Awake, awake! put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!…Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. Isaiah 52:1,2, 9 NKJV.
Redeemed, ga’al, Strong’s # 1350. Ransom, redeem, and repurchase; to set free by avenging or repaying. God is the Redeemer of Israel (Isa. 43:1-3), repurchasing them from slavery (Sin).
Ga’al refers to the custom of buying back something a person has lost through helplessness, poverty, or violence. Furthermore, the one who does the redeeming is often a close relative who is in a stronger position and buys back the lost property on behalf of his weaker relative (Ruth 4:1-7).
Psalm 72 is universally understood as speaking of the Messiah; v. 14 states “He will redeem [ga’al] the life of the needy from oppression and violence.” In Isaiah 52:9, God redeems Jerusalem, buying it back from its oppressors on behalf of His people.
The biblical view of redemption is extremely wide, for God has pledged to redeem the whole creation, which currently groans in bondage (Romans 8:20-23).
Filed under: Christianity, Comment, Light from the Pot, Nuggets, Theology, Word Study, word study Hebrew
