As the great commentator, the Ramban, teaches, “everything that happened to the patriarchs is a portent for the children.”
By ill luck, I spoke one Sunday on the patriarchs, and handled them pretty roughly.
In the case of all the other patriarchs he mentions only the names and the number of their years.
In the legends of the Jewish patriarchs and prophets, it is stated that a brilliant star shone at the time of the birth of Moses.
Why does he not bestow the same praise upon the other patriarchs?
He made it right for the patriarchs, and David and Solomon, to have more wives than one.
As far as the revelation is concerned, we are far richer than the patriarchs.
He dealt with the patriarchs in succession, and they fared very badly at his hands.
He treats of the three patriarchs who are to replenish the earth.
The seats of the cardinals are covered with red damask; those of the patriarchs with purple.
late 12c., from Old French patriarche "one of the Old Testament fathers" (11c.) and directly from Late Latin patriarcha (Tertullian), from Greek patriarkhes "chief or head of a family," from patria "family, clan," from pater "father" (see father (n.)) + arkhein "to rule" (see archon). Also used as an honorific title of certain bishops in the early Church, notably those of Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome.
In the Old Testament, the “founding fathers” of the Israelites: Abraham and Isaac, Jacob, and the sons of Jacob. (See Joseph and his brothers.)
