Tag-Archive for » inheritance «

The Wrong Question

Saturday, June 05th, 2010 | Author:

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 10:25

To Inherit – The lawyer opened the test with a mistake.  He asked the wrong question.  If we overlook this mistake, we won’t understand why Yeshua answers a different question and ignores the lawyer’s test.  We must proceed slowly and carefully.  What’s wrong with the lawyer’s question?  When you think about it, it’s obvious.  He asks “What must I do to inherit?”  But, of course, there is nothing I can do to inherit anything.  Inheritance is not based on what I do.  It is based on who I am.  A son does nothing to be granted an inheritance.  Inheritance is a gift given to those who are in the proper relationship.  This is why Sarah commands Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael into the desert to die.  “No son of a slave girl will inherit along with my son!”  Sarah knows that as long as Ismael is alive, he is eligible to inherit.  He doesn’t have to do anything to gain his inheritance.  He just has to be there.

The Hebrew word (yarash) stands behind the Greek word (kleronomeo).  The Greek word combines two thoughts – “to have in one’s power” and “a lot.”  This word recalls the division of the land by lots when Israel inherited Canaan.  This event established the paradigm case of inheritance for the Jews.  Taking the land required action.  That’s why yarash also means “to take possession, to dispossess, to drive out and to inherit.”  Yarash is about conquering the land, but this action did not create the inheritance.  God gave the land to Israel.  The inheritance was His alone to give.  Israel did nothing to earn it, but Israel still needed to take possession of what God had already given.

Do you see now why the lawyer’s question is so terribly wrong?  There is nothing he can do to inherit eternal life.   There are actions he must take to possess this inheritance, but these actions do not affect the status of God’s gift.  These actions only personally appropriate what has already been given.  No wonder Yeshua doesn’t answer this question.  The assumption behind the question completely undermines the character of a compassionate God.  The lawyer’s question implies that God has not given eternal life as a gift.  Instead, his question implies that by some actions we can obligate God to reward us with eternal life.  Yeshua doesn’t even bother which such a mistaken view.

Christians will nearly universally agree that this question is the wrong question.  Christians will assert, along with Yeshua, that eternal life is a gift and that there is nothing we can do to inherit it.  In spite of this agreement, we still tend to make two drastic mistakes.  First, we go right on acting as if our behavior actually obligates God.  We act as if our good deeds require God to bless us.  We act as if our mistakes and sins erase God’s good gift.  We have the right theology, but too many times our behavior looks like the lawyer’s assumptions.

The second mistake we make is the failure to understand the full sense of yarash.  We think that because eternal life is a gift, we have no obligation at all.  But yarash is an active verb, not a passive acceptance.  It means “to take possession, to drive out, to dispossess” the enemy.  The gift is there, thanks only to God, but we have to go to battle to possess it.  We have to displace the enemy who occupies the territory.  We have to drive out those who would prevent our full enjoyment of God’s goodness.  We have to make the gift our own.  The land will wait, dormant, until His people arrive and take control of their inheritance.  It will not be given to any others.  But it waits until we step up and do what He asks.  “Go into the inheritance I have given you and occupy it.”

Topical Index:  inheritance, kleronomeo, yarash, Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 11 Comments

The Hebrew Bill of Rights (2)

Saturday, May 02nd, 2009 | Author:

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, yes, I have a beautiful inheritance. Psalm 16:6

Inheritance – If my destiny is in the hands of the Lord (as we learned in the first part of this verse), then what rights do I have? If I live under His Kingdom as a citizen in His government, what rights can I claim? Now David uses a different Hebrew word to capture this part of his thought. Here the word is nachalah. This is possession, property and tangible inheritance. This is a piece of the land (Numbers 26:53-56). No wonder David says that the “lines” have fallen in good places. His property lines establish his claim in the land of milk and honey.

Is that all? Is David simply saying that he got a good piece of property? Not likely. David also knows that the same word is used to describe the inheritance of the Levites, the priests. But their inheritance is not any part of the land. Their inheritance is the Lord Himself (Numbers 18:20). Now, which would you rather have; a piece of the land of Israel or a portion of the relationship with the Lord Himself? Careful! There are some fairly big implications with either answer to that question.

