All The Kindreds Of The Earth Be Blessed? (Part Two)

As I finished up part one I was saying: All this should prove that even some of the liberal universalists who write these hard to understand lexicons, when it gets right down to the nitty-gritty of original language, cannot avoid the truth of “kindreds” being a family line.

All those things [presented in part one] may not fit our description of “kindreds” at Acts 3:25, but we should now have a better general idea of its meaning, and it doesn’t include non-Adamites.

Rather, it includes Adamites, particularly those listed in Genesis chapter 10! We will now consult the Theological Dictionary Of The New Testament, editors Gerhard Kittle & Gerhard Freidrick, page 1014:

πατριά in the New Testament.

“1. In the sense of ‘father’s house’ or ‘kindred’ (→ lines 8 ff.) πατριά occurs in Lk. 2:4. Joseph is ἐξ οἴκου καὶ πατριᾶς Δαυίδ, cf. Lk. 1:27. Does πατριά come from a source used by the author? Even if not, it is readily explicable. ‘House of David’ implies ‘house of the ruler.’ It is thus in place to add πατριά (with καί) in order to make it clear that the reference is simply to ancestral descent. The phrase also carries with it a reminiscence of οἶκος πατριᾶς and approximation to it. Ac. 3:25 is related to the other branch of LXX usage, → 1016, 23 ff. This πᾶσαι αἱ πατριαὶ τῆς γῆς = ‘nations’ in Peter’s address, though it refers to the promise to Abraham, agrees neither with Gn. 12:3 משפהות (φυλαί) nor Gn. 18:18; 22:18 נוים (ἔθνη). It is a further and perhaps independent extension of the customary LXX rendering of משפהות by πατριαί. It again substantiates the influence of the liturgical parts of the Psalter which were of missionary significance and which found a home in the community’s vocabulary of prayer. This prepares the way for an understanding of Eph. 3:14 f. by showing how open primitive Christianity was to this meaning of πατριαί in the LXX.”

Πατριά In The LXX

Again Theological Dictionary Of The New Testament, editors Gerhard Kittle & Gerhard Freidrick, page 1016:

“The word is common in the LXX, esp. in 1 and 2 Ch. It is used more often than the Heb. demands ... This proves that it was a favourite word. a. The organisation of the tribal life of the Hebrews is based on the primary cell of the family with the father as head. The union of several families (1 Ch. 23:11) forms the ‘father’s house’ as a sept (in Scotland, a division of a family or clan), the בית־אב pl. בית־אבות, shortened אבות,1 Ch. 7:11. Cf. the stereotyped לבית אבתם. Nu. 1:2 etc. This terminus technicus ‘father’s house’ is rendered οἶκος πατριᾶς or πατριῶν in the LXX. The formula לבית אבתם is almost without exception translated κατ᾽ οἴκους πατριῶν αὐτῶν`, Nu. 2:2, 32; 4:2; 2 Ch. 35:12 etc. b. But the bigger union, the clan (משפחת) into which the septs (clans) combine as a military organisation (אלפים ideal number), can also be rendered in the LXX by πατριά, οἶκοι πατριᾶς (Ex. 6:17, 19) as well as δῆμος (Nu. 2:34; 4:22). Sometimes, then, when we find משפחים with אבת in the Masora, obscurity can arise in the LXX through the twofold use of πατριαί, 1 Ch. 6:4 [sic πατριά (plural πατριαί) does not appear at 1 Ch. 6:4. The reference should probably read 1 Ch. 6:48.]. The heads of fathers’ houses, Heb. נשיאים, ראשים, שרים, are mostly οἱ ἄρχοντες (αὐτῶν) κατ᾿ οἴκους πατριῶν, so Nu. 17:17 [sic. This reference to Num. 17:17 actually intends Num. 17:2 in the LXX. Hatch & Redpath Concordance recognizes this discrepancy and cites the verse as 17:2(17)], though sometimes also ἀρχηγοὶ οἴκων πατριῶν, e.g., Ex. 6:14, and about the same number of times ἡγούμενοι πατριῶν, e.g., 2 Ch. 5:2; Ex. 6:25: ἀρχαὶ πατριᾶς. Other terms are used on occasion. The ministering classes, the main divisions of the priesthood of Israel, can also be called בית־אבות = οἶκοι πατριῶν in Ch.: 1 Ch. 24:4; 2 Ch. 31:17; 2 Εσδρ. 22:12 abbreviated אבות (πατριαί). [2 Εσδρ. 22:12 in the LXX is what we commonly call Ezra (and is the Ezra of the A.V.), which by many LXX editions has Nehemiah incorporated into it, so that 2 Esdras 22:12 is actually Nehemiah 12:12. Both Brenton and Hatch & Redpath recognize 2 Esdras (Ezra) and Nehemiah as separate books. The Apocryphal Esdras is titled 1 Εσδρας by LXX editors.] If these senses, which also apply to the Levites, stand within the framework of the tribal division of Israel, there is in the LXX a further usage which applies to the nations ... Esp. important, however, is αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν τῆς γῆς (always for משפחות) in the sense of the ‘nations’ or ‘races.’ ... The enthronement Psalm 95, which is influenced by Deutero-Isaiah, made a deep impression on Israel through its liturgical use. This is shown by its employment in 1 Ch. 16:23-33, v. 28 πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν (עמים משפחות) ....”

