by an unknown artist
Posted on 06/27/2020 6:18:50 AM PDT by Hebrews 11:6
The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
Here is the Bing page “GOD CALLS ABRAM IN ART” showing various painters' conceptions. There is little “action” in such an ethereal call for the artists to portray, but this was the single event around which the entire Old Testament—and therefore the New—pivoted. Several are serious works worthy of interest. Some examples:
The Bible encourages us to meditate on it (Ps. 1:1-3, 119:11-16, etc.), and these artists have done so and their works can assist us. But it is not only oil-on-canvas that can so help us; I refer to the astonishing video series The Chosen, which strolls through the four Gospels at the most leisurely pace. The eight episodes of Season 1 are finished, and the second of a planned seven seasons is coming soon. I say "leisurely" because after an entire year Jesus still has only seven of the apostles (although He's preparing to call up Thomas from the minor leagues--but Thomas is skeptical, of course). Anticipating a canvas of fifty-plus hours instead of a movie's paltry two hours, The Chosen turns the characters into three-dimensional humans and brings the Gospels alive--you have never seen anything even remotely like it. Here is the Official Trailer.
Note to self: the public likes sexy pictures of towers, not of static old men staring heavenward.
Thanks for posting this series. Great stuff. I actually just finished a slow-crawl study of the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants. The faith of both men was truly heroic. In some of my final notes on Noah, I mentioned his Herculean task. Found that you’d used the same term here. Great minds! :-)
Glad you spotted this series and that it resonates with you. Next three:
"ABRAM RESCUES LOT & TITHES TO MELCHIZIDEK"
"SARAI, HAGAR & ISHMAEL"
"ABRAHAM'S THREE VISITORS"
Tissot's and Doré's prolific contributions, in particular, have astonished me: ~150 and 241 works, respectively; I have an abundance of material to select! Must be 1,000 of the crucifixion--don't know yet how I might handle that, but I do have a looooooong time before I must decide. I do know one I'd choose for sure: Tissot's view of what Christ saw looking down from the cross!
I came here because I wanted to see how the artists handled this difficult subject. I like the first picture the best. I imagine God would appear ‘in person’ as He did before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Gen 18. Abraham clearly recognized Him then, so that suggests Abraham had seen a physical likeness of God.
The Father is spirit, Jesus told us, and so does not manifest Himself in that way. But the Son certainly does, repeatedly, including preincarnately; so your supposition has the advantage of feasibility, in addition to being a logical deduction and the best theory covering all the revealed facts. So, I agree. I like that first one too—that’s why it’s first.
“But the Son certainly does, repeatedly, including preincarnately; so your supposition has the advantage of feasibility, in addition to being a logical deduction and the best theory covering all the revealed facts. So, I agree. I like that first one too—that’s why it’s first.”
One of Jesus’ Names is ‘Everlasting Father’, so portraying Him in a Fatherly way is consistent with Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Bingo.
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