11
Naomi trailed after Eliab, keeping a respectable distance as he inspected the livestock trapped in the basin. She treaded lightly on the path, grateful that it widened so she did not have to hover near the worn-rock sides of the ravine. Was this provision from God her sign to remain with Eliab?
Isa shouted and clicked his tongue, sending commands to the herd. A few sheep angled toward his call. He squatted on the ridge and motioned to the ewes to come closer. “I believe some of these are ours. They know my voice.”
“How are we to get them out?” Naomi inched forward to see if hoof holds jutted from the sides of the wadi. None did. At some point, water had ground the stone smooth like a pestle. Surveying the drop made her feet unsteady. Her temples throbbed. She slowly sidestepped from the edge.
Eliab took hold of her arm. His shadow gave her shade. “We will harness the sheep and lift them up the slope. Then we will herd them down the trails.”
“We’d better hurry.” Isa grabbed a rope from his mount and came toward her, slip-knotting a loop. “The whining of the herd will alert predators.”
Was Isa going to rope her like a goat? She tensed for a struggle.
Eliab blocked Isa’s path. “She cannot go down and wrestle livestock.”
Should she confess she had shoved stubborn goats out of the vineyards? Or continue to allow Eliab to act as her husband? Crossing her arms, she waited for a settlement or a fight.
Isa snapped the rope in protest. “The animals will be tied. How much of a fight will it be?” He cocked his head. “If she cannot herd them or bind them, why did you bring her along?”
Surely Eliab would not discuss their agreement.
Eliab bent over Isa as if he chastised a son. “What if she is with child?” He raised an eyebrow, daring Isa to dispute his claim.
Naomi cast her glance anywhere but at Isa. When would the lies end?
“She is not a feather. She’s a laborer’s daughter.”
In the land of Benjamin, she needed allies, not enemies, especially a lethal left-handed slinger. Isa had accompanied Ashbanel and Berek when they fled the war. She did not need Isa complaining to Berek about Eliab’s actions. She already had Gera petitioning a wife from Ashbanel.
She stepped toward Isa and looked back at Eliab, meeting his scowl. “I know to be careful of the ram’s horns. It will be far less strenuous than shearing the sheep. I am not afraid to handle livestock.” She smiled at Eliab and gave his shoulder a reassuring pat. At least he would be kept at a distance. No more unexpected kisses.
Eliab snatched the coil from Isa. “I will secure her.” Leaning in close, he hesitated to cinch her waist. “You do not need to go down there.”
“Isa has been a friend to the household of Berek. He asks for little, and we do need to eat. God has provided the abundance. Now we’ll ask for protection.”
“If you are sure.” He eased the loop over her head and down to her hips. “Tell me at once if you are hurt.” The seriousness of his concern contrasted with his harsh binding of her in the grove.
She grasped the rope and scaled the embankment toe to heel. She did not gaze at the drop, but remained intent on the faces of the men above. Eliab kept the rope taut, securing the line around the girth of a boulder while Isa weighted the end. When he shuffled his feet, small dirt clods dislodged. She averted her stare. For a moment. A brief moment.
“You are almost there.” Eliab encouraged her to keep a steady rhythm.
“Selah. Praise God,” she said as her sandals landed on solid ground.
With a keen eye, she surveyed the sheep milling around the displaced rock. An avalanche of dirt and stone prevented a retreat.
“Scare the fat ewe in our direction.” Isa pointed to a sheep in the rear of the herd. “The docile ones will be easier to corral. We will finish sooner.”
Naomi raced toward the sheep, clapping and chasing the stragglers toward Eliab and Isa. Instantly, Eliab lassoed the animal’s neck. The sheep bucked. Isa landed a coil of rope near the animal’s legs. She wrestled the hind legs into Isa’s noose and shifted the rope to the underbelly. Whisked up into the air, the beast bleated its displeasure. One down and only two small hoof scratches on her forearm.
Eliab cupped his hands around his mouth. “Do you need a rest?”
