Reference: Father
American
Is often synonymous with ancestor, founder, or originator, as Ge 4:20-21; Joh 8:56; Ro 4:16. Joseph was a father to Pharoah, Ge 45:8, as his counselor and provider. God is the FATHER of men, as their Creator, De 32:6; Isa 63:16; 64:8; Lu 3:38. But as we have forfeited the rights of children by our sins, it is only through Christ that we can call God by that endearing name, "our Father," Joh 20:17; Ro 8:15-17.
In patriarchal times, a father was master and judge in his own household, and exercised and authority almost unlimited over his family. Filial disobedience or disrespect was a high offence. Under the law, certain acts of children were capital crimes, Ex 21:15,17; Le 20:9; and the father was required to bring his son to the public tribunal, De 21:18-21. See MOTHER.
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And Adah will bear Jabal; he was the father of him remaining in the tent, and riches. And his brother's name Jubal; he was father of all laying hold of the harp and pipe.
And now not you sent me here, but God: and he placed me for a father to Pharaoh, and for lord to all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
And he striking his father and his mother, dying be shall die.
And he making light of his father and his mother, dying, he shall die.
When a man, a man who shall lightly esteem his father and his mother, dying, he shall die: he lightly esteemed ha father and his mother: his blood is upon him.
If there shall be to a man a son stubborn and rebellious, he not hearing to the voice of his father and to the voice of his mother, and they chastised him, and he will not hear to them: And his father and his mother laid hold on him and brought him to the old men of his city, and to the gate of his place; read more. And they said to the old men of of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he heard not to our voice; he is vile, and drinking to excess. And all the men of his city stoned him with stones, and he died: and put thou away evil from the midst of thee, and all Israel shall hear and shall fear.
To Jehovah will ye recompense this, A people foolish and not wise? He thy father: did he not buy thee? He made thee, and he will protect thee.
For thou our Father, for Abraham knew us not, and Israel will not recognize us: thou Jehovah our Father redeeming us; thy name from eternity.
And now, O Jehovah, thou our Father; we the clay and thou forming us; and we all the work of thy hand.
Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he might see my day: and he saw, and rejoiced.
Jesus says to her, Touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to my Father: and go thou to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your God.
Therefore of faith, that according to grace; the promise to be firm to all the seed; not to that of the law only, but also to that of the faith of Abraham; who is father of us all,
For ye have not received the Spirit of servitude again for fear; but have received the Spirit of adoption as a son, in which we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God: read more. And if children, also heirs; truly heirs of God, and coheirs of Christ; if indeed we suffer together, that we may be also glorified together.
Easton
a name applied (1) to any ancestor (De 1:11; 1Ki 15:11; Mt 3:9; 23:30, etc.); and (2) as a title of respect to a chief, ruler, or elder, etc. (Jg 17:10; 18:19; 1Sa 10:12; 2Ki 2:12; Mt 23:9, etc.). (3) The author or beginner of anything is also so called; e.g., Jabal and Jubal (Ge 4:20-21; comp. Job 38:28).
Applied to God (Ex 4:22; De 32:6; 2Sa 7:14; Ps 89:27-28, etc.). (1.) As denoting his covenant relation to the Jews (Jer 31:9; Isa 63:16; 64:8; Joh 8:41, etc.).
(2.) Believers are called God's "sons" (Joh 1:12; Ro 8:16; Mt 6:4,8,15,18; 10:20,29). They also call him "Father" (Ro 1:7; 1Co 1:3; 2Co 1:2; Ga 1:4)
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And Adah will bear Jabal; he was the father of him remaining in the tent, and riches. And his brother's name Jubal; he was father of all laying hold of the harp and pipe.
And say thou to Pharaoh, So said Jehovah, my first-born son is Israel.
Jehovah the God of your fathers will add to you as ye a thousand times, and he will bless you as he spake to you.
To Jehovah will ye recompense this, A people foolish and not wise? He thy father: did he not buy thee? He made thee, and he will protect thee.
And Micah will say to him, Dwell with me, and be to me for a father and for a priest, and I will give to thee ten of silver for days, and an equipment of garments, and means of life. And the Levite will go in.
