My Father's God: A Godly Man As A Patriarch

My Father’s God: A Godly Man as a Patriarch

Exodus 15:2; Hebrews 11:23

Some of us did not have godly fathers but we are a new generation with God’s call to holiness! We are to have an authority that is heavenly. We are men who are pressing our way forward to God’s higher call, "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, {we} press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."(Phil 3:13-14). The social structure described in the Old Testament is known as a "patriarchal" society. The word patriarchy means "the rule of the father." The father commanded a high position in the family of Old Testament times and his word was law. The father was responsible for the spiritual well being of the family. In the earliest ages, the father functioned as the priest of his family, sacrificing on their behalf (Gen. 12:8; Job 1:5). The father was to be the religious leader in the home. This involved the training of the children in godliness (Ex. 12:3, 26-27; Proverbs 22:6; Eph. 6:4).

Your sons and daughters will worship what you worship. The role of father is the most important role in the spiritual welfare of the home. If a father is to have authority in his home he must love God with his entire being (Deut 6). "Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked." (Deuteronomy 10:15-16)

They see themselves as someone ancestor in covenant with God or the descendant of men who are in God’s covenant. They are covenanters, "that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant." (Isaiah 56:6). This is a pact God has initiated with fathers based on his promises. We have God’s sworn commitment to us as fathers and we have pledged all we have and are to him in love and truth. "O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." (Ps 105:6-15).

Amram: A Quiet But Godly Dad

"Great men of God were your fathers, and Christ himself was one of you, a Jew so far as his human nature is concerned, he who now rules over all things. Praise God forever!" (Rom 9:5TLB). We do not see Amram at the Nile River pushing the basket with his son Moses in it committing him to God’s mercy. We never read any of his words. We do not see Amram’s actions, but we hear his quiet unity with his wife and his godly concern for his family very loudly.

Moses in his song praises God as the God of his father. Moses and Aaron’s father was Amram who lived 137 years (Exodus 6:20). Their ancestor was Levi and of course the he was the descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:15-16). Amram was the first born son of Kohath, therefore he was a Kohathite. You will remember that they were a tribe in Israel responsible for the care and protection of the most sacred things concerning the worship of God (Numbers 3).

A godly man does not see his wealth in terms of just money and hard work he sees his wealth in the spiritual welfare of his wife and children. "From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes." (Ps 17:14). A man of God sees himself not only under the hand of God, guided by the hand of God but as the hand of God. This is evident in his life. His boys Moses and Aaron, his daughter Miriam became among the most famous saints of God in the world. That really says something. What a goal to shoot for: your son being the next Moses or your daughter the next Miriam. How would our priorities change!