In our last article we enumerated the basic Hebrew words used in the Old Testament

and the Greek words used in the New Testament for redemption, but reserved their

examination for the present study.

Taking the Old Testament first, we have the Hebrew gaal and its derivatives geullah,

peduth and its derivatives pidyom and padah, and finally paraq and qanah; 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, passeth knowledge.

Gaal. The earliest reference to a goel or a "kinsman-redeemer" (see the spelling

suggested in "The Companion Bible") 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 cultivating were permitted, would of necessity call

for some "release" in connexion 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 bond service, all called for the interposition of the goel, the

kinsman-redeemer, the one that had 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 be not blotted out in Israel. Added to this was the office of 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

Jubile laws given in  Lev. 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 Numb. 35: and it is this self same word that is used of the Lord Himself in

every reference to the "Redeemer" in the Authorized Version 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 a 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 be the Redeemer, He must be both God and Man or the

Scriptures will be broken and we left without a Saviour.