Goel

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

גאל , the avenger of blood. The inhabitants of the east, it is well known, are new, what they anciently were, exceedingly revengeful. If, therefore, an individual should unfortunately happen to lay violent hands upon another person and kill him, the next of kin is bound to avenge the death of the latter, and to pursue the murderer with unceasing vigilance until he have caught and killed him, either by force or by fraud. The same custom exists in Arabia, and it appears to have been alluded to by Rebecca: when she learned that Esau was threatening to kill his brother Jacob, she endeavoured to send the latter out of the country, saying, "Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?"  Genesis 27:15 . She could not be afraid of the magistrate for punishing the murderer, for the patriarchs were subject to no superior in Palestine; and Isaac was much too partial to Esau for her to entertain any expectation that he would condemn him to death for it. It would therefore appear that she dreaded lest he should fall by the hand of the blood avenger, perhaps of some Ishmaelite. The office, therefore, of the goel was in use before the time of Moses; and it was probably filled by the nearest of blood to the party killed, as the right of redeeming a mortgage field is given to him. To prevent the unnecessary loss of life through a sanguinary spirit of revenge, the Hebrew legislator made various enactments concerning the blood avenger. In most ages and countries, certain reputed sacred places enjoyed the privileges of being asylums; Moses, therefore, taking it for granted that the murderer would flee to the altar, commanded that when the crime was deliberate and intentional, he should be torn even from the altar, and put to death,   Exodus 21:14 . But in the case of unintentional murder, the man-slayer was enjoined to flee to one of the six cities of refuge, which were appropriated for his residence. The roads to these cities, it was enacted, should be kept in such a state that the unfortunate individual might meet with no impediment whatever in his way,  Deuteronomy 19:3 . If the goel overtook the fugitive before he reached an asylum, and put him to death, he was not considered as guilty of blood; but if the man-slayer had reached a place of refuge, he was immediately protected, and an inquiry was instituted whether he had a right to such protection and asylum, that is, whether he had caused his neighbour's death undesignedly, or was a deliberate murderer. In the latter case he was judicially delivered to the goel, who might put him to death in whatever way he chose; but in the former case the homicide continued in the place of refuge until the high priest's death, when he might return home in perfect security. If, however, the goel found him without the city, or beyond its suburbs, he might slay him without being guilty of blood,   Numbers 35:26-27 . Farther, to guard the life of man, and prevent the perpetration of murder, Moses positively prohibited the receiving of a sum of money from a murderer in the way of compensation,  Numbers 35:31 . It would seem that if no avenger of blood appeared, or if he were dilatory in the pursuit of the murderer, it became the duty of the magistrate himself to inflict the sentence of the law; and thus we find that David deemed this to be his duty in the case of Joab, and that Solomon, in obedience to his father's dying entreaty, actually discharged it by putting that murderer to death,

 1 Kings 2:5;  1 Kings 6:28-34 . There is a beautiful allusion to the blood avenger in  Hebrews 6:17-18 .

The following extracts will prove how tenaciously the eastern people adhere to the principle of revenging the death of their relations and friends—"Among the Circassians," says Pallas, "all the relatives of the murderers are considered as guilty. This customary infatuation to revenge the blood of relations generates most of the feuds, and occasions great bloodshed among all the tribes of Caucasus; for unless pardon be purchased, or obtained by intermarriage between the two families, the principle of revenge is propagated to all succeeding generations. If the thirst of vengeance is quenched by a price paid to the family of the deceased, this tribute is called thliluasa, or, ‘the price of blood;' but neither princes nor usdens accept such compensation, as it is an established law among them to demand blood for blood." "The Nubians," observes Light, "possess few traces among them of government, or law, or religion. They know no master, although the cashier claims a nominal command of the country. They look for redress of injuries to their own means of revenge, which, in cases of blood, extends from one generation to another, till blood is repaid by blood. On this account they are obliged to be ever on the watch, and armed: and in this manner even their daily labours are carried on; the very boys are armed." "If one Nubian," remarks Burckhardt, "happen to kill another, he is obliged to pay the debt of blood to the family of the deceased, and a fine to the governors of six camels, a cow, and seven sheep, or they are taken from his relations. Every wound inflicted has its stated fine, consisting of sheep and dhourra, but varying in quantity, according to the parts of the body wounded." "When a man or woman is murdered," says Malcolm, "the moment the person by whom the act was perpetrated is discovered, the heir-at-law to the deceased demands vengeance for the blood. Witnesses are examined, and if the guilt be established, the criminal is delivered into his hands, to deal with as he chooses. It is alike legal for him to forgive him, to accept a sum of money as the price of blood, or to put him to death. It is only a few years ago that the English resident at Abusheher saw three persons delivered into the hands of the relations of those whom they had murdered. They led their victims bound to the burial ground, where they put them to death; but the part of the execution that appeared of the most importance, was to make the infant children of the deceased stab the murderers with knives, and imbrue their little hands in the blood of those who had slain their father. The youngest princes of the blood that could hold a dagger were made to stab the assassins of Aga Mahomed Khan. When they were executed, the successor of Nadir Shah sent one of the murderers of that monarch to the females of his harem, who, we are told, were delighted to become his executioners."

