One of the goals in the American society is to leave an inheritance for the next generation so that the same struggles do not necessarily have to be endured. As an inheritance is passed, a legacy is born. Some names on the American landscape have embodied this ideal. Not only is it an American "philosophy", but it is also something that the Lord wants and desires for fathers to do for their children. For years I have put off finishing my education, and now I am only three units away from being able to teach.
"A good man leaves an inheritance [of moral stability and goodness] to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner [finds its way eventually] into the hands of the righteous, for whom it was laid up." Proverbs 13:22, Amplified
The inheritance left by a good man is not necessarily the same as the person of the world might view an inheritance. Try to think of the inheritance as a lifestyle or ideals left for the next generation to live up to. Life is more than money. A good man leaves moral stability just as the world leaves iniquity for his children. "The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation." (Numbers 14:18, NKJV) We have all seen the effects of an alcoholism in the family tree. Sin has a way of transferring to the next generation. This is not to say that we do not have choice and free will. My father was an alcoholic and I chose not to be, because I decided early in life that my children deserved better, a more stable inheritance.
As for the second part of the verse, what is trying to be conveyed is that the sinner cannot hold on to material things forever. What the righteous man has is eternal, it follows us into the next life; this is the inheritance that our children's children need.
Hold fast to what is good and true.
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