# H1350 - goel **Strong's:** [H1350](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1350/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** go-ayl' (participle); gaw-al' (verbal root) **Part of speech:** Hebrew verb in qal stem; the *participle* form *goel* functions as a substantive ("redeemer / kinsman-redeemer") **Frequency:** ~104 occurrences (verb + participle); concentrated in [Leviticus 25](/codex/leviticus-25/), [Numbers 35](/codex/numbers-35/), Ruth, Job, [Isaiah 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-66, Psalms. **LXX equivalents:** λυτρόω (*lytroō*, to ransom), ῥύομαι (*rhyomai*, to rescue / deliver), ἀγχιστεύω (*anchisteuō*, kinship-act), ἀγχιστεύς (*anchisteus*, near-kinsman). The Greek-Christian resonance flows primarily into λύτρον / λυτρωτής / ἀπολύτρωσις, the NT redemption-vocabulary. ## Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs) 1. **To redeem / buy back**, the legal-covenantal act of restoring property, freedom, or relationship to its rightful state by paying the required price. 2. **To act as kinsman-redeemer (goel)**, the Israelite institution by which the nearest qualifying male relative was obligated to redeem property, persons, or family lines lost through poverty, slavery, or death ([Lev 25](/codex/leviticus-25/); [Num 35](/codex/numbers-35/); [Ruth 2](/codex/ruth-2/)-4). 3. **To avenge bloodguilt**, the *go'el ha-dam* (avenger of blood), the kinsman-redeemer's duty to pursue the murderer of a relative ([Num 35:19](/codex/numbers-35-19/), [21](/codex/numbers-35-21/); [Deut 19:6](/codex/deuteronomy-19-6/), [12](/codex/deuteronomy-19-12/); [Josh 20:3](/codex/joshua-20-3/), [5](/codex/joshua-20-5/), [9](/codex/joshua-20-9/)). Distinct from but adjacent to property-redemption. 4. **To deliver / rescue (figurative)**, God as Israel's *goel* (especially in [Isaiah 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-66, [Job 19:25](/codex/job-19-25/)). Theological extension of the kinship-redemption institution. ## Theological force, the kinsman-redeemer institution The *goel* is one of the most theologically loaded institutions in the [Mosaic Law](/codex/mosaic-law/). To act as *goel*, the redeemer must be: 1. **A near kinsman**, a blood relative within the family / clan (the order of priority specified in [Lev 25:48-49](/codex/leviticus-25-48-49/): brother, then uncle, then cousin, then any blood relative). 2. **Willing**, the duty was *obligation*, not option (cf. [Ruth 4:3-6](/codex/ruth-4-3-6/) where the nearer kinsman declines, opening the way for Boaz). 3. **Able**, the *goel* must have the resources to pay the redemption price ([Lev 25:25-26](/codex/leviticus-25-25-26/), "if a man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means…"). The institution operated across four redemption-objects: **land** ([Lev 25:23-28](/codex/leviticus-25-23-28/)), **persons** ([Lev 25:47-55](/codex/leviticus-25-47-55/), kin enslaved to a foreigner), **bloodguilt** ([Num 35:9-34](/codex/numbers-35-9-34/), the cities of refuge governed the *go'el ha-dam*), and **levirate marriage continuity** ([Ruth 4](/codex/ruth-4/), though the levirate proper is [Deut 25:5-10](/codex/deuteronomy-25-5-10/)). **The Christological extension.** The *goel* institution becomes the OT type of which Christ is the antitype: - **A near kinsman**, Christ assumes human nature ([Heb 2:14-17](/codex/hebrews-2-14-17/), "since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same... He had to be made like His brethren in all things"). - **Willing**, Christ voluntarily lays down His life ([John 10:18](/codex/john-10-18/); [Philippians 2.5-11](/codex/philippians-2-5-11/)). - **Able**, Christ's death has *infinite worth* by virtue of His divine nature ([Heb 9:14](/codex/hebrews-9-14/), "the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God"). The classical [Job 19:25](/codex/job-19-25/) anticipation, "I know that my Redeemer (*goali*) lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth", is read by the Christian tradition as messianic-eschatological. *Goel* in [Isaiah 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-66 (43:14; 44:6, 24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7, 26; 54:5, 8; 59:20; 60:16; 63:16) becomes the dominant divine title for YHWH-as-Redeemer of Israel, the linguistic ground that prepares the NT's *lytrōtēs / apolytrōsis* Christology. ## Notable verses ### The kinsman-redeemer institution - **[Leviticus 25:25-28](/codex/leviticus-25-25-28/)**, redemption of land lost to poverty - **[Leviticus 25:47-55](/codex/leviticus-25-47-55/)**, redemption of an Israelite enslaved to a foreigner - **[Numbers 35:9-34](/codex/numbers-35-9-34/)**, *go'el ha-dam* (avenger of blood) and the cities of refuge - **[Deuteronomy 25:5-10](/codex/deuteronomy-25-5-10/)**, levirate marriage (technically a different obligation but adjacent; preserves