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 bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents, and with cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those playing the harp and the organ.
And now you did not send me here, but God. And He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt.
And he that strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
And he that curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
And any man who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be on him.
If a man has a son who is stubborn and rebels, who will not obey his father's voice or his mother's voice, even when they have chastened him he will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall lay hold on him and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place. read more. And they shall say to the elders of his city, this son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones so that he dies. So shall you put evil away from you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
Do you thus give back to Jehovah, Oh foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?
For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; Your name is from everlasting.
But now, O Jehovah, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Former; and we all are the work of Your hand.
son of of Enos, son of of Seth, son of of Adam, son of of God.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and He saw and was glad.
Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and Your Father, and to My God and your God.
Therefore it is of faith so that it might be according to grace; for the promise to be made sure to all the seed, not only to that which is of the Law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father! The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. read more. And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be 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 bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents, and with cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those playing the harp and the organ.
And you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord: Israel is My son, My first-born.
May Jehovah, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you as He has said to you!
Do you thus give back to Jehovah, Oh foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?
And Micah said to him, Live with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of clothes, and your food. And the Levite went in.
And they said to him, Be quiet, lay your hand on your mouth and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?
Has the rain a father? Or who has brought forth the drops of dew?
And I will make him My first-born, higher than the kings of the earth. I will keep My mercy for him forever, and My covenant shall stand fast with him.
For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; Your name is from everlasting.
But now, O Jehovah, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Former; and we all are the work of Your hand.
They shall come with weeping, and with prayers I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.
and do not think to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
so that your merciful deeds may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret Himself shall reward you openly.
Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him.
but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
so that you do not appear to men to fast, but to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.
For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
And call no one your father on the earth, for One is your Father in Heaven.
and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name,
You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to Him, We are not born of fornication; we have one father, even God.
to all those who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father,
to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse. Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We give 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 bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents, and with cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those playing the harp and the organ.
And he said, Cursed be Canaan. He shall be a servant of servants to his brothers. And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. read more. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem. And Canaan shall be their servant.
And Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the persons of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his sons and his house after him, and they shall keep the way of Jehovah, to do justice and judgment, that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken of him.
And he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah has blessed. And may God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. read more. Let people serve you, and let nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone that curses you, and blessed be he that blesses you. And it happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was scarcely gone from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he also had made tasty meat and brought to his father. And he said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game so that your soul may bless me. And his father Isaac said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your first-born, Esau. And Isaac trembled with a great trembling, and said, Who then was the one who has hunted deer and brought to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yea, he shall be blessed! And when Esau heard the voice of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, me also, O my father! And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing. And he said, It is because his name is called Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold! I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given him for servants. And with grain and wine I have supported him. And what shall I do now to you, my son? And Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said to him, Behold! Your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. And by your sword you shall live, and shall serve your brother. And it shall be when you shall have the dominion, you shall break his yoke from off your neck.
And he blessed Joseph and said, May God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who fed me all my life to this day, the Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. And let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow like the fishes into a multitude in the midst of the earth. read more. And Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and it was evil in his eyes. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father. For this is the first-born. Put your right hand on his head. And his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he is, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In you shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
And I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
And he that strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. And he that steals a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. read more. And he that curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
Therefore you shall lay up these my words in your hearts and in your souls, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, so that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. read more. And you shall write them upon the door posts of your house, and upon your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied in the land which Jehovah swore to give to your fathers, like the days of the heavens upon the earth.
If a man has a son who is stubborn and rebels, who will not obey his father's voice or his mother's voice, even when they have chastened him he will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall lay hold on him and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place. read more. And they shall say to the elders of his city, this son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones so that he dies. So shall you put evil away from you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
Do you thus give back to Jehovah, Oh foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?
And the sons of the prophets at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said to him, Do you know that Jehovah will take away your master from your head today? And he said, Yes, I know. Keep silent.
And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead. And you know that your servant feared Jehovah. And the lender has come to take my two children to himself for slaves.
