Although I did not understand all their customs and reverence for their God, I settled happily into married life. Mahlon was kind and I grew to love and respect him. I was about 14 years old at the time, the normal age for marriage. Before the marriage, Elimelech died rather suddenly. Elimelech, arranged marriages for both his sons with the high born of Moab, myself for his son Mahlon and Orpah for Chilion. Although we did not share their following of Yahweh and had our own gods, the chief of which was Chemosh. But meant they understood our language and customs. Israel and Moab shared kinship, history, language, institutions, and theology, this closeness often led to competition and strife between us. They were a family of high standing back in Bethlehem, they settled in easily to life in Moab. The feminine did not reach our land and so these Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah sort refuge in Moab. Moab receives considerably more rain than the eastern fringes of Israel, as moisture is picked up from the humid Jordan valley and the Dead Sea by the prevailing westerly winds. When there was a famine is Israel a man called Elmilech arrived from Bethlehem with his wife Naomi and their two handsome young sons, Mahlon and Chilion. The Arnon is the deepest gorge in Jordon and is two miles wide at the upper edge. It is set between the Arnon and the Zered valleys. I was born in the kingdom of Moab, Moab is east of the Dead Sea and bounded by Edom and the land of the Amorites.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |