Part four in a loose, non-chronological series, this episode of The Spirit of the Law focuses on the kinsman-redeemer, one who is a close relative with the legal right, per Torah, to restore or preserve that which was lost by his family members. The spiritual substance of this law has immense and eternal implications.
Other Videos in This Series
View Transcript
THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW PART 4: THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER
The body of laws that Yah provided to the nation of Israel were very specific concerning the rights of the next-of-kin. If a man or woman had a living blood relative who was nearest to them in terms of birth order, that person was endowed with certain rights and was in effect obligated to fulfill the law via the office he occupied. He was known as the gaal, word H1350, meaning “kinsman-redeemer.” But gaal is also sometimes translated “avenger” of blood, and we will see why.
In attempting to spiritualize the meaning of the office of the gaal, Christians have removed the main requirement that qualified one to be a gaal, or kinsman-redeemer: actual human blood. The kinsman-redeemer, according to Torah, had to be a living, literal blood relative of those who had become disadvantaged, enslaved, or had been wronged in some way. Even its spiritual equivalent must be connected to blood, for it is the law.
We see the office of the kinsman-redeemer being enforced in the book of Ruth.
20And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yah, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”
—Ruth 2:20
We covered this story in our LKP Scripture Reading video, Boaz Marries Ruth. At any rate, the phrase, “one of our redeemers” is written mig·gō·’ă·lê·nū, with gaal—kinsman-redeemer—being at its heart. But let us look at the law surrounding this office of the gaal, which lays out his qualifications and duties. For starters, Yah introduces these laws by referring to the land the Israelites were to inherit.
23“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. 24And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.”
—Leviticus 25:23 – 24
The word “redemption” used here is gaalah, word H1353, a feminine noun whose root is gaal, and it means roughly, a kin’s right of redemption. This leads us into the next verse of Leviticus 25:
25“If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest of kin shall come and redeem what his brother has sold.”
—Leviticus 25:25
Here, we see that land is of great value, and should not be stripped from the family to whom it was granted by right, even if certain future members of that family were to irresponsibly divest themselves of that land. Selling even a mere portion of the land meant that a kinsman-redeemer had to be called in to restore it to the family. This law prevented what we see today: Gentiles acquiring vast tracts of land that is held by a few wealthy hands, while the majority of society is forced to rent or lease property from them, usually in densely populated areas.
But as we see from the first two verses we cited in Leviticus 25, Israel did not truly own the land, nor do the Gentiles today. The land is Yah’s. The people of Israel were to be his permanent tenants by making use of and occupying the land. Israel of course did not abide by this law to perfection, and many lands were acquired by a few Israelite hands in ancient times. But there was also a provision in place for this: the year of jubilee, which is mentioned a few verses back:
13“In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property.”
—Leviticus 25:13
And verse 8 adds that each person was to return to their own clan as well. This portion of the law was meant to reverse the act of a few hands acquiring large personal estates, since families who had lost rights to land in some way could rightfully return to their former land in the time of jubilee. The law allowed for lease terms rather than outright sales of land, and that term was a maximum of 50 years, after which families were to return to their original land. Had Israel remained faithful and abided by these laws, each clan within each tribe would have lived rightfully on designated land set aside solely for their use in perpetuity. None of the children of Israel, therefore, would have been landless, as many are today. Poverty as well as the acquisition of vast wealth would have been minimized since a community would have existed, with its individual members equally given to agricultural and pastoral efforts. There is no evidence in Scripture, however, that Israelites ever celebrated a jubilee prior to being exiled from the Land of Promise.
So, the first duty of the office of the kinsman-redeemer related to territory, in that he was to restore land or property to his family. The second duty of his office related to the redemption of an actual person, in that he was to buy back a family member from slavery:
47“If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s clan, 48then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him.”
—Leviticus 25:47 – 49
Bear in mind that this was not chattel slavery, along the lines of the colonial variety we covered in the Churchianity podcast series, and which is not condoned by Scripture. This was a different kind of slavery, permitted by Torah, where one was almost like a hired worker. In fact, concerning the Israelite slave, who had been rendered thus in the land, the law stated plainly that the master …
53“… shall treat him as a worker hired year by year. He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight.”
—Leviticus 25:53
And it was slavery from which a Hebrew could be redeemed via a price that was based on the period between the date of purchase and the next jubilee. If a kinsman-redeemer did not redeem this slave, or if he could not secure his own purchase price, the law allowed him and his children to go free in the year of jubilee, as stated in verse 54. Note also that this law relates solely to an Israelite who has voluntarily sold himself into this slavery or servitude for a fixed period. But it is in fact slavery, since the word used in reference to it is makar, word H4376, in the sense of selling someone into slavery. It is the same word used in Genesis 37:28, where we see Joseph’s brothers selling him (makar) to the Ishmaelites.
