The Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, sometimes gets a bad rap. So much violence, so many harsh judgments and prophecies, so much bad behaviour, so much patriarchy. At first glance, it seems to paint a rather unattractive picture not only of the people of God but of God himself. But if we look a little closer, we find that things are not always as they seem. Take patriarchy, for example.
Patriarchy is a societal and familial system in which the father and the eldest male are the authority figures. The first-born son dominates the family in power, wealth, and privilege. It is a system very unfriendly to women and anyone not lucky enough to be the firstborn male. And this objectionable, unjust system seems to lie at the very foundation of Judaism and Christianity. What is one to do with those pesky patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
The first thing we can do is note that while patriarchy is the context of the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is not the message. Sacred texts tell us about God, but they also tell us about the world at the time, and we need to learn to discern the difference between the two. Just because the Bible tells us about an ancient world dominated by patriarchy and violence does not mean that these practices have divine endorsement. Very often the biblical writers present their cultural context as a contrast to the nature of God. If we are not attentive to that context, we can miss these nuances.
Second, when reading stories in the Bible we should observe when and where they deviate from the cultural norm of the time. These departures are often clues as to what the writer is trying to say about the nature of God. These breaks in societal and religious mores are meant to startle the reader, to alert them to the movement of God in history, a movement which shifts people in the direction of justice, mercy, and love. We quite readily notice this in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus did not choose his disciples from the brightest students at the synagogue but called a collection of misfits to follow him. Jesus did not view women as property but interacted with them as valued persons and trusted disciples. Jesus crossed social caste lines, treating lepers with more deference than religious leaders.
So what does this mean when we read about patriarchy in the Bible? Hebrew scholar Robert Alter draws attention to an interesting pattern of upset evident in the stories of the people of Israel. In the patriarchal system, the firstborn son is the heir, the privileged one, the blessed one, so one would expect to see this played out in the history of Israel. But time and again, the firstborn son is not the one chosen, not the one who receives the blessing, not the one who ends up carrying on the family legacy. Isaac was not the firstborn; it was Ishmael. Jacob was not the firstborn; that was Esau. Joseph was not the firstborn; it was Reuben, and yet Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manessah, were given status in the twelve tribes of Israel. Ephraim was not the firstborn; it was Manasseh, and yet Ephraim received Jacob's blessing to be "a fullness of nations." (Genesis 48). Judah was not the firstborn, yet his name is referenced in a messianic title (Lion of Judah). David was not the firstborn, nor was Solomon, and yet these two great kings of Israel played significant roles in the nation's development and became progenitors to the Messiah.
It seems that the story of the nation of Israel might actually be a critique of patriarchy. In a family tree, one might expect an aberration or two, a straying from norms here and there, but the pattern of patriarchal upset in the nation of Israel is undeniable. Over and over again the biblical stories stand in stark contrast to the cultural practices of the time, and we as readers are asked to take note. I believe that the biblical text does not condone patriarchy; it critiques it and dismantles it. Who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? This is the God who chooses those overlooked by the system, who bestows value and blessing on those whom society would toss aside, who highlights the ones in the shadows, who looks at a person's heart instead of their status. This is the God who looks like Jesus, even in Genesis.
Image of the patriarchs from pinterest.
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