Goel (b^5;^5, goW, part, of '~X5, gaal', to redeem; in full, n^rt 5X;i;, avenger of blood, rendered "kins- man," "redeemer," "avenger," etc., in the A. Vers.). Among the Hebrews, the right of repurcliasing and redeeming, as well as that of avenging blood, apper- tained onl}' to the next relative; hence goel, siniph^ is used for the next relative (Lev. xxv, 25). Similar usages prevail universally among the modern Arabs. See Blood-revenge. Connected with the duties of the Goel was, according to custom, also that of marrj'- ing the childless widow of the deceased relative (Deut. XX, 5-10). See Levirate Law.
The fact of the close consanguinity renders the Goel an eminent type of the Redeemer of mankind, as is especially evinced in that famous passage in the Ori- ental epic of Job. The afflicted man, by a striking anticipation of the incarnate Mediator, standing in im- mortal self-existence over the sleeping aslies of his kindred saint, who was misunderstood and maligned even hy his best earthly friends, thus touchingly e.x- ults in the prospect that his diseniljodied spirit should survive to witness the posthumous vindication of his fame (Job xix, 25-27) :
[Be this my dying testimony,] That / liave known my living Goel ; And last upon [tlie] dust he will arise:
Yes, after my skin has decayed, [even] thus; Vet without my flesli shall I beliold Ueity ! Whom / shall behold [as] mine ; (Yes, my eyes, they have [already] seen [him], Nor has he been strange [to me]), [Thoiigli] they have failed, my reins within me.
The sentiment was well worthy to be "engraved with an iron st3'le, and set with lead in the rock forever," as tlie epitaph of the noble patriarch (ver. 24). Al- thougli it does not (as erroneous!}' rendered in the A. V.) contain any allusion to the resurrection of the body, yet it distinctly recognises the doctrines of a fellow-feeling on the part of God towards man, and of the immortalitj' of the soul ; and it shows how these tenets, which lie at the basis of all true religion, wheth- er natural or revealed, are alone adecjuate to support the human spirit under the sorrows of life, and in view of death. (See Stor, De vindice sanguinis, Lips. 1694 ; Stickel, De Goele, Jen. 1832; and the dissertations on the passage bj-- Rosshirt [Herbip. 1791] and Kosegar- ten [Griefsw. 1815].) See Redeemer.
Goepp, Jean Jacques, a French Protestant theo- logian, was born at Heiligenstein, Alsace, April 6, 1771. He studied at the Universitj' of Strasburg un- der Oberlin and Schweighaeuser, and had already be- gun bis career as a preacher when the French Revo- lution broke out. Appointed secretary of the Central Committee of Strasburg, he opposed the crnelt}' of Schneider, the Repuljlican commissioner, and would perhaps have jiaid dear for his courage but that he was drafted into the armj', in which he served until 1796, when he returned to finish his theological studies at Strasburg. In 1802 he was appointed pastor of the French Protestant congregation at Strasburg, almoner of the Lyceum of that city in 1803, director of St. Thomas's Seminary in 18(18, and, finally, pastor of the Lutheran Church in Paris in 18C!l. Tlicre, together with Boissard, lie opened the church called the Bil- lettcs, took care of over 14,000 souls dispersed all over Paris, attended to the poor, the schools, and all the other details of his charge. He was one of the found- ers of the Missions Evangeliques, of the Societe Biblique,
GOERING
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GOERTNER
the SocUte protestante de Pi'evoyance et de Secours mii- tuels, and the Sociele de la Morale Chnticnne. In 1815, at tlie time of the massacre of the Protestants atNimes, a London society had made proposals to the French Protestants to help them. Had the proposal been ac- cepted, the position of Protestantism in France v/ould have become even much worse than it had been. Goepp, while gratefull}' acknowledging the offer, de- clined, in the name of the French Protestants, accept- ing the protection of any foreign power. The French government acknowledged the service thus rendered \>y Goepp by creating him a member of the Legion of Honor. Goepp died at Paris June 21, 1855. Besides his immense pastoral work, Goepp did a great deal of literary labor. He wrote, besides numerous pamph- lets and funeral discourses, Precis de la doctrine chre- tienne exposee par le texte de V Ecriture Sainte (in col- laboration with Boissard, Paris, 1815, 8vo) : — Pri'eres a r usage du culte domestique, suivies des e.rercices et pre- paration a la sainte Cene (same, Paris, 1821, r2mo) : — PHncipes de la Religion chretienne, a Vusage des ecoles elementaires (Paris, 1826, 12mo) : — Discours sur le nom et le but de la Societe de la Morale chretienne (Par. 1834, 8 vo), etc. See Villenave, Notice sur J. -J. Goepp. — Hoe- fer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xx, 949 sq.
Goering, Jacob, a Lutheran minister, was born in York County, Pa., Jan. 17, 1755. His father was a farmer, and had designed his son for the same occupa- tion, but, as the youth showed promising talents and hopeful piety, his father consented to his becoming a minister of the Gospel. He studied theology with Dr. Helmuth, and in 1786 became pastor of the Lutheran Church at York, Pa. Here he continued to labor un- til his death in 1807. Mr. Goering was regarded as an extraordinary' man, a profound scholar, and an elo- quent preacher. Nothing could check his ardor in the prosecution of his studies, or divert him from his pur- pose. In the pulpit he would often electrify his aud- ience, and sway them at his will. It was his practice to present to Ids people SA'stematic doctrinal instruc- tion, always accompanied with a pointed application and an earnest appeal. On the afternoon of the Lord's day, in connection with the catechetical exercise, he examined the whole congregation on the subject of the morning's discourse. Although he wrote much, he published very little— only two small works on Bap- tism and one on Methodism. His MSS. contained dis- cussions of theological questions, inquiries into the Oriental languages, and translations from the Arabic poets, but these valuable papers, with all his letters, in compliance with his directions in his last illness, were committed to the flames. (M. L. S.)