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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Wherefore, she said to Abraham, Cast out this bond-woman, and her son: for the son of this bond-woman 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 to him hath he given all that he hath.
And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.
And thou shalt speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a man shall die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. And if he shall have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance to his brethren. read more. And if he shall have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance to his father's brethren. And if his father shall have no brethren, then ye shall give inheritance to his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be to the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.
This is the thing which the LORD doth 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 for the first-born, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.
For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together.
And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature:
Hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
By faith Noah, being warned by God of things not seen as yet, moved with 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, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath 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 to Onan, Go in to thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed would not be his: and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he frustrated the purpose, lest he should give seed to his brother.
Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness.
The land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
The land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. If thy brother shall have become poor, and have sold some of his possession, and if any of his kin shall come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. read more. And if the man shall have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it; Then let him count the years of the sale of it, and restore the overplus to the man to whom he sold it; that he may return to his possession. But if he shall not be able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return to his possession.
And thou shalt speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a man shall die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.
This is the thing which the LORD doth 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 Horims also dwelt formerly in Seir, but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which the LORD gave to them.)
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the first-born, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.
If brethren shall dwell together, and one of them shall die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without to a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her to him for a wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And it shall be, that the first-born which she beareth, shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name may not become extinct in Israel. read more. And if the man shall not like to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up to 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 to him: and if he shall stand to it, and say, I like not to take her, Then shall his brother's wife come to 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 to that man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is near of kin to us, one of our next kinsmen.
And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thy handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou didst not follow young men, whether poor or rich. read more. And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: yet there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform to thee 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 thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the LORD liveth: lie down until the morning.
Then Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there: and behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to 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 ye down here. And they sat down. read more. And he said to the kinsman, Naomi, that has come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's:
And he said to the kinsman, Naomi, that has come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it besides thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. read more. Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for confirming all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for thyself. So he drew off his shoe. And Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, Ye 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 upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that hath come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Beth-lehem: And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee 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 it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee.
Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph thou 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 saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me, saying, Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thy uncle shall come to thee, saying, Buy for thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. read more. So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison, according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. And I bought the field of Hanameel 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, Master, Moses said, If a man shall die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed to his brother. read more. Now there were with us seven brothers: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased; and having no issue, left his wife to his brother.
And one of the company said to him, Master, 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 falleth to me. And he divided to them his living. read more. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all 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 hath 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 husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.
And the glory which thou gavest to me, I have given to 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 we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath 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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Wherefore, she said to Abraham, Cast out this bond-woman, and her son: for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
And Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar (putting it on her shoulder) and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
And Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old: and to him hath he given all that he hath.
And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. But to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son (while he yet lived) eastward, to the east country.
And thou shalt speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a man shall die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. And if he shall have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance to his brethren. read more. And if he shall have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance to his father's brethren. And if his father shall have no brethren, then ye shall give inheritance to his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be to the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.
This is the thing which the LORD doth 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 for the first-born, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.