Who is a Kinsman Redeemer? Why is Jesus Christ Our Kinsman Redeemer?

Описание: We'll try to answer 2 questions.
Who is a kinsman redeemer? Why is Jesus our Kinsman Redeemer?
First lets start by understanding the meaning of the word kinsman and also redeemer. Then we'll see why Jesus Christ is described as our Kinsman Redeemer.

According to the dictionary a kinsman is a person who is a relative of yours. In this case one who shares your bloodline or a blood relative. Nowadays the term that is commonly used is next of kin.
Your spouse is not your kinsman and neither is someone who is associated with you through your spouse. Your children and grandchildren are your kin because they share in your blood.
A kinsman is normally used in the context of men, especially in the Bible.
According to the Bible, a kinsman is a male relative who has a responsibility to help a family member in need or in trouble. In Hebrew, the word is goel whose root meaning is to redeem.
A redeemer is buys back property that had been sold and returns it to the one who had sold it or their relatives. A redeemer can also buy back someone's freedom after the person was sold to another or enslaved because they could not pay a debt for example.

There are several types of kinsman redemption described in the Old Testament.
1) Redemption of property
2) Redemption of the poor in slavery
3) Redemption of a name i.e. family line

1) Redemption of Property
According to the Bible, family land was not supposed to be sold in perpetuity. It was supposed to be returned to the family or redeemed by a family member by paying off the purchaser. If there was no one able to repurchase it, the land was to be returned to the family in the year of Jubilee.


2) Redemption of a Person
There are cases where poor people sold themselves to slavery in order to survive. It is also possible for someone who was unable to pay a debt to serve the lender as payment for the debt. This is what the Bible says.

3) Redemption of a name or a family line.
In Israeli culture in the Old Testament, if a married man died without any children, the next of kin was supposed to marry his wife and to bear children for him. This was to ensure his lineage would continue. An example of this is in the story of Ruth.
Ruth, a Moabite, was married to Mahlon, an Israelite. They moved and lived in Moab because there was a famine in Israel. Unfortunately Mahlon died and left Ruth childless. Chilion, Mahlon's brother also died.
Naomi returned to Israel with Ruth. Ruth insisted on going with her mother-in-law. While there she got acquainted with Boaz who was a kinsman of her father-in-law, Elimelech.

In Ruth 3, Naomi had instructed Ruth how to approach Boaz in the customary way for him to be her redeemer. Boaz explained to Ruth that there was someone else who was a nearer kinsman. Boaz was to inform him before elders of the community to take up Ruth as a wife, but if nearer kinsman refused, then Boaz would take that responsibility.
Eventually, nearer kinsman declined and Boaz married Ruth. Ruth bore children including Obed who was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Our Lord Jesus Christ is from this family line.

Now let's see how Jesus Christ is our Kinsman Redeemer. When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God in the Garden of Eden, they went into bondage, the bondage of sin and eternal damnation. God had told them not to eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for in they day they eat it they shall surely die. This death is two-fold. There's physical death and spiritual death. Spiritual death is eternal separation from God. It's also referred to as the second death.
Physical death is what almost everyone goes through by dying physically. A few people have also been exempted from this death like Enoch and Elijah who went to Heaven without experiencing death.
After Adam and Even sinned, an angel was assigned to guard the Garden so that they could not go and eat the fruit of the Tree of Life and live eternally.
It is therefore implied that if Adam and Eve had not sinned, they would have had the opportunity to eat of this Tree of Life and live eternally without experiencing physical death.
Adam's sin, handed the earth's dominion to the devil.
Adam's descendants by inheritance came under the bondage of sin and eternal damnation. In essence they were slaves to sin and the devil. God gave Moses the Law to guide the people to live according to His Ways even though they were still under bondage. By walking in His Ways, His blessing would protect them from attacks from physical and spiritual enemies. If they broke the Law, they would suffer the consequences and go into physical bondage by being conquered by their enemies and also become sick with diseases according to Deuteronomy 28.

Jesus Our Kinsman-Redeemer