Meaning
(1) a dwelling, the family home (Gen 12:1, Gen 31:14, Gen 31:30, Gen 38:11, 1Sa 18:2);
(2) a family or household (Gen 41:51, Gen 46:31, Exo 12:3, the Revised Version (British and American) "fathers' houses");
(3) the group of households, of several of which the "family' or "clan" was constituted, aggregations of which formed the "tribe," generally "fathers' houses" (Num 1:18, Num 1:20, Num 17:2, Ezr 2:59, Neh 10:34, etc.);
(4)the "family" (clan), mishpachah, "fathers' houses" (Exo 6:14, Num 3:20);
(5) the tribe, "fathers' house," "houses" (Num 7:2, Num 17:1-3, etc.).
In the New Testament "father's house" (oikos tou patros) occurs in the sense of dwelling, house (Lu 16:27; compare 16:4). our Lord also uses the phrase
(1) of the earthly temple-dwelling of God at Jerusalem (Joh 2:16, "Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise"; compare Psa 11:4, Isa 63:15);
(2) of heaven as the abode of God and His children (Joh 14:2, "In my Father's house are many mansions," the Revised Version, margin "abiding places," oikia "house," "dwelling," also household, family; compare Psa 33:13, Isa 63:15, Mat 6:9). The phrase occurs also (Ac 7:20) of Moses, "nourished .... in his father's house" (oikos).
Revised Version has "father's hquse" for "principal household" (1Ch 24:6), "heads of the fathers' houses" for "chief fathers" (Num 31:26, Num 32:28, Num 36:1, 1Ch 9:34, etc.); "one prince of a father's house," for "each of" (Jos 22:14); "the heads of the fathers' (houses)" for "the chief of the fathers," and "the fathers' houses of the chief," for "the principal fathers" (1Ch 24:31).
W. L. Walker
