While one of our daughters was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, she was
often accosted for not being married. After some initial embarrassment and fumbling at
how to respond in her adopted culture, she finally came up with a reasonably satisfying
answer. She was not married, she told her neighbors, because her father had set too high a
bride price and no one was able to pay it!
In one of our lectionary readings today a high bride price is at the heart of the story.
Whoever wished to gain the property of Elimelech and restore it to his widow, Naomi,
