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 Abram is a son of ninety and nine years, and Jehovah appeareth unto Abram, and saith unto him, 'I am God Almighty, walk habitually before Me, and be thou perfect;
Far be it from Thee to do according to this thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked; that it hath been -- as the righteous so the wicked -- far be it from Thee; doth the Judge of all the earth not do justice?'
And Esau is a son of forty years, and he taketh a wife, Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.
And Rebekah saith unto Isaac, 'I have been disgusted with my life because of the presence of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these -- from the daughters of the land -- why do I live?'
And Isaac calleth unto Jacob, and blesseth him, and commandeth him, and saith to him, 'Thou dost not take a wife of the daughters of Caanan;
and God Almighty doth bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and thou hast become an assembly of peoples;
And Esau seeth that Isaac hath blessed Jacob, and hath sent him to Padan-Aram to take to himself from thence a wife -- in his blessing him that he layeth a charge upon him, saying, Thou dost not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan -- that Jacob hearkeneth unto his father and unto his mother, and goeth to Padan-Aram -- read more. and Esau seeth that the daughters of Canaan are evil in the eyes of Isaac his father, and Esau goeth unto Ishmael, and taketh Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, sister of Nebajoth, unto his wives, to himself, for a wife.
and the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard, and the men grieve themselves, and it is very displeasing to them, for folly he hath done against Israel, to lie with the daughter of Jacob -- and so it is not done.
And the sons of Jacob answer Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and they speak (because he defiled Dinah their sister),
And God saith to him, 'I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply, a nation and an assembly of nations is from thee, and kings from thy loins go out;
And it cometh to pass about three months after, that it is declared to Judah, saying, 'Tamar thy daughter-in-law hath committed fornication; and also, lo, she hath conceived by fornication:' and Judah saith, 'Bring her out -- and she is burnt.'
and as the days of Noah -- so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man; for as they were, in the days before the flood, eating, and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, till the day Noah entered into the ark, read more. and they did not know till the flood came and took all away; so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man.
in like manner also, as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; and on the day Lot went forth from Sodom, He rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed all. read more. 'According to these things it shall be, in the day the Son of Man is revealed; in that day, he who shall be on the house top, and his vessels in the house, let him not come down to take them away; and he in the field, in like manner, let him not turn backward; remember the wife of Lot.
'Men, brethren! it is permitted to speak with freedom unto you concerning the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is among us unto this day;
And He gave to him a covenant of circumcision, and so he begat Isaac, and did circumcise him on the eighth day, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob -- the twelve patriarchs; and the patriarchs, having been moved with jealousy, sold Joseph to Egypt, and God was with him,
And not only so, but also Rebecca, having conceived by one -- Isaac our father -- (for they being not yet born, neither having done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to choice, might remain; not of works, but of Him who is calling,) it was said to her -- read more. 'The greater shall serve the less;' according as it hath been written, 'Jacob I did love, and Esau I did hate.'
Tell me, ye who are willing to be under law, the law do ye not hear? for it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-servant, and one by the free-woman, read more. but he who is of the maid-servant, according to flesh hath been, and he who is of the free-woman, through the promise; which things are allegorized, for these are the two covenants: one, indeed, from mount Sinai, to servitude bringing forth, which is Hagar; for this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and doth correspond to the Jerusalem that now is, and is in servitude with her children, and the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which is mother of us all, for it hath been written, 'Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many are the children of the desolate -- more than of her having the husband.' And we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise, but as then he who was born according to the flesh did persecute him according to the spirit, so also now; but what saith the Writing? 'Cast forth the maid-servant and her son, for the son of the maid-servant may not be heir with the son of the free-woman;' then, brethren, we are not a maid-servant's children, but the free-woman's.
For this Melchisedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who did meet Abraham turning back from the smiting of the kings, and did bless him, to whom also a tenth of all did Abraham divide, (first, indeed, being interpreted, 'King of righteousness,' and then also, King of Salem, which is, King of Peace,) read more. without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, and being made like to the Son of God, doth remain a priest continually. And see how great this one is, to whom also a tenth Abraham the patriarch did give out of the best of the spoils,
And see how great this one is, to whom also a tenth Abraham the patriarch did give out of the best of the spoils, and those, indeed, out of the sons of Levi receiving the priesthood, a command have to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, their brethren, even though they came forth out of the loins of Abraham; read more. and he who was not reckoned by genealogy of them, received tithes from Abraham, and him having the promises he hath blessed, and apart from all controversy, the less by the better is blessed --
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."