Hebrew Word Study – Redeemed – Ga’al     Gimmel Aleph Lamed

Exodus 6:6-7: “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: (7) And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

God did not just give us the Bible filled with a lot of stories to entertain us.  Every story in the Bible has a message for us personally. Each story has some application with regard to our journey through life and our relationship with God.   

For example, the deliverance of Israel from the enslavement of Egypt is not just a story to be used by the Jews in their celebration of Passover.  There is also a picture here of our own redemption.

Jewish teachers tell us that in Exodus 6:6-7 we have four expressions of redemption. This is not only from a Jewish perspective but a Christian perspective as well.  I would like to share these four expressions of redemption from a Christian perspective. 

We first really need to address the issue of just what redemption is. In English, the word redemption from a Christian context is to be saved or rescued from sin, error, or evil. The word in Hebrew for redemption is ga’al which means to be released or purged from danger through the payment of a ransom.  It involves going from one thing to something else.  For instance the redemption of a coupon. By using the coupon you are exchanging that piece of paper in exchange for the price or cost of something.  

In Exodus, we find four expressions of this ga’al or redemption.  The first expression is “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,”  The Egyptians held the Hebrews in bondage and slavery.  For us, the enemy is Satan who holds us in bondage and slavery to sin. The enemy loves to entrap us in sin that keeps us separated from God.  God brings us out from under the burden of this sin. 

Secondly, “I will rid you out of their bondage.” My father helped to start a rescue mission in Chicago and I would go with him as he would minister to the people on the streets.  I met the homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, and people caught in the bondage of sins.  I would watch as my father ministered to these people.  I realized these people wanted to be delivered from the bondage of sin, but they could not do it.  My father wanted them to be delivered from the bondage of sin, but he could not deliver them.  But I also watched as my father prayed with them and I saw many through the work of Jesus Christ do what my father could not do, what these people themselves could not do and that was be released from the bondage of their sins.  Many years later I worked as a camp director for inner-city teenagers in trouble with the law and later as a counselor in a halfway house and I saw hardened, hate-filled young men held in bondage by addictions and other sins miraculously change in just a moment between the time they bowed their heads in humble prayer and repentance to God to the moment they lifted their heads after concluding their prayer. I believe in the power of redemption for I have witnessed it throughout my life, not only in my life but the lives of others. 

There are many times as ponder my thoughts, I wonder if I am not playing some head games with my faith. Do I believe in God because that is how I was raised? Am I just a product of my own environment?  Is there really a God out there in the first place?  If there is, how do I know I have a proper understanding of this God?  As all these questions invade my thoughts, one word pops into my head – redemption.  I have experienced and seen the power of redemption and that is all the proof I need that there is a God out there.  Not just any old God but one who loves and longs to free us from our sins.

That leads me into the third expression of redemption. “I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm,” Now to be sure the literal understanding of the stretched-out arm is an expression of God extending his strength to overcome the power of Egypt.  However, the word in Hebrew for stretched-out arm is bizero’a netuyah which literally reads “with an arm extended.” The arm is not only a metaphor of power but it is also an expression of reaching out with longing or desire.  God not only redeems us but He is reaching out to us longing to redeem us.  Another expression is that Jesus voluntarily extended his arms to be nailed to the cross and by his death, He is able to redeem us. 

The final expression of redemption is:  “And I will take you to me for a people.” The word for take is laqach.  This is a word used when a father has accepted a man’s proposal to take his daughter as a wife. He would go out into the community and announce to everyone laqach, that is: “I have taken myself a bride.”   The final act of redemption is God taking us as a bride. But there is more to this picture.  He will take us for a people.  The word people is ‘am which means a family circle.  When a young man takes a bride, he takes her from her father’s house to his father’s house where he has built an addition to his father’s house. Yet, the father’s house still has the bridegroom’s brothers and their wives and children.  This new bride becomes a member of the bridegroom’s family circle. 

When we are redeemed, we not only become the bride of Christ, but a member of His family circle made up of others who have been redeemed.       

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