Does the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) refer to God as "Father"?

Question

Was calling God "Father" unique to Jesus' teachings?

Answer 1

Isaiah acknowledged "You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand" Isaiah 64:8

Malachi asked, "Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?" Malachi 2:10

Psalms 68:5 declares that God is "father of the fatherless, a defender of widows."

1 Chronicles 29:10; Isaiah 63:16; Jeremiah 3:19; Exodus 4:22, Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5-6; Isaiah 1:2; Hosea 1:10; 11:1

God is considered the Father to the Israelites as a group.

Answer 2

Well, the Father-child relationship does seem to be greatly emphasized in Christianity. But most of Christianity is very Jewish. 2 Samuel 7:14 speaks of this Father-child relationship between God and His chosen people and in Psalm 2:7, He speaks of that relationship with the psalmist; this verse is shown to be a prophecy about Jesus in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 6:18).

Answer 3

So if the followers of Jesus (pbuh) considered God to be their "Father," then how did they regard Jesus?

P R O P H E T

And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet."

Matthew 14:5 (compare with Matthew 21:26)

"And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee."

Matthew 21:11



"But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet."

Matthew 21:46


"And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:"

Luke 24:19


"The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet."

John 4:19


"Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."

John 6:14

"Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet."

John 7:40


Indeed, how did Jesus himself describe himself? Let us read:

"Nevertheless I (Jesus) must walk to day, and to morrow, and the [day] following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem."

Luke 13:33


And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

Matthew 13:57

Answer 4

a christian element of view jews may no longer agree the former testomony if refered to because the 'torah' or 'e book of regulation' assume to been written with assistance from moses and the later followers years after the torah is largely a rule e book it tells you' what to do and 'what you cant do' each and every e book contained in the former testomony has a income that lived an major roles for the jews starting up with adam all a thanks to jesus. the hot testomony is in greek Scripture supposedly the pauline era scribes from Paul's followers for the reason that paul type Christianity. the hot testomony is all about jesus beginning until eventually eventually his lack of existence and then his disciples persevering jointly with his paintings after his lack of existence and paul receiving visions and forming his ministry and preaching the gosbel and forming christainty. alongside with the second one coming of jesus and pastime the oldestment is a jewish source the hot testomony is a christians source those 2 religions have friction hostile to at least one yet another reason the jews say jesus is a fraud and christians say he's god i dont have any source notwithstanding the hebrew bible is fairly a lot the former testomony except worded diffrent with an identical factors and storys.

Answer 5

Father is listed 2,007 times in the Old Testament, King James Version.

Why would Jesus not talk about his Father?

Answer 6

You know, I think so.

But it would make sense, I mean, the Hebrews just called him "the Lord". When Jesus came as his son, he called him Father. I think this was more for our benefit than his; we as humans tend to mix things up, and the only way he could make the Trinity concept bearable to us would be to assign each part a "title" if you will. We just cannot understand God, but we don't have to.

Answer 7

Jews often refer to our lord as our father, our king...like the avinu malkeinu...

Answer 8

Potter clay..... every one knows these damn things have to be fired to be any good so then we are all going to hell for kilning!

Answer 9

RoseWithin is right on!!

Answer 10

"Clearly, the Pharisees to whom Jesus is speaking were not the children of God. Jesus’ Father was not their Father, because they did not receive the One whom God had sent—Jesus himself.
While God is the Creator of every human being, he is not everyone’s Father."
http://www.nashotah.edu/deanscolumns/TheFatherhoodofGod.htm
"The Origins of Jesus Christ

The Apostle John makes it clear that the One who became Jesus Christ existed from eternity: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:1-3).
Here John points out that the Word—the Logos or Spokesman —had been with God from the beginning. He was the creative agent—acting for God the Father in making everything that is. Later: "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name" (vv. 10-12).
In several scriptures the inspired Apostle Paul makes the same point. In Colossians 1:15-16, Paul speaks of Jesus Christ: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." And the book of Hebrews tells us that God, "has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:2). And again, "But to the Son He says: 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom'" (v. 8). And finally, "You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands" (v. 10).
Note that in verse 8 above, Christ is addressed, "O GOD." He is described as the One who "made the worlds" (v. 2) and who "laid the foundation of the earth" (v. 10). There is absolutely no indication that any of these verses written by Paul or by John were "poetic" or metaphorical! They simply state the fact that the Personality who became Jesus Christ was "in the beginning" with the Father, that He was the "Word" or Spokesman for the Father and that ALL things were directly created through Him, Jesus Christ!

