The NT word for herd is a.-ii\ri, but it is used only for swine (.Mt 8» etc.). G. E. POST.
HEREDITY.— The law that like begeto like, and that therefore children inherit the qualities and the responsibilities of their ancestors, is not seientitically stated in the Bilde, but, in so far aa it is matter of common experience, it is im|ilieil.
The simplest form in which it presents it.self to observation is in the ca.se of similarity of phyiical and moral features. Thus it is remarked by Iljiguel (To 7^) ' how like ' Tobias is to his father Tol)it. And, again, it is said of a good son, ' His father dieth, and is as though lie had not died : for he hath left one behind him like himself (Sir 3<l*). That the father's character is often repeated in hit son is too common a jihenomenon to escape notice. It is said, e.g., of Abijam (1 K 15'), of Nadab (1 K 15*), and of Ahaziah (1 K 22"), that they
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HP:RE AFTER
HEREAFTER
walked in the evil ways of their fathers ; and of Jehoshanlmt(l K 22*') and Amaziuli (2 K 14'), that they followed their fathers' good examjile. This does not, indeed, constitute a universal rule. Good fathers often have bad sons, as we see in tlie ca.se of Eli, and bad fathers have good sons ; and even where the evil taint is reproduced, it is apparent in dill'erent individuals in dillerent degrees. But with a people so quick to discern tlie ties of kindred, so imbued with a sense of national soli- darity as were the Hebrews, the law of heredity was expected to fullil itself. ' Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?' (dob 14*) was a question with the answer, 'Not one.' They were accustomed to trace the characteristics of a tribe or a familj' in the person and career of its founder. Thus Ksau is the true ancestor of the wild Edoinite peoples, as Jacob is of the chosen race ; and the enmity between the brotliers lisau and Jacob re- jinduces itself in the thought of Obadiah in the 3eivlous hate of Edom for Israel.
Dut not only do children inherit qualities of body and mind from their fathers ; they inherit, as well, responsibility. This ia the perpetual burden of the Fentateucli. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation (Ex 20°, cf. Is 14^') ; the divine punishments follow the family of the sinner (Lv 20'). And as with sin, so with righteousness; its consequences are equally Inherited, and the in- heritance is more permanent than that of evil, for the Lord shows mercy unto them that fear Him ' unto a thousand "enerations." Israel is beloved ' for the fathers' sake ' ; and the tei^xire of the in- heritance of blessing is more lascing than the curse which follows sin.
The sense of responsibility seems, indeed, in the OT to att.icli itself to the family and the nation quite as much as to tlie individual. The sense of individuiility was less felt in early ages than it is in modem life, where it has been strongly emphasized. Hut at the same time the ultimate responsibility of the individual to God is not overlooked in the OT. The Hebrews of the Captivity put forward as excuse for their miserable condition the sad proverb, ' The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge ; l)ut Ezekiel (ch. 18) warns them against its misinter- pretation. Men do, indeed, sutler through their fathers' sins, but the soul is ultimately responsible to God for its own sin alone. ' The soul that sinneth, it shall die ' (Ezk IS™). See Fall.
We here come upon the great moral dilliculty, felt by the Hebrews as by us, though not so keenly, as to the reconciliation of the two principles of the transmission of qualities from father to son, and uf personal responsibility. On the one hand, it may be said that ' the dead rule the livin" ' ; each man is not only an individual, but a memijer of a series, or rather of an organism, in which each part is dependent on and allects every other. This, if pressed without qualification, results in the doctrine of traducianism, according to which a man's soul is the product of that of his parents— a doctrine which it is difficult to state so as to save the freedom of the will. On the other hand, we must conceive of each individual as in direct personal relations of responsibility with God ; he is there- fore not merely the product of the past history of his race, and a factor in the evolution of its future, but a fresh beginnin<; with a soul which is, in part, a new creation (creationism). J. H. Bernard.
HEREAFTER — ■V\^lere the witches (in Shaks. Macbeth, I. iii. 50) cry
' All hail, Macbeth, that shall be Ung; hereafter,'
they dearly mean 'at some time to come.' This
is the present meaning of the word, and it is found a few times in AV, esp. Jn IS', Kev 1" 4' 9'^ where the Gr. is neri raOra, 'after these things.' But where (in the same play, 1. iv. 38) Duncan says,