Notice: I went far off the reservation with this lesson. If
you’re going to be offended because I did not follow the manual
in telling the stories of Hannah and Ruth, please don’t read any
further. There is no excuse for chastising me in a comment.
Lesson 20: “All the City … Doth Know That Thou Art a Virtuous
Woman” Numbers 26-27, 36 Purpose: To encourage class members to
emulate the righteous qualities of [Biblical women] As some of
you may know, I earn my living doing historical research for
scholars. I specialize in Mormon and Utah history, and spend
most of my time digging through the Church archives. Most of my
clients, believe it or not, are non-Mormons who are interesting
in learning and writing about Mormon history. Very often these
non-Mormon clients will instruct me at the beginning of a
project to simply send them documents, but not to explain what
those documents mean to Mormons. They want to be objective, they
say, and not be influenced by Mormon thought. So I do. Without
comment, I’ll send off t