As we have learned, (daf 146b) in the case of a shekhiv mera – someone who is on his deathbed – who commands that his property be distributed, we listen to and fulfill his commands. Our Gemara asks whether we will accept the words of a shekhiv mera who informs us that he owes money to a certain person and ensure that the money gets to him.
In response, the Gemara tells a story about Issur Giyura (Issur the convert) who had 12,000 zuz entrusted with Rava, and he wanted that money to be given to his son, Rav Mari. The complication in this case was that although Rav Mari was born after Issur Giyura’s conversion, he was conceived before Issur Giyura became Jewish. This status did not allow Rav Mari to receive the money as an inheritance, and furthermore limited his ability to take possession of the money since he was not in the vicinity to make a kinyan and take physical possession of it. Ultimately the suggestion was raised to have Issur Giyura state that he owed this money to Rav Mari, which would require that the money be given to him by means of a matnat shekhiv mera.
It appears that Rav Mari in our story is one and the same as the amora known in the Gemara as Rav Mari the son of Raḥel the daughter of Shmuel. During Shmuel’s time there were wars waged in his city, Neharde’a, and apparently his daughter Raḥel was kidnapped or taken captive. She ended up married to her captor, Issur, who later on became a righteous convert. Nevertheless, since his son Mari was conceived while Issur was still a non-Jew, Mari is usually identified in the Gemara with his mother rather than his father.