Patriarch

Patriarch (πατριάρχης, head of a family or tribe). Paul (Eph 3:15) calls attention to the fact that the term of πατριά comes from Πατήρ, "the great Father of all the πατριαί, both of angels and men" (Ellicott); and thus, constructively, "Patriarch," in its highest sense, is a title of him whose offspring all men are. In common use it is applied in the N.T. to Abraham (Heb 7:4), to the sons of Jacob (Ac 7:8-9), and to David (2:29); and is apparently intended to be equivalent to the phrase ראֹשׁ בֵּית אָבוֹת, the "head" or "prince of a tribe," so often found in the O.T. It is used in this sense by the Sept. in 1Ch 24:31; 1Ch 27:22; 2Ch 23:20; 2Ch 26:12. In common usage the title of patriarch is assigned especially to those whose lives are recorded in Scripture previous to the time of Moses.

In the early history of the Hebrews we find the ancestor or father of a family retaining authority over his children, and his children's children, so long as he lived, whatever new connections they might form. When the father died the branch-families did not break off and form new communities, but usually united under another common head. The eldest son was generally invested with this dignity. His authority was paternal. He was honored as the central point of connection, and as the representative of the whole kindred. Thus each great family had its patriarch or head, and each tribe its prince, selected from the several heads of the families which it embraced.

By the "patriarchal system" is accordingly meant that state of society which developed itself naturally out of family relations, before the formation of nations properly so called, and the establishment of regular government; and by the "patriarchal dispensation" the communion into which God was pleased to enter with the families of Seth, Noah, and Abraham, before the call of the chosen people. In the following account we treat the subject from both a Scriptural and a philosophical point of view.