THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: - Vital Christianity

"Someone in the crowd said to Him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide theinheritance with me.' Jesus replied, 'Man, who appointed Me a judge or anarbiter between you?'" (vv. 13-14)13What audacity! In the midst of Jesus’ instructions about the Kingdom, someone suddenly calls outand interrupts the whole group with a request—a favor—the favor of having Jesus straighten out his legalaffairs.Maybe he was a younger brother who didn’t feel he is treated fairly. After all, it was vital in Israelthat the inheritance protected any land that may be in the family instead of landing in the possession ofother individuals or tribes.Hebrew Scripture is clear:"When he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstbornto the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of thewife he does not love. He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as thefirstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign ofhis father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him" (Dt 21:16-17)."If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter. If hehas no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, givehis inheritance to his father's brothers. If his father had no brothers, give hisinheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it" (Nu 27:8-11)The first-born son, then, was to receive double the inheritance of any of his younger brothers andwould serve as the patriarch of the family and thus the executor of his father's inheritance (specifically truein the case of "real estate." The younger son wants the estate divided so that he gets a share, but that willreduce the amount of farmable land for the landholding as a whole. The elder son would rather continue asit was under his father, all the brothers farming the land and supporting their families with it, rather thandividing it up into smaller and smaller pieces which each would independently control.Since the Mosaic Law didn't specifically cover such an instance, the younger son had a right totake the matter to court, usually formed by the elders in his village, who would rule on the issue. Inaddressing Jesus as "teacher," probably Aramaic Rabbi, the man is trying to get Jesus, as a well-knownrabbi, to act as a judge in this property case. In Jesus' day the title "Rabbi" was used of honored teachers,but it was not until the Second Century that men were ordained into the office of Rabbi and the role ofjudge was more prominent in their position.