The Apostles’ Creed: God The FatherSample

Father as Family Head: Hosea 11:1

Everyone is familiar with the concept of a family head. Usually it is a parent, grandparent, or other relative who leads and makes decisions for the family or household. Well, Scripture often describes God’s relationship to his people in these very same terms. 

At times in the Old Testament, we catch glimpses of God as the head of the family of the human race. For example, in Genesis 5:1-3, Moses described God’s relationship to Adam in the same way that he described Adam’s relationship to his son, Seth. 

More often in the Old Testament, though, God is portrayed as the family head of the nation Israel. We see this in the care he takes for his people in places like Deuteronomy 1:31, Psalm 103:13, and Proverbs 3:12. As just one example, consider the Lord’s words in Hosea 11:1:

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son (Hosea 11:1). 

Here the Lord portrayed himself as a parent who had loved the nation of Israel since its childhood. We also find God described as Israel’s family head in Numbers 12:7, where the Lord referred to Moses in this way:

My servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house (Numbers 12:7, NRSV).

The word translated “house” is the Hebrew term bayit. It is the normal word that referred not only to a domestic building, but also to the people who lived in the building. Here, Moses is described as a son or servant who rules over the people and possessions of the head of the household, implying that God is the family head of the nation of Israel.

Of course, the description of God as the family head of his people also continues in the New Testament. In Matthew 7:9-11, and Luke 11:11-13, Jesus taught that the Father answers our prayers in the same way that human fathers provide for their children. In John 1:12-13, as well as in 1 John 2:29 and 3:1, we learn that the Father loves us because we have been born into his family. And in Hebrews 12:5-10, we read that the Lord disciplines us for our own good in the same way that a human father disciplines his children. And in passages like 1 Timothy 3:15 and 1 Peter 4:17, the church is referred to as God’s household and family.