Perspiration snaked down the side of her face. No. No rest. No time for him to charm her and sneak another kiss. As soon as the livestock were captured, Eliab would be distracted with the herd, caring for their thirst, hunger, and safety. A simple but true claim of exhaustion from her labors kept her safe in his bed another night. “Which one next?”
Eliab indicated a grazing sheep.
Naomi pursued the animals, sending them into Eliab’s snares. The lone ram defied her long-stick prodding, but she’d riled him enough to charge her. She ran toward the side of the wadi, and the ram almost made it to her backside before he was brought down. Panting heavily, she said a prayer of thanks for the Benjamites’ precision.
A young goat hovered at the far end of the ravine. Did he sense her intentions or was he spooked by the commotion of the harnessing? Naomi straightened her skirt and angled its direction.
Movement caught her attention as she passed a station of boulders. A pathetic eh-eh-eh erupted from among the jumbled stone. A ewe struggled, her hind legs crushed by the cut-loose cliff.
Naomi crouched low and examined the female. “You are carrying a lamb.” She stroked its wide belly, removing pebbles and dirt from its coat. The mother turned a concerned eye but didn’t challenge Naomi’s touch.
“Naomi. Are you lost?” Eliab’s shout rang out from the ridge with more volume than before. Did he think she grew faint?
“I am here.” She stood and waved her hand. “I have found another ewe.”
Isa hooted. “Chase it toward us.”
“I cannot. She is lame.”
Eliab readied his rope. “Leave it and get the goat.”
“She will labor soon.” Naomi’s chest grew heavy as if she was bundled by a harness. How could she leave the mother and baby to die? “Please, Eliab. I will run after the goat, but I want to take this ewe.”
“How?” Isa grunted, wrestling the ram from the edge of the ravine. “We have all we can handle.”
“Isa is correct.” Eliab readied his lasso without looking her direction. “See to the other one.”
“Must I?” Her eyes tingled with tears as if she had raced into a sandstorm. “I do not want to leave this mother to toil away as her baby dies within her.”
“Wife, do my bidding.” Eliab’s command sharpened.
Isa paced near the rescued herd.
She stormed closer to the incline. “Did we not ask God to provide? He has chosen to give us sickness along with health. What if this is a test of our faith?”
“It is a test of my patience.” Isa took aim at her with his rope.
Naomi scurried backward, her eyes on Isa’s aim.
Eliab grabbed the boy’s arm and knocked him off balance.
Had her testimony swayed him? “I will carry her, Eliab. Place me on the mule and she can rest in my lap.”
“This is folly,” Isa shouted. “She will slow us down. Let us finish the task at hand and be done.”
“Let it be my gift.” The excuse fled from her lips. “Jael received a present this morning.” Her heart drummed. She hoped Eliab would not resent the comparison to a boy or think her jealous. Either way, it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t leave the ewe to suffer alone.
Eliab scratched his stubbled jaw and glanced at Isa. “Is this true?”
Isa shrugged. “The girl needed a band, so I wove one. It made her happy and she slept.”
“So I have you to blame.” Eliab rested a coil of rope on his hip.
“The girl is your burden, not mine.” Isa pointed her direction. “I have one of my own.”
“Make haste with the goat,” Eliab called to her. “If you can carry the ewe within our range, we will bring it home
.”
With renewed energy, she charged the goat. It bolted behind her, straight toward Eliab, who had his lasso at the ready. The goat balked at the cord around its neck, but she grasped its hindquarters and forced it into the second harness.
She rested for a moment. “I believe I earned my gift. I have never had to fight with a cluster of grapes.”
Eliab laughed. “Hurry and claim the ewe before Isa runs off with our bounty.”
She rushed to the boulders and scattered the rubble to get ahold of the breeding ewe. The animal trembled in her arms as she lifted it from the scattered stones. Naomi held her breath and counted her steps, willing herself not to drop the sheep.
Isa shook his head while he pulled the ewe to the top of the ridge. “This is madness.”
Eliab tossed her the rope. “I can see to Naomi and her gift if you want to start the herd home. Unless you need my help?” Eliab gave Isa a raised-eyebrow challenge.
