Kinsman Redeemer

~A male relative, one who has the right to redeem, as protection for his people.

Ruth 4: Boaz acted as a kinsman redeemer for Naomi and married Ruth so they wouldn’t loose their land and their heritage.

God is the ultimate ‘kinsman’ who redeems.  He redeems us.  He pays our debt for our lives so we are saved.

But Men…are you a kinsman redeemer?  We need you to be.  We need men of their word, sensitive to the needs of those around them, ones with a keen sense of responsibility, integrity, successful and shrewd businessmen.  We need our men to be the hero’s, the redeemers of our families.  Men who stand up and take risks, who make the little decisions necessary for God to carry out His big plan.   

Ruth 4:7 “now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other.  This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel”

I did some looking into why the shoe?, why not a handshake or 10 goats?  I found that the Shoe symbolizes the whole body.  Just as the shoe covers the lowest part of the body and allows us to walk around, so too our body holds the lowest level of the soul(mind, will, emotions) and allows the soul to walk around in the physical world.Therefore when God wants a person to relate on a totally spiritual level, ignoring the body, He commands him to remove his shoes.

I live with a kinsman redeemer.  He has removed his shoes to be with God!  He has given all his hopes and plans to redeem his family.  To take back from the enemy what was stolen and re-claim the territory. My Kinsman Redeemer has given all for his family, not just me and the kids but his parents, his parents-parents, he has gone back and reclaimed that which was rightly theirs.  He leads them in the path of righteousness and does not give up just because the ‘deal’ gets tough.  He knows we have a God that is tougher.