Patrilineal

Recently a sister at church commented in a group on the fact that in Scripture, bloodlines are tracked through male lineage. When she said this, and for days afterward, I kept thinking "I know the answer to this..."

This pattern is seen throughout Scripture. It's not that women are never mentioned in lineage, but lineage tracking is done through the fathers. There's too many Scripture examples to list, but here's God's Covenant with Abraham through his sons:

Genesis 17:18-21 (ESV) 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

Exodus 3:15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

The firstborn son received special inheritance.

• Deuteronomy 21:15-17 15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, 16 then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, 17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.

• 2 Chronicles 21:3 Their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and valuable possessions, together with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.

• Numbers 3:12-13 12 “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the Lord.”

• Numbers 18:15-17 15 Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

• Deuteronomy 25:5-6 5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

Even with birthright of the firstborn, there is a pattern of transference of birthright inheritance in Scripture. To the second son, foreshadowing Jesus as the second Adam. But this post is not about this pattern.

• 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

God Established the 12 tribes of Israel through Jacob's 12 sons. The establishment of the tribes includes land allotment. This is recorded in Joshua 13 - 21. Ezekiel 43 records a vision of Jesus's Return for The Millennial Reign of Christ. And Ezekiel 47 establishes land allotment again for The Millienial Reign.

• Ezekiel 47:13-23 13 Thus says the Lord God: “This is the boundary by which you shall divide the land for inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. 14 And you shall divide equally what I swore to give to your fathers. This land shall fall to you as your inheritance. 15 “This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side, from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, and on to Zedad, 16 Berothah, Sibraim (which lies on the border between Damascus and Hamath), as far as Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17 So the boundary shall run from the sea to Hazar-enan, which is on the northern border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north This shall be the north side. 18 “On the east side, the boundary shall run between Hauran and Damascus; along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel; to the eastern sea and as far as Tamar. This shall be the east side. 19 “On the south side, it shall run from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribah-kadesh, from there along the Brook of Egypt to the Great Sea. This shall be the south side. 20 “On the west side, the Great Sea shall be the boundary to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This shall be the west side. 21 “So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. 22 You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.

Regarding land allotment, there were some instances in Israel where the female descendants got a portion. You can read about this in Numbers 36.

Circling back around to my sister in Christ's observation of patrilineage. After thinking I somehow had information on this matter; about a week later The Lord Said to me "It's the DNA."

The Y chromosome in males is passed down largely unchanged through many generations. So a man's DNA will look largely the same as a male descendent many generations after him. (thetech.org)

Passed down female DNA is mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA are more susceptible to mutation. So with each generation, the mitochondrial DNA will look more and more different. Side note: trauma mutates DNA. Read more in this post Trauma and DNA. Back when The Lord was Teaching me about trauma affecting DNA, I must have read about the male Y chromosome being less affected.

So, patrilineage tracking is a scientifically sound method for tracking DNA. Long before humanity knew about DNA. I'm sure there are sociological and other factors at play in patrilineage. But The Lord Told me to focus on the DNA component. I am excited every time I discover that modern science is evidence of the veracity of Scripture.

Our God Designs perfect systems.

And, I am eternally grateful that we are tracked through Our Father. In Jesus's Name!

Christy Hale

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