Naomi's trials [Back to return]:

In the occupation of Caanan, much as in the Oklahoma land rush, some families were awarded large tracts of desirable land which could produce an immediate return, while some others had to settle on less attractive parcels that would require long term development. Naomi's parents had come up rather short in the tribe of Judah's division of the southern territory around the grain farming area of Bethlehem; but she'd still considered herself lucky to have been one of the first generation of children born in the Promised Land, and wasn't too surprised when Elimelech, the only son of an equally land- poor family (? Boaz= kinsman) whom she'd taken in marriage, had grown old trying to make something of their meagre homestead. She courageously packed up and moved with her two sons Mahlon & Chilion when Elimelech, unable to entice a buyer for the patch of dirt they called home decided to leave it all behind and try pioneering to the outlying reaches of neighboring Moab southeast of Caanan (which was now become "Israel" in honor of the patron of the twelve tribes).

She was ultimately broken in spirit when, after her hopes had been raised by her sons finding good wives (or well, you know, acceptable from a mother- in- law standpoint) among the women of Moab, everything started to go wrong and life became, as for Job, merely a dread of what disaster might next befall. Husband, sons and possessions all gone, Naomi feebly wished the best to her daughters- in- law Orpah and Ruth, who could yet hope to remarry although Naomi would remain abandoned, and she turned with a lowered head to retrace her steps toward the little to which she still held claim back in Judah.

To her astonishment,