“the wife of the deceased” (see comments below on the law of the levirate marriage in Deut. 25:5–10).45 This restores clan wholeness • to redeem or restore a clan widow facing old age alone without anyone to care for her (Ruth 4:14–15) The word ʾāḥ (brother) is used in some of these contexts with the nuance of “clan relative” (i.e., any relative of “the linear descent group” [mišpāḥâ]). In all seven instances, mišpāḥâ wholeness or restoration is accomplished by the actions of the gōʾēl.