Reference: Patriarchs
Fausets
Heads of races, tribes, clans, and families. Abraham (Heb 7:4), Jacob's sons (Ac 7:8-9), David (Ac 2:29). The" patriarchal system" before Moses developed itself out of family relations, before the foundation of nations and regular governments. The "patriarchal dispensation" is the covenant between God and the godly seed, Seth, Noah, Abraham, and their descendants; the freedom of intercourse with God is simple and childlike, as contrasted with the sterner aspect of the Mosaic dispensation. It is the innocence of childhood, contrasted with the developed manhood of our Christian dispensation. The distinction between the seed of the woman and that of the serpent appears in God's revealing Himself to the chosen as He did not to the world; hence their history is typical (Ga 4:21-31; Heb 7:1-7; Mt 24:37-39; Lu 17:28-32; Ro 9:10-13).
Yet God is revealed as God not merely of a tribe, but of all the earth (Ge 18:25). All nations were to be blessed in Abraham. The Gentile Pharaoh and Abimelech have revelations. God is called "almighty" (Ge 17:1; 28:3; 35:11). Melchizedek, of Canaanite Salem, is His king priest, and He punishes Canaanite Sodom and Gomorrah. Authority is grounded on paternal right, its natural ground and source, even as God is the common Father of both patriarch and children. The birthright is the privilege of the firstborn, but requiring the father's confirmation. Marriage is sacred (Ge 34:7,13,31; 38:24). Intermarriage with idolaters is treason to God and the chosen seed (Ge 26:34-35; 27:46; 28:1,6-9). The patriarchs severally typify Him in whom all their several graces meet, without blemish.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect.
Far be it from You to act in this manner, to kill the righteous with the wicked. And far be it from You, that the righteous should be as the wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; who were a grief of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.
And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these of the daughters of the land, what good is my life to me?
And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded him. And he said to him, You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
And may God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you may be a multitude of peoples.
And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him away to Padan-aram in order to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; and Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and had gone to Padan-aram; read more. and when Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac his father; then Esau went to Ishmael, and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to the wives which he had for his wife.
And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard. And the men were furious, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel, in lying with the daughter of Jacob. And it ought not to be done so.
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, speaking with deceit because he had defiled Dinah their sister.
And God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be from you, and kings shall come out of your loins.
And it happened, about three months afterward, that it was told Judah, saying, Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burned.
But as the days of Noah were, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the ark. read more. And they did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will be the coming of the Son of Man.
So also as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but the day Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from the heaven and destroyed them all. read more. Even so it shall be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day he who shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, he who is in the field, let him not return to the things behind. Remember Lot's wife.
Men, brothers, it is permitted to say to you with plainness as to the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
And He gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham fathered Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day. And Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs. And being jealous of Joseph, the patriarchs sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him
And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, by our father Isaac (for the children had not yet been born, neither had done any good or evil; but that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who called,) read more. it was said to her, "The elder shall serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Tell me, those desiring to be under Law, do you not hear the Law? For it is written: Abraham had two sons, the one out of the slave-woman, and one out of the free woman. read more. But, indeed, he out of the slave-woman has been born according to flesh, and he out of the free woman through the promise; which things are being allegorized; for these are the two covenants, one indeed from Mount Sinai bringing forth to slavery, which is Hagar. For Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem from above is free, who is the mother of us all. For it is written, "Rejoice, barren one not bearing; break forth and shout, you not travailing; for more are the children of the desolate than she having the husband." But brothers, we, like Isaac, are children of promise. But then even as he born according to flesh persecuted him born according to the Spirit, so it is also now. But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave-woman and her son; for in no way shall the son of the slave-woman inherit with the son of the free woman." Then, brothers, we are not children of a slave-woman, but of the free woman.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. To him Abraham also gave a tenth of all. He was first by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, read more. without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And truly they who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priest, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the Law, that is, from their brothers, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. read more. But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.
Watsons
PATRIARCHS. This name is given to the ancient fathers, chiefly those who lived before Moses, as Adam, Lamech, Noah, Shem, &c, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the sons of Jacob, and heads of the tribes. The Hebrews call them princes of the tribes, or heads of the fathers. The name patriarch is derived from the Greek patriarcha, "head of a family."