SUBJECT: 12 Tribes of Israel
QUESTION: Why is Abraham called the father of the
Jews
ANSWER:
Abraham is called the father of the Jews because the tribes
can all link their lineage back to him. This fact is stated
in
Matthew 1 as follows:
Matthew 1:1-17
1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob
begat Judas and his brethren;
3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares
begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and
Naasson begat Salmon;
5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of
Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat
Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia
begat Asa;
8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and
Joram begat Ozias;
9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and
Achaz begat Ezekias;
10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and
Amon begat Josias;
11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the
time they were carried away to Babylon:
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat
Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and
Eliakim begat Azor;
14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim
begat Eliud;
15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and
Matthan begat Jacob;
16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was
born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen
generations; and from David until the carrying away into
Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away
into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Note: Here we
can see the lineage and how Abraham is the father of the
Jews.
Luke 19:9
And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this
house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
Note: Here Jesus
states this fact.
John 8:33-40
33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never
in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be
made free?
34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but
the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be
free indeed.
37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill
me, because my word hath no place in you.
38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do
that which ye have seen with your father.
39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.
Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye
would do the works of Abraham.
40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the
truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Note: Here again
we see Jesus stating this fact. Now look at two entries of
the Bible Dictionary on the subject of
Abraham:
ABRAHAM
[AY bruh ham] (father of a
multitude); originally Abram (exalted
father)-the first great PATRIARCH of ancient
Israel and a primary model of faithfulness for Christianity.
The accounts about Abraham are found in Genesis 11:26-25:11,
with the biblical writer focusing on four important aspects
of his life.
The Migration. Abraham's story begins with his migration
with the rest of his family from UR of the Chaldeans in
ancient southern Babylonia (Genesis 11:31). He and his
family moved north along the trade routes of the ancient
world and settled in the flourishing trade center of HARAN,
several hundred miles to the northwest.
While living in Haran, at the age of 75 Abraham received a
call from God to go to a strange, unknown land that God
would show him. The Lord promised Abraham that He would make
him and his descendants a great nation (Genesis 12:1-3). The
promise must have seemed unbelievable to Abraham because his
wife Sarah (called Sarai in
the early part of the story) was childless
(Genesis 11:30-31; 17:15). But Abraham obeyed God with no
hint of doubt or disbelief. He took his wife and his nephew,
Lot, and went to the land that God would show him.
Abraham moved south along the trade routes from Haran,
through Shechem and Bethel to the land of Canaan. Canaan was
a populated area at the time, inhabited by the war-like
Canaanites; so Abraham's belief that God would ultimately
give this land to him and his descendants was an act of
faith. The circumstances seemed quite difficult, but
Abraham's faith in God's promises allowed him to trust in
the Lord.
The Famine and the Separation from Lot. Because of a severe
famine in the land of Canaan, Abraham moved to Egypt for a
short time (Genesis 12:10-20). During this trip, Abraham
introduced Sarah to the Egyptians as his sister rather than
as his wife in order to avoid trouble. Pharaoh, the Egyptian
ruler, then took Sarah as his wife. It was only because "the
Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues
because of Sarai, Abram's wife" (Genesis 12:17), that Sarah
was returned to Abraham.
Upon his return from Egypt, Abraham and his nephew, Lot,
quarreled over pasturelands and went separate ways (Genesis
13:8-9). Lot settled in the Jordan River Valley, while
Abraham moved into Canaan. After this split, God reaffirmed
His promise to Abraham: "And I will make your descendants as
the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the
dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be
numbered" (Genesis 13:16).
Apparently Abraham headed a strong military force by this
time as he is called "Abram the Hebrew" (Genesis 14:13). He
succeeded in rescuing his nephew Lot from the tribal
chieftains who had captured him while raiding the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 14:14-17).
The Promise Reaffirmed. In Gen 15 the Lord reaffirmed His
promise to Abraham. The relationship between God and
Abraham should be understood as a COVENANT relationship-the
most common form of arrangement between individuals in the
ancient world. According to such an arrangement, individuals
or groups agreed to abide by certain conditions that
governed their relationship to each other. In this case
Abraham agreed to go to the land that God would show him (an
act of faith on his part), and God agreed to make
Abraham a great nation (Genesis 12:1-3). However, in Genesis
15 Abraham became anxious about the promise of a nation
being found in his descendants because of his advanced age.
The Lord thus reaffirmed the earlier covenant.
As we know from recent archaeological discoveries, a common
practice of that time among heirless families was to adopt a
slave who would inherit the master's goods. Therefore,
because Abraham was childless, he proposed to make a slave,
ELIEZER of Damascus, his heir (Genesis 15:2). But God
rejected this action and challenged Abraham's faith: "Then
He [God] brought
him [Abraham]
outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the
stars if you are able to number them:' And He said to him,
'So shall your descendants be'" (Genesis 15:5). Abraham's
response is the model of believing faith. "And he [Abraham]
believed in the Lord, and He [God]
accounted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).
The rest of chapter 15 consists of a ceremony between
Abraham and God that was commonly used in the ancient world
to formalize a covenant (Genesis 15:7-21).
