PATRIARCH, PATRIARCHA, one of those first fathers who lived towards the beginning of the world, and who became famous by their long lines of descendants. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his twelve sons, are the patriarchs of the Old Testament; Seth, Enoch, &c. were antediluvian patriarchs.
The authority of patriarchal government existed in the fathers of families, and their first-born after them, exercising all kinds of ecclesiastical and civil authority in their respective households; and to this government, which lasted till the time of the Israelites dwelling in Egypt, some have ascribed an absolute and despotic power, extending even to the punishment by death. In proof of this, is produced the curse pronounced by Noah upon Canaan (Gen. ix. 25); but it must be observed, that in this affair Noah seems to have acted rather as a prophet than a patriarch. Another instance of supposed despotic power is Abraham's turning Hagar and Ishmael out of his family (Gen. xxi. 9, &c.); but this can hardly be thought to furnish evidence of any singular authority vested in the patriarchs, as such, and peculiar to those ages. The third instance brought forward to the same purpose is that of Jacob's denouncing a curse upon Simeon and Levi (Gen. xlix. 7), which is maintained
by others to be an instance of prophetic inspiration more than of patriarchal power. The fourth instance is that of Judah with regard to Tamar (Gen. xxxviii. 24.); with regard to which it is remarked, that Jacob, the father of Judah, was still living; that Tamar was not one of his own family; and that she had been guilty of adultery, the punishment of which was death by burning; and that Judah on this occasion might speak only as a prosecutor.
On the whole, however, it is difficult to say which of these opinions is most agreeable to truth. Men who believe the origin of civil government, and the obligation to obedience, to arise from a supposed original contract, either real or implied, will be naturally led to weaken the authority of the patriarchs: and those again who esteem government to be a divine institution, will be as apt to raise that authority to the highest pitch that either reason or scripture will permit them. It cannot be denied, that authority existed in fathers, and descended to their first-born, in the first ages of the world; and it is neither unnatural nor improbable to imagine, that the idea of hereditary power and hereditary honours was first taken from this circumstance. But whether authority has descended through father and son in this way to our times, is a circumstance that cannot in one instance be asserted, and can be denied in a thousand. The real source of the dignity and of the authority of modern times seems to have been, skill in the art of war, and success in the conduct of conquests.