There is no law in Torah that allows anyone to sell an Israelite into this kind of (makar) slavery, thus Jacob’s brothers did so in violation of Torah, which was known to Abraham, as stated in Genesis 26:5. The laws in Exodus 21, which refer to Hebrews being sold into slavery do not concern the term makar—which is only used 80 times in Scripture—but another Hebrew word, ebed, word H5650, which refers to a servant, like that of a household, and is used 800 times in Scripture. Ebed is used in reference to Egypt being a house of slavery, or bondage, in Exodus 13:3, and it also pictures us as servants of Yah, as used in 2 Kings 9:7. But Israelites were strictly forbidden to own other Israelites as slaves, in the sense of makar, or ebed. They could only hire one another as workers for a period of six years, per Exodus 21:2. Leviticus 25 states:
39“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells [makar] himself to you, you shall not make him labor as a slave [ebed]: 40he shall be with you as a hired worker [sakir, word H7916] and as a sojourner. He shall work for you until the year of the jubilee.”
—Leviticus 25:39 – 40
This is why it is so important to look at the original Hebrew words and their intended meanings and senses via a decent lexicon, as we explain in the FAQ on our website. But in short, if an Israelite voluntarily sold himself into (makar) slavery, a kinsman-redeemer could buy him and thus shorten his term of service according to the laws governing the land of Israel.
The third and final duty of the kinsman-redeemer defines him as the gaal hadam, or, according to sense 1. e. of H1350, the avenger of blood. The term should read “redeemer” of blood, however, to be more accurate. Murder committed in malice against an Israelite was grounds for an avenger, or redeemer of blood (gaal hadam), to take the life of the murderer, as commanded in Numbers 35:20 – 21 and Deuteronomy 19:11 – 13. As next-of-kin, the gaal hadam was also within his rights to take the life of a murderer if an instrument of murder was used to kill an Israelite family member, per Numbers 35:16 – 18. The purpose for this law was to expiate or atone for the guilt of the shed blood of the innocent, which polluted the land:
33You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
—Numbers 35:33
In summary, this was the three-fold office of the kinsman-redeemer: he was to buy back alienated land, purchase the freedom of a relative who willingly sold himself into slavery, and he was to atone for the shed blood of an innocent relative. Keep these three duties in mind as we move forward. One thing must be made clear before we progress, however. Following the captivities of Israel, and their eventual scattering, the law of the gaal, as well as several other laws—as pointed out in part one of this series—are dormant on earth. This particular law is now embodied in Yah, who fulfills its ultimate spirit. And by Yah, I mean Yahushua. To understand this, you would have to read our article on the Kingdom Preppers website titled, “ ‘Yah’ the Father, and ‘Yah’ the Son.”
To briefly summarize, many passages that speak of Yah in what Christians mistakenly refer to as the “Old Testament”—what we call the Pre-Messianic Scriptures—are actually referring to the person of Yahushua. Both the Father and Son are referred to as “Yah Elohim.” This may seem a bit confusing but, again, we explain this in the article. So please read it in addition to viewing this video. That said, among the prophets, Isaiah recorded multiple instances of Yah (i.e., Yeshua) referring to himself as the ultimate Gaal, or Kinsman-Redeemer, of Israel.
14“Thus says Yah, your Redeemer [Gaal], the Pure One of Israel….”
—Isaiah 43:14
Similar statements are made in various chapters of Isaiah, but Jeremiah also uses the designation in referring to Yahushua:
33“Thus says Yah of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. 34Their Redeemer is strong; Yah of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
—Jeremiah 50:33 – 34
Here Jeremiah uses a Hebrew determiner in the noun, rendering it, Gaalam, meaning “their Redeemer.” Remember that the word refers to a physical kinsman; a close blood relative. This cannot be fulfilled merely in spirit. This is why we have the genealogy of Yeshua in the Messianic Writings, which shows his descent from the line of Adam, Abraham, and King David, cementing his highborn status even in this life, and qualifying him as the nation’s Gaal.
This law is Israelite business, in other words. The office of the gaal has nothing to do with the nations. This is between Yah and Israel, and so cannot be converted to some Christian law of redemption. If the nations join themselves to Israel and become one with them in purpose, then the law of the gaal extends to these foreigners thereby. Yeshua is the Redeemer of Israel. He was born to a special lineage, in a specific clan and house for this very reason. It is all about blood ties here. And being the substance of the shadow representation of earthly kinsman-redeemers, Yeshua bought Israel’s physical and spiritual freedom with his blood, not with money. Hence the wise words of Peter:
18[Y]ou were ransomed [redeemed] from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19but with the precious blood of Mashiach, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20He was foreknown before the foundation of the world….
—1 Peter 1:18 – 20
This is backed up by Isaiah, who wrote:
3For thus says Yah: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”
—Isaiah 52:3
But this goes beyond earthly captivities, where nations like Assyria and Babylon held us captive. It goes even beyond spiritual Babylon, for we have become slaves to a greater evil.
