INHERITANCE
INN
827
faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, and worked in them and through them in every painful task they had to accomplish.
Literature.— Phillips Brooks, Injiiience of Jems ; Dale, The Livii\0 Christ, ch. iii. ; Stalker, Imago Christi, ch. xvii. ; New- man, Gram, of Assent^, iiiSB.
G. H. S. Walpole.
INHERITANCE (Mt 21^8, Mk 12', Lk 20" ; Lk 12": KXripofo/j.la, derived from kXtjpos, 'lot,' 'por- tion,' ' possession,' and vifx(i.v, ' to own or admmis- ter'). — The ordinary Biblical idea of inheritance is ' the enjoyment by a rightful title of that which is not the fruit of personal exertion. The heir being what he is in relation to others, enters upon a possession which corresponds with his position ; but there is no necessary thought of succession to one who has passed away' (Westcott, Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 168). In the Gospels, however, the idea of succession to a deceased person is the prominent one, as with ourselves. The chief differ- ence between the ordinary ancient and the ordinary modern conception of inheritance is this : We have more regard to the mere change in the ownership of certain property which takes place : the ancient civilized races looked rather to tlie position of the heir as executor and administrator of the deceased's property, and as the person who, being clothed, so to speak, with the personality of the deceased, took upon himself all the obligations of the testator, as well as the continuance of his race and the per- petuation of his family religion. The last con- siderations were the most jn-ominent, and account for the prevaknice of adojition in ancient society. An adopted son, or a relative compelled to marry the deceased's daughter, could carry on the family and its rites as well as a real son. (See Maine's Ancient Law, ch. vi., and artt. 'Heir' and 'In- heritance ' in Hastings' DB). See also art. Heir. Alex. Souter.
INN. — Inns in the time of Christ were neither so infrequent nor so Hi-equipped as many writers have represented.
Thus Stapfer (Palestine in the Time of Christ, 1866, p. 232), quoting from the Talmud a stor.v of some Levites, who, travelling from Zoar, left at an inn one of their number who had fallen ill upon the road (iV6. xvi. 7), adds the comment, 'Such hos- telries were rare, and were found onI>' in very remote places.' Other writers convey the impresyion that the only inns existing in Palestine were a few k/inii.-<, as liari- aud fimifurUess as those now found in manyjiaii^ nt thi i^asl, an't .iti.n .Irscribed by modern travellers (sei.-. ■.'!.. l:iiii L]iai<il . 'J' ran /s m Si/ria, 1822, p. 36; Layard, Mn. and Bah. l,v.;;, |i. 4:;^; hav^V.ike, Eothen, ch. xvii.; also Kitto'sCyi-., ail. ' ^;ua^allsl rais' ; and Vigouroux's Diet., art. ' Caravans6rail ').
This seems to the present waiter a mistaken inference, arising partly fi'om exaggerated notions of Oriental hospitality, and partly from attribut- ing to the 1st cent. A.i>. s.ici.il ia)ii.liiifms which prevailed, it is true, in piUii.irrli.il tiim-s. and are tound even now on the {^nat trinli- and pilgrim routes across the desert, but did not obtain to any- thing like the same degi-ee in the busy, populated, and prosperous country of the Herods. The cus- tomary hospitality of the East (see Hastings' DB, S.V., and art. 'Gast' in Hamburger's BE) may, of course, be a reason why inns in the modern sense of the word should be less needed than in Western countries ; but the statement that ' the warm com- mendations of hospitality in the NT show that even in the Roman period the buildings set apart for strangers to lodge in were of a simple character in Palestine {Bnci/c Bihl ait 'Inn') lequires considerable modihcation
Numerous passages are cited from the Talmud to prove the extent to which hospitality prevailed among the Jews ; but this traditional virtue was probably more praised than practised in the 1st century. Tlie conditions peculiar to a nomad life came to be very materially modified when the countryside was covered with pojralous villages and towns. It is true that, at the Passover, if a Jew came up to Jerusalem from any part of the empire, he would find entertainment at a private house. It was the boast of the llabbis that, not- withstanding the crowds, no man could say, ' I have not found a bed in Jerusalem to lie in ' (Light- foot, Works, 1823, ix. p. 128) ; but what if the Jew came at some other time than at one of the gi'eat national feasts ? What if a Samaritan came ? Moreover, there was a large population of heathen ; and even if Jewish habits of hospitality to Jews were equal in practice to the theory, no provision was made for the Gentile. Even to a Jew a Jew would shut his door. When Jesus is sending out His disciples to jireach. He does not take it for granted that they will always find a ready welcome or free entertainment (Mt 10"-", Mk 6'°- ", Lk
IQIO. 11).
Nor is it safe to argue from the comparative silence of contemporary records that inns were rare. It would not be guessed by a reader of the Go.spels that in Jerusalem there were many syna- gogues.'* It is quite possible that there were almost as many inns in Jerusalem. At any rate, it is misleading to make the general statement, as though it applied to all periods of Jewish history, that ' inns in our .sense of the term were, as they still are, unknown in the East ' (M'Clintock and Strong, Cyc. s.v.). A truer view is given in the Jewish Encyc. (art. ' Caravanserai ') : ' By NT times the Holy Land had been sufficiently developed to afford opportunity for real inns.'