THE LEVIRATE AND GOEL

            INSTITUTIONS IN THE

                 OLD TESTAMENT

                        With Special Attention to

                                the Book of Ruth

 

 

 

 

 

                                             DONALD A. LEGGETT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                             1974

                                       MACK PUBLISHING COMPANY

                                                Cherry Hill, New Jersey

 

 

 

            Digitized with permission by Ted Hildebrandt, Gordon College, 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                         TO LINDA

 

                                   hvhy rxry twx

 

                                     Proverbs 31:30b

 

 

 

 

             Acknowledgments

 

IT is with deep gratitude that I take this opportunity to

publicly acknowledge many who have played a key role

in the completion of my work.

            It was through training received at Reformed Episcopal

Seminary, Philadelphia, and Westminster Seminary, Phila-

delphia, that I was first introduced to the Free University. A

scholarship received from the University was an impetus to-

ward taking the step of coming to Europe and tackling an

unfamiliar language. I am grateful for the happy years which

I was able to spend in Amsterdam and Dordrecht, from

1960-1964, while pursuing my studies. I would like to single

out Rev. and Mrs. Jacob Vos, fellow-students at the Free

University in those early years, who were tremendously help-

ful to my wife and me and who remain to this day our closest

friends. In Dordrecht, mention should be made of the De

Leng family who extended many kindnesses to us. Drs. Van-

noy and his family graciously allowed me to share their home

in the closing phases of my work.

            Research for my thesis was carried on in numerous librar-

ies. Special mention should be made of the libraries of the

Free University and Municipal University of Amsterdam,

Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

Theological Seminary, and McMaster University, Hamilton,

Ontario. My sabbatical year was spent in Belfast, N. Ireland,

and I am grateful to Queen's University, Belfast, for the gen-

erous use of their facilities. It was my pleasure to make two

extended visits to the Tyndale House, Cambridge, England,

and to be able to take advantage of their research facilities.

Lastly, I would not wish to omit mention of the extensive

help which I have received from the library personnel at the

Ontario Bible College.

 

                                          v
vi                       Acknowledgments

 

            This thesis would never have been completed without the

generous grant of a sabbatical year by Ontario Bible College.

I am also grateful for the stimulation received in my part-

time involvement at the Irish Baptist College during that

year. How can I ever thank those students of mine and their

wives who gave me substantial support during that year and

who have been a constant encouragement to me! To the

Postma, Males, Pointner, Barber, Smith, Stoute, McPhee,

Henkelman, and Taylor families, I am deeply grateful. Simi-

larly, to Dr. and Mrs. C. Wellum and Dr. and Mrs. E. Higbee,

and the congregation of Grace Baptist Church, Carlisle, Penn-

sylvania, for their kind expressions of Christian love.

            To Professor Dr. N. H. Ridderbos, I wish to express my

thanks for his wise counsel and competent criticism of my

work. For the considerable time which he has given in its

supervision and for the high standard of biblical scholarship

which he has exemplified, I remain in his debt.

            Finally, I wish to thank my wife and children for their

part in my thesis. Through the loving encouragement of my

wife, I was enabled to persevere in my work. She willingly

assumed the added responsibilities of typing and proofread-

ing to her already busy life. The children too have known

what it is to sacrifice vacation time and other things in the

interest of "the thesis." As a family we are thankful to God,

who has enabled us to finish this work. To Him be glory

forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS                                                                             v

INTRODUCTION                                                                                         1

 

                                                Part One

THE LEVIRATE AND GOEL INSTITUTIONS IN THE OLD

       TESTAMENT (EXCLUSIVE OF THE BOOK OF RUTH)

 

1. THE LEVIRATE IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST                     9

            Babylonia                                                                                           10

            Assyria                                                                                               12

            Hittites                                                                                               21

            Nuzi                                                                                                    24

            Ugarit                                                                                                 25

 

2. THE LEVIRATE IN ISRAEL                                                                    29

            The Levirate Incident, Gen. 38                                                         29

            The Levirate Law, Deut. 25:5-10                                                     49

            The Persons Involved, Deut. 25:5                                                    42

            The Purpose of the Levirate, Deut. 25:6                                        48

            The Ceremony of Refusal, Deut. 25:7-10                         55

 

3. THE GOEL IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST                             63

            Parallels to the Goel-Redemption of Property                              63

            Parallels to the Goel-Redemption of Person                                 68

            Parallels to the God-Redemption of Blood                                    71

 

4. THE GOEL IN ISRAEL                                                                83

            Goel-Redemption of Property, Lev. 25:23-28                              83

            Goel-Redemption of Person, Lev. 25:47-55                                 98

            God-Redemption of Blood, Num. 35; Deut. 19:

                        1-13; Josh. 20:1-9                                                                107

            Restitution to the Goel, Num. 5:8                                                   138

 

                                             vii

viii                                  Contents

 

                                        Part Two

           THE LEVIRATE AND GOEL INSTITUTIONS IN

                              THE BOOK OF RUTH

 

5. THE DATE AND PURPOSE OF THE BOOK OF

            RUTH                                                                                                 143

            The Date of the Book of Ruth                                                          143

