HEIFER, RED (ifeTer, red), (Heb.
lazy' , 71U, taw-raw'Y See SACRIFICE.
FiguratiVe. (I) Young wives were called heifers, to mark their gaiety, and expected fruitfulness (Judg. xiv :18). (2) Nations are lilcened to heifers: Egypt to a fair one; to mark their glory and prosperity ( Jer. xlvi 20), k3) The Chaldeans are compared to a fat one, to mark their wealth, wantonness, and unconcern (Jer. 1:11). (4) The ten tribes of Israel are lik ened to a backsliding one, to signify their stupid and perverse revolting from God (Hos. iv:16). Also to a taught one, loving to tread the corn, over whose fair neck God passed; they were in structed by God's oracles and prophets ; they were expert and skillful in idolatry; they loved to riot in such plenty as they possessed under Jeroboam the Second; but were quickly after re duced to slavery and distress by the Assyrians (Hos. x:11). (5) If our version rightly renders Hagla Shalishiah, a heifer of three years old, Zoar and Horonaim, cities of Moab, are thus likened to mark their untameable obstinacy ; or, rather, their terrible outcries, when the inhabitants fled from the Assyrians and Chaldeans. But perhaps these words may be the names of cities that should share in the ruin (Is. xv :5; Jer. xlviii: 34)• hEIR Or), (Heb. yaw-resh', a primitive root, meaning to occupy), one that succeeds to the inheritance of anything after its present possessor.
In this sense, even enemies succeeding a people driven out of their own land are called their "heirs" (Jer. xlix :2 ; Mk. 1:15).
Figurative. (t) Christ is"heirof all lhines;" as God's Son, Ile bath an equal right to all things with his Father ; as Mediator, he has, by God's sovereign decree, been raised to this dignity; so that his elect, and all things, are given into his hand, to dispose of for their good (Matt. xxi :38; Ileb. 2). (2) Saints are "heirs" of the prom ise; "heirs" of righteousness; "heirs" of salva tion; "heirs" of the grace of life; "heirs" of the kingdom; "heirs" of the world; "heirs of God" and "joint-heirs" with Christ as united to Christ, and by virtue of his death, they have the most free and honorable title to all the promises, bless ings, creatures, and fullness of God (Rom. iv:13; viii :17 ; Heb. i :14 ; vi :17 ; xi :7 ; James ii :5 ; Pet. iii :7). (3) But perhaps Abraham's being "heir of Me world," signifies his having Canaan divinely bequeathed to his seed (Rom. iv :t3). Perhaps Gal. iii :29 explains this. (4) Christ, the seed of Abraham, is "heir" of all things; and his people are heirs with him. (5) A handmaid "heir to her mistress," cannot be borne with, because of her intolerable pride (Prov. xxx:23). (See BIRTH RIGHT; 1NHERtTANCE.)