(2) To deliver a kinsman taken into captivity, or sold into bondage (Gen. 14:14-16).

(3) To avenge the death of a murdered kinsman (Num. 35:12).

(4) To marry the widow of a deceased brother who was childless (The book of Ruth and Deut. 25:5-10).

Job declared that he not only knew that he had such a Kinsman-Redeemer, but that He `liveth', and that He shall

stand `at the latter day upon the earth'. Into the perplexity and the uncertainty that form the continual background

and problem of the book of Job, enter one or two great certainties, which Job could say he `knew'. Although these

do not solve the problems that Job and his friends were facing, they provide an anchorage until `the day dawns and

the shadows flee away'. Job was convinced that in some unknown way he would be `justified'. Here is his

`Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.

Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him: but I will maintain mine own ways before Him.

He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before Him.

Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.

Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I KNOW that I shall be justified' (Job 13:13-18).

Job was no hypocrite, however wrong he may have been in pressing his case; it was not for covering some secret

sin that he was suffering so deeply. He `knew' that his Kinsman-Redeemer lived; of that Job was positive. Even in

the midst of confessed ignorance and perplexity, he was convinced that God knew and therein he could rest:

`Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him:

On the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him:

He hideth Himself on the right hand, that

I cannot see Him: But HE KNOWETH the way that I take:

When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold' (Job 23:8-10).

Here then is the answer to the second great problem of Job, the purport and the goal of his baffling experiences and

intolerable afflictions. And lastly, his confession, after the speech of Elihu, and after the revelation of the power of

the Creator Himself:

`I KNOW that Thou canst do every thing ... I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes' (42:2-6).

Job knew one or two basic doctrines in spite of all the advice of his friends and in spite of all his ignorance which

he admitted. These facts underlie the whole purpose of the ages, and provide the key to the problem of good and

evil that perplex and baffle believer and unbeliever alike to this day.

When in later years Isaiah filled his prophecy with the glories of the Redeemer, it is the goel the `Kinsman-

Redeemer' that is always in view. No other word is translated `Redeemer' in Isaiah. This Redeemer is the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel, the King of Israel and the Lord of Hosts, beside Whom there is no God; the One Who

stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by Himself; the Mighty One of Jacob; the God of

the whole earth; Whose name is Everlasting. None but `God Himself' can be the Redeemer visualized by Isaiah, yet

the very office of Redeemer involves the relationship of `next of kin' with man himself. Here is a problem that

baffles human wit, but is solved by Isaiah himself as he speaks of Christ:

`For unto us a CHILD is born, unto us a SON is given ... and His name shall be ... THE MIGHTY GOD' (Isa. 9:6).

The Virgin's Son, Emmanuel, `God with us', is not only the answer to this problem, but is the answer to the

whole of the problem of the ages, of which the book of Job is a wonderful exposition. Job confessed that not only

did he have such a glorious Kinsman-Redeemer, but that He was `alive'. Job had been brought so low that he had

cursed the day of his birth; and again and again used the words `grave', `death' and `dust'. In the midst of this most

evident mortality he sees One Who is `Alive', and Who will continue to live, for he passes from the immediate