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Gaal   Numbers 5:8 Ruth 3:12 4:1,6,8 Job 19:25 Numbers 35:12 Deuteronomy 19:6Redeemer

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

GOEL . See Avenger of Blood, and Kin [Next of].

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

gō´el ( גּאל , gō'ēl , "redeemer"): Goel is the participle of the Hebrew word gā'al ("to deliver," "to redeem") which aside from its common usage is frequently employed in connection with Hebrew law, where it is the technical term applied to a person who as the nearest relative of another is placed under certain obligations to him. (1) If a Jew because of poverty had been obliged to sell himself to a wealthy "stranger or sojourner," it became the duty of his relatives to redeem him. Compare   Leviticus 25:47 and the article Jubilee . (2) The same duty fell upon the nearest kinsman, if his brother, being poor, had been forced to sell some of his property. Compare  Leviticus 25:23; Rth 4:4, and the article Jubilee . (3) It also devolved upon the nearest relative to marry the ú childless widow of his brother (Rth 3:13; Tobit 3:17). (4) In  Numbers 5:5 a law is stated which demands that restitution be made to the nearest relative, and after him to the priest, if the injured party has died (  Leviticus 6:1 ). (5) The law of blood-revenge ( Blut - Rache ) made it the sacred duty of the nearest relative to avenge the blood of his kinsman. He was called the גּאל הדּם , gō'ēl ha - dām , "the avenger of blood." This law was based upon the command given in  Genesis 9:5 f: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," and was carried out even if an animal had killed a man; in this case, however, the payment of a ransom was permitted (  Exodus 21:28 ). A clear distinction was made between an accidental and a deliberate murder. In both cases the murderer could find refuge at the altar of the sanctuary; if, however, the investigation revealed presumptuous manslaughter, he was taken from the altar to be put to death ( Exodus 21:12;  1 Kings 1:50;  1 Kings 2:28 ). In  Numbers 35:9 definite regulations as to the duties of the Goel are given. Six cities were to be appointed as "cities of refuge," three on each side of the Jordan. The congregation has judgment over the murderer. There must be more than one witness to convict a man. If he is found guilty, he is delivered to the Goel; if murder was committed by accident he is permitted to live within the border of the city of refuge; in case the manslayer leaves this city before the death of the high priest, the avenger of blood has a right to slay him. After the death of the high priest the murderer may return to his own city. Ransom cannot be given for the life of a murderer; no expiation can be made for a murder but by the blood of the murderer (  Deuteronomy 19:4;  Joshua 20:1-9;  2 Samuel 14:6 ). According to the law the children of a murderer could not be held responsible for the crime of their father ( Deuteronomy 24:16;  2 Kings 14:6 ), but see  2 Samuel 21:1 . The order in which the nearest relative was considered the Goel is given in  Leviticus 25:48 f: first a brother, then an uncle or an uncle's son, and after them any other near relative. This order was observed in connection with (1) above, but probably also in the other cases except (4).

For the figurative use of Goel ("redeemer") see   Psalm 119:154;  Proverbs 23:11;  Job 19:25;  Isaiah 41:14 . See also Avenge; Murder; Refuge , Cities Of .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( גּוֹאֵל , Go '''''Ë''''' L''' part. of גָּאִל , gaal', to Redeem; in full, גּוֹאֵל הִדָּם , Avenger Of Blood, rendered "kinsman," "redeemer," "avenger," etc., in the A. Vers.), Among the Hebrews, the right of repurchasing and redeeming, as well as that of avenging blood, appertained only to the next relative; hence goel, simply, is used for the next relative ( Leviticus 25:25). Similar usages prevail universally among the modern Arabs. (See Blood- Revenge). Connected with the duties of the Goel was, according to custom, also that of marrying the childless widow of the deceased relative ( Deuteronomy 20:5-10). (See Levirate Law). The fact of the close consanguinity renders the Goel an eminent type of the Redeemer of mankind, as is especially evinced in that famous passage in the Oriental epic of Job. The afflicted man, by a striking anticipation of the incarnate Mediator, standing in immortal self-existence over the sleeping ashes of his kindred saint, who was misunderstood and maligned even by his best earthly friends, thus touchingly exults in the prospect that his disembodied spirit should survive to witness the posthumous vindication of his fame ( Job 19:25-27):

[Be this my dying testimony,] That I have known my living God; And last upon [the] dust he will arise: Yes, after my skin has decayed, [even] thus; Yet without my flesh shall I behold Deity! Whom I shall behold [as] mine; (Yes, my eyes, they have [already] seen [him], Nor has he been strange [to me]), [Though] they have failed, my reins within me.

The sentiment was well worthy to be "engraved with an iron style, and set with lead in the rock forever, as the epitaph of the noble patriarch ( Job 19:24). Although it does not (as erroneously rendered in the A.V.) contain any allusion to the resurrection of the body, yet it distinctly recognises the doctrines of a fellow-feeling on the part of God towards man, and of the immortality of the soul; and it shows how these tenets, which lie at the basis of all true religion, whether natural or revealed, are alone adequate to support the human spirit under the sorrows of life, and in view of death. (See St Ö r, De vindice sanguinis, Lips. 1694; Stickel, De Go Ë le, Jen. 1832; and the dissertations on the passage by Rosshirt [Herbip. 1791] and Kosegarten [Griefsw. 1815].) (See Redeemer).