Adoption as adults in the ancient world
It seems that I read somewhere that adoption in the ancient world was often adopting adults to be heirs. Can anyone confirm or deny? How would I answer this question using Logos?
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What better source is there than watching Ben Hur!
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The LBD has a decent article which may lead to other areas or sources.
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Depends on your resources. This encyclopedia is quite good:
ADOPTION
Adoption is an act controlled by law or custom placing a person under the parentage of someone who is not his or her natural parent. Adoption includes a change in status and often provisions for inheritance. There is a difference between adoption and fosterage, with the latter suggesting a temporary or informal agreement, ultimately lacking provisions for inheritance.
While adoption is rarely found in the OT and was not legislated in Judaism, the practice of adoption was common in Greco-Roman culture and in all cultures of the Ancient Near East, though less so in Egypt.
A. THE OLD TESTAMENTThe Hebrews did not have any laws formally regulating adoption. A number of explanations might be suggested for this apparent lapse. The Hebraic notion of an extended family and the institution of the Levirate marriage may have obviated the need for adoption. The Hebrews were dissuaded from tampering with the natural order of inheritance, believing that God was the sovereign trustee over their future lot. This underscores why childless couples in the Bible incessantly prayed for offspring. Furthermore, childlessness was believed to be the ill-fate of God’s judgment. Adoption may have been considered a faithless, if not irreligious, institution.
Adoption is referred to a few times in the Old Testament, possibly indicating the influence of foreign custom. In Gen 15:2, Abraham adopted his servant, Eliezer, as an heir presumptive. Near the end of Jacob’s life he made his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh heirs in place of their father (Gen 48:5–6). This instance seems to be similar to the later classical adoptio mortis causa where the order of inheritance is intentionally changed by means of adoption. Moses was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, despite the objection by some scholars that he was merely fostered (Exod 2:10). Payment to Moses’ natural mother to nurse him is paralleled by similar Mesopotamian adoption contracts. The situations in Lev 18:9 and Judg 11 do not refer to adoption but legitimization. Adoption is probably referred to in 1 Chr 2:35–41 and 1 Chr 4:18.
Several examples of adoption also occurred under Persian rule (see Esth 2:7, 15 and perhaps Ezra 2:59–61). Earlier Akkadian documents parallel the later custom of adopting the children of foreign wives (Ezra 10:44).
Scott T. Carroll, “Adoption,” Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical & Post-Biblical Antiquity (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2014), 11–12.0 -
Josh Hunt said:
How would I answer this question using Logos?
A search idea is:
(adult OR culture) AFTER 88 WORDS ([field heading,largetext] Adoption)
Keep Smiling [:)]
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Hi Josh
Personally, I would tend to search discrete collections relating to journals, encyclopedias/dictionaries and Bible background, but in this case the term adoption was usually examined as to its NT meaning rather than the broader ancient world which I think may be your focus.
I did a quick look at the internet and found these - which may or may not be useful to you:
Dr Robert Paulissian - Adoption in Ancient Assyria and Babylonia Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Volume 13 No. 2 (1999) at 5-34 http://jaas.org/edocs/v13n2/Paulissia1.pdf
Rico Cortes - The Laws of Adoption in Bible & Ancient Near East $39-95 https://www.messianicmarketplace.org/products/the-laws-of-adoption-in-bible-ancient-near-east
Baina David King - Adoption in New Testament Times (Senior Thesis for Honours graduation, liberty University (2005) http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1194&context=honors
Encyclopedia Judaica – Adoption (includes alleged cases of adoption in the Bible; adoption as metaphor; Later Jewish law, Israel etc) http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/adoption
Adoption formulae: A study of cuneiform and biblical legal clauses https://wit-resources.s3.amazonaws.com/Adoption-Formulae-Study-of-Cuneiform-and-Biblical-Clauses.pdf
Keep well Paul
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