Heritage

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

We find the Lord frequently speaking, in his holy word, concerning the heritage of his people. Canaan is all along described as the heritage the Lord had designed for Israel. ( Exodus 6:8) And we find also the people not unfrequently delighting themselves in it. "The lines are fallen unto me (said one of old) in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage." ( Psalms 16:6) But the Lord himself, over and above these things, is spoken of as the heritage of his redeemed. In the same sweet psalm, the sacred writer takes comfort in this assurance, and saith ( Psalms 16:5.) "The Lord himself is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot." So again the Lord, as the security of his people, saith himself, that "this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." ( Isaiah 54:17) And as the Lord is the heritage of his people, so his people are said to be his; hence in times of trouble, the church is heard to say, "They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage." ( Psalms 94:5) See some other sweet Scriptures to this amount: ( Joel 2:17;  Micah 7:14-18;  Isaiah 58:14)

But when the reader hath duly pondered the blessed thought of beholding the Lord and his fulness as the heritage of his people, and his people as his heritage of delight, both in nature, providence, and grace, there is one thought more the subject of heritage proposeth to the meditation that ought not to be forgotten, The customs and manners of the eastern world differ so widely in many points from ours, that unless due attention be had to them we lose much of the sense and spirit of the things spoken of. Thus on the subject of heritages or inheritance. By virtue of alliance and relationship, these things were unalienable, and not liable to be lost to the right heirs of them. A child had an undoubted right, whether by natural birth or adoption, when once lawfully acknowledged as such, to the heritage of his birthright; neither could he be dispossessed by the caprice, or will, of his father. And there was another distinguishing property in the rights of heritage among the customs and laws of the eastern world, namely, that a son needed not to wait the death of the father for the possession of his heritage. He might at any time, when of age, claim it. And this throws a light upon the subject of the younger son in the parable. ( Luke 15:11-12) And although, as in that instance, the father foresaw the abuse and misapplication of his heritage, yet by the laws of the east, the father could not withhold his portion from him.

Now, if we make application of these customs of the eastern world to the phrases and expressions we meet with in Scripture, which of course, as they were written there, had an eye to them in those writings, what beauties do we find they frequently give to the sense of Scripture on many points, which we should otherwise overlook and be ignorant of. Thus for instance, on the subject of heritage now before us. The heritage of Christ's children cannot by those laws be ever lost, or become alienable. Jesus hath adopted them as his, both by his Father's gift, and by his own purchase, and by the conquests of his grace; nothing therefore, can dispossess their undoubted right in Jesus and his fulness as their heritage for ever. Hence David saith, ( Psalms 119:111) "Thy testimonies have I claimed, as mine heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of mine heart."

Neither is this all: the heirs of God in Christ do not wait to a distant period for the possession of their heritage. Their God and Father never dies to render their rightful enjoyment necessary. He lives to put them into possession: and this they have not by reversion, but by present inheritance, here by grace through faith, and hereafter in glory. And though too often, like the prodigal in the parable, we waste and abuse the bounties of our heritage, yet, like him, the eye of our God and Father is always on the look-out for our return, and when by grace brought back, as he was, we are graciously received, and made happy in the pardoning mercy and love of our Father.

And as our person, so our mortgaged inheritance; both are secured from the same cause and fullness of salvation. As we have sold ourselves for nought, so are we redeemed without money. ( Isaiah 52:3) Jesus our elder brother, our nearest of kin, hath ransomed both person and property. Our inheritance was not alienable for ever, but only to the year of jubilee. God our Father commanded him to open his hand wide to his poor brother, and he hath done it; so that we are brought into the full liberty wherewith he makes his redeemed free, and brought home also, at length, into the possession of an inheritance infinitely surpassing the one we originally forfeited, even "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the goodness of God!" See those Scriptures, ( Leviticus 25:25;  Deuteronomy 15:7-8;  1 Peter 1:3-5;  Romans 11:33)

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Κληρόω (Strong'S #2820 — Verb — kleroo — klay-ro'-o )

primarily, "to cast lots" or "to choose by lot," then, "to assign a portion," is used in the Passive Voice in  Ephesians 1:11 , "we were made a heritage," RV (AV, "we have obtained an inheritance"). The RV is in agreement with such OT passages as  Deuteronomy 4:20 , "a people of inheritance;"  Deuteronomy 9:29;  32:9;  Psalm 16:6 . The meaning "were chosen by lot," as in the Vulgate, and in  1—Samuel 14:41 , indicating the freedom of election without human will (so Chrysostom and Augustine), is not suited to this passage.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Exodus 6:8 Psalm 16:6 Psalm 135:12 Psalm 127:3 Psalm 119:111 Isaiah 54:17 Psalm 94:5 Jeremiah 12:7 Joel 3:2 1 Peter 5:3  Revelation 21:7Inheritance

King James Dictionary

HER'ITAGE, n.

