Family and Clain in the Patriarchal Narratives and in the Prophetic Literature: a Brief Commentary

Abstract

This article seeks to highlight, through structural analysis and specific terminologies of the original Hebrew, gender issues in the creation of man and woman, and their roles as husband and wife, father and mother in the nuclear and the extended family, as exemplified in the patriarchal narratives and in the law of the Torah. The processes involving the conformation of the biblical beit av and clan as well as the principles underlying its structure, such as patrilineal lineage and agnatic succession, and its specific dynamics, such as the segmentation of lineages and endogamous marriage, are analyzed. The clan code of revenge and rescue is put on relief in order to contextualize the employment of the goel institution by the prophets of Israel – its kinship relations and attributions – in the shaping of their theology of Salvation. Based on the inalienable obligations of the goel to his clan, the prophets successfully instilled in the people of Judah the certainty that God will redeem them from their suffering and tribulations.