What are the Qualifications for a Kinsman-Redeemer?
Ruth 2:20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, 'May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.' Again Naomi said to her, 'The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.'
The word relative here is from the Hebrew word geol, meaning 'kinsman-redeemer'. The responsibilities of the kinsman redeemer had been clearly defined in God's law and included marrying a childless widow to raise up children in her dead husbands' name. (Deut 25-10) The redeemer had to be a blood relative. Here we see the need for Jesus to be born on earth, being made in the likeness of man (Phil 2:7) so that he could qualify as our redeemer. Through the incarnation, God became 'a blood relative' and through his death on the cross the price was paid for the redemption of the world! Roy Hession, in his book 'Our nearest kinsman' states three things that were needed for someone to actually become your redeemer.
- Firstly they needed to have the right to redeem and as has been previously mentioned this was given to the closest relative.
- Secondly they needed the ability to redeem. Could they pay the price? It would be useless if the redeemer was as poor as the one being redeemed because he wouldn't be able to care for the person needing redemption.
- Finally, they needed to be willing to redeem.
Would they take on the responsibility that came with being the redeemer? Jesus Christ more than adequately looked after all three requirements! He had the right to redeem as our relative, becoming flesh and blood as we are. He was able to pay the price as he had lived his whole life without sin. And finally, and thankfully, he was willing to redeem even though it meant going to the cross. Thank You!