According to Gen 16, Sarah, because she had not borne a
child, provided Abraham with a handmaiden. This also appears
to be a familiar custom of the ancient world. According to
this custom, if the wife had not had a child (preferably
a male) by a certain time in the marriage, she
was obligated to provide a substitute (usually
a slave woman) to bear a child to her husband and
thereby insure the leadership of the clan. Thus, Hagar, the
Egyptian maidservant, had a son by Abraham and named him
ISHMAEL. Although Ishmael was not understood to be the child
that would carry on the line promised to Abraham, he was
given a favorable blessing (Genesis 16:10-13; 17:20).
The most substantial account of the covenant between Abraham
and God is given in Genesis 17-a covenant that extended the
promise of the land and descendants to further generations.
This covenant required Abraham and the male members of his
household to be circumcised as the sign of the agreement
(Genesis 17:10-14). In this chapter Abraham and Sarah
receive their new names. (Their
old names were Abram and Sarai.) The name of the
son whom God promises that Sarah will bear is designated as
Isaac (Genesis 17:19-21). The practice of CIRCUMCISION
instituted at this time is not unique to the ancient
Hebrews, but its emphasis as a religious requirement is a
unique feature of God's Covenant People. It became a visible
symbol of the covenant between Abraham and his descendants
and their redeemer God.
After Isaac was born to Sarah (Genesis 21:1-7), Sarah was
unhappy with the presence of Hagar and Ishmael. She asked
Abraham to cast them out of his family, which he did after
the Lord told him they would have His protection. Ishmael
does not play an important role in the rest of Abraham's
story; he does reenter the picture in Genesis 25:9,
accompanying Isaac at Abraham's death.
The Supreme Test. God's command for Abraham to sacrifice his
beloved son Isaac was the crucial test of his faith. He was
willing to give up his son in obedience to God, although at
the last moment the Lord intervened to save Isaac (Genesis
22:1-13). The Lord's promise of descendants as numerous as
the stars of the heavens was once again reaffirmed as a
result of Abraham's unquestioning obedience (Genesis
22:16-18).
Abraham did not want Isaac to marry a woman from one of the
local tribes. Possibly he feared this would introduce
Canaanite religious practices into the Hebrew clan. Thus,
Abraham sent a senior servant to Haran, the city from which
he had migrated, to find a wife for Isaac. This mission was
successful, and Isaac eventually married REBEKAH, the
daughter of Abraham's brother Laban (Genesis 24). Sarah had
died some time earlier (Genesis 23); Abraham eventually
remarried and fathered several children by Keturah (Genesis
25:1-6). Abraham died at the age of 175 and was buried
alongside Sarah in the cave of Machpelah, near Hebron
(Genesis 25:7-11).
Summary. Abraham was the father of the Hebrews and the prime
example of a righteous man. In spite of impossible odds,
Abraham had faith in the promises of God. Therefore, he is
presented as a model for human behavior. Hospitable to
strangers (Genesis 18:1-8), he was a God-fearing man
(Genesis 22:1-18) who was obedient to God's laws (Genesis
26:5). The promises originally given to Abraham were passed
on to his son Isaac (Genesis 26:3), and to his grandson
Jacob (Genesis 28:13; 35:11-12). In later biblical
references, the God of Israel is frequently identified as
the God of Abraham (Genesis 26:24), and Israel is often
called the people "of the God of Abraham" (Psalm 47:9;
105:6; Isaiah 41:8). Abraham was such an important figure in
the history of God's people that when they were in trouble,
Israel appealed to God to remember the covenant made with
Abraham (Exodus 32:13; Deuteronomy 9:27; Psalm 105:9).
~from Nelson's Illustrated
Bible Dictionary
PATRIARCHS
[PAY trih arks] (head of a
father's house)-the founder or ruler of a tribe,
family, or clan; the forefathers of the Israelite nation.
The phrase the patriarchs usually refers to the tribal
leaders of Israel who lived before the time of Moses.
Specifically, it is used of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the
12 sons of Jacob. Therefore, the patriarchs were the
ancestors of the Israelites from Abraham to Joseph (Acts
7:8-9; Hebrews 7:4).
In Peter's sermon in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, the
apostle expanded the term to include King David (Acts 2:29).
Peter's point was that, in contrast to Jesus Christ, the
patriarch David died and remained buried in the tomb. There
is no hope in David: "His tomb is with us to this day" (Acts
2:29). In his sermon before the council, Stephen stressed
that the patriarchs were sinners-they sold Joseph into
slavery in Egypt (Acts 7:9)-and that they all needed to be
redeemed from their sin.
The author of Hebrews reminded his readers that the
patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils of battle to
MELCHIZEDEK, king of Salem (Hebrews 7:1-4). He also compared
Melchizedek to Jesus Christ. In all uses of the term
patriarch, the New Testament says the patriarchs were
sinners, were limited in their power, and were greatly
inferior to the Lord Jesus Christ.
~from Nelson's Illustrated
Bible Dictionary
For more about the twelve tribes and even where they are
today, read the booklet, "Europe and America in Prophecy".
This booklet is posted at our web site at:
https://www.garnertedarmstrong.org/europe-and-america-in-prophecy/ |