One thing is certain. NONE of it is a right! In the Hebrew worldview, you don’t have a right to life, liberty and property (the original wording of the Declaration of Independence). In fact, you don’t have a right to anything. Why? Because you stand under a holy God who is the absolute monarch of all creation, who made it all, owns it all and controls it all. Your sin excludes you from any guarantee except punishment since your sin brands you a rebel against the one and only Ruler of all. You are a traitor and traitors deserve to die. You have no rights – but you have been given many gifts. The amazing thing about God is that He doesn’t pay any attention to your “rights” either. Instead, He operates completely on the basis of gift. In His Kingdom, He gives you life, liberty and property simply because He is gracious, compassionate and loving. The second we forget that it is all gift, we stop seeing the world through Hebrew eyes. That’s when we start expecting something just because we are here. Even the famous Declaration of Independence doesn’t capture the thought of the Hebrew constitution established at Sinai. God gives! That is the basis of all my actions, thoughts and expectations. David got it right. My destiny is in the throwing of the lots, and He does the throwing.

Does a slave have a right to anything except what the Master determines to give him? Of course not. That’s why he is a slave. Does a citizen have a right to anything except what the King (not the Congress) decides to give? No. Change politics if you want to understand the Hebrew bill of rights. Move your mind to a dictatorship under the absolute sovereign of the universe. Then see how far you get with complaints about “rights.”

We have a lot to be thankful for, not least of which is the fact that we serve a God who gives. Maybe that’s the place to start today – thanking God for everything as a gift.

Topical Index: gift, right, inheritance, nachalah, Psalm 16:6

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 6 Comments

The Hebrew Bill of Rights (1)

Friday, May 01st, 2009 | Author:

The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot.

Inheritance/Lot – Personal rights are a big deal in our world. If you listen to the contemporary political rhetoric, it would seem that everyone has a “right” to just about everything. Apparently life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not enough. Now we need housing, education, medical care, retirement, security, food, jobs and whatever else happens to move the political conscience. It’s fairly easy to be seduced by all this since it pervades the society, but make no mistake, King David clearly understood that personal rights in the biblical system are very, very different.

The Hebrew word goral is used twice in this verse. The same word is translated both “inheritance” and “lot.” We use two different words to make the English sound more literary, but it hides that fact that David emphasizes the same Hebrew concept. It’s important (from a Hebrew point of view) that I know that my lot and my inheritance are one and the same. Why? Because both have a direct relationship with the action of God. No man, no political action group and no government can guarantee my real rights. They come from God and from God alone.

Goral is first associated with the action of casting lots. In ancient times, this method was often used to determine the correct choice in a matter. Of course, today we would be aghast if we thought that crucial decisions in life were determined by throwing pebbles on the ground. It sounds like some kind of magic. Our “Christian” training steers us away from all these “incantation” processes. But maybe we are a little too quick to reject the casting of lots. Maybe we really don’t understand what is implied. Or maybe we are so “Greek” in our automatic deferral to the power of reason that we no longer entertain a place for God’s direct actions in our decision-making.

The thinking behind the casting of lots is an explicit recognition of the total sovereignty of God. In other words, the only reason that I accept the casting of lots as the means of making a choice is because I absolutely believe that God is in control of the way those pebbles fall to the ground. Fate has nothing to do with it. By the way, neither does gravity or physics. God causes the pebbles to fall in a way that reveals His will. My only decision is to allow Him to use this method to instruct me and to follow through on the result.

Now, of course, anyone can throw stones on the ground (or bones or cards or whatever). But casting lots from a biblical point of view can only occur correctly when the party is fully in compliance with the Most High God and completely trusting in God’s immanent involvement. It is faith in the full Hebrew sense – trusting in Him. This is the background to the lots used to determine the land distribution when Israel entered the Promised Land. This is the background in Jonah. And this is the background that David alludes to when he uses the word goral.

But David says something more than a comment about his portion of the Promised Land. David says that the destiny of his life, everything about who and what he is, is in the hands of the Lord. Here David uses the personal name of God, YHWH. Just as Israel trusted in lots to determine the will of God for the distribution, so David (and all believers) can absolutely trust YHWH with their destiny. The nation’s lot was determined by YHWH and so is each person’s lot. God is directly and immanently connected to our very existence.

How about your “lot in life?” Do you feel that you have arrived at this place and time because of accidents, circumstances or fate? Are you complaining because things haven’t worked out the way you wanted? Do you think your life is under the whim of the government, the employer or the tax man? Maybe King David has something to say to you.

Topical Index: lot, inheritance, destiny, goral, Psalm 16:5

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 5 Comments