And they will say to him, Be silent; put thy hand upon thy mouth and go with us, and be to us for father and for priest: is it good for thee to be priest to the house of one man, or for thee to be priest to a tribe and to a family in Israel?
Also I will give him the firstborn, the highest to the kings of the earth. Forever will I watch my mercy to him, and my covenant was firm to him.
For thou our Father, for Abraham knew us not, and Israel will not recognize us: thou Jehovah our Father redeeming us; thy name from eternity.
And now, O Jehovah, thou our Father; we the clay and thou forming us; and we all the work of thy hand.
In weeping will they come, and I will lead them in mercies; I will cause them to go to the streams of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it: for I was to Israel for a father, and Ephraim he is my first-born.
And think not to say in yourselves we have Abraham a father; for I say to you that God can of these stones raise up children to Abraham.
That thine alms might be in secret; and thy Father, who seeing in secret, shall give back to thee openly.
Therefore make not yourselves like them: for your Father knows of what things ye have need before ye ask him.
But if ye should not let go to men their faults, neither will your Father let go your faults.
That thou mightest not appear to men fasting, but to thy Father which in secret; and thy Father which in secret, will give back to thee openly.
For ye yourselves are not speaking, but the spirit of your father speaking in you.
Are not two little sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the earth without your Father.
And call not your father upon earth: for one is your Father, which in the heavens.
And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we had not been their partakers in the blood of the prophets,
And as many as received him, he gave them authority to be the children of God, to them believing on his name:
Ye do the works of your father. Then said they to him, We have not been born of fornication; for we have one Father, God.
To all being in Rome, beloved of God, called holy: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit itself testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God:
Having given himself for our sins, that he might take us away out of this present evil time, according to the will of God and our Father:
To the holy among the Colossians, and the faithful brethren in Christ: Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We return thanks to God. and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
Fausets
Chaldaic 'abba. Christ's endearing filial mode of addressing God; so believers (Mr 14:36; Ro 8:15); from 'aabah, "to show kindness." God's fatherhood is the ground and pattern for human fatherhood. Abraham was "father of nations," both by natural descent from him and by spiritual fellowship in his faith (Ge 18:18-19; Ro 4:17). The godly father's blessing brought great good, his curse great evil (Ge 9:25-27); the undutifulness of Ham entailing a curse on his race, the dutifulness of Shem and Japhet a blessing on their races (Ge 27:27-40; 48:15-20,22). The fifth commandment, "honor thy father and mother," is the first with special promise (Eph 6:2).
Love descends rather than ascends; hence this commandment is more needed than one concerning parents' duties to children, but this is added (Eph 6:4; Col 3:21). Dishonoring parents is one of the worst sins (Ex 21:15-17; 1Ti 1:9; Mal 1:6; Isa 45:10). Still the parent was not to inflict death, but to bring the refractory child before the city elders in the gate or place of justice (De 21:18-21). Any ancestor is called "father" or "mother" (Isa 51:2; Jer 35:16-18, the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab, a striking instance of the blessing on obedience to parents; Da 5:2; 2Ch 15:16 margin). "Father" is used also for protector, patron (Job 29:16; Ps 68:5; De 32:6). "Fathers" mean elders (Ac 7:2; 22:1). The pupils of a spiritual master are called "sons" (2Ki 2:3; 4:1).
Father expresses one worshipped or reverenced (Jer 2:27; 2Ki 2:12; 5:13; 6:21). The inventor of any art is called "father" of it or of its practicers (Ge 4:20-21; Joh 8:44; Job 38:28; 17:14). So the source (2Co 1:3) or instrument of spiritual blessings, as "mercy," regeneration. 1Co 4:15; "though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." The father's great duty was to teach God's laws continually to his children; "speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up ... that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children ... as the days of heaven upon the earth" (De 11:18-21).
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And Adah will bear Jabal; he was the father of him remaining in the tent, and riches. And his brother's name Jubal; he was father of all laying hold of the harp and pipe.
And he will say, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren. And he will say, Praised Jehovah, God of Shem; Canaan shall be servant to him. read more. God will dilate Japheth; he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be servant to him.
