Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

HEIR

One who inherits something or who is entitled to a future inheritance; the one who receives the property of a deceased person, particularly on the basis of law and usually by means of a will. In both the OT and NT, the Hebrew and the Greek words encompass these ideas.

In Genesis 15, after God had reiterated his special promise to Abraham, Abraham wondered how the fulfillment of the promise might occur. At the time, only his steward, Eliezer of Damascus, was “the son of his house,” that is, the one of his large household who would inherit. There was no natural-born son of Abraham within the family (see Gn 15:3-4). Without a son in patriarchal times, a man’s chief steward could be his heir as a substitute. Later, after the birth of Ishmael (Abraham’s son by Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant) and of Isaac (his son by Sarah, his wife), trouble erupted between the women, and Sarah demanded that Abraham send Hagar and her son away, because Sarah did not want Ishmael to be an heir with her own son, Isaac (Gn 21:10).

A wise woman, at Joab’s instigation, told David a story about herself and her two sons. She said that one son killed the other, and that her family now wanted to kill the remaining son for the murder. If this happened, she claimed, the heir of her deceased husband would be destroyed and the family would be left with no inheritance (2 Sm 14:7).

Another biblical illustration of this normal use of the word “heir” is seen in a parable told by Jesus. The workers in the vineyard, who saw the son of their master coming, said among themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance” (Mt 21:33-43, rsv; cf. Mk 12:7; Lk 20:14).

In a number of references in the NT, the word “heir” is used to refer to the believer in Christ, who has an inheritance coming because of being a child of God the Father and consequently a joint heir with Christ (Rom 8:16-17). The inheritance of salvation is variously referred to in different sections of the NT. In Hebrews 6:17, Christians are called “heirs of the promise.” This promise occurred when God said to Abraham, “I will certainly bless you richly, and I will multiply your descendants into countless millions” (Heb 6:14, NLT). In Hebrews 11:7, Noah is described as “an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith” (rsv). In James 2:5, the poor in the world who are rich in faith are said to be “heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him” (rsv). Paul writes that those who are justified by God’s grace are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Ti 3:7).

In Hebrews 1:2, the word “heir” is used with a singular reference to God’s Son, who is said to have been appointed “heir of all things” by his Father. Here is an instance where someone has been designated to receive an inheritance but will actually enter into full possession of it much later.

In biblical times the right of primogeniture—that is, the right of the eldest son in the family to be the primary heir in the household—prevailed. In OT times, the firstborn son possessed the birthright, which included inheriting a double portion of his father’s possessions and headship of the family (Dt 21:15-17). The other sons shared the remainder equally. If there were no sons to inherit, the daughters became the heirs (Nm 27:8; 36:1-12), although there was a stipulation that the daughters could not marry outside their tribe. This was to preserve the tribal territory intact. If there were no daughters, then the dead man’s brothers inherited; if no brothers, then his uncles; and if no uncles, then the nearest relative (27:9-11). Because the matter of tribal possession was so important, it is easy to understand why there was such a concern for genealogical records among the Hebrew people.

See also Firstborn; Inheritance; Birthright.