Reference: Heir
Easton
Under the patriarchs the property of a father was divided among the sons of his legitimate wives (Ge 21:10; 24:36; 25:5), the eldest son getting a larger portion than the rest. The Mosaic law made specific regulations regarding the transmission of real property, which are given in detail in De 21:17; Nu 27:8; 36:6; 27:9-11. Succession to property was a matter of right and not of favour. Christ is the "heir of all things" (Heb 1:2; Col 1:15). Believers are heirs of the "promise," "of righteousness," "of the kingdom," "of the world," "of God," "joint heirs" with Christ (Ga 3:29; Heb 6:17; 11:7; Jas 2:5; Ro 4:13; 8:17).
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Therefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old: and unto him has he given all that he has.
And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.
And you shall speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. read more. And if he has no brethren, then you shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren. And if his father has no brethren, then you shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.
This is the thing which the LORD does command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated as the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he has: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his descendants, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, so that we may be also glorified together.
And if you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's descendants, and heirs according to the promise.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation:
Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
So God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved by fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?
Fausets
(Heir, (See BIRTHRIGHT; INHERITANCE,) refers exclusively to land.) The Mosaic law enforced a strict entail; the property was divided among the sons, the oldest receiving a double portion (the father not having the right, as the patriarchs had, of giving a special portion to a favorite son: Ge 48:22), the rest equal shares (De 21:17). If there were no sons it went to the daughters, on condition that they married in their own tribe; otherwise they forfeited the inheritance (Nu 27:8 ff; Nu 36:6 ff). The son of an heiress, as with the Athenians, bore the name not of his father but of his maternal grandfather. If there were no daughters the property went to the brother; if no brother, to the paternal uncle; lastly, to the next of kin. The aim was to keep the land in the family and tribe. Succession thus was a matter of right, not of favor; the Hebrew yarash, "to inherit," means possession and even forcible possession (De 2:12; Jg 11:24).
A distribution of goods ("personal", ousia) was sometimes made in the father's lifetime (Lu 15:11-13); the land ("real property", kleeronomia) could only be divided after the father's death (Lu 12:13). If a brother died childless the surviving brother should wed his widow and raise seed to his brother. The Mosaic law herein adopted existing usages, which also prevail still in S. Africa, Arabia, among the Druses and tribes of the Caucasus (Ge 38:8-9; De 25:5-10; Mt 22:23-25). Childlessness was regarded as such a calamity that the ordinary laws of forbidden degrees of affinity in marriage (Le 18:16) were set aside.
Moses allowed the obligation to be evaded, if the brother-in-law preferred the indignity of the widow loosing his shoe off his foot, in token of forfeiting all right over the wife and property of the deceased, as casting the shoe over a place implies taking possession of it (Ps 60:8; 108:9); also the indignity of her spitting in his face, so that his name becomes a byword as the barefooted one, implying abject meanness. The office then devolved on the nearest kinsman (Ru 2:20; 3:9-13; 4:1-12). Naomi, being past age of marriage, Boaz takes Ruth her daughter-in-law, and has also to redeem the sold inheritance of Elimelech, Naomi's husband. The child born is reckoned that of Naomi and Elimelech (Ru 4:17), Chilion being passed over. Naomi, not Ruth, sells the land (Ru 4:3). A Jew could never wholly alienate his land by sale (Le 25:23-24).
A kinsman, or the owner, could at any time redeem it at a regulated charge (Le 25:23-27). At the year of Jubilee it reverted without charge (Le 25:28). Jer 32:6-9; Elimelech's nearest kinsman would not exercise his right of redemption, lest he should mar his own inheritance; namely, if he should have but one son by her, that son would be Elimelech's legal son, not his; so the succession of his own name would be endangered. The inalienability of land made Naboth reject as impious Ahab's proposal (1Ki 21:3); typifying Christ's inalienable inheritance of a name more excellent than that of the angels (Heb 1:4). Houses in walled towns (not in unwalled villages, as being connected with the land) and movables could be alienated for ever; a wise law, essential to progress and marking the superiority of Jewish legislation to that of most nations.