“Hah. With this lot? We will be in East Gibeah before you mount.” Isa prodded the restless herd toward his mule. “Mind the goat yourself. That animal is possessed. I do not want it chasing our bounty over the ledge.”
“Nor do I, for I am finished chasing animals today.” She massaged her shoulders before her last climb.
Frayed rope sizzled upon her palms as she ascended the side of the ravine. Her muscles bulged as she grabbed hold, pulled, and recaptured the rope. Eliab tugged in rhythm so her footing would not falter.
She slumped to the ground at the top of the ridge. “I hope Jael and Cuzbi have prepared a feast for us so I can rest.”
“You are delusional from your labors.” Eliab grinned and offered her the waterskin.
“Perhaps. But I can dream.” She drank and then let the ewe lap at some water.
Eliab placed their provisions on his mule and then helped her mount. He hesitated before lifting the ewe onto her lap.
“I didn’t know you wanted anything from me.” His hand rested on hers. “Surely I could have found something more worthy than injured livestock.”
She struggled with a reply. At that moment, Eliab seemed vulnerable. A man desperate to make a bad situation better. He had acted honorably toward her and kept her a virgin, but this gift was sought to ease her conscience, not because she had decided to become his wife.
“I don’t know what I desire.” She met his gaze, but she could tell her truth was not what he expected. Should she be more forthright? Should she reveal that something, some feeling, was beginning to take hold of her? She almost told him that she cared about his future. That his lineage would be a blessing to the tribe of Benjamin. To Israel. But her compliment went unspoken. How could she speak of fondness for a Benjamite when her brothers’ bodies lay buried near Gibeah? Where was God’s protection for the daughters of Ephraim?
The ewe stirred and grazed Naomi’s thigh with its hoof. Consoling the mother during their trip home would be a grand task. She cradled the animal’s weight as her mule trotted after Eliab’s mount.
Balking at its tether, the young goat made a game of ramming the hind legs of Eliab’s mule. The mule kicked in displeasure and sent pebbles cascading over the edge of the trail. Isa was right to leave the beast behind. When the path widened, the goat snarled itself in a bramble bush.
Eliab jumped from his mount. “I am tempted to set this one free.” He untangled the animal, and before he renewed his handhold, it charged down the path. “I may have to tuck that menace under my arm.” His sandals pounded the baked dirt as he hurried to catch the wayward goat.
When she turned to watch Eliab’s pursuit, a sound like the rush of waves filled the air. Pathway disintegrated before her eyes. Soil cascaded down the cliff like a waterfall. Her mule stutter-stepped sideways. Tightening the reins, she grabbed hold of the mane and attempted to secure the ewe with her chest.
She glanced backward. Eliab and the pesky goat were nowhere in sight. A cloud of dust hovered in the spot she had seen them last.
Particles of dirt swarmed her nostrils. “Eliab?” She practically coughed out his name.
No response.
Bellowing again, she waited for an answer.
None came forth.
12
Naomi covered her mouth and stifled a scream. Her hand shook, tapping her nose and cheeks. Would more path collapse? Her face grew hot. Blinking, she squinted through the haze of dust clouding the air. Tears trickled down her cheeks. Why would God allow a tragedy after an afternoon of blessing? Was not Eliab a son of Abraham? Had he not prayed for God’s provision and received it?
“Eliab?” Her voice rasped through her suddenly reed-thin throat. She beckoned again, in soothing tones so as not to frighten the mules. Please answer me. She had kept Eliab at a distance, hoping for a chance to sort out her future, but she did not want him taken from her altogether. Surely not taken from this life. Where would she find another Benjamite willing to wait and postpone the marriage bed?
“God, I am confused,” she mumbled. “Am I to leave? I have a mount and water, but where do I go? I am lost in these hills. Only Eliab knows the way.” The ewe gave a soft bleat as a chorus to her prayer. She petted her gift and came forth with a hand full of fur. “Please spare Eliab’s life. If you want me to speak truth, I will.” Her heart swelled and rallied against her ribs. “I am fond of him.”
