Patriarch

Patriarch meaning father or ruler of his family or tribe shows that the fathers or ancestors of Israel are Israel's Patriarch's.

Antediluvian Patriarchs
Antediluvian Patriarchs are the people who lived before the great flood. Examples are the line from Adam to Noah that has nine men (10 Counting Noah for Noah lived before and after the flood). They include Adam's son Seth, as well as Methuselah, the oldest person in the Bible, and Lamech, Noah's father.

Postdiluvian Patriarchs
Postdiluvian Patriarchs are the Patriarchs after The Great Flood and Noah's descendants. The Bible does little more than list these patriarchs until the line reaches Abraham, who lived in the second millennium B.C. But then Genesis gives fuller accounts of the lives of Abraham and his direct descendants: son Isaac, grandson Jacob, great-grandsons Joseph, Judah, and their other 10 brothers. Lot was not included for he is the father of Moab, the father of the Moabites, and Ben-Ammi, the father of the Ammonites. The descendants of these two are some of the enemies of Israel.