The Cost of Fake Brothers

Impostors can't get the job done

Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight”
(Ps. 72:11–14)

In 1833, Britain manumitted slaves in her territories by awarding £20 million to the slave owners (equivalent to £1.5 billion in 2015). The principle of buying out the slavers was dimly akin to God’s principle of the go’el, or kinsman redeemer. This was a man authorized by the law of Moses to purchase one of his blood relatives out of servitude. He would have been next of kin of the afflicted; essentially, a brother.

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: After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him” (Lev. 25:47–48)

Why do I say “dimly akin?” It only takes a quick glance at the text to realize the dissembling of Parliament. Africans didn’t sell themselves to Englishmen. They were all kidnapped or re-purchased by Englishmen.

Turns out, there's a law for that, too.

Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. -Exodus 21:16

Although few modern Britons probably connect the dots in full, they have enough good sense to be vexed by this incongruity.

It turns out that the go’el wasn’t just mister moneybags, according to the Law of Moses. He was also the blood avenger. He was tasked with chasing and then killing anyone suspected of murdering his relative, if he could apprehend them outside a city of refuge.

The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him. (Num. 35:19)

While murder isn’t technically the same crime as kidnapping, the named penalties are the same, and of course, innumerable slaves were indeed murdered.

The story of abolition in England turns out to be another episode in the long and sordid history of man putting his trust in princes. Not only does he instruct his magistrate to let the kidnappers go scot free… he turns around and authorizes a staggering ransom payment to them, when the magistrate’s actual job was to execute the criminals. (Not surprising, considering that the slave-profiting class and the legislating class had significant overlap). Everything is topsy turvy. Injustice is framed by statute.

The go’el, in his redeemer role, would not have just set his newly freed brother out on the street with well-wishes. He would have taken his redeemed brother under his personal charge as a new servant. The go’el’s service would be happy and light compared to bond service under a foreigner. This is one facet of how Christ redeemed us. He didn’t set us free in absolute terms… he delivered us from the idols our old masters worshiped. We are now his and we serve him. This is why “freedom from” something always entails “freedom to” something else.

To add to the perversity, Caesar’s play-acting at being the go’el for slaves has given everyone the impression that we owe something to Caesar; that we must serve him for his tireless pursuit of justice. Thus, all men today tend to pay obeisance to Caesar no matter how much he abuses us. We are all of us confused about justice. Nobody understands it, really.

England only paid off the original abolition loan in 2015. It turns out you can farm out the job of go’el, but Caesar charges high day rates, and he’s terribly sloppy. It’s about as effective a strategy as electing a game show host as your president.

The understandable quest to seek monetary reparations for the original crime is just as biblically fraught as the original crime, as the Law does not permit sons to be punished for the crimes of their fathers. Notwithstanding that the culprits were the government, and how does the government get money to pay its victims? By taxing its victims. One might ostensibly hold accountable private entities as having guilt, but it was Parliament who authorized the loan. The ultimate fault is Caesar’s.

Working through the ramifications of it all, one might be tempted to understand how our forebears felt compelled to disinter and abuse the dead bodies of past malefactors.

Thanks be to God, despite its failure, the abolition movement at least used the sword to discourage slaving going forward from the Act. If the job had been 100% botched, instead of only by half… God save us.

Let every man give thanks today that we have a kinsman redeemer who actually knows what he’s doing. Let us then forgive one another as we have been forgiven.

When we look back on Wilberforce and his enemies, we tend to be haughty, as if we know justice now, better than they did. But do we? We moderns execute our unborn, and we still commit slavery. We incarcerate men and make them pay restitution to Caesar rather than their victims. We are buyers and sellers of man flesh, just as surely as the chattel slavers.

If Caesar is your go’el, I suggest you fire him and get a better one. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Especially men in government.

Instead of cursing the whopping failures of our ancestors, let’s remember who became a curse for us and hung on a tree… so he could be our go’el and redeem us from the curse of the law.

“We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can’t scoff at them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me.” -Jack Handey