Testament first, we have the Hebrew gaal and its derivative geullah; peduth

and its derivatives pidyom and padah; paraq and qanah; and in the New

Testament, we have the Greek lutroo and its derivatives, and agorazo and its

compound exagorazo.  Let us give our close attention to these terms, for they

speak of things which, like the love that prompted them, surpass knowledge.

Gaal.  The earliest reference to a Goel, or a 'KinsmanRedeemer', is

that of Job 19:25, 'I know that my Redeemer liveth', and under the operation

of the law given by Moses the necessity of such a Redeemer was intensified.

The land of Canaan differed from all other lands in this, that it was in a

peculiar sense 'the Lord's', and certain laws such as the observance of the

Sabbatic year, in which no sowing or cultivation were permitted, would of

necessity call for some 'release' in connection with debts, and although the

land was given to Israel as an everlasting inheritance, the human incidence

of death, childless marriage, forfeiture and the pledge of bondservice, all

called for the interposition of the goel, the kinsman-redeemer, the one that

had the right to redeem, he, who as 'the husband's brother', could marry his

brother's childless widow and so raise up his name from the dead, that his

name was not blotted out in Israel.  Added to this was the office of the

avenger of blood.  We have not given chapter and verse for all these details,

but the reader will readily discover the proofs of these assertions for

himself.  We will, however, give a few specimen quotations to show the usage

of the word gaal.  The book of Ruth is particularly rich in its use of this

Hebrew word, where it is translated 'next kinsman', 'near kinsman', 'one who

has the right to redeem' and 'redeem' (Ruth 2:20; 3:9,12,13; 4:4).  The

Jubilee laws given in Leviticus 25 use this Hebrew word for the 'purchase' or

the 'redeeming' of a house or person.  The office of the avenger of blood is

described fairly fully in Numbers 35, and it is this selfsame word that is

used of the Lord Himself in every reference to 'Redeemer' in the A.V. of the

Old Testament.  This fact of itself demands a miracle, the miracle of the

Incarnation.  For if the Scriptural Redeemer be God (Isa. 43:14; 44:6; 54:5)

and at the same time next-of-kin to man, then nothing less than 'God manifest

in the flesh' can satisfy all that is demanded.  If the Lord Jesus Christ is

the Redeemer, He must be both God and Man or the Scriptures will be broken,

and we are left without a Saviour.

Geullah occurs eight times in Leviticus 25, translated 'redemption' and

'redeem'; twice in Ruth, namely in 4:6 'my right' and 4:7 'redeeming'; twice

in Jeremiah, namely in 32:7,8, and once in Ezekiel, namely in 11:15 where it

is translated 'kindred'.  The words peduth, pidyom and padah which are

translated 'redeem', have as their root meaning, 'separation' or 'division'.

We remember the name of the land Padan-Aram, which in the LXX becomes

Mesopotamia and in both languages indicates the land severed off by the two

rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris.  So where the Hebrew of Isaiah 29:22

reads padah 'redeem' the LXX reads aphorizo 'to separate'.  It is this word

padah, which is used by the Psalmist when he said:

'None of them can by any means redeem his brother' (Psa. 49:7),

or in Job where we read:

'He will deliver his soul from going into the pit' (Job 33:28).

It is the 'redemption' money of Numbers 3:49 and the 'ransom' of Exodus

21:30.  The word is used with special regard to its double significance in

Exodus 8:23: