Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" Podcast with Steve Demme. I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today.

Good morning, Steve. How are you today?

Steve: I am well. How are you?

Scott: I'm good. You said you've been up for five hours. I've been up for about five minutes.

Steve: Well, I got up a little before 6:00, but I didn't get out of bed till after 6:00. Then I took care of the pups, fed them and walked them and ate a little bit of food. Then I listened to Nahum and Habakkuk on the way to the gym. I'm winding down my Old Testament readings for 2024.

Scott: Nice.

Steve: In the New Testament I think I've already read Revelation once this year, but if not, the whole book is not that long. I can read it in about an hour and a half. It's beneficial to read the whole book through in one sitting.

Sometimes I turn off the verse numbers and the chapter numbers on my computer and just read it as it was written. It's helpful and I see things differently. Scott: Cool.

Steve: We're going to continue our series in talking about who God is. I used to tell people that this was my favorite name for God, Redeemer. But when I said it, in my mind, what I was saying was, this is my God who can take all of the stuff of life, all of the good, the bad, and the ugly, and weave it all together and bring good out of it. That's how I saw redeemer. However, when I studied the scriptures, my definition of redeemer has changed. So, let's pray, and then we can dive in.

"Father, thank You for Your word that's not only inspired, but profitable, and it teaches us. Thank You for teaching me about Yourself through this study. I appreciate the insights. I appreciate the correction that I received, and I thank You for the truth. And I pray that You'll help us today to discern the truth about who You are and what it means when, in English, we call You God our redeemer.” In Jesus' name. Amen. Scott: Amen.

Steve: The word for redeem is Ga'al in Hebrew, and when you look it up, there are a couple different words that come up. One of them is ransom or deliver. Ransom has to do with payment. It has to do with debt. It has to do with material transactions. There's also avenger. There's also the concept of rescuing and delivering. But the biggest one, I think, and the one that helps us to understand not only God, but also the whole redemptive process is kinsman-redeemer. Have you ever heard of kinsman-redeemer?

Scott: Yeah. Not often, but yes, I think I've heard it before.

Steve: I hadn't heard of it often either. In Job, for example, chapter 19:23-27, it's a wonderful verse. "Oh, that my words were written." When I read that, I thought your prayers were answered, Job. Millions of peoples have read your words. "Oh, that they were inscribed in a book." They were, and it's named after you. "Oh, that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever. For I know that my redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another."

That man endured suffering to a degree that I have never even tasted, and yet he is able to declare, “my redeemer lives.” Even after his skin, which was falling off of him, and he was scraping it off with pieces of pottery. At the last, he says, in my flesh, I'm going to see Him or myself. My eyes are going to behold Him and not somebody else. Powerful declaration. That's one of the first times historically that we read about redeemer. Job has several expressions like this. There's wonderful expressions in Isaiah. I'm going to read three. "Thus says Jehovah, the king of Israel and His Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts. I am the first and I am the last. Besides Me, there is no God."

Later in the same chapter, chapter 44, "Thus says Jehovah your Redeemer Who formed you from the womb. I am Jehovah Who made all things, Who alone stretched out the heavens, Who spread out the earth by Myself."

Then this one, which is kind of an introductory to what we're going to talk about, 54:5, "Your maker is your husband, Jehovah of hosts is His name, and the holy one of Israel is your Redeemer. The God of the whole earth He is called." These are wonderful declarations. There are two or three times as many of those in Isaiah, and they're sprinkled throughout the book, and they're powerful. They're wonderful. To really understand what scripture means when you read redeemer, you have to go into Leviticus.

Redeemer, Ga’al, appears a 105 times in the Hebrew. Two of the biggest chapters are Leviticus 25 and Leviticus 27. In the book of Leviticus it's used 22 times. I'm going to 25:47-49.

"If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger's clan, then after he is sold, he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him or if he grows rich, he may redeem himself.”

You notice that word is used several times. I think what's helpful is when I read it to say, he can buy me back. After he is sold, he may be bought back. One of his brothers may buy him back, or his uncle or his cousin may buy him back.

