These texts give a different picture of Moab, which seems more compatible with the positive evaluation of Moab implied in the story of Ruth, who was herself a Moabite. This is one reason for locating the Narrator in the “golden age of Hebrew narrative” (see above, 2) before the disintegration of Solomon’s later years that the historian blames on the corrupting influence of Moabite religion (1 Kgs. 11:1, 7). In fact, the book of Ruth is a bold challenge to readers in every age to open themselves to