And Abraham being, shall be for a great and numerous nation, and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves in him. For I know him, for that he will command his sons and his house after him; and they watched the way of Jehovah to do justice and judgment, for Jehovah to bring upon Abraham what he spake to him.
And he will come near, and will kiss him: and he will smell the smell of his garment, and he will bless him, and he will say, See, the smell of my son as the smell of a field which Jehovah praised. And God will give to thee from the dew of the heavens, and from the fatness of the earth, and a multiude of corn and new wine. read more. And nations shall serve thee, and peoples shall bow down to thee; be lord over thy brother, and thy mother's sons shall bow down to thee: cursed he cursing thee, and blessed he praising thee. And it shall be after that Isaak finished to praise Jacob, and it shall be Jacob going will but go out from the face of Isaak his father, and Esau his brother came from his hunting. And he also will make dainties, and will bring to his father; and he will say to his father, Will my father rise and eat from his son's hunting, that thy soul shall bless me? And Isaak his father will say to him, Who art thou? And he will say, I thy son, thy first-born, Esau. And Isaak will tremble a great trembling, even exceedingly; and he will say, Who now is he having hunted a hunting, and will bring to me, and I ate from all before thou wilt come, and I shall praise him? also he shall be praised. When Esau heard the words of his father, and he will cry out with a great cry, even bitter exceedingly, and he will say to his father, praise me, me also, my father! And he will say, Thy brother came with deceit and he will take thy blessing. And he will say, Is it not that his name was called Jacob? he will defraud me this twice: he took my birthright and behold, now he took my blessing And he will say, Didst thou not put aside a blessing for me? And Isaak will answer and say to Esau, Behold, I made him mighty over thee, and all his brethren I gave to him for servants; and with corn and new wine I supported him: and what shall I do to thee my son? And Esau will say to his father, Is but this one blessing to thee my father? bless me, also me, my father! and Esau will lift up the voice and weep. And Isaak his father will answer and say to him, Behold, from the fatness of the earth shall be thy dwelling, and from the dew of the heavens above. And by thy sword shalt thou live and shalt serve thy brother: and it shall be when thou shalt wander about and thou shalt break his yoke from thy neck.
And he will bless Joseph, and will say, God, before whom my fathers went, Abraham and Isaak, the God having fed me, from ever since I was till this day. The messenger redeeming me from all evil, shall bless the youths; and my name shall be called upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaak and they shall be increased into a multitude in the midst of the earth. read more. And Joseph will see that his father will put his right hand upon Ephraim's head, and it will be evil in his eyes: and he will take hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph will say to his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father will refuse and will say, I knew my son, I knew: this also shall be into a people, and this also shall be great: and yet his brother the small, shall be great more than he, and his seed shall be a fulness of nations. And he will bless them in that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, Will God set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he will set Ephraim before Manasseh.
And I gave to thee one shoulder over thy brethren, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
And he striking his father and his mother, dying be shall die. And he stealing a man, and selling him, and being found in his hand, dying, he shall die. read more. And he making light of his father and his mother, dying, he shall die.
And put these words upon your heart and upon your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they were for bands between your eyes. And teach them to your sons to speak in them in thy resting in thy house, and in thy walking in the way, and in thy lying down, and in thy rising up read more. And write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates.: So that your days shall be multiplied, and the days of your sons, upon the land which Jehovah sware to your fathers to give to them, according to the days of the heavens upon the earth.
If there shall be to a man a son stubborn and rebellious, he not hearing to the voice of his father and to the voice of his mother, and they chastised him, and he will not hear to them: And his father and his mother laid hold on him and brought him to the old men of his city, and to the gate of his place; read more. And they said to the old men of of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he heard not to our voice; he is vile, and drinking to excess. And all the men of his city stoned him with stones, and he died: and put thou away evil from the midst of thee, and all Israel shall hear and shall fear.
To Jehovah will ye recompense this, A people foolish and not wise? He thy father: did he not buy thee? He made thee, and he will protect thee.
And the sons of the prophets that were in the house of God will come forth to Elisha and say to him, Knewest thou that this day Jehovah takes thy lord from above thy head? And he will say, I also knew; be silent
And one woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband died, and thou knewest that thy servant was fearing Jehovah: and the creditor came to take my two children for servants.
