The role of family in the Bible
Does the Bible support and encourage patriarchal structures? Does it support the idea that women are not so important? You are far off, but let me explain what the family was like in ancient culture.
The importance of family
In the ancient world, there was no real legal system, insurance, or support systems. Everything was handled within the family you live in. And the family decides within the clan (depending on how important it is) and the clan within the tribe and the tribe within the nation.
The society worked button up with the family as the smallest unit. Therefore, it was not only important to belong to a family, but also to which family you belonged, which role you played, which gender you were, and which order you were born in.
The system is strongly criticized in the Bible, because obviously all people are disadvantaged who do not have a family, such as widows and orphans or families with little influence. There are many examples where God appears as the defender of widows and orphans, even making it a key element of faith.
Furthermore God likes to choose important people like kings from
- unimportant families
- Ruth was half Moabite and the grandmother of King David or
- foreigners (see the three foreign women in Jesus family tree:
- the Canaanite Tamar,
- the half Moabite Ruth and
- Bathsheba the wife of a Hittite.
The Bible emphasizes the redeemer (the next of kin who needs to rescue). This person is responsible to help if a next of kin comes into any trouble. This was
- to deliver from captivity
- pay to get the person free from slavery
- buys back property
- marry to bring out of trouble or ensure offspring for widow
- …
It is a role that God taken on because society has often failed to do so, which is a key topic in the Christian faith.
The patriarch
- the patriarch (oldest male member) and his wife,
- their sons and daughters,
- the wives and children of the sons.
A family could be up to three generations and 30 people. This family lived and worked together.
The role of the patriarch was to
- Financial support of the family,
- To enforce law, justice and morality,
- Take care of the disadvantaged in the family (e.g. illness, war, famine). In extreme situations (famine, debts, …) the patriarch had to decide who will survive and who will not, who will go into slavery and who will be bought out of it.
When the patriarch dies or the family becomes too large, it splits and the oldest male in each family becomes patriarch.
An example of how this working well is Terah who had three sons: Haran, Abram and Nahor. When Haran dies, he leaves a son which Abram takes care of.
It was common in those days to have multiple wives (e.g. in case one did not bear sons). This is widely criticized because having more than one wife always caused trouble.
- starting with Lamech who was trouble itself,
- the drama of Abraham using his maid to have children,
- the birth war of Jacob’s wives,
- the story of Elkanah,
- David and his son by different wives,
- Solomon and his downfall,
- intervention when a man has two wives.
Women were allowed to inherit according to the law and were encouraged to have an independent business even acting as patriarchs and being praised by their husbands.
The inheritance
The first-born son has a leading role among his siblings and received the double inheritance because he was the potential successor of his father. So he had to learn to take care of the whole family after his father was gone.
An example of this is Reuben who, as the oldest son, was very troubled when Joseph got lost and pledged his son for his family.
But the eldest son may not be not a good leader of a family and so God often interrupts this scheme with Jacob, Manasseh or David.
A woman was in a very tough situation because she belonged to the
- family of her father,
- becomes a wive and joins her husband’s family,
- is taken care of by her sons after her husband’s death when she joins one of their families.
The Bible shows a woman who fell through all these nets and yet was covered by her redeemer, Boas.
Another case is Tamar who is judged righteous because Judah did not provide her with a husband so that she would be protected by a family.
The land
The land was the place where the family could live off and this land was given from father to son.
If the family had to sell the land, it would ruin them, so the Bible makes sure that the land is given back.
God and the family
God is portrayed as a father, Jesus as the first born who takes care of the others and he gives a house with many apartments so that we can all live together.