In my sermon prep I came across these two resources that have strikingly similar definitions.
Wanted to see what you guys think. I'll post the older one first, then the newer one (by the date on the resource info page). I'm pretty sure it wouldn't fly if it were submitted without citation in a seminary paper.
[quote]The creation of a kinship relationship between two individuals that is recognized as essentially equivalent to one stemming from natural descent. In the ancient Near East, such ties were typically between adoptive parent(s) and a son or daughter, but individuals were adopted into other roles as well.
[quote]Adoption is the legal establishment of a kinship relationship between two people that is recognized as being equivalent to one based on physical descent. There are few references to the practice of adoption in the Scriptures, but the concept was employed to explain the nature of God’s relationship to his people and to their king.
I didn't look more deeply into the articles than the brief definition. I did look this up in other bible dictionaries and didn't see any of them nearly this close to each other.