How did all this come about?

Turning to Genesis 1:1, we read, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." All scholars know that the Hebrew word here translated God is "Elohim," a plural noun—like church or family—one family, several members. And now notice Genesis 1:26, "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'"
Note that God said, "Let US make man in OUR image." So the Father and the Logos or "Word"—who later was born as Jesus of Nazareth—were both included here. Acting for the One we call God the "Father," the One who became Jesus Christ was used by the Father from the beginning in dealing with mankind.
We see this also in Genesis 18. Here the Logos appeared to Abraham. He did NOT appear in His full glory in dealing with Abraham, Moses and others, but more in human form—yet apparently with a "difference" so that Abraham recognized that he was dealing with the "Lord" (vv. 3, 27). After the Lord had explained to Abraham His desire to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their perverted sins, Abraham asked, "Shall not the JUDGE of all the earth do right?" (v. 25).
Here Abraham was certainly dealing with the One who became Jesus Christ! For Christ Himself revealed later, "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22). Abraham was certainly NOT dealing with God the Father. For the inspired Word also tells us, "NO ONE has seen God at any time" (John 1:18).
Jesus Himself said: "'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.' Then the Jews said to Him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM'" (John 8:56-58). The Jews recognized that the expression "I AM" referred to the God of Israel. They thought that Jesus was both lying and blaspheming. So "then they took up stones to throw at him" (v. 59). These Jews were BLINDED to the fact that the Personality who became Jesus was, in fact, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel! They were standing right there talking to the One who was their God! And they did not know it.

Christ WAS the "God of Israel"

In Matthew 22:42-45, Jesus challenged the religious leaders: "'What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?' They said to Him, 'The Son of David.' He said to them, 'How then does David in the Spirit call Him "Lord," saying: "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool'"? 'If David then calls Him "Lord," how is He his Son?'" The Pharisees were not able to answer. For they knew that King David of Israel certainly had no human "lord." This scripture had to be describing two personalities in God's Family—one greater than the other. And, as should be obvious to us, David's immediate "Lord"—the one who later became Jesus of Nazareth—was told to sit at the right hand of the Father UNTIL it was time for Him to become King of kings.
Yet the Jews had known that the coming Messiah was to be a literal "son of David." How could this one also be David's "Lord" yet having a still "greater" Lord telling Him what to do?
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, we read that ancient Israel was baptized into Moses and they all "ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual ROCK that followed them, and that ROCK was Christ." Again, it is clear—as a number of commentaries acknowledge—that the spirit Personality who dealt with ancient Israel was the One who became Christ. For, as we have seen, Jesus said that "no one" had ever seen "God"—obviously meaning the One we call the Father. Yet right after giving the Ten Commandments and some of the statutes to ancient Israel, we find that the "God of Israel" did indeed appear to some of Israel's leaders! "Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank" (Exodus 24:9-11). So more than 70 of the leaders of Israel "SAW the God of Israel." Could anything be more clear?
It was the One who became Jesus Christ who literally walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He was the One who dealt directly with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was the One who spoke "face to face" with Moses (Numbers 12:8). He was the One who spoke the Ten Commandments from the top of Mount Sinai!


WHY Is This Truth So Seldom Acknowledged?

When you understand that last sentence in the paragraph above, you can begin to grasp why so many professing priests and ministers shy away from explaining the real origin of Jesus Christ. For they have nearly all been taught that the Ten Commandments were a product of some harsh "God of the Old Testament" and that Jesus somehow "knew better" than His Father. In many cases they say, instead, that somehow the Apostle Paul "knew better" than either Jesus or the Father—and that he did away with God's law, the Ten Commandments.
These misguided men may be sincere. But they are "blinded" (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)—as is the WHOLE world. Remember Jesus' instruction about most of the religious leaders of His own day: "Let them alone. They are BLIND leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Matthew 15:14). "http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/cgi-bin/tw/tw-mag.cgi?category=Magazine7&item=1103901012