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that the passage may be translated: "One that hath right to redeem." The word
here is Goel* (* - In the Concordance, Goel is found under Gaal, "to redeem".), or
"Kinsman-Redeemer".
The "Kinsman-Redeemer" played an important part in the Hebrew economy and is
referred to in Lev. 25:, where we find the first statement of the law concerning the
redemption of land. Under the law of Moses it was not possible for a man to sell the land
that formed part of his true possession "in perpetuity". In every transaction with regard
to the sale of land, it was compulsory to "grant a redemption" (Lev. 25: 23, 24). If a
man had "sold away" any part of his possession, on account of poverty, his "next of kin"
had the right to redeem it. A special provision was made for the safeguarding of the
inheritance to the rightful family, which is set out at length in Deut. 25: 5-10:
"If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of
the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall take
her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. And it
shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother
which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. And if the man like not to take
his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and
say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel; he
will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of his city shall
call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her:
then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose
his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it
be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall
be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed."
This law was certainly in the minds of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, and its recognition
makes the reading of Ruth 2:-4:, vivid and plain. Before turning to Ruth, however, we
must mention the other aspect of the Kinsman-Redeemer's work--that of the "avenger of
blood". The word Goel is translated "avenger" or "revenger" in 13 passages, and we are
told in Numb. 35: that cities of refuge were provided so that a man could get a
hearing and a trial in the event of having slain another without premeditation. This aspect
of the Kinsman's duty does not, however, come into the story of Ruth.
With the information we have gathered, both as to the various words used for kinship
and the law concerning the kinsman and his brother's widow, let us return now to Ruth
and read the story again in the light of these facts. First of all let us see the structure of
the passage.