family line) ### The Book of Ruth, the institution dramatized - **[Ruth 2:20](/codex/ruth-2-20/)**, Boaz introduced as "one of our redeemers" (*mig-go'aleinu*) - **[Ruth 3:9](/codex/ruth-3-9/), [12](/codex/ruth-3-12/)**, "you are a *goel*" (Ruth's request); Boaz acknowledges another nearer kinsman - **[Ruth 4:1-12](/codex/ruth-4-1-12/)**, the gate-scene; the nearer kinsman declines; Boaz redeems ### Job, the Redeemer who lives - **[Job 19:25](/codex/job-19-25/)**, "I know that my Redeemer (*goali*) lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth", read messianically; the eschatological-personal Redeemer ### Isaiah, YHWH as goel of Israel - **[Isaiah 41:14](/codex/isaiah-41-14/)**, "your Redeemer (*goalech*) is the Holy One of Israel" - **[Isaiah 43:14](/codex/isaiah-43-14/)**, "your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel" - **[Isaiah 44:6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/)**, "thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts" - **[Isaiah 49:7](/codex/isaiah-49-7/), [26](/codex/isaiah-49-26/); 54:5, 8; 59:20; 60:16; 63:16**, the cluster of Servant-Songs and consolation-passages where YHWH is named *goel* - **[Isaiah 59:20](/codex/isaiah-59-20/)**, "a Redeemer will come to Zion", Paul cites this in [Romans 11:26](/codex/romans-11-26/) ### Psalms - **[Psalms 19:14](/codex/psalms-19-14/)**, "O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer (*goali*)" - **[Psalms 78:35](/codex/psalms-78-35/)**, "they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer" - **[Psalms 103:4](/codex/psalms-103-4/)**, "who redeems your life from the pit" ### NT redemption-vocabulary derived from *goel*-tradition - **[Mark 10:45](/codex/mark-10-45/)**, "the Son of Man came... to give His life as a ransom (*lytron*) for many" - **[Galatians 3:13](/codex/galatians-3-13/)**, "Christ redeemed us (*exēgorasen*) from the curse of the Law" - **[Galatians 4:4-5](/codex/galatians-4-4-5/)**, "born of a woman... that He might redeem (*exagorasē*) those under the Law" - **[Hebrews 2:14-17](/codex/hebrews-2-14-17/)**, Christ's incarnational kinship-claim as the qualifying ground of His redemption - **[1 Peter 1:18-19](/codex/1-peter-1-18-19/)**, "you were not redeemed (*elytrōthēte*) with perishable things... but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" - **[Revelation 5:9](/codex/revelation-5-9/)**, "You purchased (*ēgorasas*) for God with Your blood men from every tribe..." ## Patristic / scholarly note The *goel* institution receives extensive reflection in patristic and rabbinic Christology. Athanasius (*De Incarnatione* 9, 20-21) reads Christ's incarnation as the assumption of kinship necessary to redeem from within: "He surrendered His body to death in place of all... He being God, became Himself the offering of His own body." Gregory of Nyssa (*Catechetical Oration*) develops the kinship-and-ransom motif. Augustine (*De Trinitate* IV) pulls the *goel* tradition into his treatment of the cross. The Reformation tradition's penal-substitutionary framing is heavily indebted to the *goel* logic, Calvin (*Institutes* II.16) and Owen (*The Death of Death*, 1647) both emphasize the **kinship-ability-willingness** triad as the Christological precondition. Modern Reformed treatments (B.B. Warfield; J.I. Packer's *What Did the Cross Achieve?*; Leon Morris, *The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross*, 1955) continue this line. The *goel* / *anchisteus* / *lytrōtēs* lexical chain is the OT-Hebrew-to-NT-Greek linguistic bridge for the entire redemption-doctrine of Christianity. Without the kinsman-redeemer institution as backdrop, the cross's "redemption" language is metaphor without ground; with it, the language is *legal-covenantal precision* applied to the cosmic-soteriological reality. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Anchors: [Job 19:25](/codex/job-19-25/) (the Redeemer-who-lives anticipation); [Isaiah 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-66 cluster; [Ruth](/codex/ruth/) book. ## See also - [G3083 - lytron](/codex/g3083-lytron/), *lytron* (ransom), the central NT correspondent - [G0629 - apolytrosis](/codex/g0629-apolytrosis/), *apolytrōsis* (redemption), the deliverance-act vocabulary - [G4990 - soter](/codex/g4990-soter/), *sōtēr* (Savior) - [H3467 - yasha](/codex/h3467-yasha/), *yasha* (to save), adjacent salvation-vocabulary - [H3724 - kopher](/codex/h3724-kopher/), *kopher* (ransom), narrower redemption-price term - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), the doctrinal framework grounded in the *goel* logic - [Christology](/codex/christianity/), the synthesis hub - Passages: [Job 19:25](/codex/job-19-25/), [Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/), [Mark 10.45](/codex/mark-10-45/), [Galatians 3.13](/codex/galatians-3-13/), [1 Peter 1:18-19](/codex/1-peter-1-18-19/)