Note: “Deutero-Isaiah” is a designation, meaning “second Isaiah”, made by those who doubt the author of chapters 40-66 of Isaiah was the same as that of chapters 1-39. Note that these chapters address the restoration of an Israel that had already left Palestine and even in the isles of the west (Isaiah 41), or headed there (Isaiah 66:19).

Because this reference led at times toward “universalism”, it was necessary to use ellipses deleting lexical error. Also above, I inserted in brackets explanatory notes by William Finck which were not part of Theological Dictionary Of The New Testament commentary.

I will now use William Finck’s showing every occurrence of πατριά in the LXX from the Hatch & Redpath LXX Concordance:

Every πατριά Occurring In The LXX

Used of a family as a unit within a tribe of Israel: Exod. 6:14, 15, 17, 19, 25; 12:3;

Lev. 25:10; Num. 1:2, 4, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 47; 2:2, 32, 34; 3:15, 20, 24, 30, 35; 4:2, 22, 29, 34, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46; 26:2, 55; 31:26; 32:38; 33:14; 36:1, 4, 7; Deut. 18:8; 29:18; Josh. 14:1; 19:51; 21:1; 22:14(twice); 2 Kings 14:7; 3 Kings 14:6; 1 Chron. 4:27, 38; 5:7, 13, 15, 24(twice); 6:19, 48, 54, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 70, 71; 7:2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 40; 8:6, 10, 13, 28; 9:9, 13, 33, 34; 11:25; 12:30; 15:12; 23:9, 11, 24(twice); 24:3, 4(twice), 6, 30, 31(twice); 26:13, 21, 26, 31, 32; 27:1; 29:6; 2 Chron. 1:2; 5:2; 17:14; 32:2; 25:5; 31:17; 35:4, 5(twice), 12. Apoc. 1 Esdras 1:4;

2:8; 5:1, 4, 37 (or their race), 44, 63, 68, 70; 8:28, 59; 9:16; Ezra 1:5; 2:59 (and their seed), 68; 3:12; 4:2, 3; 8:1, 29; 10:16; Neh. 7:61 (or their sperm), 70, 71; 8:13; 10:34; 11:13; 12:12, 22, 23; Tobit 1:9; 5:10, 11, 13; Judith 8:2, 18; and (if I must) Esther 4:17; 9:27. The word appears in the prophets only at: Jer. 2:4; 3:14; Ezek. 45:15, and is used ambiguously at Psalm 106 (107):41. It is used synonymously as a term for one of the 12 tribes of Israel at: Num. 7:2; 13:3; 17:2(twice), 3, 6; 25:14.

This term is also used to distinguish a division of a foreign, non-Israel – and also non-Adamic – people, where we are told also who those people were specifically: Num. 25:15 (Midianites); 1 Chr. 2:55 (Kenites); and Jer. 25:9 (Chaldaeans). It is where the term “families of the nations” appears, at 1 Chron. 16:28, Psalm 21 (22):27; and Psalm 95 (96):7 only, that Kittle and Freidrick and so many others attribute “missionary significance” to the term. Everywhere else, except the few examples just given, the term is applied only to the clans of Israel! Yet how could Psalm 21 and 95 (22 and 96 in the A.V.) and 1 Chron. 16:28 be referring to any other but the Genesis 10 Adamic Nations?

Πατριά Outside The New Testament, Theological Dictionary N.T.

“Already in Herodotus πατριά means the family as derived from the father. It is used specifically for the father’s family tree, III, 75: II, 143. But πατριαί can also mean tribes in I, 200 (= φυλαί). Elsewhere it is used for πάτρα, which can mean not only ‘country’ or ‘native city’ but also ‘house,’ ‘tribe,’ ‘family.’ So  Pindar Pythia, 8, 38; Nemea, 6, 36: ‘tribe,’ ‘race.’ The central pt. is always derivation from the same father or ancestor no matter whether the reference be to nation, tribe, caste, or family. It should be noted that by linguistic formation πατριά is collective and thus concrete, not abstract.”