He sold himself to this stranger, and that stranger paid some cash to make him a part of his clan. Let's say he paid a 100 shekels. Perhaps he's going to want a 125 shekels to buy him back. But when somebody can come up with a 125 shekels, he goes to the

original guy and says, I would like to buy him back. I would like to redeem him. Notice who's doing the redeeming. It's members of his family, his cousin, his uncle, his brother, or another close relative. You've got these two thoughts here. You've got the buying back, the redemption, but you also have family involved. That is why we talk about kinsman-redeemer. A relative is going to buy him back. A kinsman-redeemer. That's our background.

The next book of the Old Testament that has 22 references to Ga'al. I'm going to quiz you. This is a hard one. You might get it though. How many times, I mean, what book do you think has -- besides Leviticus -- has the word redeem used 22 times? Scott: Psalms?

Steve: Nope. You're warm. You're in the Old Testament. Ruth. I'm going to start in the 3:8. For those who haven't read Ruth, please read it. Just four chapters, a small book. But it's so important on so many different levels. I better give some background. There's a famine in the land. Naomi's husband, who has two boys, and their family moved to Moab because there was a famine, couldn't make a living, couldn't get food. They go to Moab. While there, the two boys married Moabite women. One of them was named Ruth.

While they were there, the husband and both the boys died. Naomi said, I think I'm going to go back to where I'm from, to Bethlehem. Ruth has this magnificent plea where she says, "Entreat me not to leave thee or from following after thee. For where you lodge, I will lodge. Where you go, I will go. Your people shall be my people." Which, by the way, my wife read at our wedding. Beautiful.

Now we're back in Bethlehem. The other girl stayed in Moab, which Naomi encouraged her to do. But Ruth said, no, I'm going back with you. So Ruth is a Moabite. Ruth and Naomi go back to Bethlehem and there's a man there named Boaz. Boaz is well-to-do. He's rich. He's honorable. He's a good man and he's single, and he's not young.

Ruth was told by Naomi, what you need to do is you need to find out where he sleeps because this is threshing time. They'll be sleeping out by the grain. Probably, they have their little knapsacks or their blankets. Go find out where he is and then lay down at his feet. This is tradition. He'll know what to do. There's the background.

“At midnight, the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet. He said, ‘Who are you?’ And she answered, ‘I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.’ He said, ‘May you be blessed by Jehovah, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first and that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.

And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask. For all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman, and now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then as Jehovah lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.’"

He knows that he's in the family line. But in the family line, there was a nearer relative than Boaz. Now we're in the 4th chapter. “Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down, and behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken came by. Boaz said, ‘Turn aside, friend. Sit down here.’ He turned aside and sat down, and he took 10 men of the

elders of the city and said, ‘Sit down here.’ So, they sat down. Then he said to the redeemer, ‘Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.’ (That was Naomi's husband.) ‘I thought I would tell you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it, if you will buy it back, buy it back. But if you will not, tell me that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.’ He was next in line, and he said, ‘I will redeem it.’

Then Boaz said, ‘The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.’ Then the redeemer said, ‘I cannot redeem it for myself lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.’" The rest of the story is beautiful because, as we know, Boaz marries Ruth, and they have a child named Obed. Obed has a child named Jesse. Jesse has a bunch of boys,, and the youngest one was named David. Boaz was the great-grandfather of David, and his wife, Ruth, was the great-grandmother.

Now when I read in the Psalms, in my mind, I'm thinking about David who wrote many of them, and he probably grew up with this wonderful account of how his Moabite's mother, which, by the way, were not supposed to enter into the assemblies for, like, 9, 10 generations, something like that. And yet, she is in the line of Jesus Himself. It's beautiful on many different levels.

Psalm 19:14 says, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Jehovah, my rock and my redeemer."

Psalm 78:35. "They remembered that God was their rock, the most high God, their redeemer."

Now let me read something that I found that captures this concept. The Hebrew verb Ga'al primarily means to redeem or act as a kinsman-redeemer.

Somebody in the family that is going to buy back what has been sold. It involves the idea of buying back or reclaiming something or someone often in the context of family duty. This term is used to describe the act of a close relative who restores the rights of another and avenges their wrongs.

It encompasses both legal and relational aspects. Legal and relational, material and family, same idea. So, kinsman-redeemer embodies both of those. I think you can see where we're going for this. In the New Testament, and I owe Stephen Bramer who is a commentator. He said, the doctrine of redemption from sin is taught extensively in the New Testament, but somehow it's not connected with the Old Testament concept of kinsman-redeemer. But Christ is to be regarded as a kinsman-redeemer since He identified Himself with us and redeemed us because of our need.

