PATRIARCHS OF

JEWISH FAITH
What is a • The term patriarch indicates the father or
head of a family or tribe.
Patriarch?
 Abraham
• Abraham is the ancestor of the Jewish people.

• Abraham put all his trust in God and obeyed

his every command.
• Establishes the Abrahamic covenant
• God asks Abraham to move his people from Ur to
Canaan. In exchange, God promises Abraham
land and descendants.
• God changes his name from Abram to Abraham
• Circumcision becomes an external sign of the
covenant
• God tests Abraham’s faith by asking him to
sacrifice his first-born son. An angel stops him
just in time.
 Isaac
• Son of Abraham; father of Jacob
• Renews the covenant with God
Jacob
• son of Isaac
• God spoke to Jacob and told him that He
would give him and his descendants the
land in which they lay
• Renamed “Israel”
• He had twelve sons, whose descendants
for the 12 tribes of Israel
• Favoured his son Joseph
 Joseph
• Son of Jacob
• Joseph had a dream that his brothers would bow down to him
• They were jealous and sold him to slavery
• Joseph won fame in Potiphar’s house because of his ability to
interpret dreams
• Book of Genesis ends with Josephs’ death
 Moses
• Moses was born in a time when all Hebrew male babies were ordered to die.
• His mother sent him up the river and he was found by the Pharaoh’s wife who raised
him as her son.
• Moses killed an Egyptian while protecting a Hebrew slave and fled out of fear of the
Pharaoh.
• God spoke to Moses through the burning bush to instruct Moses to lead his people
out of Egypt
• Moses instructed the Pharaoh to free the slaves, he refuses, and so they suffered the
ten plagues.
• Once freed, Moses leads the Israelites in the desert as they search for the promised
land (Exodus)
• Establishes the Sinai Covenant
• First time God establishes a covenant with a group/community
• Israelites become God’s chosen people
• The 10 Commandments are a sign of God’s love for the people
• Written on stone tablets and kept in the Arc of the Covenant (wooden box)
 Saul
• The 1st of 3 Kings of Israel
• Not to be confused with Saul, who later (in Christianity) becomes
St. Paul
 David
• The 2nd of 3 Kings of Israel
• Beat Goliath (in Philistine army) with his quick-moving ability and
was named King
• Unified and strengthened Israel
• Conceived the idea of building a temple to house the Ark of the
Covenant
• Established Jerusalem as the
centre of religious and political life
 Solomon
• The 3rd of 3 Kings of Israel
• David’s son
• He built a temple to worship God
• Know for his wisdom