God loves the whole world. So says the first Bible Verse most of us ever learned, John 3:16.

And God’s love does not exclude anyone, particularly the people no one else seems to appreciate. Especially the “poor.”

While Matthew’s account of Jesus’ first beatitude says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” … Luke’s rendering of that beautiful Line is as follows: “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, BLESSED ARE YE POOR: for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 5:5 and Luke 6:20)

Wow, in Luke it is just “blessed are the POOR!”

And our Lord’s Ministry always considered the poor. (Actually at times He was rather rough on the wealthy! As in Matthew 19:23 … “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus’ half-brother James was that way too. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” True, these wealthy people were hoarding their riches and mistreating the poor … but still James was scathing! (James 5:1-3)

So unsurprisingly, Leviticus chapter 25 does not overlook this class of people, the “poor.”

Here we learn the Law, the Provision, of what’s come to be called the “Kinsman Redeemer.”

Basically it means that a loving (and financially able) relative could “buy back” for a displaced poor person (a cousin, say) any property he had lost. Or, being financially secure, he (the kind “redeemer”) could “pay” to set that loved one “free,” had Uncle Lazarus (just an illustration) become a “servant” (essentially a slave) to some lender. This Lazarus fervently (sometimes nearly hopelessly) working for that man/owner, to repay his obligation, indebtedness.

Wow!

To be a little more specific …

In Leviticus 25, verses 25-28 … the poor man’s LAND could be re-purchased for him. By the Kinsman Redeemer, if he had one.

In verses 29-34 his HOUSE could be so repurchased. (What joy! To have someone who loves you so much that he willingly buys back your home, lost due to some kind of financial duress.)

Then in verses 35-55 (to chapter’s end) the poor man HIMSELF could be set free from bondage (at a price, often hefty) from his master. (Proverbs 22:7 warns … “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”)

Probably the best Bible example of this Kinsman Redeemer Concept is found in the Book of Ruth. Where a man named Boaz was just that, a Redeemer to a little foreign Moabitess named Ruth. Who through her husband’s death had lost “everything.” She indeed was destitute! But Boaz (1. Related to her, 2. Very wealthy, and 3. Willing, even eager to help, in fact in love with her!) stepped in and redeemed everything that Naomi’s and Ruth’s family had lost. What a beautiful story!

But let me even say more. Hallelujah! Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer … to those of us who have been saved!

We who had lost everything! Being spiritually bankrupt! Facing dire penalties! But SOMEONE (John 3:16 again) loved us, became our Relative (via the Virgin Birth, God made flesh), and paid all our indebtedness (via His precious Blood at Calvary), and has restored all we lost (Salvation full and free) … all we lost, then a whole lot more!

Yes, Jesus was fully qualified to be the “REDEEMER!”

Psalm 19:14, a brief prayer, acknowledges this glorious fact. “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my REDEEMER.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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