- Name 59 of 70My Redeemer
- HebrewGo'ali
- In plain wordsThe close relative who buys you back
- Where to find itJob 19:25, spoken by Job in his suffering
My Redeemer is the name a broken man gave to God while he sat in the ashes. Job said For I know that my redeemer liveth
(Job 19:25). In Hebrew the word is go'el: the closest relative, the one whose duty was to buy back what a family member had lost. Job had no one left on earth to do that for him, so he named God as his go'el.
The man who had lost everything
The book of Job opens with a good man and a terrible week. In a short time Job's oxen, donkeys, sheep and camels were stolen or destroyed, his servants were killed, and a windstorm brought down the house where his ten children were eating together. All of them died (Job 1:13 to 19). Soon after, painful sores broke out over his whole body. He sat among the ashes and scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery (Job 2:7 to 8).
Three friends came to comfort him. At first they sat with him in silence for a week, which was kind. Then they started talking, and their message was that Job must have done something to deserve this. God had called Job a perfect and an upright man
(Job 1:8), but his friends did not know that.
By chapter 19 Job is worn down to nothing. He says his brothers have been put far from him and his relatives have let him down:
My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
Job 19:14
Kinsfolk are your relatives. That line matters, because in Israel your relatives were the ones who were supposed to rescue you. Job begs his friends for pity and gets none. Then he wishes his words could be carved into rock with an iron tool so that someone in the future would read them and know the truth (Job 19:23 to 24).
And then, with nothing about his situation changed, he says it:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
Job 19:25
His wish came true in a way he could not have imagined. His words were written down, and people still read them thousands of years later.
What go'el means
The word Job used comes from the Hebrew verb ga'al. Strong's lexicon, a standard word list for the King James Bible, explains it as acting as the next of kin, the closest relative, who in that role would buy back a relative's property or marry his widow. The King James Bible translates it in several ways: redeem, redeemer, kinsman, and even avenger or revenger.
Here is how it worked. If an Israelite became poor and had to sell part of his family's land, a close relative was supposed to step in and buy it back:
If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.
Leviticus 25:25
Waxen poor means grown poor. The same law let a relative buy someone back if he had sold himself as a servant to pay a debt (Leviticus 25:47 to 49). A go'el was family, he had to be able to pay, and he had to be willing.
The book of Ruth shows a go'el in action. Ruth, a poor widow from Moab, asked Boaz to act for her family, for thou art a near kinsman
(Ruth 3:9). A closer relative turned the job down (Ruth 4:6), but Boaz paid the price and married Ruth. Their great grandson was King David.
Two more words in Job 19:25 are worth a look. "Liveth" translates the Hebrew word for alive. Job's children were dead and he expected to die soon, but his Redeemer was living. And "upon the earth" is, word for word, "upon the dust," using 'aphar, the same word for dust that appears when God formed the first man. Job was sitting in the dust. He believed that when everything was over, his Redeemer would stand up on that very dust and speak for him, the way a witness stands up in court.
More King James verses that call God Redeemer
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
David closes a psalm about God's word by calling Him "my redeemer." Meditation is the quiet thinking of your heart.
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 41:14
Israel felt as small and weak as a worm. God answered by calling Himself their Redeemer, the family member who would not leave them stuck.
For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
Proverbs 23:11
This verse warns people not to steal land from orphans. Those children may have no human relative to defend them, but God is their go'el, and He will argue their case.
When everyone else has walked away
There are seasons when the people you counted on are gone. Maybe your family is split. Maybe your friends are tired of your problems or full of advice that makes you feel worse. Maybe you have prayed and nothing has changed. Job knew all of that, and he did not wait to feel better before he spoke. He started with what he knew: I know that my redeemer liveth
.
That is worth copying. You can say those words on a hospital floor, at a graveside or in a bedroom at 2 a.m. Faith is not pretending the ashes are not there. It is saying who is still alive while you sit in them.
A redeemer also buys back. If you feel like you have lost years, sold yourself short, or ended up owing something you could never repay, this name says there is a relative who is able and willing to pay. Christians believe Jesus became that relative for us.
Finally, the idea of the go'el was never only about God. Boaz was an ordinary man who did the right thing for a poor widow.
- Write Job 19:25 on a card and keep it where you will see it on a hard day.
- Ask yourself what you most need God to buy back for you, and tell Him.
- Think of one person who has no one in their corner, and find a way to stand with them this week.
More than once, Isaiah put this name right beside another (Isaiah 49:26 and 60:16): Thy Saviour, which is the next name in the book. To go back one, read a Father to the fatherless, or browse the Hebrew names of God.
