KINSMAN REDEEMER

גּאל

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Ruth 4:1-22  And Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the kinsman גּאל ] ] of whom Boaz spoke came by. And he said, Such a one! Turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Come sit down here. And they sat down. And he said to the kinsman, Naomi, who has come again out of the country of Moab, sells a parcel of land which was our brother Elimelech's. And I said I will tell it in your ear, saying, Buy it before those who live here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem, redeem it. But if you will not redeem, tell me so that I may know. For there is none to redeem besides you. And I am after you. And he said, I will redeem. And Boaz said, In the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy also from the hand of Ruth of Moab, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance. You redeem my right to yourself, for I cannot redeem. And this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, to confirm everything. A man plucked off his sandal and gave it to his neighbor. And this was a testimony in Israel.

  Therefore the kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself. So he drew off his sandal. And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi. And also Ruth of Moab, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, so that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day. And all the people in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. May Jehovah make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, for these two built the house of Israel. And may you be blessed in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem. And let your house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which Jehovah shall give you of this young woman.    

  And Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. And when he went in to her, Jehovah made her conceive. And she bore a son. And the women said to Naomi, Blessed be Jehovah, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, so that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be to you as a restorer of life, …

  The Book of Ruth gives a delightful account of love in action. The Hebrew גּאל , gâ'al; gaw-al', “kinsman-redeemer”, is a delightful word describing a committed person then and another yet to come.  EBB4