It may appear in the eyes of some readers that a series of articles upon "Redemption"

can be intended only for those who are in need of the first principles of the truth, and that

those to whom The Berean Expositor chiefly addresses its testimony may pass these

articles by without much loss. We believe, however, that some of the most advanced

readers of this magazine entertain views that have come down the age as truth, but which

will not stand the test of impartial scriptural investigation, and if this should be so, it

necessarily follows that our understanding of the whole purpose of the ages must suffer,

and our views on many related themes be distorted.

It is possible that some doctrines which have been held very tenaciously may be

seriously called in question, and that other and perhaps neglected aspects will have to

take a more prominent place. We therefore trust that all our readers will realize the

fundamental importance of the subject and will, as a result, be the more desirous that the

teaching of the Scriptures shall be accepted in full. It is not possible to consider the

teaching of Scripture with regard to Redemption, without also taking into account the

teaching of the same Word as to the Redeemer. Redemption is not an abstract thing, it is

the work of a Personal Redeemer. That Redeemer is set forth in clear, unmistakable

characters, and when we have grasped the essential conditions that had to be fulfilled

before one could become a Redeemer, we shall at the same time grasp more fully the

scope of Redemption itself.

In the A.V. O.T. there is but one word translated Redeemer, that word being Goel.

The book which most vividly portrays the Scriptural features of the Redeemer is the book

of Ruth. A certain man left Bethlehem-Judah, by reason of famine, and went into Moab,

taking with him his wife Naomi and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. There Elimelech

dies, and the two sons marry. They also die, and Naomi, hearing that the Lord had

visited His people with bread, arises to return to Bethlehem. The two daughters-in-law

go with her, but one, Orpah, turns back, Ruth alone accompanying Naomi back to

Bethlehem, arriving at the beginning of barley harvest, and therefore at the time of the

A kinsman of Naomi's husband, a man of wealth, named Boaz, owned fields of corn,

and into this man's field Ruth goes to glean. Boaz deals very kindly with her on account

of her faithful conduct toward Naomi. When Ruth returned with the result of her day's

gleaning and told Naomi of the attitude of Boaz, Naomi praised the Lord, and said, "The

man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen" (Ruth 2: 20). The A.V. margin reads

"One that hath right to redeem". Acting upon Naomi's instructions Ruth lies at the feet

of Boaz on the threshing floor, and at midnight upon being discovered Ruth answers, "I

am Ruth thine handmaid, spread therefore thy wing over thine handmaid, for thou art a