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Bible Dictionaries
Patriarch
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Patriarch. (father of a tribe). The name given to the head of a family or tribe, in Old Testament times. In common usage, the title of patriarch is assigned, especially to those whose lives are recorded in Scripture, previous to the time of Moses, as Adam, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
("In the early history of the Hebrews, we find the ancestor or father of a family retaining authority over his children, and his children's children, so long as he lived, whatever new connections they might form, when the father died, the branch families did not break off, and form new communities, but usually united under another common head.
The eldest son was generally invested with this dignity. His authority was paternal. He was honored as central point of connection, and as the representative of the whole kindred. Thus, each great family had its patriarch, or head, and each tribe its prince, selected from the several heads of the families which it embraced." - McClintock and Strong).
("After the destruction of Jerusalem, patriarch was the title of the chief religious rulers of the Jews in Asia, and, in early Christian times, it became the designation of the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem." - American Cyclopedia).
These files are public domain.
Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Patriarch'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/p/patriarch.html. 1901.