1. Inheritance an estate that passes from an ancestor to an heir by descent or course of law that which is inherited. In Scot's law, it sometimes signifies immovable estate, in distinction from movable. 2. In Scripture, the saints or people of God are called his heritage, as being claimed by him, and the objects of his special care.  1 Peter 5

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( a.) A possession; the Israelites, as God's chosen people; also, a flock under pastoral charge.

(2): ( a.) That which is inherited, or passes from heir to heir; inheritance.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

See Heir.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

denoted by several Heb. words: אֲחֻזָּה , RXI Achuzzah', a "possession;" נִחִלָה , Nachalah', or נִחִלָת Nachalath', "heritage," etc.; also יְרֻשָּׁה , yerushshah'; מוֹרָשָׁה , Morashah'. Only Sons (compare  Genesis 21:10;  Genesis 31:14 sq.), and, indeed, only those of regular wives (comp.  Genesis 21:10 sq.;  Genesis 24:36;  Genesis 25:5 sq. — Jephthah is no exception,  Judges 11:2;  Judges 11:7; (See Bastard) ), had any legal title to the paternal inheritance, according to ancient usage among the Israelites; and amongst these the first-born, who might be of the favorite or a less favored wife, enjoyed a double portion ( Deuteronomy 21:15 sq.). (See Primogeniture). Daughters became heiresses, when sons existed, only by the special grant of the father ( Joshua 15:18 sq.; comp.  Job 42:15), but regularly in the absence of male heirs ( Numbers 27:8); yet heiresses ( Ἐπικληροι — such, according to many, was Mary, the mother of Jesus) were not allowed to marry a man of another tribe ( Numbers 36:6 sq.; comp.  Tobit 6:12; Tobit cf.7, 14; Josephus, Ant. 4:7, 5; see Michaelis, Mos. Recht, 2, 81; Buxtorf, Sponsal. et Divort. p. 67 sq., in Ugolini Thesaur. 30; Selden, De successione in bona. pat. c. 18), so as not to interrupt the regular transmission of the estate (see Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterthumsk. 3, 206, 213; Gans, Erbrecht, 1, 337 sq.; comp. Rhode, Rel. Bild. d. Hindu, 2, 608). On the heirship of distant kinsmen, see  Numbers 27:9 sq. (comp. Philo, Works, 2, 172; see Mishna, Baba Bathra, 4, 3, c. 8, 9; Gans, Erbrecht, 1, 152 sq.). Respecting written wills, we find nothing legally prescribed (see S. Rau, De Testamentificatione Hebraeis Yet. Ignota, praes. L. Van Wolde, Traj. ad Rhen. 1760; also in Oelrich's Collect. Opusc. 1, 305 sq.), and as the heirship-at-law had undisputed force as a legal principle ( Numbers 21:11), it must have operated as a testamentary disposition of the inheritance, to the exclusion of any more formal method of bequest (Gans, Erbrecht, 1, 149 sq.); for the passage in Tobit 8:23 does not refer to a devise by will, and  Proverbs 17:2 only shows that slaves might become heirs by a special arrangement of their masters (see Rosenm Ü ller in loc.; Gesenius, Thes. Heb. 1, 483), while  Genesis 15:3 refers to an earlier period. But in later times regular testaments must have obtained among the Jews ( Galatians 3:15;  Hebrews 9:17; comp. Josephus, Ant. 13, 16, 1; 17:3, 2; War, 2, 2, 3), in imitation of the Greeks and Romans (see Smith's Dict. Of Class. Antiq. s.v. Heres, Testamentum); and in the Talmudical law of heritage they became of effect (Gans, Erbrecht, 1, 171), although not in the extensive sense of the Roman law. Sometimes the parent divided the inheritance (i.e. a portion of it) among his children during his lifetime ( Luke 15:12; comp. Tobit 8:23; see Rosenm Ü ller, L'Morgenl. 5, 197). (On the subject generally, see Michaelis, Mos. Recht, 2, 76 sq.; J. Selden, De Successione In Bona Defuncti Ad Leg. Hebr. Lond. 1636; also in his Uxor. Ebr. and in his Works, 2, 1 sq.) (See Inheritance).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

her´i - tā̇j ( נחלה , naḥălāh , from nāḥal , "to give"; κληρόω , klēróō ): That which is allotted, possession, property, portion, share, peculiar right, inheritance; applied to land transferred from the Canaanites to Israel (  Psalm 11:6;  Psalm 136:22 ); to Israel, as the heritage of Yahweh ( Joel 3:2 , etc.). In the New Testament ( Ephesians 1:11 ) applied to believers, the spiritual Israel, as God's peculiar possession (Ellicott, Eadie).