Inheritance

Prov. 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”

The use of the term “wealth” indicates that physical wealth is primarily what is in view here. Proverbs are not commandments, but rather descriptions of how God normally deals with human beings. Proverbs describes His ordinary providence. Failing to leave wealth to children is thus not a sin. A parent however who gives no heed to God’s ordinary providence is behaving questionably in this matter. Our inheritance laws today can set God’s expectation against the civil state. Inheritance taxes are wicked, implying that the wealth ultimately belongs to the state, replacing covenantal succession in the family with the state. Wise parents will invest in their offspring.