What is Patriarchy?

I was pleased to see Sproul mention patriarchy in this book I just purchased. Here’s my rabbit-trail side note with some application. While exposing egalitarian & complementarian churches for what they are. Feminism is destroying America and the nuclear family while squashing patriarchy under her thumb. Perhaps in my lifetime, a sitcom pioneer of this hatred of patriarchy was Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy. Lucy was such a hero to feminists and their pro-feminist beta-boys. Sadly, I Love Lucy was the most-watched show for decades; that’s nothing to laugh at. Here’s an excerpt.
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• Patriarchal Blessing
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You’ll remember that, at a moment in time, God lifted His starter’s pistol, squeezed the trigger, and time began. From the time of the covenant with Abraham, the format of the race changed to a relay race. God handed the baton—His blessing—to Abraham. Abraham passed it to Isaac, his son. Finally, Isaac passed the baton of God’s blessing to his son Jacob. These three runners are often called the Patriarchs.
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The Patriarchs had authority over their extended families as well as over their entire nomadic tribes. They not only gave traveling directions to their people, these men also set the religious course, designating by example—and sometimes unpopular commands—which Deity their people would reverence. It is from this superintendence that the Bible often refers to the Lord as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As God’s appointed leaders, these were the ones to decide who was to be worshiped from the myriad of gods worshiped by other nations.
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Having created this cultural structure, God accommodated Himself by dealing primarily with these men as He revealed Himself to mankind. It was through His covenant promises to the Patriarchs, and their oaths of allegiance to Him, that God’s relationship with mankind was defined. And the blessings of this covenant flowed through these leaders who passed the duties and responsibilities of keeping their portion of the covenant with God to the next generation.
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As we have seen, God initially promised Abraham land, a family that would grow to be a nation inheriting the land, and blessings that would flow through him to the world. In the custom of the day, the inheritance normally would be given to the firstborn son. This man would receive the lion’s share of his father’s possessions. When Abraham was giving his inheritance to his descendants, the primary assets to be dispensed were not his tents, his animals, or his treasures. No, the chief item was the anointing God had given to him.
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And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham,
that God blessed his son Isaac. (Genesis 25:11a)
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Abraham’s descendants became the recipients of God’s covenant blessing. Incredibly, as children of God, this blessing continues its flow through us to our own children. And it comes to us not simply because we ask, but because God chooses to do so.
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As we have said, in the tradition of these people, the largest portion of a man’s inheritance was usually given to his firstborn son. However, throughout history, God has always taken the liberty to accomplish His purposes in His own way. Witness the fact that neither Isaac nor Jacob were their father’s firstborn.
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Abraham’s firstborn son, Ishmael, was not through Sarah, but through Hagar, Sarah’s maid. Ishmael was not to be the inheritor of the blessing. God insisted that the blessing be given to Isaac and so it was. And from this, the book of Genesis overflows with intrigue and conflict as the rich benefits of Abraham’s covenant inheritance are decided.
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From Isaac’s wife, Rebecca, came twin boys. The firstborn was Esau. But, just as was the case with Ishmael, it was not God’s plan to bless him with his father’s covenant inheritance. And even though Jacob and his deceiving mother conspired and lied in order to wrest the blessing from the ancient and blind Isaac, it was still God’s plan for Jacob to succeed his father as the next patriarch. The old proverb “God can make a straight lick with a crooked stick” doesn’t begin to explain what happens here.
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The question I have been asked, perhaps more frequently than any other—in fact, the question I have asked myself since coming to faith many decades ago—is, “How could God let this happen?” “How could God allow this scheming, lying, thieving, undeserving son to get the blessing?”
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The answer may not be completely satisfying to the honest seeker, but it’s the unvarnished truth. Jacob was chosen by God to receive the blessing. And whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, whether we think it’s fair or not, God always gets His way.
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When Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works but of Him who calls),
it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”
As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
What shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
For He says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs,
but of God who shows mercy. (Romans 9:10b–16)
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This is a hard saying, but it is the only one that makes sense of why God would use the worst of sinners to perform His most glorious deeds. The prevailing question is not why God would choose some and not others, but rather why the Holy One would choose anyone at all.
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Long after Jacob deceived his father, Isaac, thinking he had stolen the blessing, Jacob found himself in a physical duel with a special emissary from God.
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Then Jacob was left alone;
and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.
Now when He saw that He did not prevail against [Jacob],
[the Man] touched the socket of his hip;
and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.
And [the Man] said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”
But [Jacob] said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”
So [the Man] said to him, “What is your name?”
He said, “Jacob.”
And [the Man] said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel;
for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” …
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen
God face to face, and my life is preserved.” (Genesis 32:24–30)
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Even though Jacob had been chosen to receive the blessing, he was not exempt from conflict and the pain of self-examination. Years before, Isaac, his blind father, had asked a lying Jacob his name. “I am Esau, your firstborn,” Jacob had said.
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Now, another Man asks the blessing-seeking Jacob the same question. This time he tells the truth: “I am Jacob.”
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A number of years ago, Dr. Ravi Zacharias helped me to see the importance of this moment in Jacob’s life. The first time Jacob sought the blessing, he lied his way into receiving the covenant promise. This time, Jacob was a changed man. When the Man asked Jacob his name, he did not say “Esau.” Perhaps this was the first time he had told the truth, the whole truth, so help him God … about himself.
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To illustrate that Jacob had truly been converted, he didn’t run away. In fact, Jacob—blessed again, with a new name to go with it, Israel—went to meet his estranged brother, Esau. He fell on his face before his brother, begged his forgiveness, and was wonderfully reconciled.
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The Patriarchs were not chosen by God because of their flawless perfection. As I have said, they were chosen … just because. And as they carried the baton of blessing from generation to generation, the Patriarchs’ stories are filled with repeated sinfulness, painful contrition, God’s outrageous compassion, and unencumbered forgiveness.
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So begins the narrative of Holy Scripture: a perfect Creator, an image-bearing but fallen mankind, a promise-making God, and a generation-to-generation blessing sealed by the free gift of redemption.
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In Summary:
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were Israel’s first leaders—we call them the Patriarchs. God dealt primarily with these men as He revealed Himself to the people. It was through His covenant promises to the Patriarchs, and their oaths of allegiance to Him, that God’s relationship with mankind was defined. And the blessings of this covenant flowed through these leaders, who passed the duties and responsibilities of keeping their portion of the covenant with God to the next generation.
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[R. C. Sproul and Robert Wolgemuth, What’s in the Bible: A Tour of Scripture from the Dust of Creation to the Glory of Revelation (Nashville, TN; Dallas; Mexico City; Rio de Janeiro: Thomas Nelson, 2011), 13–17.]