INHERITANCE
585
INHERITANCE
have come into existence til! more complex and artifi- cial relations arose, resulting, in all probability, from the increase of population and the relative insufficiency of food. When Joseph ivent down into Egypt, he appears to have found the freehold tenure prevailing, -which, however, he converted into a tcnanc_v at will, or, at any rate, into a conditional tenancy. Other intimations are found in Genesis which conlirm the general statements which have jusi; been made. Daughters do not appear to have had any inheritance. If there are any excep- tions to this rule, tliey only serve to prove it by the special manner in which they are mentioned. Thus Job is recorded (xlii, 15) to have given his daughters an in- heritance conjointly with their brothers. How highly the privileges conferred by primogeniture were valued may be learned from the history of Jacob and Esau. In the patriarchal age doubtless these rights were very great. See Birthright. The eldest son, as being by nature the first fitted for command, assumed influence and control, imder his father, over the family and its de- pendents ; and when the father was removed by death, he readily, and as if by an act of Providence, took his father's place. Thus he succeeded to the property in succeeding to the headship of the family, the clan, or the tribe. At first the eldest son most probably took exclu- sive possession of his father's property and power ; and when, subsequently, a division became customar\', he would still retain the largest share — a double portion, if not more (Gen. xxvii, 25, 29, 40). That in the days of Abraham other sons partook with the eldest, and that, too, though they were sons of concubines, is clear from the story of Hagar's expulsion : " Cast out (said Sarah) this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bond- woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac" (Gen. xxi, 10). The few notices left us in Genesis of the transfer of property from hand to hand are interest- ing, and bear a remarkable similarity to wliat takes place in Eastern countries even at this day ((Jen. x::i, 22 sq. ; xxiii, 9 sq.). The purchase of the Cave of JMachiielah as a family burying-jilace for Abraham, detailed iu the last passage, serves to show the safety of property at that early period, and the facility with which an inher- itance was transmitted even to sons' sons (comp. Gen. xlix, 29). That it Avas customary, during the father's lifetime, to make a disposition of projierty, is evident from Gen. xxiv, 35, where it is said that Abraham had given all he had to Isaac. This statement is further confirmed by ch. xxv, 5, G, where it is added that Abra- ham gave to the sons of his concubines " gifts, sanding them away from Isaac his son, while he j'et lived, east- ward unto the east country." Sometimes, however, so far were the children of unmarried females from be- ing dismissed with a gift, that they shared, with what we should term the legitimate children, in the father's property and rights. See Concubine. Thus Dan and Naphtali were sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid, whom she gave to her husband, failing to bear children herself. So Gad and Asher were, under similar circumstances, sous of Zilpah, Leah's maid (Gen. xxx, 2-14). In the event of the eldest son's dying in the father's lifetime, the next son took his place ; and if the eldest son left a widow, the next son made her his wife (Gen. xxxviii, 7 sq.), the offspring of which union was reckoned to the first-born and deceased son. Shoidd the second like- wise die, the third son took his place (Gen. xxxviii, 11). While the rights of the tirst-born were generally estab- lished and recognised, yet were they sometimes set aside in favor of a younger child. Tlie "blessing of the father or the grandsire seems to have been an act essential in the devolution of power and property— in its etfects not unlike wills and testaments with us ; and instances are not wanting in which this (so to term it) testamentary bequest set aside consuetudinary laws, and gave prece- dence to a younger son (Gen. xlviii, 15 sq.). Special claims on the parental regards were acknowledged and rewarded by special gifts, as in the case of Jacob's dona- tion to Joseph (Gen. xlviii, 22). In a similar manner.
bad conduct on the part of the eldest; son (as well as of others) subjected him, if not to the loss of liis rights of property, yet to the evil influence of his father's dying malediction (Gen. xlix, 3) ; while the good and favored, though younger son, was led by the paternal blessing to anticipate, and probably also to reap, the richest inher- itance of individual and social happiness (Gen. xlix, 8- 22). See Heir ; Adoption.