I have said to corruption, You are my father; to the worm, My mother and my sister!
I was a father to the poor; and the cause which I did not know, I searched out.
Has the rain a father? Or who has brought forth the drops of dew?
In His holy dwelling God is the father of the fatherless, and the judge of the widows.
Woe to him who says to his father, What are you fathering? Or to the woman, What are you laboring over?
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
saying to a tree, You are my father; and to a stone, You gave me birth. For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us!
Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have done the commandment of their father, which He commanded them; but this people has not listened to Me; therefore so says Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem all the evil that I have spoken against them. Because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered. read more. And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his precepts, and have done according to all that he has commanded you;
When tasting the wine, Belshazzar commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, that the king and his rulers, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them.
A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My fear? says Jehovah of Hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. And you say, In what way have we despised Your name?
And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to You. Take away this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.
You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
And he said, Men, brothers, and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.
Men, brothers and fathers! Hear my defense now to you.
(as it has been written, "I have made you a father of many nations") --before God, whom he believed, who makes the dead live, and calls the things which do not exist as though they do exist.
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father!
For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Blessed be God, even the 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, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they be discouraged.
holding fast the faithful Word according to the doctrine, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convict the gainsayers.
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 are the sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem.
For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be on His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Is there not one Father to us all? Has not one God created us? Why do we act deceitfully, each man with his brother, to profane the covenant of our fathers.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.
so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you, then, do what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus answered them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. read more. But now you seek to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth which I have heard beside God; this Abraham did not do. You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to Him, We are not born of fornication; we have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love Me, for I went forth and came from God; for I did not come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My Word. You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and Your Father, and 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, I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bear sons, and your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you.
And he said, Cursed be Canaan. He shall be a servant of servants to his brothers.
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem. And Canaan shall be their servant.
And he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah has blessed. And may God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. read more. Let people serve you, and let nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone that curses you, and blessed be he that blesses you. And it happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was scarcely gone from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he also had made tasty meat and brought to his father. And he said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game so that your soul may bless me. And his father Isaac said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your first-born, Esau. And Isaac trembled with a great trembling, and said, Who then was the one who has hunted deer and brought to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yea, he shall be blessed! And when Esau heard the voice of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, me also, O my father! And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing. And he said, It is because his name is called Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold! I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given him for servants. And with grain and wine I have supported him. And what shall I do now to you, my son? And Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said to him, Behold! Your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. And by your sword you shall live, and shall serve your brother. And it shall be when you shall have the dominion, you shall break his yoke from off your neck.
And he blessed Joseph and said, May God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who fed me all my life to this day,
And he blessed them that day, saying, In you shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
And Jacob called to his sons and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the days to come.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land which Jehovah your God gives you.
And he that strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
And he that curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
And the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your seed forever. And he went out from his presence as leprous as snow.
And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes. And then many nations and great kings shall enslave him.
When tasting the wine, Belshazzar commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, that the king and his rulers, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them.
and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
and you fill up the measure of your fathers.
And he said, Men, brothers, and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.
Men, brothers and fathers! Hear my defense now to you.
Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise),
holding fast the faithful Word according to the doctrine, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convict the gainsayers.
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 bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents, and with cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those playing the harp and the organ.
Do you thus give back to Jehovah, Oh foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?
And Elisha saw, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his clothes and tore them in two pieces.
And his servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do a great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, Wash and be clean?
And when he saw them, the king of Israel said to Elisha, My father, shall I strike them? Shall I strike them?
And now I have sent a skillful man blessed with understanding, of Hiram my father,
And Hiram made the pots, and the shovels, and the flesh-hooks, and all their vessels of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of Jehovah.
I was a father to the poor; and the cause which I did not know, I searched out.
Has the rain a father? Or who has brought forth the drops of dew?
In His holy dwelling God is the father of the fatherless, and the judge of the widows.
But they said, We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons forever.
You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father!
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?