Reference: Redeemer
American
A name given to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, because he redeems mankind from the bondage and guilt of their sins, by dying in their place, and thus paying their ransom, Mt 20:28; Ga 3:13; Eph 1:7; 1Ti 2:6; Tit 2:14; 1Pe 1:18-19; Re 5:9. In the law of Moses, Le 25:25,48, this title is given to one who has the right of redemption in an inheritance, especially to a near kinsman, who may redeem it from a stranger or any Jew who had bought it. Such was Boaz, who, being one of the nearest relations of Elimelech, married Ruth the heiress of Elimelech, and thereby reentered into the possession of her estate. Jeremiah redeemed the field of his nephew Hanameel, which was on the point of being sold to another, Jer 32:7-8. So Christ became a partaker of flesh and blood, that as our near kinsman he might redeem for us the heavenly inheritance, Job 19:25-26.
The nearest kinsman was also called the redeemer of blood-in our English translation, the avenger, or revenger of blood; and had a right to revenge the blood of his murdered kinsman, Nu 35:12,19,21; De 19:6,12. To protect the innocent from these avengers, or redeemers, God appointed cities of refuge throughout Israel. See REFUGE.
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Easton
Fausets
(See RANSOM.) Redeem, Hebrew padhah and gaal. The goel, nearest of kin, had three rights:
(1) To purchase back the forfeited inheritance for an Israelite who, through poverty, had sold his land; as Boaz ("might in him"; the name of one of the two temple pillars; a type of Christ) did for Ruth (Ru 4:3-5); or to hold land in possession for an impoverished kinsman until the year of Jubilee, when it should revert to the original owner (Le 25:10,13-16,24-28). Antitypically, man the heir of all things bartered his magnificent birthright for vanity; Christ, by assuming our manhood, became our go'el, and saved us from being disinherited forever (Heb 2:9-15); the full restoration of the inheritance is to be at "the times of restitution of all things" (Ac 3:21; Mt 19:28), the grand last Jubilee (Isa 61:2-4); ushered in, as the Israelite Jubilee, with the great trumpet (Re 11:15; 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16; Isa 27:13).
(2) The goel ransomed his kinsman from bondage to the foreigner (Le 25:47-49). So man sold himself to Satan's bondage; Jesus has (at the price of His precious blood, 1Pe 1:18-19) ransomed "the lawful captive delivered" (Isa 49:24).
(3) The goel avenged the death of his slain kinsman as a point of honor. So our Redeemer "through death has destroyed Satan (man's "murderer from the beginning", Joh 8:44) who had the power of death," and has delivered us from everlasting "bondage" to him (Heb 2:14-15; Ho 13:14). Our Boaz has not "left off His kindness to the living and to the dead" (Ru 2:20); translated Job 19:25-27 "I know that my Redeemer (vindicator, avenger; redressing my wrongs on Satan their inflicter) liveth, and that He shall arise the Last (1Co 15:45; Re 1:17) above the dust (with which is mingled man's crumbling body: 1Co 15:20,23; Ro 8:23; Eph 1:14), and though after my skin (is destroyed) this (body) is destroyed, yet from my flesh (mibesari; as from a window, Song 2:9) shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself (on my side), no longer estranged" (zar) from me.
The redemption of our now weak body will be our grand vindication from present wrongs such as Job's. As the body (not merely the soul) was the sufferer, the body's restoration in incorruption must be the vindication; this alone would disprove the imputation of guilt thrown on Job because of its sufferings. Job elsewhere hoped for the resurrection after his being "hidden in the grave" for a time (Job 14:13-15; Joh 5:21-26,28; Isa 26:19-21; Ps 17:15). The Egyptian myth of Osiris and his son Horus in the "Ritual of the Dead" strikingly confirms the primitive revelation of the promised Redeemer, of which it is the corruption. Horus as Ra was "creator"; as Teti, the "redeemer from the power" of Apophis the "serpent", and of Typhoon the "hippopotamus", representatives of the evil being; as Nets, Horus is "the deliverer of the justified".
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Watsons
REDEEMER. The Hebrew goel is thus rendered, and the title is applied to Christ, as he is the avenger of man upon his spiritual enemy, and delivers man from death and the power of the grave, which the human avenger could not do. The right of the institution of goel was only in a relative, one of the same blood; and hence our Saviour's assumption of our nature is alluded to and implied under this term. There was also the right of buying back the family inheritance when alienated; and this also applies to Christ, our Goel, who has purchased back the heavenly inheritance into the human family. Under these views Job joyfully exclaims, "I know that my Redeemer," my Goel, "liveth," &c. See GOEL, See MEDIATOR, and See JESUS CHRIST.