Two Conditions

Who may be a goel? Leviticus 25:25 said only “the near one to him.” Further down the chapter, in the case of the brother who has sold himself to a sojourner, the law answers at length. It names, one after another, the people who may redeem him.

Leviticus 25:48-49 after he is sold, a redemption shall be to him; one of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle, or his uncle's son may redeem him, or from the kindred of his flesh (basar בָּשָׂר baw-sawr') from his family may redeem him; or his hand has attained, and he is redeemed.

At first this looks like a simple list of relatives, but it is drawn up with care, and two conditions are written into it.

A List With an Order

The list runs in a fixed order: one of his brothers, his uncle, his uncle’s son, then “the kindred of his flesh (basar) from his family,” and last of all the man’s own hand. It begins with the closest and moves outward. The last relative it can name is the one described as kindred of his flesh. After that there is no one left to name, and the only remaining way is the man himself.

That order matters. If redemption were only a matter of kindness, the law would not need to rank anyone. Any generous neighbor could step in. But the law does not say “anyone who is willing.” It draws a boundary, and the boundary is drawn by blood. Outside the circle of “the kindred of his flesh,” no one has the right.

Flesh of the Same Flesh

The Hebrew phrase behind “the kindred of his flesh” is sheer basaro (שְׁאֵר בְּשָׂרוֹ); in the verse it stands with the preposition mi-, “from,” in front of it: mi-sheer basaro, “from the kindred of his flesh.” Both of its words have to do with flesh. Basar is the ordinary word for flesh, the body. Sheer also means flesh, and in the Torah it is used for near kin, the people bound to a man by blood. The two words are joined into a single phrase, so that the meaning is something like “flesh of his flesh,” one body, the blood carried on.

Sheer basar is a legal term, and not a loose expression, as its other use in the Torah shows. In Leviticus 18, the chapter that sets the limits on relations within a family, the same phrase marks out who counts as close kin.

Leviticus 18:6 Any man (ish אִישׁ eesh), man (ish) — to any near kin of his flesh (basar) you shall not approach to uncover nakedness: I am the LORD.

The YLV renders it there as “near kin of his flesh (basar).” In Leviticus 18 the phrase marks a line no one may cross; in Leviticus 25 it marks a right no outsider may claim. In both places it means the same thing: real kinship, by blood.

That is the first condition. A goel must be no stranger. He must be flesh of the same flesh.

His Hand Has Attained

The list ends with a different kind of entry: “or his hand has attained, and he is redeemed.” The Hebrew is hissiga yado (הִשִּׂיגָה יָדוֹ). Yad is the hand, and in Hebrew the hand often stands for what a man can do, his means and his strength. The verb hissiga is in the causative form; it means that his hand reaches, that his means extend far enough. Put simply: he is able to pay the price.

The same expression stands in the first case of the chapter, where the man who has no goel may still recover his field if “his hand attains and finds enough for its redemption” (Leviticus 25:26). The phrase is about having enough. Wanting to redeem is not the same as being able to.

That is the second condition. Redemption costs something, and the one who redeems must be able to pay it.

Three Times in One Verse

The verb gaal גָּאַל gaw-al', to redeem, appears three times in Leviticus 25:49, and the last time it changes. The first two read “may redeem him.” Someone else comes and does the redeeming. The third reads “he is redeemed,” a passive form, and it stands after “his hand has attained.” In that case the man pays his own price.

So the verse sets out two qualifications side by side. On one side stands the kinsman: the one who comes must have the blood. On the other side stands the hand that reaches: whoever redeems must have the price. Put the two together and you have the full requirement for a goel.

Why the Law Is So Strict

You might think the law could have been more generous. Why not let any good-hearted person buy a poor man out of his trouble?

The law’s answer is that redemption is not an act of charity from outside. It is a right and a duty that belong to the family. Because the right to redeem is fixed in two conditions, not just anyone may stand in another man’s place. The one who does so must be no stranger but flesh of the same flesh, and he must be able to pay.

Those two conditions bear on Genesis 48:16. The messenger Jacob named there spoke to him in the first person, “I am the God of Bethel,” and at the Jabbok He stood as an ish, a man, and wrestled with Jacob. But, as Chapter 11 set out, that was a form taken for a time. It was enough for Jacob to meet Him, to hold Him and to be held. It was not flesh of Jacob’s flesh.

The law of Leviticus 25 does not accept a form. It asks for sheer basar, the same flesh and the same blood. And it asks for a hand that can pay. Here, in one verse of the law of Leviticus 25, is the reason a form taken for a night is not enough, and the reason a redeemer must be flesh.

One Condition Is Not Enough

The conditions come as a pair. Blood alone does not make a goel, and money alone does not make one either. A wealthy stranger cannot redeem, because he is not kin. A poor kinsman cannot redeem, because his hand does not reach.

Scripture gives a story that shows the second half of this as plainly as any law could. In the book of Ruth there were two men who had the right of a goel. One was nearer than the other. When the day came, the nearer man stood at the city gate before the elders and said, twice, that he could not redeem. The next chapter of this book reads what he said, and why standing in the right place was not enough.