Levirate Marriage Law & Kinsman-Redeemer Custom
Levirate Marriage Law & Kinsman-Redeemer Custom
This custom (from the Latin levir, meaning “brother-in-law”) obligates the oldest living brother marries his dead brother’s childless widow.
WHAT IS A LEVIRATE MARRIAGE?
Definition
This custom (from the Latin levir, meaning “brother-in-law”) obligates the oldest living brother marries his dead brother’s childless widow.
The Lexham Cultural Ontology Glossary (2014), defines it this way:
A law and custom in ancient Israel that if a man died without sons his brother would take the widow for a wife in order to provide male offspring for his dead brother. The children then would be the heirs of their dead father's land and possessions and the family line would not be broken.
Any son born of out of the brother’s relationship to the former widow would be counted as the dead brother’s heir. The son would then be expected to continue the family line. This is detailed in Deuteronomy 25:5–6.
5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother (yibbemâ); to her. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
This is done for at least three reasons:
give the deceased man an heir
continue the deceased man’s family line
provide security for the widow of the deceased man
This practice of Levirate Marriage was considered a moral duty (but not usually understood to be absolutely required for an Israelite). Hence, uncooperative brothers are portrayed negatively in Scripture. In Genesis 38:8-10, the infraction of the earlier ANE patriarchal custom regarding Judah and Tamar brought judgment by death upon Onan by Yahweh himself. Likewise, with the Kinsman-Redeemer custom; in Ruth 4:1 the reluctant kinsman is pĕlōnîʾalmōnî. In Hebrew, this means “Mr. So-and-So”; the man remains nameless by the narrator. If he refuses, there was a legal ceremony wherein the widow can publicly shame her brother-in-law [yāḇām]. It is found in Deuteronomy 25:7-10.
7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
Reluctance to comply on the part of the brother-in-law is derived from a concern for property rights. This practice was (at least theoretically) still in operation during the time of Jesus, per the Sadducees’ question concerning epigambreúō and the resurrection Matthew 22:23–28.
Levirate Marriage is similar, but not identical, to the practice of the Kinsman-Redeemer custom.
WHAT IS THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER CUSTOM?
The Bible Sense Lexicon in Logos Bible Software defines kinsman-redeemer as “a man who was legally able to redeem his close male relative’s wife in order to bring up sons for the deceased’s lineage.”
This custom (gĕʾūllâ [“redemption”]; gōʾēl [“kinsman-redeemer”]) involves a larger circle of close relatives (gōʾălîm); not just the brother-in-law. There are commentators who understand the background to this custom to be based upon Leviticus 25:25. Either way, one can see what a kinsman-redeemer “looks” like by reading the beautiful story of Boaz and Ruth (this includes her mother-in-law, Naomi).
Ruth 2:20
And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law,
“May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!”
Naomi also said to her,
“The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers [Heb miggōʾălēnû].”
The plural form in the Hebrew (“one of our redeemers”) indicates a kinsman-redeemer arises from a tight circle of close relatives who are responsible for taking care of family in need. There were at least four requirements to become a kinsman-redeemer:
The man must be family
The man must be willing
The man must be able
The man must pay all
Boaz mentions a kinsman-redeemer nearer than himself (Ruth 3:12). This again indicates the circle of family members (not just the brother-in-law, as in Levirate Marriage) potentially responsible. The closer kin has first right of acceptance/refusal as the closest living relative (Ruth 4:4). This shows a spectrum of closeness within the circle of possible redeemers. The “help” that the women expect in the Kinsman-Redeemer custom concerns needs beyond the provision of an heir.
The Book of Ruth
There are some differences between a strict definition of Levirate Marriage and what’s described in the book of Ruth. Yet, in the Kinsman-Redeemer custom shown in the book of Ruth, “echoes” of Levirate marriage remain. For example:
it’s said “to maintain the dead man’s name” (Ruth 4:5)
so that “the name of the dead may not be cut off from his kindred” (Ruth 4:10)
Several features distinguish the kinsman-redeemer from the levirate custom:
The Kinsman-Redeemer Custom involves a close relative, not only a brother
The Kinsman-Redeemer Custom aims to relieve larger economic issues
The Book of Ruth gives us brief glimpse into The Kinsman-Redeemer Custom. Here we most likely observe local practices flavoring the legal protocol. In Ruth 4:4b, a “levirate-like” requirement is introduced: if the man marries Ruth, he must perpetuate the name of her dead husband!
Because of this, the closer kinsman cedes his prior redemption right (gĕʾūllâ) to Boaz. Why? Marrying Ruth would endanger his own inheritance, per Ruth 4:6. The reason is because Ruth, unlike Naomi, has not went through menopause yet. Ruth is young enough to possibly produce an heir for Mahlon. This future child would eventually rightfully claim the family’s land. Perhaps the man also felt marriage to a non-Israelite was not to his liking? Remember, Boaz properly (and perhaps purposefully) describes her as “Ruth the Moabite” in Ruth 4:5.
Ruth 4:10
Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”
In Ruth 4:5, we see gĕʾūllâ combine land and widow. Interestingly enough, Numbers 26:33, 27:1-11, and 36:1-12 authorizes that daughters of families without sons inherit the family’s lands! Another interesting case is from 2 Kings 8:1–6. Here, a widow comes back from foreign soil. She appeals to the king to get the land she previously owned back, for someone possessed it in her absence. The king grants her appeal. This shows she owned the land before she left. It also shows that her gender did not cancel her right of ownership.
In Ruth 4:14, the newborn Obed is referred to as a gōʾēl. Of course, Boaz becomes the great-grandfather of David, and Ruth his great-grandmother.
Yahweh as Redeemer
Yahweh himself is described as gōʾēl (kinsman-redeemer) in Psalm 74:2 and Proverbs 23:10-11. The Bible describes Yahweh as a legal-defender, the protector of the weak, the poor, the needy, and the endangered (eg, Psalm 74:21-22). Additional examples of this motif can be found in Psalm 19:14, Psalm 69:4-18, Psalm 78:35, Lamentations 3:58–59. The Book of Job contains a similar theme throughout: “I know that my Redeemer [gōʾălî] lives, that at the last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25).
Jesus Christ as Our Redeemer
In the New Testament, Hebrews 2:11 (“That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers”) and Hebrews 2:17 (“he had to be made like his brothers in every respect”) hint towards the kinsmen-redeemer motif. Revelation 21:2-3 does the same, emphaszing the marriage element:
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people…”
Indeed, by his work on the cross, Jesus Christ is our true Kinsman-Redeemer. For he is willing and able to redeem us by his blood.
