Adoption, heirs and wills

Four questions. First, what the man in Luke 12:13 wanted. The CSB Study Bible thinks he was probably a younger brother upset at the elder's double share. Bailey argues he was ordering Jesus to enforce a division already decided, knowing the rabbis allowed one whenever an heir asked. Second, whether asking for one's share early meant wishing the father dead. Keener says so; Levine, citing the Jewish legal scholar Bernard Jackson, says Jewish sources do not support the idea. Third, the background of adoption in Paul. Keener and the cultural backgrounds notes read Romans 8:15-16 against Roman legal adoption, and the ESV Study Bible calls sons a term of Roman adoption law. Wright reads it from Israel's story, adoption as Israel's calling since the exodus. Fourth, how closely Paul's legal pictures fit real law. Keener and the study Bibles treat Galatians 3:15 as an illustration from human wills. Wright answers that "The covenant is central; the making of wills is the fleeting analogy." On Hebrews 9:16-17, Keener sees a play on the one Greek word for covenant and will; the ESV Study Bible allows either a will or a Near Eastern covenant sealed by a sacrificial animal's death.

• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-12-13-21\/","n":"Luke 12:13-21, Bigger barns","s":"A man asks Jesus to make his brother divide the inheritance. Jesus refuses, warns against greed, and tells of a rich farmer who plans bigger barns for his surplus and dies that night.","r":"Luke 12:13-21"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-15-11-32\/","n":"Luke 15:11-32, A father and two lost sons","s":"A younger son takes his share of the estate early, wastes it in a far country, and comes home to a father who runs to meet him. The older brother refuses to join the feast.","r":"Luke 15:11-32"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-20-9-19\/","n":"Luke 20:9-19, The tenants who killed the heir","s":"Jesus tells of a vineyard owner whose tenants beat his servants and kill his beloved son to take the inheritance. The leaders realize he has told it against them.","r":"Luke 20:9-19"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-8-12-17\/","n":"Romans 8:12-17, Not slaves but adopted heirs","s":"Those led by God's Spirit are God's children. They have received the Spirit of adoption, not of slavery, and cry Abba, Father, as heirs of God with Christ.","r":"Romans 8:12-17"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-8-18-30\/","n":"Romans 8:18-30, Groaning and firstfruits","s":"Creation groans as in labor, waiting to be freed from decay, and believers who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan too as they wait for their adoption and the redemption of their bodies.","r":"Romans 8:18-30"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-9-1-5\/","n":"Romans 9:1-5, Israel's privileges","s":"Paul grieves for his own people and lists what belongs to Israel: the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship, the promises, the patriarchs and the Messiah.","r":"Romans 9:1-5"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/galatians-3-15-22\/","n":"Galatians 3:15-22, A will no one can change, and a law given through angels","s":"Paul argues from the way a ratified will cannot be altered that the law, coming 430 years after the promise to Abraham and his seed, cannot cancel it, and says the law was added because of transgressions, put in place through angels by a mediator.","r":"Galatians 3:15-22"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/galatians-4-1-11\/","n":"Galatians 4:1-11, Heirs, slaves and the elements of the world","s":"An heir who is still a child is no better off than a slave, Paul says; so we were enslaved under the elements of the world until God sent his Son to redeem us and his Spirit to cry Abba, and he asks why the Galatians want to go back to observing special days, months, seasons and years.","r":"Galatians 4:1-11"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/ephesians-1-1-14\/","n":"Ephesians 1:1-14, A circular letter opens with praise, a seal and a down payment","s":"Paul greets God's holy people and launches one long blessing of God for choosing, adopting, redeeming and sealing a mixed people, with the Spirit as the down payment of their inheritance.","r":"Ephesians 1:1-14"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-1-1-14\/","n":"Hebrews 1:1-14, The Son above the angels","s":"God, who spoke in many ways through the prophets, has now spoken through a Son, heir of all things, who made purification for sins and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty. A chain of Scripture quotations sets the Son above the angels, who worship him and are sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.","r":"Hebrews 1:1-14"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-9-11-22\/","n":"Hebrews 9:11-22, Blood, ashes and a will","s":"Christ entered the greater tent once for all with his own blood, not the blood of goats and calves. If the ashes of a heifer could make the unclean outwardly clean, how much more will his blood cleanse the conscience; and as a will takes effect only at a death, the new covenant was put in force by his.","r":"Hebrews 9:11-22"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-12-1-13\/","n":"Hebrews 12:1-13, The race, the shame and the Father's discipline","s":"Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, believers are to throw off every weight and run with endurance, eyes fixed on Jesus, who endured the cross and scorned its shame. Their hardships are a father's discipline, which only legitimate children receive.","r":"Hebrews 12:1-13"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-5-1-14\/","n":"Revelation 5:1-14, the sealed scroll and the Lamb","s":"In God's right hand is a scroll written on both sides and sealed with seven seals, and no one is worthy to open it until the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, appears as a Lamb that looks slain. The living creatures, the elders, countless angels and all creation worship him.","r":"Revelation 5:1-14"}