Abraham and Sarah
Basic Info
Genesis 11:27—25:11
Abraham was called by God out of the land of Ur to the land of Canaan. Because Abraham had faith in God and because God got him there safely, they were able to enter into a covenant, a sacred agreement, whereby Abraham promised to be faithful to God and God promised Abraham two things: descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the land of Canaan. The sign of this covenant is male circumcision. But this was just the beginning.
For a long time Abraham and his wife Sarah didn’t have any children, so they wondered how God’s promise of descendants was possible. First they thought it must be through someone other than Sarah, so Sarah told Abraham to have a child with her servant Hagar. The son was called Ishmael. Then they had Three Visitors who told Sarah that she would have a child. She did, and he was named Isaac. At one point Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, but an angel put a stop to the Sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham also tried to talk God out of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, but he was unsuccessful. Lot, the only man who escaped the destruction, was Abraham’s cousin.
What to Look For
- Signs of faith in God
- Abraham’s attitude, authority, expression, gestures
- Sarah’s attitude, authority, expression, gestures
Questions to Focus a General Interpretation
Does the artwork communicate reverence or respect for Abraham and / or Sarah, the father and mother of 3 religious traditions?
How does the artwork express Abraham’s and / or Sarah’s faith in God?
Questions to Guide a Personal Interpretation
Does the artwork present you with models for faithful living? How might you translate them into your own life?
Questions to Suggest a Historical Interpretation
Sometimes when there is a crisis of leadership, the people want reminders of their deep history, the old leaders who got things started. Might such a situation have been going on in the artist’s time and place? If so, what aspects of the artwork offer consolation that human beings have been through troubles before and with faithful leaders this group too will stay in God’s favor?
