245. Sign of Marriage  —  The Goel

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 11
Listen from:
Ruth 3:9. Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.
1. The expression “spread thy skirt” imports protection, and here signifies protection of a conjugal character. When marriages are solemnized among the Jews the man throws the skirt of his talith or robe over his wife and covers her head with it.
2. Goel, “kinsman,” is, literally, “one who redeems.” When a Hebrew was obliged to sell his inheritance on account of poverty, it was the duty of the nearest relative to redeem it for him (Lev. 25:25). Hence the word goel came to signify kinsman. The goel also became the recipient of property which had been unjustly kept from a deceased kinsman (Num. 5:6-8). It was likewise his duty to avenge the blood of his next of kin by seeking the life of the murderer (Genesis 9:5-6; Num. 35:19; 2 Sam. 14:7).
Some have supposed from the association of the goel with marriage, as in this history of Ruth, that it was his duty to marry the widow of a deceased kinsman: but according to Deuteronomy 25:5, this duty was only obligatory on a brother-in-law, which relation to Ruth was certainly not sustained by Boaz. Nor is there any evidence that it was sustained by the unnamed kinsman spoken of by Boaz in verse 12. Had this nearer goel been a brother-in-law Boaz would not have begun by asking him to redeem the property (Ruth 4:4) but would instantly have demanded that he should marry the widow, on refusing to do which he was liable to judicial disgrace (Deut. 25:7-10). But in the case of the god it was not until he redeemed the property of his relative, dying without a son, that he was under obligation to marry the widow. As Winer says, “The latter was to him the consequence of the former and not the reverse, as in the case of the levir, [brother-in-law.] Should he refuse to take possession of the property he was under no obligation to marry the widow. In so refusing he incurred no judicial disgrace, because he did not fail to discharge a duty, but only relinquished a right. The law had expressly imposed the duty of marriage on the levir only, and beyond him the obligation did not extend” (Real Wörterbauch, s. v. Ruth).
Boaz had no right to redeem the property until the nearer kinsman refused, and neither he nor the other kinsman was under any obligation to do it; but having once assumed the redemption, the one thus exercising his right was by that act under obligation to marry the widow.