Wills were unknown among the Jews until Herod made one. The subdivision of land by the absence of the law of primogeniture, and the equal division among sons except double to the oldest, suited a country like Palestine of hills and valleys, not admitting much horse labour and agricultural machinery on the large scale which large farms require. Small farms suited the hand labour required for the terraces reaching to the tops of the hills. The numerous towns in Galilee, moreover, had their wants best supplied by numerous petty farms. Subdivision tends also to the multiplication of population, and so to repairing the waste of life caused by wars. It attaches large numbers to their country, as proprietors, eager to defend the soil which is their own, and on which each ate of his own vine and fig tree (Isa 36:16).
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And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto your brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up descendants to your brother. And Onan knew that the descendant would 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 a descendant to his brother.
Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife: it is your brother's nakedness.
The land shall not be sold forever: for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me.
The land shall not be sold forever: for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.
And in all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land. If your brother becomes poor, and has 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. read more. And if the man has none to redeem it, but he becomes able to redeem it; Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overpayment unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession. But if he is not able to restore it to himself, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that has bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return unto his possession.
And you shall speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
This is the thing which the LORD does command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.
The Horites also dwelt in Seir formerly; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them.
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated as the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he has: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
If brethren dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn that she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. read more. And if the man desires 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 refuses to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stands to it, and says, I desire not to take her; 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. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that has his shoe loosed.
Will you not possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our closest kinsmen.
And he said, Who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth your handmaid: spread therefore your skirt over your handmaid; for you are a near kinsman. And he said, Blessed be you of the LORD, my daughter: for you have showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, in that you followed not young men, whether poor or rich. read more. And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to you all that you require: for all the city of my people does know that you are a virtuous woman. And now it is true that I am your near kinsman: however there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto you the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman's part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to you, then will I do the part of a kinsman to you, as the LORD lives: lie down until the morning.
Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit down here. And they sat down. read more. And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, sells a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's:
And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, sells a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: And I thought to advise you, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it: but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it besides you; and I am after you. And he said, I will redeem it. read more. Then said Boaz, The day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead through his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance: redeem you my right to yourself; for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, for to confirm all things; a man took off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for yourself. So he took off his shoe. And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of this place: you are witnesses this day. And all the people that were at the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and may you do worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem: And let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the children which the LORD shall give you of this young woman.
And the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto you.
Moab is my washpot; upon Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph you because of me.
Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make peace with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and drink you everyone the waters of his own cistern;
And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come unto you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. read more. So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray you, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. And I bought the field of Hanamel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.
The same day came to him the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, Saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up children unto his brother. read more. Now there were with us seven brothers: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no child, left his wife unto his brother:
And one of the crowd said unto him, Teacher, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided unto them his living. read more. And not many days later the younger son gathered everything together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Hastings
Morish
This is used in various applications as of one coming into a possession. It is applied to the Lord when He came to Israel seeking fruit. They said in effect, "This is the heir: come let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours." Mr 12:7. Christ is appointed by God to be heir of all things. Heb 1:2. Believers are by grace made sons through Christ, hence heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Ro 8:17; Ga 4:7; cf. Joh 17:22.
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But those tenants said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.
And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, so that we may be also glorified together.
Therefore you are no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Smith
Heir.
The Hebrew institutions relative to inheritance were of a very simple character. Under the patriarchal system the property was divided among the sons of the legitimate wives,
a larger portion being assigned to one, generally the eldest, on whom devolved the duty of maintaining the females of the family. The sons of concubines were portioned off with presents.
At a later period the exclusion of the sons of concubines was rigidly enforced.
ff. Daughters had no share in the patrimony,
but received a marriage portion. The Mosaic law regulated the succession to real property thus: it has to be divided among the sons, the eldest receiving a double portion,
De 21:17
the others equal shares; if there were no sons, it went to the daughters,
on the condition that they did not marry out of their own tribe,
ff.; otherwise the patrimony was forfeited. If there were no daughters it went to the brother of the deceased; if no brother, to the paternal uncle; and, failing these to the next of kin.
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Therefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a skin of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old: and unto him has he given all that he has.
And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, whom Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.
And you shall speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. read more. And if he has no brethren, then you shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren. And if his father has no brethren, then you shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.
This is the thing which the LORD does command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated as the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he has: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.