What Is a Goel? The Kinsman Redeemer

 

What is a Goel – a Hebrew participle often found in the Old Testament, referring to the act of redeeming. It can also mean “to act as a kinsman,” or “to do the part of the next of kin.” These close relatives are called kinsman redeemers, and one of the major duties of these redeemers is to purchase the property of poor relatives or redeem the property from the person who purchased or placed a lien on the property. There is a process of figuring out how to calculate the value, recorded in Leviticus 25:23-34, dealing with the number of years before the year of Jubilee (which happens every 50 years on Israel’s calendar, Leviticus 25:8-22).

One of the great illustrations in the Bible of this is in Ruth. Boaz acts as the kinsman redeemer to Naomi and Ruth, but in a special circumstance. To understand this would take some explanation and perhaps a reading of Ruth (it only takes 15 minutes to listen to it here). Naomi, her husband, Elimelech, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, sojourn in Moab to wait out a famine in Bethlehem. In the sojourn, Elimelech dies, Mahlon and Chilion marry Moabite women (Mahlon marries Ruth), then both of Naomi’s sons die. Naomi returns to Bethlehem with Ruth as a destitute woman in need of severe help. Ruth is also now an impoverished widow and a foreigner in Israel.

How Boaz chooses to redeem is to treat the property belonging to Naomi’s son and Ruth’s husband, Mahlon. On these terms Ruth is now included in the redemption process. Also, as a part of the levirate marriage custom, Ruth’s new husband will give her first husband an heir, so his line will not die out (to know more on levirate marriage, check out Genesis 38 and Deuteronomy 25:5-10). Ruth and Boaz have a son, Obed, who is now considered, in a sense, as being the son of Mahlon and Ruth. However, in the biblical genealogies, Obed is the son of Boaz (and Ruth) and in the line that connects Judah to King David (Ruth 4:18-22), then David to Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:6-16; Luke 3:23-31).

The importance of this to us is in God redeeming us through the sacrifice of His Son. We are in debt because of our sin, and our very lives are at stake. It would be impossible for us to pay this debt in this life, or even in eternity. We are condemned to eternal damnation in Hell, and if no one else pays the debt for us, that's how it is. But God, through His mercy, sent Jesus to this world to be the perfect sacrifice necessary to pay this debt. By placing our faith in Him, Jesus saves us! He cancels out the debt we owe by purchasing us and ransoming us with His blood. We have been delivered from the eternal condemnation we deserve. Further, He spiritually cleanses our hearts of any impurities and declares us to be as righteous as Himself. This is spelled out in Ephesians 2:1-10, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, and 1 Peter 1:18-19 (among many other verses).

 

Sources:

Bible Gateway article: https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Goel

Bible Hub: https://biblehub.com/topical/g/goel.htm

Gospel Coalition article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/redemption/#:~:text=Redemption%20(apolutr%C3%B3sis)%20refers%20supremely%20to,bondage%20and%20condemnation%20of%20sin.

Barnes' Bible Charts: https://www.biblecharts.org