If thy brother be waxen poor
Is brought very low, greatly reduced, and is in mean
circumstances; hence Jarchi says, we learn, that no man may sell
his field, unless his distress presses him and forces him to it;
for, as Maimonides F3 observes, a man might not sell his
estate to put money into his purse, or to trade with, or to
purchase goods, servants, and cattle, only food:
and hath sold away [some] of his possession;
not all of it, as Jarchi remarks; for the way of the earth or
custom of the world teaches, that a man should reserve a field
(or a part) for himself:
and if any of his kin come to redeem it;
come to the buyer and propose to redeem it, by giving what it was
sold for, or in proportion to the time he had enjoyed it:
then shall he redeem that which his brother
sold;
nor was it in the power of the purchaser to hinder him, or at his
option whether he would suffer him to redeem it or not: such an
one was an emblem of our "goel", our near kinsman and Redeemer
the Lord Jesus Christ, who came in our nature into this world to
redeem us, and put us into the possession of the heavenly
inheritance; nor was it in the power of any to hinder his
performance of it, for he is the mighty God, the Lord of Hosts is
his name.