Goel

Goel (Hebrew: גואל, lit. "redeemer"), in the Hebrew Bible and the rabbinical tradition, is a person who, as the nearest relative of another, is charged with the duty of restoring the rights of another and avenging his wrongs. One duty of the goel was to redeem (purchase back) a relative who had been sold into slavery. Another was to avenge the death of a relative who had been wrongly killed; one carrying out this vengeance was known as the goel hadam, commonly translated to English as "avenger of blood".[1]

This article is about the Jewish legal institution. For the Indian surname, see Goyal.

"Avenger of blood" redirects here. For Blood feuds, see Feud. For traditional Native American customary law, see Blood Law.

The term goel is also used in reference to other forms of redemption. In the Book of Isaiah, God is called the redeemer of Israel,[2] as God redeems his people from captivity; the context shows that the redemption also involves moving on to something greater.

In Christianity, the title goel is applied to Christ, who redeems his believers from all evil by offering Himself as the Paschal Lamb.

Duties of the goel

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld: Ruth in Boaz's Field, 1828. The Book of Ruth tells the story of Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi. After her husband's death they both move to Naomi's native land, where she is redeemed from poverty and widowhood through Ruth by her goel, Boaz.

The obligations of the goel include the duty to redeem the relative from slavery, if the latter had been obliged to sell himself into slavery (Leviticus 25:48-49); to repurchase the property of a relative who had had to sell it because of poverty; to avenge the blood of his relative; to marry his brother's widow in order to have a son for his brother, in the case that the brother had no son to pass on his name (Deuteronomy 25:5-6); and to receive the restitution if the injured relative had died (Numbers 5:8).

Numbers 35:9-30 regulates the duties of the goel hadam. The congregation must judge the case before it puts a murderer in the hands of a goel. More than one witness is needed for conviction. In case of accidental manslaughter, the slayer can save his life by fleeing to a "city of refuge" and staying there until the death of the high priest. Ransom is not accepted for murder. Revenge cannot be taken on the offender's children or parents (Deuteronomy 24:16).

Leviticus 25:48-49 gives the order in which the nearest relative is considered the goel in the case of redeeming a slave: brother, uncle, male cousin and then other relatives. The same order was probably observed in the other cases, except in marrying a sister-in-law.

The blood-avenger in rabbinic tradition

Jewish tradition has also ascribed to the blood avenger role performed in modern times by a prosecuting attorney, who thus pleads on behalf of the victim the case against the criminal. Thus, he is responsible for bringing the offender to court, finding evidence against him, presenting the case to the court, and collecting damages from the offender. It is also his task to argue against any attempts to pardon the sinner. It is presumed that the court would be the party who would avenge the wrongful death via the usage of the death penalty.[3]

See also

• Next of kin
• Redeemer (Christianity)

References

1. Joshua 20:5
2. Isaiah 41:14, 59:20, and elsewhere in Isaiah
3. Dr. Itamar Varhaftig: Techumin, volume 11, page 326. Referred by Rabbi Uri Dasberg: Torah and Law: Blood Vengeance Archived 2009-04-18 at the Wayback Machine Shabbat-Zomet, December 13, 1997.

External links

• Donald A. Leggett: The Levirate and Goel Institutions in the Old Testament With Special Attention to the Book of Ruth Doctoral dissertation at the Free University in Amsterdam. Cherry Hill, N.J. 1974, Mack Publishing Company.