Clutching the ewe tight, she jumped from the mule and forced herself to fall on her side and avoid crushing her gift. Air rushed from her lungs as her shoulder struck hard ground. She knelt while pain ricocheted down the length of her arm. Settling the ewe off the trail, she secured the mules and eased along the cliff with her back to the jagged rock. Closer and closer she inched to where Eliab had fallen. Her prayers for a rescue would be in vain if Eliab perished, for Gera would snatch her from Berek’s door.
Flat to the ground, she crawled near the path’s edge. “Lord, I am doing what is good and right in Your sight. May it go well with me as You have promised.” She peered to see if Eliab had survived.
Several yards below her, he lay sprawled on a ledge. A blanket of rocks covered him from neck to feet. Blood covered his face, but she did not see a stream of scarlet beneath the stones. His eyes, closed and still, did not flutter in response to her calls. Had death taken him? She spoke his name again. Nothing. Tiny bumps spread like a rash over her arms.
“Lord, do not abandon me in these hills. I need Eliab.”
A remembrance came to mind of her father dousing her brothers after they had drunk too much wine. She retraced her steps to Eliab’s mount and untied the waterskin. Praying no more soil would crumble underfoot, she dragged herself to the trail’s edge and tipped the skin.
Water puddled beside Eliab’s cheek and splashed over his face. He flinched. Debris slid from his chest and a groan rumbled forth.
Her chest sank into the loosened soil. “Thank You, Adonai. He lives.”
She rained more water onto Eliab, flooding his mouth.
His eyes flew open. Sputtering, he started to rise.
“Don’t move,” she called out. “You’re on a ledge.”
Eliab’s stare fixed on her as if she were a seraph. “Where—” He choked as he started to speak.
She reached out a hand to stop his movement. “Stay still. The ground gave way when you chased the goat. It is your turn to be roped.” She tried to encourage him with a smile, but her lips quivered, and she feared her grin seemed more like a grimace.
His head turned slowly as he assessed his circumstance. “You’re here.” His words were spoken softly as if by a dying man.
“Yes, yes, I am. We must take care of one another. Are we not God’s people?” The false cheerfulness in her words rang hollow.
“I do not feel favored by God.” As he rolled toward the cliff, an exasperated curse rose toward the clouds. He knelt and clutched at his head. “The land is moving.”
She dug her fingernails into the dirt to calm the storm swirling inside her chest. “Eliab. Look at me.” Her voice gr
ew firm. “You cannot leave me here alone. You carried me into this wilderness; now return me to East Gibeah.” She hoped her chastising would keep him alert, for an image of him plunging to his death would haunt her all of her days.
He struggled to stand, swaying like a cattail caught in the trade winds. “You want to go back?”
“Be still. I am getting the rope.”
Hastening light-footed, she secured a line around the mule’s neck and tugged the animal closer to the trail’s new edge, but not too close. She and Eliab did not need the earth to cave in again. Tossing an end of the rope to Eliab, she said, “Grab hold.”
He caught the coil with his left hand. His right arm hung limp at his side.
“Can you control the mule?” he asked.
She huffed at his question. “I rode all day and wrestled livestock.”
“What if you whip the animal to pull my weight and cannot stop?” Eliab secured the rope around his waist. “It will drag me until it tires.”
Naomi’s stomach heaved at the horrific image. “I will halt the mule. God is with us.”
“If God is with us, why am I down here?”
She laughed and the sound struck her as odd. For in her grief-stricken family, she could not remember the last time she had burst forth openly. “Have you not learned to accept the woe with the blessing?” Her chuckle halted as she wondered if Eliab was a blessing.
He groaned, but she thought it was more from her jest than from his pain. “Pull me up.”
She mounted Eliab’s mule and slapped its rump, all the while bellowing, “Hah!”
The animal lurched forward, then balked at carting Eliab’s weight. She used her hand as a whip, lashing out in panic until her palm turned scarlet. The mule bucked. Commands flew from her mouth. Without warning, the load lessened and the mule darted forward, almost tossing her between its ears.
Building Benjamin Page 7