I called to the pit: Grave, thou my father: and to the worm, My mother, and my sister.
I was a father to the needy, and the contention I knew not I shall search it out
A father of orphans and a judge of widows, God in his holy habitation.
Wo to him saying to the father, What wilt thou beget? and to the woman, What wilt thou bring forth?
look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah bringing you forth: for one I called him, and I will bless him, and I will increase him.
Saying to the wood, Thou my father; and to the stone, Thou didst bring me forth: for they turned to me the back of the neck and not their face: and in the time of their evil they will say, Arise, and save us.
For the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab raised up the commands of their father which be commanded them; and this people heard not to me. For this, thus said Jehovah, God of armies, God of Israel, Behold me bringing to Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil which I spake concerning them; because I spake to them and they heard not; and I shall call to them and they answered not read more. And Jeremiah said to the house of the Reehabites, Thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, Because that ye heard to the command of Jonadab your father, and ye will watch all his commands, and ye will do all which he commanded you:
Belshazzar said, in tasting the wine, to bring in for the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father brought forth from the temple that was in Jerusalem; and in them the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, will drink.
A son will honor the father, and the servant his lord; and if I a father, where mine honor? and if I their lord, where my fear? said Jehovah of armies to you, O priests despising my name. And ye said, In what did we despise thy name?
And he said, Abba, Father, all things possible to thee; turn away this cup from me: but not what I will, but what thou.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the eager desires of your father will ye do. He was slaying men from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he would speak a lie, he speaks of his own things; for he is a liar, and the father of him.
And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye: The God of glory was sent to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
(As it has been written, That have set thee father of many nations,) over against him who believed God, making alive the dead, and calling things not being as being.
For ye have not received the Spirit of servitude again for fear; but have received the Spirit of adoption as a son, in which we cry, Abba, Father.
For if ye have ten thousand preceptors in Christ, but not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus by the good news I begat you.
Praised the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and God of all comfort:
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first command with solemn promise;)
And, fathers, be not angry with your children: but bring them up in the instruction and reminding of the Lord.
Fathers, irritate not your children, lest they be discouraged.
Holding firmly the faithful word according to instruction, that he may be able also to beseech in sound doctrine, and to refute those opposing.
Hastings
Morish
Except as creator and preserver of all, God is not revealed as Father in the O.T. "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?" Mal 2:10. The Lord Jesus is also prophesied of as 'the everlasting Father' or 'Father of the everlasting age.' Isa 9:6. It was reserved for the N.T. times that God should be made known as Father; and this was done only by the Lord Jesus while upon earth, who constantly spoke to His disciples of God as their Father in heaven. Mt 5:16,45,48-6:1; 6:8,14-15, etc. He could, as the Son, while on earth thus make Him known to them. After the resurrection the Lord was able to send this message to His disciples, whom He now calls His 'brethren:' "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." Joh 20:17. The will of the Father and the work of His Son, the source of eternal life to them, had brought the disciples in this respect into the same heavenly position as the risen Christ Himself before the Father. The term 'father' is used symbolically when there is a moral likeness between a leader and his followers. Joh 8:38-44.
In the O.T. the word ab is at times used as 'founder:' thus in 1Ch 4:4 one is mentioned as the 'father' of Bethlehem.
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And Penuel the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These the sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah, the father of the house of bread.
For a child was born to us, a son was given to us, and the dominion shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Captain of Peace.
Is there not one father to us all? is there not one God creating us? wherefore shall we deal faithlessly each against his brother, to profane the covenant of our fathers?
So let your light shine before men, that they see your good works, and praise your Father, him in the heavens.
So that ye might be sons of your Father, which in the heavens: for he makes his sun rise upon evil and good, and rains on the just and unjust.
Therefore make not yourselves like them: for your Father knows of what things ye have need before ye ask him.
For if ye let go to men their faults, your Father which in the heavens will also let go to you. But if ye should not let go to men their faults, neither will your Father let go your faults.
