Kinsman

The kinsman-redeemer (Hebrew gōʾēl, from a root meaning to redeem or reclaim) was a specific legal institution in Israelite law whereby the nearest male relative had both the right and the obligation to redeem the property, person, or honor of a kinsman in distress. The gōʾēl could purchase back land sold under economic duress (Leviticus 25:25), redeem a kinsman sold into slavery (Leviticus 25:47–49), avenge the blood of a murdered relative, and perform levirate marriage to raise up offspring for a deceased brother (Deuteronomy 25:5–10).

The Book of Ruth dramatizes the kinsman-redeemer institution through Boaz's redemption of Naomi's land and marriage to Ruth, recovering both the family property and the family line through a deceased kinsman. The anonymous nearer kinsman who declined his redemption right because of the complication of marrying Ruth cleared the way for Boaz. Paul's theology of redemption employs kinsman-redeemer imagery: Christ as the one who became related to humanity through the incarnation in order to exercise the redeemer's right, paying the price to liberate those in bondage to sin and death. The gōʾēl theology thus provides one of the richest Old Testament typological backgrounds for the atonement.