Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

INHERITANCE

Property that transfers to an heir upon the death of its owner.

The inheritance of wealth and personal property is rarely mentioned in the OT. Apart from a single law protecting the rights of a man’s oldest son (Deut. 21:15-17), concerns about this aspect of inheritance are found only in a few of the ancestor narratives (Gen. 21:10; 25:5-6; cf. 31:14-16) and wisdom texts (Prov. 13:22; 19:14; cf. Job 42:15).

Most OT references to inheritance concern land. According to one strand of biblical thinking, which may have roots in the society and economy of early tribal Israel, land is not individually owned, and cannot be sold or given away in perpetuity (Lev. 25:23). Particular individuals or families obtain usufruct of the land by virtue of their membership in a larger kinship (or pseudo-kinship) community, such as a lineage, clan, or tribe.

This concept is expressed theologically through the assertion that the land is ultimately Yahweh’s inheritance (Jer. 16:18; cf. Josh. 22:19), and that the Israelites are merely tenants whose tenure in the land is contingent upon loyalty and obedience to the deity (cf. Lev. 20:22-26; Deut. 30:19-20). The inheritance that is passed from generation to generation is permission to live on the land and to exploit its resources within the parameters set by the laws in the Pentateuch. Several of these laws aim at preventing the alienation of tribes and families from their ancestral inheritances (cf. Lev. 25:24-28; Num. 36:6-9; Deut. 19:14; 27:17). According to Lev. 25:8-17 agricultural and pastoral land may not be sold in perpetuity; every 50 years during the Jubilee, land which has been sold is to be returned to the family to whose ancestral inheritance it belongs. Num. 27:8-11 rules that a man’s daughters are to inherit his ancestral property in the event that he dies without sons. This law does not grant women a general right to inherit or own land, but seeks to preserve a man’s name by protecting his lineage from extinction and by maintaining its connection to his ancestral inheritance.

The rise of a centralized monarchy brings notions of private ownership in conflict with the ideals of tribal society. The rebellions of Sheba against David (2 Sam. 20:1-22) and of the northern tribes against Rehoboam (1 Kgs. 12:1-20) are motivated in part by a perception that the institution of kingship threatens practices of land tenure based on inheritance. The story of Naboth’s vineyard (21:1-29) portrays the violent extremes to which some proponents of private ownership will go in their efforts to circumvent traditional restrictions placed upon the sale of ancestral inheritances. In a similar way, the prophet Micah condemns Jerusalem’s wealthy classes for coveting and seizing the ancestral inheritances of the common people (Mic. 2:1-5).

The OT employs “inheritance” in a variety of metaphorical ways. Descriptions of Israel as God’s inheritance point to the intimacy that appropriately exists between God and the chosen people (e.g., Exod. 34:9; Deut. 4:20; 2 Sam. 21:3; Jer. 10:16). The prophets draw parallels between God’s rejection of sinful Israel and a landholder’s abandonment of an inheritance that has become defiled (e.g., 2 Kgs. 21:14; Jer. 12:7-9; cf. Isa. 47:6). At the end of the Exile, God promises a heritage of military security to an obedient and soon to be restored Zion (Isa. 54:17). God’s decrees are described as the heritage of the righteous (Ps. 119:111), whereas destruction is the inheritance of oppressors (Job 27:13-23). Eccl. 7:11 compares wisdom to a good inheritance.

The NT seldom refers to the literal inheritance of real, personal, or financial property (cf. Mark 12:1-8 par.; Luke 12:13-15; 15:11-12). More commonly, it employs ideas of inheritance in a spiritual sense. Believers are said to inherit a variety of spiritual benefits, including glorification (Rom. 8:17), redemption (Eph. 1:14), salvation (Heb. 1:14), and life (1 Pet. 3:7; cf. Luke 18:18). This inheritance is both eternal and immutable (Heb. 9:15; 1 Pet. 1:4). It is offered to all who are called through the grace of God in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:32) and is sealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:11-14). Although Col. 3:24 describes this inheritance as a reward for faithful obedience, and Eph. 5:5 declares that sinners cannot inherit the kingdom of God, other passages insist that the inheritance cannot be received through obedience to the law, but only through faith in God’s promises (Gal. 3:17-18; 4:21-31; cf. Heb. 11:8-16). Those who receive this inheritance include both Gentiles (Eph. 3:6) and women (1 Pet 3:7).

Frank D. Wulf

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

INHERITANCE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)