            Arguments for a Pre-Exilic Date                                                     143

            Arguments for a Post-Exilic Date                                                   146

            Argument from Purpose                                                                   147

            Argument from the Place of the Book in

                        the Canon                                                                               152

            Argument from Language                                                                 154

            Argument from the Social and Legal

                        Customs                                                                                 157

            The Purpose of the Book of Ruth                                                    163

            The Interesting-Story Purpose                                                         164

            The Exemplary Purpose                                                                    165

            The Theological Purpose                                                                  166

            The Davidic-Ancestry Purpose                                                        168

            The Legal Purpose                                                                            170

 

6. NAOMI AND THE LEVIRATE                                                   173

 

7. NAOMI AND THE GOEL                                                                        181

            The Discovery of a Goel, Ruth 2:20                                               181

            The Approach to Boaz, Ruth 3:1-9                                     188

            Preparations for the Visit, Ruth 3:1-4                                            188

            The Appeal of Ruth, Ruth 3:7-9                                                       192

            The Response of Boaz, Ruth 3:10-15                                             201

    EXCURSUS: THE INITIATIVE OF NAOMI     

 

8. BOAZ AND THE GOEL

            The Administration of Law at the Gate, Ruth

                        4:1, 2                                                                                      209

            The Sale of the Property, Ruth 4:3                                      211

            The Double Responsibility, Ruth 4:5, 10                                       222    

            The Refusal of the Goel and the Ceremony of

                        the Shoe, Ruth 4:6-8                                                             249

 

                                            Contents                                                    ix

 

9. OBED                                                                                                         255

            Naomi's Goel, Ruth 4:14                                                                  255

            Naomi's Son, Ruth 4:16, 17                                                             260

            Boaz' Son, Ruth 4:21                                                                        265

 

                                        Part Three

                        GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

 

10. SUMMARIZING CONSIDERATIONS ON THE

            LEVIRATE INSTITUTION IN ISRAEL                               271

                        Representative Views                                                           271

                        Recapitulation and Conclusion                                            287

 

11. SUMMARIZING CONSIDERATIONS ON THE

            GOEL INSTITUTION IN ISRAEL AND ON THE

            SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BOOK OF RUTH                                  292

 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS                                     299

BIBLIOGRAPHY                                                                                         303

 

 

 

 

               Introduction

 

IN recent years attention from different quarters has been

devoted to the subject of the goel.1 in Israel. Several

important publications can be named. In 1940 Stamm

published his work Erlösen und Vergeben im Alten Testa-

ment, which established that the verb lxg was a term taken

from the sphere of family law, as over against hdp which

belonged to the domain of commercial law.2 In 1947 the

stimulating work of Daube, Studies in Biblical Law, was pub-

lished, in which considerable attention was devoted to the

study of the goel concept and to the verb lxg. Daube made

additional contributions to these topics in his later writings;

in particular in his 1956 work, The New Testament and Rab-

binic Judaism, and in the work published in 1963, The Exo-

dus Pattern in the Bible. He presented very penetrating

studies of the goel and opened serious discussion on the sub-

ject of Yahweh as the Divine Goel. He suggested that the

specific functions of the human goel in Israel were applied in

some instances to Yahweh, although he acknowledged that

there were many general references to Yahweh as Goel where

specific nuances could not be inferred. By studying the spe-

cific functions of the goel, Daubecame to the conclusion

that "lxg primarily suggests the return of men or things into

their own legitimate place. . . The word simply denotes the

 

            1. Throughout the course of this study the active participle of the verb lxg,

"redeem," will be transliterated simply with the word goel and the noun hlxg,

"redemption" with the word geullah.

            2. J. J. Stamm (p. 45) concludes: "hdp ist ein Terminus des Handelsrechtes,

welcher einfach den Loskauf durch Stellung eines Gegenwertes ausdrückt. lxg ist

ein familienrechtlicher Begriff, der stets eine vor dem einzelnen Rechtsgeschäft

zwischen dem Loskaufenden und dem Losgekauften bestehende, durch die Zuge-

hörigkeit zu einer Sippe gegebene, Beziehung voraussetzt." Stamm dealt with

Jahweh as Goel in pp. 31-44 and made one passing remark on the goel in Ruth

(cf. p. 28).

 

                                                             1
2                                 Introduction

 

rightful getting back of a person or object that had once

belonged to one or one's family but had been lost."3 Daube

proposed therefore that lxg means "to recover."

            Jepsen concurred in the main with Daube in his article

written in 1957. He wrote: "Go'el war der, der Besitz,

Freiheit und Leben der Sippe und ihrer Glieder wiederherste

len sollte. . . . Ga'al bedeutet danach: das, was eine Sippe an

Leben, Freiheit und Besitz verloren hat, wiederherstellen.. . .

