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Chapter 2
The Heritage of Mankind
Supremacy of the Father
Throughout the scriptures and biblical history, people of the past, like most
people today, have always been in awe of God, wondering if they were
subject to God’s wrath. They expected God’s wrath to always come upon
them/us, perhaps like an angry father who abuses, yet they respected God
all the same. When making references to God, they said, “Blessed be His
name,” wondering, but not knowing the name of God. They had ideas
about God, but seldom referred to God as a father. However, intuitively or
perhaps from an awareness that since Adam was created first, man was the
head of the family; thus, special respect was always given to the father. The
seed of humanity coming forth from the father had a very special
significance. This is not to discount the woman or mother, from whom
humanity is born. In the beginning, unlike today, there was no contention
for dominance. Special emphasis was placed on the father and the son(s) for
a Divine reason.
All humans wondered about a supreme being, but the Hebrews were clearly
concerned about God and the lineage of their ancestry, which depicted one
God above all other false gods. They must have been stunned when Jesus
proclaimed God as His Father in the second time, but the emphasis was
always on the father and the significance of that lineage. The Hebrew word
אָב
[(
ʾāḇ
): masculine] “
Fa t he r”
is a very specific word that means male
progenitor of the offspring, as if to create, as a progenitor, or male adoptive
parent. The supremacy of the father was always apparent. Subsequently, the
firstborn male child found a special place as the heir to carry on the heritage
or ancestral line. The supremacy of the father was likened to the supremacy
of God.
The Hebrew nation anticipated great things; after all, they knew the
scriptural texts intimately. Those historical documents were a record of
what happened and what they thought God promised. God was on the tips
of their tongues, and they realized God was active in every aspect of their
lives, but conflict seemed to follow them at every step along the way. They
believed that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as Moses knew God
intimately, and they were credited with Godly insights. The insights were