Chapter 5 - The Science (Self-Evident Truth) of Kinship
Kinship: Connection by blood, marriage, or adoption; family relationship.
Next of Kin/Nearest of Kin -
At some point during our lives many of us have heard the phrase, next of kin. The phrase signifies the next relevant family tie or connection. Usually the phrase is used in the unfortunate event of an individual’s death. However, kinship in the Bible also has a spiritual application that many of us may not fully appreciate. It is a critical component in understanding God’s redemptive process for mankind. As is His custom, God uses tangible reality as a means for humans to peer into and comprehend greater spiritual truths and principles. The following passages of scripture give examples of how God uses human kinship for the restoration of forfeited family heritage. They also give us the pattern for how the principles of kinship extend beyond the familial context and into the spiritual realm where humanity’s collective and individual redemption is at stake.
Leviticus 25:24–28, 47–49 is the introduction of this principle in the Bible. It reads “(25) If thy brother be waxen poor and hath sold away some of his possession and if any of his kin come to redeem it then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. (26) And if the man have none to redeem it and himself be able to redeem it, (27) then let him count the years of the sale thereof and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it that he may return unto his possession. (28) But if he be not able to restore it to him then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee and in the jubilee it shall go out and he shall return unto his possession. (47) And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee or to the stock of the stranger’s family, (48) after that he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brethren may redeem him. (49) Either his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him. Or if he is able he may redeem himself.”
Leviticus basically says that if someone falls into financial straits and sells off some of his family possessions or even himself to make ends meet, his family, specifically his closest relative, may come to redeem whatever was lost on his behalf. He also may redeem it himself, if he is able, taking into account how long the property has been in the possession of the party that he sold it to.
The second example is taken from Deuteronomy 25:5–10. The passage reads “(5) If brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her and take her to him to wife and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. (6)And it shall be that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead that his name be not put out of Israel. (7) And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders and say, my husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother. (8) Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him and if he stand to it and say, I like not to take her (9) then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot and spit in his face and shall answer and say, so shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house. (10) And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of him that hath his shoe loosed.”
God’s concern here is not so much about lost property as much as it is about lost family heritage. God places a high value on a man ensuring his genetic legacy because He places a high value on ensuring His own spiritual legacy within humanity. God places such a high premium on this that in the event of a man’s death without children, He ordained that the responsibility falls to the dead man’s next available unmarried brother to raise up seed in the deceased brother’s name.
Genesis 38:6-10 reads “(6) And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. (7) And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord slew him. (8) And Judah said unto Onan, go in unto thy brother’s wife [Tamar], and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. (9) And Onan knew that the seed should not be his and it came to pass when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. (10) And the thing which he did displeased the Lord, wherefore he slew him also.”
The first time I read this story, I thought that God laid out some severe punishment for something that seemed minor. Many years and much insight later, I see the spiritual magnitude of Onan’s decision. The context of this story, in reality, makes it an earthly analogy of what the Son of God came to do for humanity ...