I, what I have seen from my Father, speak: and ye, therefore, what ye have seen of your Father, do. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our Father. Jesus says to them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye had done Abraham's works. read more. And now ye seek to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the works of your father. Then said they to him, We have not been born of fornication; for we have one Father, God. Then said Jesus to them, If God were your Father, ye had loved me: for I went forth from God, and came; for I have not come of myself, but he sent me. Wherefore ye know not my speech, for ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the eager desires of your father will ye do. He was slaying men from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he would speak a lie, he speaks of his own things; for he is a liar, and the father of him.
Jesus says to her, Touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to my Father: and go thou to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your God.
Smith
The position and authority of the father as the head of the family are expressly assumed and sanctioned in Scripture, as a likeness of that of the Almighty over his creatures. It lies of course at the root of that so-called patriarchal government,
which was introductory to the more definite systems which followed, and which in part, but not wholly, superseded it. The father's blessing was regarded as conferring special benefit, but his malediction special injury, on those on whom it fell,
Ge 9:25,27; 27:27-40; 48:15,20; 49:1
... and so also the sin of a parent was held to affect, in certain cases, the welfare of his descendants.
The command to honor parents is noticed by St. Paul as the only one of the Decalogue which bore a distinct promise,
and disrespect towards them was condemned by the law as one of the worst crimes.
It is to this well-recognized theory of parental authority and supremacy that the very various uses of the term "father" in Scripture are due. "Fathers" is used in the sense of seniors,
and of parents in general, or ancestors.
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To the woman he said, Multiplying, I will multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and to thy husband thy desire, and he shall rule over thee.
And he will say, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren.
God will dilate Japheth; he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be servant to him.
And he will come near, and will kiss him: and he will smell the smell of his garment, and he will bless him, and he will say, See, the smell of my son as the smell of a field which Jehovah praised. And God will give to thee from the dew of the heavens, and from the fatness of the earth, and a multiude of corn and new wine. read more. And nations shall serve thee, and peoples shall bow down to thee; be lord over thy brother, and thy mother's sons shall bow down to thee: cursed he cursing thee, and blessed he praising thee. And it shall be after that Isaak finished to praise Jacob, and it shall be Jacob going will but go out from the face of Isaak his father, and Esau his brother came from his hunting. And he also will make dainties, and will bring to his father; and he will say to his father, Will my father rise and eat from his son's hunting, that thy soul shall bless me? And Isaak his father will say to him, Who art thou? And he will say, I thy son, thy first-born, Esau. And Isaak will tremble a great trembling, even exceedingly; and he will say, Who now is he having hunted a hunting, and will bring to me, and I ate from all before thou wilt come, and I shall praise him? also he shall be praised. When Esau heard the words of his father, and he will cry out with a great cry, even bitter exceedingly, and he will say to his father, praise me, me also, my father! And he will say, Thy brother came with deceit and he will take thy blessing. And he will say, Is it not that his name was called Jacob? he will defraud me this twice: he took my birthright and behold, now he took my blessing And he will say, Didst thou not put aside a blessing for me? And Isaak will answer and say to Esau, Behold, I made him mighty over thee, and all his brethren I gave to him for servants; and with corn and new wine I supported him: and what shall I do to thee my son? And Esau will say to his father, Is but this one blessing to thee my father? bless me, also me, my father! and Esau will lift up the voice and weep. And Isaak his father will answer and say to him, Behold, from the fatness of the earth shall be thy dwelling, and from the dew of the heavens above. And by thy sword shalt thou live and shalt serve thy brother: and it shall be when thou shalt wander about and thou shalt break his yoke from thy neck.
And he will bless Joseph, and will say, God, before whom my fathers went, Abraham and Isaak, the God having fed me, from ever since I was till this day.
And he will bless them in that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, Will God set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he will set Ephraim before Manasseh.
And Jacob will call to his sons, and will say, Be ye gathered together, and I will announce to you what shall happen to you in the last part of the days.
Honor thy father and thy mother, so that thy days shall be prolon upon the land which Jehovah thy gave to thee.
And he striking his father and his mother, dying be shall die.
And he making light of his father and his mother, dying, he shall die.
And the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave upon thee and upon thy seed forever. And he will go forth from his face being leprous as snow.
And all the nations served him, and his son, and his son's son, even till the time itself also of his land came: and many nations and great kings served upon him.
