The Goel

His descent into our atmosphere was purposeful.   The human race was tangled in the cords of Death.  We were bound by its Laws.  We were subject to its oppression of the heart.  The forces of angry injustice continually aroused and enslaved us to a need for personal satisfaction.  All of us, amiss the deadly pursuits of others, have lost territory, relationships, investments, integrity, honor, dreams, goals, abilities, affirmation, faith. ….whether they be emotional, mental or physical.  And we have stolen these things as well.  

God has also lost.  Creator God, the Righteous, Holy and Beautiful, did not demand His own losses to be returned.  He forgave.  And. ….drum role please. …..He offered Himself. …His own body, His own blood, His own Spirit. ….as a means of restoring our losses.  Revel.  Gaze.  Be filled with Wonder….  

And He has come to us, not for His own restoration, but for ours.  He has come as a Restorer.  He has come armed with an ancient justice and a stubborn love.  He will do unto us what we ought to have done to Him.  He is armed with a Law set into motion long ago… .a Law we have not known.  All those who trust in the Son for justice will meet this long ago establishment of restoration.  They will meet it Eternally.  Let us consider this lawful act of restoration…

There is a character of the ancient Jewish landscape that best describes the deliverance that Jesus Christ armed Himself with when He descended upon the human race.  It is a family position known as the “Goel” or kinsman redeemer.  The Jewish Law describes the responsibility of the family member most closely related to a victimized individual.  If able, he was to redeem the losses of the victim.  

The Goel was expected to buy a fellow Israelite out of slavery, as described in Leviticus 25:48.  He was expected to be the “avenger of blood”, meaning that he was to hold accountable the murderer of a family member, as described in Numbers 35:19.  He was expected to buy back any family land that has been forfeited if it was within his means, as described in Leviticus 25:25.  And he was expected to carry on the family name of a deceased husband my marrying his childless widow, as described in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.  The administration of the Goel was a safeguard against personal, material and generational losses.

Let me tell you the story of Naomi, Ruth and the Goel…