Die Mittel der Wiederherstellung, der ge'ullah, sind verschie-

den: Blutrache, Heirat, Rückkauf . . . immer aber ist das eine

Ziel, die verlorene Lebenskraft der Sippe wiederzugewinnen."4

            An opinion in general agreement with that of both Daube

and Jepsen was Snaith's, who in 1961 argued that "primarily

the root [lxg] is used with reference to the enforcement, the

restoration of a right or claim that has lapsed. . . . Generally,

 whenever person or property is freed by purchase, the verb is

G'L if it is reverting to the original owner. . . . The idea of

reversion is essential to the root.”5 The goel is the agent

involved in securing this reversion to the original owner.

            An article evoking wide interest on this subject was that

of Johnson, who in 1953 advanced the idea that the basic

idea underlying the varying activities of the goel was that of

protection. "When a kinsman is slain or dies childless, or

when he is forced to sell himself into servitude or to part

with his property, there is a breach of continuity, and the

normal life of both individual and society is upset. Disorder

has been introduced into the life of each, and in the case of

the corporate unit as in that of the ordinary individual, any

weakness or disorder, whether brought about by actual physi-

cal death or not, involves a certain loss of vitality and it is the

function of the lxeGo to "protect" the life or vitality of both

the individual and the kin-group and thus preserve their

 

            3. D. Daube, Studies in Biblical Law, 1947, pp. 3940.

            4. A. Jepsen, "Die Begriffe des Erlösens im Alten Testament," Solange es

"Heute" heisst, Festgabe fur R. Hermann, 1957, p. 159.

            5 N. H. Snaith, "The Hebrew Root G'L (1)," ALUOS, 3, 1961-62, pp. 60,

61.

 

                                 Introduction                                           3

 

standing in society by keeping intact their essential unity or

integrity."6

            Johnson pointed out that lxg in several places means

"defile," and argued that the verb lxg, "to defile" may not

be divorced, as is commonly done, from lxg, "to redeem, to

lay claim to." In both cases the basic idea is that of "covering

up" an object. He seeks support for his opinion from Job

3:5, which he translates: "Let darkness, let utter blackness

cover it; Let a cloud settle upon it; Let the o'er-shadowings

of day bring terror to it." By a process of semantic polariza-

tion the original thought of covering was employed both in

the sense of protection from degradation as well as in the

sense of causing degradation or defilement.7 Johnson's opin-

ion on the root meaning of the verb did not receive wide-

spread support8 although the article as a whole was a worth-

while contribution to the growing material on the goel in

Israel.

            Within more recent years, Holmgren,9 Baltzer,10 Stamm

(for the second time),11 Ringgren,12 Stuhlmueller,13 and

 

            6., A. R. Johnson, "The Primary Meaning of lxg," SVT, 1, 1953, pp. 71, 72.

            7. A. R. Johnson, op. cit., pp. 72-74. RSV translates the verb vhlxgy in Job

3:5 with "claim" as does the NV, "beslag op hem leggen"; KJV translates with

"stain" and the NEB with "sully."

            8. Johnson's argument has been accepted for example, by A. Guillaume,

"Unity of the Book of Job," ALUOS, 4, 1962-63, pp. 26-46, and R. de Vaux,

Ancient Israel, 1961, p. 21, who comments that the root "means 'to buy back, or

to redeem,' ‘to lay claim to,’ but fundamentally its meaning is 'to protect.' " It is

disputed, in my opinion correctly, by J. Blau, "Uber Homonyme und angeblich

Homonyme Wurzeln," VT, 6, 1956, p. 243. Blau argues that the verb vhlxgy in

Job 3:5 is parallel with the verb vhwrdy in Job 3:4 in an abc bca parallelism, in

which case the thought is, God need not claim the day, for the darkness shall

claim it for its own. wrd is used in a sense similar to lxg in Genesis 42:22 and

Psalm 9:13 (12) which supports Blau's argument. Cf. also K. Koch "Der Spruch,

‘Sein Blut bleibe auf seinern Haupt,' und die israelitische Auffassung vom vergos-

senen Blut," VT, 12, 1962, p. 410 n.l.

            9. F. Holmgren, The Concept of Yahweh as Go'el in Second Isaiah, unpub-

lished Ph.D. dissertation, Union Theological Seminary, New York, 1963.

            10. D. Baltzer, Ezechiel und Deuterojesaja (BZAW, 121), 1971, pp. 84-99.

            11. J. J. Stamm, "lxg," THAT, 1, pp. 383-397.

            12. H. Ringgren, "lxg," TWAT, 1, pp. 884-895.

            13. C. Stuhlmueller, Creative Redemption in Deutero-Isaiah, 1970, pp. 97-

131.

 

4                                 Introduction

 

Sklba14 have published materials relevant to the topic of the

goel in Israel. In these newer studies the question of a basic

root meaning for the verb has receded somewhat into the

background and more emphasis has been given to an exami-

nation of the usage of the terms.

            It was my intention initially to seek to handle the topic

of the goel in Israel in its broadest sense, including the topic

of Yahweh as Divine God. It soon became apparent that such

a task was precluded by the sheer quantity of materials in-

volved.

            It also turned out that in the literature cited above rela-

tively little was being said about the goel in the book of

Ruth. Yet of the forty-four usages of the substantive goel,

nine occur in Ruth; and of the fifty-one occurrences of the

verb