Belshazzar said, in tasting the wine, to bring in for the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father brought forth from the temple that was in Jerusalem; and in them the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, will drink.
And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we had not been their partakers in the blood of the prophets,
And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye: The God of glory was sent to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first command with solemn promise;)
Holding firmly the faithful word according to instruction, that he may be able also to beseech in sound doctrine, and to refute those opposing.
Watsons
FATHER. This word, beside its common acceptation, is taken in Scripture for grandfather, great-grandfather, or the founder of a family, how remote soever. So the Jews in our Saviour's time called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their fathers. Jesus Christ is called the Son of David, though David was many generations distant from him. By father is likewise understood the institutor of a certain profession. Jabal "was father of such as dwell in tents, and such as have cattle." Jubal "was father of all such as handle the harp and organ," or flute, &c, Ge 4:20-21. Huram is called father of the king of Tyre, 2Ch 2:13; and, 2Ch 4:16, even of Solomon, because he was the principal workman, and chief director of their undertakings. The principal prophets were considered as fathers of the younger, who were their disciples, and are called sons of the prophets, 2Ki 2:12. Father is a term of respect given by inferiors to superiors. "My father," said Naaman's attendants to him, "if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing," 2Ki 5:13; and so the king of Israel addresses the prophet Elisha, 2Ki 6:21. Rechab, the founder of the Rechabites, is called their father, Jer 35:6. A man is said to be a father to the poor and orphans, when he supplies their necessities, and sympathizes with their miseries, as a father would do toward them: "I was a father to the poor," says Job 29:16. God declares himself to be the "Father of the fatherless, and Judge of the widow," Ps 68:5. God is frequently called our heavenly Father, and simply our Father; eminently the Father, Preserver, and Protector of all, especially of those who invoke him, and serve him: "Is he not thy Father that bought thee?" says Moses, De 32:6. Since the coming of Jesus Christ, we have a new right to call God our Father, by reason of the adoption which our Saviour has merited for us, by clothing himself in our humanity, and purchasing us by his death: "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God," Ro 8:15. Job entitles God "the Father of rain," Job 38:28; he produces it, and causes it to fall. The devil is called the father of the wicked and the father of lies, Joh 8:44. He deceived Eve and Adam; he introduced sin and falsehood; he inspires his followers with his spirit and sentiments. The father of Sichem, the father of Tekoah, the father of Bethlehem, &c, signify the chief persons who inhabited these cities; he who built or rebuilt them. Adam is the first father, the father of the living; Abraham is the father of the faithful, the father of the circumcision; called also the "father of many nations," because many people sprung from him; as the Jews, Ishmaelites, Arabs, &c. God is called "the Father of spirits," Heb 12:9. He not only creates them, but he justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies them, and thus confers upon them eternal happiness.
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And Adah will bear Jabal; he was the father of him remaining in the tent, and riches. And his brother's name Jubal; he was father of all laying hold of the harp and pipe.
To Jehovah will ye recompense this, A people foolish and not wise? He thy father: did he not buy thee? He made thee, and he will protect thee.
And Elisha saw, and he crying, My father, my father!, the chariot of Israel and his horsemen! and he saw him no more: and he will lay hold upon his garments and rend them into two rents.
And his servants will come near and speak to him, and say, My father, spake the prophet a great word to thee, wilt thou not do? and much more he said to thee, Wash and be cleansed,
And the king of Israel will say to Elisha when he saw them, Shall I strike? shall I strike, my father?
And the pots and the shovels and the flesh-hooks, and all their vessels, Huram his father made to king Solomon for the house of Jehovah, of polished brass.
I was a father to the needy, and the contention I knew not I shall search it out
A father of orphans and a judge of widows, God in his holy habitation.
And they will say, We shall not drink wine: for Jonadab, son of Rechab our father, commanded to us, saying, Ye shall not drink wine, ye and your sons even to forever.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the eager desires of your father will ye do. He was slaying men from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he would speak a lie, he speaks of his own things; for he is a liar, and the father of him.
For ye have not received the Spirit of servitude again for fear; but have received the Spirit of adoption as a son, in which we cry, Abba, Father.
Since we truly have fathers of our flesh instructors, and we were influenced: shall we not rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and we shall live?