Surely πατριά can mean “country” or “native city” but only in theme sense of fatherhood (see Liddell & Scott, πατριά “... one’s fatherland, native land, country home ...”) and in this sense Pindar used the word, which is necessarily diluted in English if one wishes to keep a translation in simple language, for not all Greek ideas fit neatly into single English words. The Greek cities were of a tribal nature, and inhabited by citizens who were generally of a single tribe, whether they be Dorian, Danaan, Ionian etc. So surely Pindar’s use of the word does not allow for any universal application of the word.

Kittle and Freidrick state here that πατριά means the family as derived from the father. It is used specifically for the father’s family tree” and then “it should be noted that by linguistic formation πατριά is collective and concrete” and so one should certainly not attempt to “spiritualize” this word! When Abraham was first given the promise that “And in thy seed shall all the kindreds (families) of the earth be blessed”, recorded at Acts 3:25 and Genesis 12:3, Abraham was standing in Haran, the ancient land of Arphaxad, the land of his own fathers. Around him dwelt a circuit of descendants of all the Genesis 10 families – the White race of Adam. These, and no other, are “all the families of the earth”; those of them who had a common father in Adam!

The other branches of the Adamic race were blessed in Abraham’s offspring, because Israel was preserved by Yahweh to perpetuate the Adamic race, to carry on the battle against Satan, the children of the enemy, and from them came forth Yahshua Christ, without whom resurrection would not be possible. The other White Adamites, while not Israel, also have the spirit which Adam had, and while this is barely within the scope of the Bible, they too will be resurrected: i.e. Luke 11:32-33, and Acts 17:22-23 (where Paul addresses Japhethite Ionians, the tribe of Athens).

πατριά In The New Testament by William Finck

“In the New Testament πατριά is used only three times: (1) Luke 2:4 ἐξ οἴκου καὶ πατριᾶς (Genitive singular) Δαυείδ: From the house and family of David (literally). There is good reason why both terms are used: for “house”, refers to legal inheritance, while ‘family’ refers to bloodline. (2) Acts 3:25 καὶ ἐν τῶ σπέρματί σου ἐνευλογηθήσονται πᾶσαι αἱ πατριαὶ (Nominative plural) τῆς γῆς (quote of Gen. 12:3): ‘And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.’ (A.V.). Here πατριά is in the plural and refers to those Genesis 10 families all derived from a common father, Adam through Noah. (3) Eph. 3:15 ἐξ οὖ πᾶσα πατριὰ, (Nominative singular) ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ὀνομάζεται (3rd person singular verb = ‘it is named’): from whom the whole family in the heavens and upon earth is named, (literally). Here Kittle and Freidrick failed to distinguish between πατριά in the plural at Acts 3:25, and in the singular at Eph. 3:15, where Paul means something entirely different. Eph. 3:15 discusses not ‘every family’, but ONE FAMILY: Not only is support for this found at Amos 3:1-6 and Matt. 15:24, but elsewhere in Paul’s own writing; at Galatians 6:10, Romans 8:29-30; 9:4-8 and many other places not so obvious in the English translation of the A.V. Eph. 3:15 clearly refers only to Israel!” [end of Finck’s remarks]

We will again see that the nations to be blessed were the Genesis 10 Adamic nations. For this we need to go back to Genesis 2:7:

“And the LORD <3068> God <430> formed <3335> man <120> [of] the dust <6083> of <4480> the ground <127>, and breathed <5301> into his nostrils <639> the breath <5397> of life <2416>; and man <120> became a living <2416> soul <5315>.”

You will notice that the Strong’s number for “ground” is 127, which is the same number as used for “earth” at Gen. 12:3 & 28:14 when the Covenants to Abram and later Jacob were made:

Genesis 12:3: “And I will bless <1288> them that bless <1288> thee, and curse <779> him that curseth <7043> thee: and in thee shall all families <4940> of the earth <127> be blessed <1288>.”

Genesis 28:14: “And thy seed <2233> shall be as the dust <6083> of the earth <776>, and thou shalt spread abroad <6555> to the west <3220>, and to the east <6924>, and to the north <6828>, and to the south <5045>: and in thee and in thy seed <2233> shall all the families <4940> of the earth <127> be blessed <1288>.”

Now the Masoretic Text is inconsistent with the parallel passages at Gen. 22:18 & 26:4 where only the Strong’s #776 word for “earth” is used. In the above verse both #127 and #776 appear, but #127 applies to “families” as it does at Gen. 12:3.

Therefore it is as much as saying, “And in thee shall all the nations of the Adamic earth be blessed.” This is a far cry from how Jew-deo-unchristianity is trying to apply Acts 3:25 today!