INHERITANCE
INHERITANCE
as it appears to the writer that tin- 'people of God' ha3 now lirst, througli Chiist's (lualli ami resurrection, been truly constituted (2^"'"), so also he represents their ' inheritance ' as now at length fully discovered and secured (!'■'). It has been suggested (by Weiss, AT Theolorjie, § 50 (c) Anni. 4) that the characterization of the 'inheritance' as ' incorruptible, undeliled, and that fadeth not away,' contains a covert allusion to various OT phrases applied to the land of Israel (Is 24*, Jer 2', Is 40"''-) ; and this is possible. But no closer definition of it is given. As synonyms the expressions ' life ' (3', cf. 4") and ' glorj^ ' or ' crown of glory ' (5'- ■*• '") are employed, but without being explained further
In tlie hands of two of the NT writers, however, the idea in question receives much fuller treatment. From his peculiar point of view, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is naturally led to make not a little of a conception which had played so large a part in the world of OT faith (see note on KXitpofofiia in AVestcott's Hebrews, p. 167 f.). That which constitutes the 'inheritance' of the believer is described variously as ' the blessing,' i.e. of the covenant (12"), ' salvation ' (negatively, from death and every evil, 2"- " 5' ; positively, as the securing of man in his eternal destiny, 2^5' 9^), 'the pro- mises' (G'-), and otherwise. But, in order to appre- hend the idea as it presents itself to this ^niter's mind, it must be subsumed under and interpreted in harmony with the general conceptions and argu- ment of the Epistle. Religion with him is regarded in the light of a covenant into which God has P'aciously entered with men. Essentially this has been one and the same from the beginning, but historically it has embodied itself in two forms, the Sinaitic and that made through Christ, fo diverse in various respects that they may be distinguished as the ' first and ' second ' covenants (8'), of which the earlier proved inellective and only the later has truly realized the purposes which such an arrangement had in view. In one sense the covenant may be considered as its o^^'n end. As signifying a state of relatedness in which God becomes to men their God and they become His people, it stands for that which in itself makes great part of their blessedness, and which is only secured in the ' new covenant ' (S"), under the pro- visions of which the conscience is cleansed from dead works and the worshipper has boldness to enter into the holiest (D"-'" etc., compared with 7"- "etc.). But chiefly it is regarded as contem- plating that which lies beyond itself. In its later form especially, as sealed by a ' better sacrifice ' than before (9^), it rests also upon 'better pro- mises' (8"- "'■'^), the fulfilment of which introduces the people once for all into a sphere in which all their hopes and needs are satisfied. Through this 'eternal covenant' (13-°) administered by Jesus (9", where the author, through playing on the double sense of 5ia9^/c7jas meaning both 'covenant' and ' testament,' brings the idea of succession, namely on the death of ' the testator,' into view for the moment) believers receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (9'') ; a consummation otherwise described as reaching the heavenly city (11") or the city that hath the foundations '(11'"), or receiving the kingdom that cannot be shaken (12^), or having the world to come subjected to them (2' etc.), or entering upon the rest of God. In such expressions the influence of OT modes of thought is obvious, and the last especially forms the subject of a remarkable passage (3. 4) in which the writer betrays almost more fully than any- where his sense alike of the continuity of salvation nnder the old covenant and the new, and of the final completeness with which the latter realizes it. When Israel originally entered upon their inherit- ance and 'possessed the land and dwelt therein,' J",
saj's tlie historian, ' g.ave them rest round about according to all that He sware unto their f.-Uhers' (Jos 21**«). But, as the author of the Kiiistle recognizes, it proved a delusive rest (4'). Enemies still infesting the land, war waged from without, civil strife and manifold evils in every age disturbed the condition of peace and blessedness a.ssured to them, and which is here (4'"') represented as a participation in the deep tran(]\iil satisfaction with which God Himself rests in the enjoyment of the works of llis hands. Nevertheless, the divine purpose cannot be defeated (4") ; it can only at most be temporarily suspended, and that which Israel through unbelief (3'"- "• " 4") came short of ' we who believe ' {i.e. in the ' good tidings preached unto us,' 4^) attain to (4^). To jjut it otherwise, we 'inherit the promises' (6'-) in their full and final expression. As has been said (Davidson, Hebrews, p. 99), ' the mere land of Canaan was never in itself all that was understood either by those to whom it was promised or by God who promised it, when it was named as Israel's heritage. The patriarchs and people certainly looked to the possession of the land, but the idea they attached to it, or the light in which they regarded it, was that of a settled place of abode with God, where He would be fully present, and where they would find repose in His fellowship. All those religious ideas, dimly perhaps, yet in longing and imagina- tion, clustered about it which we now attach to the heavenly world.' And all this it is, hardly to be defined more narrowly, which faith is heir to.