gōʾēl

Semantic range

1. 1the near relative obliged to buy back a kinsman's forfeited land
2. 2the relative who redeems a kinsman sold into slavery
3. 3the avenger of blood; the vindicator of a wronged relative
4. 4God as Israel's Redeemer

In Israelite law the gōʾēl was a specific person with specific duties: the nearest kinsman who had both the right and the obligation to recover what a family member had lost. Leviticus 25 lays out the mechanism — land sold under duress reverts, persons sold into servitude are bought back — and the book of Ruth turns the whole legal category into a love story, with Boaz stepping in as gōʾēl for Naomi and Ruth.

Two conditions had to hold: the redeemer must be a kinsman, and he must be able to pay. Both are why the doctrine of the Incarnation is not an ornament to the Atonement but the mechanism of it. Job's great confession — "I know that my redeemer liveth" (Job 19:25) — uses this word, as does Isaiah more than a dozen times.

When Latter-day Saints call Jesus Christ the Redeemer they are speaking family law. He is qualified to redeem because He took our flesh, and He is able to redeem because He is God (see Mosiah 15:1–9; Alma 34:8–12).

Where it appears

• Ruth 3:9–13Boaz as the near kinsman; the entire plot is redemption law.
• Job 19:25"I know that my redeemer liveth."
• Isaiah 41:14"Thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."

See also

• כָּפַרkāphar
• ἀπολύτρωσιςapolytrōsis
• יְשׁוּעָהyəšûʿāh