1:15, and her character shown in Prov. 31:26.

The same relative who had given her sister a present gave her one of equal value. She obtained permission from her mother to spend it in the following manner:—

Near her lived a boy who was afflicted in the same way as the son of Jonathan, mentioned in 2 Samuel 9:3. His name was that of the apostle last mentioned in John 1:44. As he belonged to the class referred to in Deut. 15:11, he was very much in need of the articles named in the last three words of Amos 2:6. These she wished to give him, as she had already provided for him a garment such as that which Paul says he forgot when he left Troas, 2 Tim. 4:13, and an article which now bears a name the same as that found in the last word of Isa. 3:19.

The reason she gave her mother for the interest she felt in this boy was the same given by Lot for choosing the city of Zoar, Gen. 19:20.

Her mother was so pleased that this little girl should be found among those mentioned in Psalms 41:1, that she assisted her by adding to the gifts something to carry with her to the parents of the boy, because they were what David calls himself in Psalms 70:5, first clause.

Accordingly, she took an article named in Ex. 29:3, and filled it with something mentioned in Ruth 1:6; Acts 27:36, the fruit mentioned in Song of Solomon 2:5, in Num. 13:24, and two of the list of things given by Abigail to David, 1 Sam. 25:12. The reason she gave for sending the article mentioned in Ruth 1:6 was that she had heard that all that they had heard of it in the house was like that described in Joshua 9:5, last clause. The kind mother also added a little money to pay the rent of what the sparrow is said to have found on the Lord’s altar in Ps. 84:3.

The little girl and her mother carried these things to the house and stood as described in Rev. 3:20, first clause. They did what David said he did in the first three words of Psalms 40, until they heard a voice asking the two questions found in Joshua 9:8. Then was done for them what was done for Peter in Acts 12:16, and when they entered the room they found what is asserted in the first line of John 11:1, in regard to a man who lived in Bethany. Beside the bed were as many children as had the patriarch named in Gen. 9:19, and speaking of the sick man they said of him what is said of Abraham in Romans 4:16, last clause.

When they asked for the mother of the family, the father spoke to the eldest child in the words used in 2 Kings 4:15. The mother spoke of the sick father in the words describing Saul in 1 Samuel 28:20, last clause, and then they did what the wise men of the East did with their treasures, Matt. 2:11.

The whole family were what we are told to be in Col. 3:15, last clause, and when their generous friends rose to go, the sick man obeyed the command in Psalms 107:1, for the reasons given in the fifth and sixth verses of the same Psalm, and he spoke to them in the words of 1 Sam. 25:6. When, in the course of the evening, the two sisters began to compare the day’s experience, and the elder told of her disappointment in not having what the Israelites borrowed of the Egyptians, Ex. 12:35, she was obliged to admit the truth expressed in Prov. 3:13, 14, 15, and 17, for her sister had already proved them so by her quiet happiness.—Christian Union.