34Yeshua answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
—John 8:34
To this, the emissary Peter adds:
19For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
—2 Peter 2:19
So, while our national Gaal has to be a close blood relative in the physical sense, what he is freeing us from does not have to be physical. Being free from earthly captivities is a lovely thought, but when that is accomplished, sin will remain, as well is its corrupting results. You see, once you have sinned, whether you repent and turn from those sins or not, the ill effects of your initial sin will continue to do its work. If you are unfaithful to a spouse, repenting and apologizing will not undo that act or remove the betrayal. If you commit murder and repent in earnest, the victim will not be miraculously resurrected. In other words, we are all slaves to the effects of the sins we commit, and this is true in a collective sense concerning the very first sin that entered the world through Adam. We are all still subject to pain, sickness, disease, and death as a result of that first sin. This will not change with any liberty from earthly captivities. No earthly gaal can free us from this kind of slavery.
Going back to Adam, however, we see that he and his wife were given a special mandate in Genesis 1.
28And Elohim blessed them. And Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
—Genesis 1:28
They were to “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over” all of its various creatures. In Genesis 2:16 – 17, Yah gave Adam one command: he was to eat of every tree of the garden except one. In verse 1 of chapter 3, we encounter a stranger, or foreigner: the craftiest beast of the field, a serpent possessed by the Adversary, who entices disobedience to that one command. The serpent makes it seem as though the pure pair are missing out on a wealth of knowledge by abstaining from the one tree. They are in fact poor souls being robbed of something deemed forbidden. By verse 6, Adam is voluntarily selling himself into bondage through sin, and thus gives up all rights to the land that was his through the original mandate.
Recall Yeshua’s words here: “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” And Peter’s: “For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” Recall too that, the serpent was “crafty” or “shrewd,” and verses 4 and 5 of Genesis 3 show the cunning intent of this deceiver, who was lying in wait for the innocent pair. The events of Genesis trigger all three duties of the office of the great Kinsman-Redeemer. Leviticus 25:25 and 25:47 – 49, which we cited earlier, declare that if a man becomes poor and sells his land or himself to a rich stranger, then a close relative, the gaal, must redeem him. The serpent seemed richer in knowledge than Adam, to whom he sold his land and himself.
Numbers 35:20 – 21 states that if a murderer lies in wait and pushes a man out of hatred or hurls something at him so that he dies, the Gaal Hadam, “Redeemer of Blood,” is to put that murderer to death when he meets him. Emotionally, the Adversay, HaShatan, pushed Adam and Eve in hatred, and hurled deceitful words at them that ultimately caused their deaths. After they were created, they were to live forever, having infinite access to the tree of life. However, Yah warned Adam saying:
17“[B]ut of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
—Genesis 2:17
The emissary Peter, in quoting Psalm 90:4, said:
8A day is like a thousand years to Yah, and a thousand years is like a day.
—2 Peter 3:8
We are told:
5Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.
—Genesis 5:5
That is just shy of a day in the highest spiritual sense. And this is true of all the descendants of Adam, who are forced to suffer the ill effects of his initial disobedience, which inevitably enslaved mankind to sin, alienated all lands of the earth, and brought death upon us at the hands of a cunning murderer. These circumstances have since funneled down to the experiences of the nation Yah has chosen, however. Therefore, at the national level, Israel personally suffered the theft of their land, forced enslavement, and repeated acts of genocide at the hands of its various enemies. These events, though deserved in part—as they voluntarily disobeyed—also triggered the office of the great Kingsman-Redeemer. This is the reason for the language in Joel:
1“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Yahushaphat [meaning, “Yah has judged”]. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.”
—Joel 3:1 – 3
As Israel’s Great Gaal, Yeshua, who has been given all judgment by his Father—according to John 5:22—will soon act on behalf of Israel. This is the reason for the final war he will fight against the nations prior to the millennium. He will act as Israel’s Gaal Hadam, or “Redeemer of Blood” by punishing the nations.
9Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. 10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” 11Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O Yah. 12Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Yahushaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. 14Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of Yah is near in the valley of decision. 15The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 16Yah roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But Yah is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.
—Joel 3:9 – 16
Remember that all of this is on behalf of Israel, who Yeshua loves dearly. His shed blood purchased their redemption, which will restore to them not only what was lost in the Promised Land, but everything that was lost in the garden, including lands, immortal youth, and spiritual liberty from sin. This fact did not escape King David, who wrote in Psalm 103:
1Bless Yah, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his set apart name! 2Bless Yah, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4who redeems [HaGawal] your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
—Psalm 103:1 – 5
And with that, I say, shalom!
Keywords: scripture-study, spirit of the law, letter of the law, Levitical priesthood, Melchizedek priesthood, covenant law, kinsman redeemer, redemption plan, redeem, fall of man, plan of redemption, buy back, redeemed, Judah, physical lineage, 144000, direct descendant
Feedback Form
Companion Article