Let me read two passages and they're both good. Hebrews 2:9-11. "We see Jesus Who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone."

"For it was fitting that He, for Whom and by Whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both the one Who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers."

We know that Jesus paid our debt. We needed to die. We sinned so we must die. We have a debt. We can't pay it. Jesus, our brother of the same family, steps in, dies in our place and pays the debt. But He does it not just because He's the son of God, but because He's brother to us.

Later in the same chapter, “Surely, it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in every respect so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Propitiation. He satisfied the debt, and He restored our relationship to our heavenly Father so we can now say Abba, Father. This kinsman-redeemer seen and taught in the New Testament, but it has to be understood first in the Old Testament. Now, I'm going to read a definition of redeem from Noah Webster. To purchase back, to ransom, to liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage.

Hold that thought because it also says in Exodus, when talking to Moses, God says to Moses, "Say to the sons of Israel, I am Jehovah. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments."

There is our rescuer. There's the one Who does for us what we can't do for ourselves. He rescues us from captivity and bondage.

Now, with that on our plate, enjoy these next six or seven scriptures which come to life once we understand that our Father, His son, our brother, our adopted dad, our family has paid the price, rescued us, redeemed us, ransomed us, purchased us back. Matthew 20:28, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many."

1 Corinthians 6:20, "You were bought at a price." What price?

"He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him," 2 Corinthians 5.

1 Timothy 2, "There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all people."

Colossians 2, "You were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with His legal demands, this He set aside nailing it to the cross."

Ephesians 1. "In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace."

There's this language in there about debt and riches and ransom and buying back at a price. Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."

Titus 2:13-14. "Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us." The last one is 1 Peter 1:18-19. "Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things, such as silver or gold, but with a precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." All right, Scott. I have come to the end of my notes. What think ye? Scott: I hesitate to say this because I don't know what purpose it has here, but I keep remembering a sermon I heard once where the pastor tried to make a big deal out of how redemption was like redeeming a coupon and that it gave it value when you redeemed it. That was the big point.

Steve: I guess my point to that is, and there's some value in that point. The word redeem. I thought redemption was just God working all things together for good with Romans 8:28 emblazoned across the title of the page.

Now I understand that we had a debt, it had to be paid, and only our kinsmen could repay it, a member of our family. It's a beautiful illustration. Remember one of the verses that I read. He is not only our redeemer, He is our bridegroom. Isaiah 54:5, "Your maker is your husband." We're going to marry Him just like Ruth married Boaz. We have not just been redeemed so that we can get on with our own life now, but we have been redeemed so that we can marry Jesus.

He laid His life down for us. He paid the price to redeem us, rescue us, ransom us. He paid the debt that we couldn't pay. And we are going to not just be on His team, we're going to be at his side. We're going to be sitting on the throne with Him. That's deep and rich and wide and it, yeah.

It's amazing stuff, which begins with a kinsman-redeemer. That's beautiful. We just talked about Bethlehem and how important Bethlehem was and God's commitment that because He made promises to David that He was going to have a king from His loins, and Jesus satisfied that.

Steve: It was fascinating to me that Bethlehem was the scene of the whole drama, the unfolding between Ruth and Boaz. David was born there. This is the city of David, Bethlehem, the House of Bread. The Bible is beautiful.

Scott: The other thought I had was that I usually want to think of redemption and the concept of redeeming someone is usually in the context of slavery. Like in Galatians 4:7, it says, "So you are no longer a slave, but God's child. Since you are His child, God has made you also an heir."

That's pretty cool. That's just easy for me to grasp, get my head around like, OK, I know what a slave is, and I know what it means to be set free from slavery. Not that I know it personally, but like I understand that and that's pretty huge. Steve: Let's pray. "Father, thank You for Your wonderful plan of redemption that's revealed foundationally in Leviticus, which 22 verses. We only read three verses, but there's 22 times this whole concept is spelled out. And then we have this amazing account of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz.

"We have been able to see the kinsman-redeemer lived right out in front of us. And the fruits that is produced, is David, and the lineage of Jesus. Thank You, Father, for Your amazing story of redeeming us, buying us back, and then marrying us. We worship You. Help us to appreciate it afresh." In Jesus' name. Amen. Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the

show, email Steve at spdemme@Gmail.com. If you have a question for me, you can reach me at scott@unsocializedmedia.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.