In the month of the mothers we had written a post about exemplary mothers of the Bible. Now it’s the turn of the parents. Here are seven parents of the Bible that every Christian father should imitate.
1. Noah
Thanks to Noah’s faithfulness to God in times when the earth was full of immorality, God delivered Noah and his family from the flood (Gen. 6:8).
2. Abraham
When Abraham was already advanced in age (Gen. 24:1), he was worried about the future of his son Isaac. He entrusted his oldest servant to choose wife for his son. So, the servant went out to fulfill this mission and asked God for direction to choose correctly (Gen. 24:12-14). Parents should be guides and counselors of the children to make a good choice.
3. Joshua
He was a father with a clear goal, to serve God together with his family (Jos 24:15)
4. Job
The sons of Job gathered together to eat and drink (Job 1:4). After the days of his children’s holidays, Job sanctified them and offered burnt offerings so that any sin they had committed in those days would be forgiven (Job 1:5). This is the example of a father who constantly intercedes for his children.
5. David
King David prayed for his son Solomon, who was to succeed him on the throne. He asked God to be blameless to keep all the commandments and to continue the plan to build a house for God, which David had begun (1 Chron 29:19). This is an exemplary father who entrusted his projects to his son and also asked God not to get out of his way.
6. Mordecai
He was Esther’s cousin, but he was also an adoptive father, since he cared for her from childhood when she became an orphan and even became a queen (Est 2:17). Thanks to them, the Jews were delivered from a great massacre (Est 8:11, 17)
7. Joseph
Although not much is said about the earthly father of Jesus in the Bible, the Gospels narrate an event that shows how right and just Joseph was.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 1:18-20
In a situation where perhaps Jose thought that his future wife had deceived him, he did not want to make any scandal, nor did he want to damage her reputation, much less want to waste time finding out things that were not going to get him anywhere. But when he received confirmation from an angel that his future wife had conceived of the Holy Spirit, he accepted the responsibility of fulfilling the role of Jesus’ earthly father.
