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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Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of the nomadic herdsmen. His brother was named Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the flute.
Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
"Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.
"Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.
"If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood is on his own hands.
"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him, his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. read more. They will say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn't He your Father and Creator? Didn't He make you and sustain you?
Yet You are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn't recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father; from ancient times, Your name is our Redeemer.
Yet Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands.
Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day; he saw it and rejoiced."
"Don't cling to Me," Jesus told her, "for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brothers and tell them that I am ascending to My Father and your Father-to My God and your God."
This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants-not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of Abraham's faith. He is the father of us all
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children, read more. and if children, also heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ-seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
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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Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of the nomadic herdsmen. His brother was named Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the flute.
Then you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord says: Israel is My firstborn son.
May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as He promised you.
Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn't He your Father and Creator? Didn't He make you and sustain you?
Micah replied, "Stay with me and be my father and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions." So the Levite went in
They told him, "Be quiet. Keep your mouth shut. Come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or for you to be a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?"
I will also make him My firstborn, greatest of the kings of the earth. I will always preserve My faithful love for him, and My covenant with him will endure.
Yet You are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn't recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father; from ancient times, Your name is our Redeemer.
Yet Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands.
They will come weeping, but I will bring them back with consolation. I will lead them to wadis [filled] with water by a smooth way where they will not stumble, for I am Israel's Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.
And don't presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones!
so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Don't be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.
But if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.
so that you don't show your fasting to people but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
because you are not speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you.
Aren't two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's consent.
Do not call anyone on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is in heaven.
and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have taken part with them in shedding the prophets' blood.'
But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name,
You're doing what your father does." "We weren't born of sexual immorality," they said. "We have one Father-God."
To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children,
who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray 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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Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of the nomadic herdsmen. His brother was named Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the flute.
he said: Canaan will be cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers. He also said: Praise the Lord, the God of Shem; Canaan will be his slave. read more. God will extend Japheth; he will dwell in the tents of Shem; Canaan will be his slave.
Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him."
So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said: Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give to you- from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land- an abundance of grain and new wine. read more. May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers; may your mother's sons bow down to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from the hunt. He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. Then he said to his father, "Let my father get up and eat some of his son's game, so that you may bless me." But his father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am Esau your firstborn son." Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. "Who was it then," he said, "who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came in, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed!" When Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me-me too, my father!" But he replied, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing." So he said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing." Then he asked, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?" But Isaac answered Esau: "Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?" Esau said to his father, "Do you only have one blessing, my father? Bless me-me too, my father!" And Esau wept loudly. Then his father Isaac answered him: Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck.
Then he blessed Joseph and said: The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm- may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow to be numerous within the land. read more. When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim's head, he thought it was a mistake and took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's. Joseph said to his father, "Not that way, my father! This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head." But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know! He too will become a tribe, and he too will be great; nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation." So he blessed them that day with these words: Israel will invoke blessings by you, saying, "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh," putting Ephraim before Manasseh.
Over and above what I am giving your brothers, I am giving you the one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and bow."
"Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death. "Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession. read more. "Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.
"Impress these words of Mine on your hearts and souls, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. read more. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your fathers.
"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him, his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. read more. They will say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn't He your Father and Creator? Didn't He make you and sustain you?
Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, "Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?" He said, "Yes, I know. Be quiet."
One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves."
I was a father to the needy, and I examined the case of the stranger.
A father of the fatherless and a champion of widows is God in His holy dwelling.
How absurd is the one who says to [his] father: What are you fathering? or to [his] mother: What are you giving birth to?"
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain. When I called him, he was only one; I blessed him and made him many.
say to a tree: You are my father, and to a stone: You gave birth to me. For they have turned their back to Me and not their face, but in their time of disaster they beg: Rise up and save us!
Yes, the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab carried out their ancestor's command he gave them, but these people have not obeyed Me. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will certainly bring to Judah and to all the residents of Jerusalem all the disaster I have pronounced against them because I have spoken to them, but they have not obeyed, and I have called to them, but they would not answer." read more. Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites: "This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Because you have obeyed the command of your ancestor Jonadab and have kept all his commands and have done all that he commanded you,
Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, wives, and concubines could drink from them.
"A son honors [his] father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is [your] fear of Me? says the Lord of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name." Yet you ask: "How have we despised Your name?"
And He said, " Abba , Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."
You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
"Brothers and fathers," he said, "listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,
in God's sight. As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father!"
For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can't have many fathers. Now I have fathered you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
Honor your father and mother -which is the first commandment with a promise-
And fathers, don't stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so they won't become discouraged.
holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.
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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Penuel fathered Gedor, and Ezer fathered Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, Ephrathah's firstborn and the father of Bethlehem:
For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Don't all of us have one Father? Didn't one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Don't be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.
"For if you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.
I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and therefore you do what you have heard from your father." "Our father is Abraham!" they replied. "If you were Abraham's children," Jesus told them, "you would do what Abraham did. read more. But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! You're doing what your father does." "We weren't born of sexual immorality," they said. "We have one Father-God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn't come on My own, but He sent Me. Why don't you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to My word. You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
"Don't cling to Me," Jesus told her, "for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brothers and tell them that I am ascending 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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He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will dominate you.
he said: Canaan will be cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.
God will extend Japheth; he will dwell in the tents of Shem; Canaan will be his slave.
So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said: Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give to you- from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land- an abundance of grain and new wine. read more. May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers; may your mother's sons bow down to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from the hunt. He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. Then he said to his father, "Let my father get up and eat some of his son's game, so that you may bless me." But his father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am Esau your firstborn son." Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. "Who was it then," he said, "who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came in, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed!" When Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me-me too, my father!" But he replied, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing." So he said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing." Then he asked, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?" But Isaac answered Esau: "Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?" Esau said to his father, "Do you only have one blessing, my father? Bless me-me too, my father!" And Esau wept loudly. Then his father Isaac answered him: Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck.
Then he blessed Joseph and said: The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
So he blessed them that day with these words: Israel will invoke blessings by you, saying, "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh," putting Ephraim before Manasseh.
Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
"Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death.
"Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death.
Therefore, Naaman's skin disease will cling to you and your descendants forever." So Gehazi went out from his presence diseased-[white] as snow.
All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.
Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, wives, and concubines could drink from them.
and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have taken part with them in shedding the prophets' blood.'
"Brothers and fathers," he said, "listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,
Honor your father and mother -which is the first commandment with a promise-
holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.
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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Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of the nomadic herdsmen. His brother was named Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the flute.
Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn't He your Father and Creator? Didn't He make you and sustain you?
As Elisha watched, he kept crying out, "My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!" Then he never saw Elijah again. He took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.
But his servants approached and said to him, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more [should you do it] when he tells you, 'Wash and be clean'?"
When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, "My father, should I kill them? I will kill them."
the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all their utensils-Huram-abi made them for King Solomon for the Lord's temple. [All these were made] of polished bronze.
I was a father to the needy, and I examined the case of the stranger.
A father of the fatherless and a champion of widows is God in His holy dwelling.
But they replied, "We do not drink wine, for Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, commanded: 'You and your sons must never drink wine.
You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father!"
Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn't we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?