Stories of the Ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph 

Basic Info

Genesis 11:27—50:26

The Book of Genesis tells the story of how the Jewish people came to be. Because Jesus was Jewish, the story is also the ancestral story of the Christians. Both Jews and Christians trace their roots to Abraham through his son Isaac. Muslims trace their roots to Abraham through Abraham’s son Ishmael.

God entered into a covenant with Abraham whereby if Abraham promised to be faithful to God, God promised Abraham two things: descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the land of Canaan. Abraham had two sons—Ishmael, born to his wife’s slave, Haggar; and Isaac, born to his wife, Sarah. Once Isaac had been born, Sarah asked that Hagar and Ishmael be banished. They were, but God took care of them in the desert, and Ishmael went on to become the father of numerous descendants as well (Muslims).

Isaac married Rebekah, who bore him twins: Jacob and Esau. Jacob first married Leah and then her sister, Rachel. Between his two wives and their servants, Jacob had 12 sons whose descendants became the 12 Tribes of Israel. One of those sons, Joseph, faced some problems but ended up on top when he saved Jacob’s family from famine by bringing them to Egypt.

The name Israel comes from an event that happened to Jacob. He had lived away, with his mother’s brother Laban, for a long time because of a fight with his brother Esau. Returning to patch things up with Esau, he wrestled with a man / angel on the bank of a stream all night. In the morning, the man / angel told him that his name is now Israel, which basically means that he contended with God.

Artworks relating to Abraham, Isaac when he was young, and Joseph are discussed elsewhere. The most common artworks of Jacob tend to be those of his dream of a ladder or stairway to Heaven; when he tricked Esau out of his birthright; when he tricked his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing that was owed to Esau; and wrestling on the river bank.

The themes that tend to repeat in all of these stories of the ancient ancestors of Judaism and Christianity are these: (1) that if the descendants of Abraham have faith in God, God will look out for them; (2) that God doesn’t always work through the good person; sometimes he favors someone humans wouldn’t trust; and (3) that from the call of Abraham out of Ur through Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection, the stories all point toward an arc of Salvation History.

Historical Notes

Christians and Jews share core interpretations for many of these stories of the Patriarchs but often differ in some of the extensions of those interpretations. Most of the visual art depicting these figures was created by Christians.

What to Look For

• The characters’ stances toward one another and God
• Symbols or actions that reflect faith in God
• How God is depicted or suggested

Questions to Focus a General Interpretation

How does the ancestor (or ancestors) depicted reflect faith in God?

What kinds of things are presented as challenging faith in God?

Questions to Guide a Personal Interpretation

What doubts do you bring to the question of God? Does the artwork offer you any suggestions for how to choose faith in the face of those doubts?

Questions to Suggest a Historical Interpretation

Might there have been economic, political, social, intellectual, or theological factors in the artist’s time and place that caused people to doubt God? Are these reflected in this artwork?