The Bible In Paintings: ABRAM, SARAI and HAGAR

[Hebrews 11:6]

The Bible In Paintings 2
Engravings•Facades•Frescoes•Illuminations•Miniatures•Mosaics•Photographs•Reliefs•Sculptures•Tapestries•Windows

		Act 1: SARAI ENTICES ABRAM TO ACT FOOLISHLY

G E N E S I S
CHAPTER 16:1-4

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maid-servant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

ABRAM AGREED TO WHAT SARAI SAID. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added

1
JOSEPH-MARIE VIEN
"Hagar to Abraham with Sarah"

2
Source

3
Source

4
ADRIAEN VAN DER WERFF
"Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham"

5
MORITZ DANIEL OPPENHEIM
"Sarah Leads Hagar to Abraham"

6
MATTHIAS STOM
Source

7
MATTHIAS STOM
"Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham"

8
MATTHIAS STOM
"Sarai Offering Hagar to Abram"

9
"Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham"

10
Source

11
CASPER NETSCHER
"Sarah Leading Hagar to Abraham"

12
Source

13
French School
"Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham"

14
Source

		Act 2: HAGAR FLEES FROM SARAI

CHAPTER 16:4-6

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me.”

“Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added

15
JAMES TISSOT
"Abraham's Counsel to Sarah"

16
PETER PAUL RUBENS
"Hagar Leaves the House of Abraham"

17
PHILIP HERMOGENES CALDERON
"Hagar Flees"

18
Source

19
Source

		Act 3: HAGAR MEETS "THE GOD WHO SEES ME"

CHAPTER 16:7-16

The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”

The angel of the LORD also said to her:

“You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “YOU ARE THE GOD WHO SEES ME,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added

19
CAREL FABRITIUS
"Hagar and the Angel"

20
FERDINAND BOL
"Hagar Meeting the Angel in the Desert"

21
GIOVANNI LANFRANCO
"Hagar in the Wilderness"

22
GERARD DE LAIRESSE
"Hagar in the Desert"

23
NICOLAS POUSSIN
"Hagar and the Angel"

→ a n d... f i n a l l y ←

24
JAMES TISSOT
"Hagar and the Angel in the Desert"

[Hebrews 11:6]

R E S O U R C E S
Read GENESIS 16 in full
Hear MAX McLEAN reading it
Hear a DRAMATIZATION of it
Read J-F-B's COMMENTARY
BIBLE TIMELINE

Click for 22 prior episodes in THIS series:
The Bible In Paintings 2
Click for 434 links in the FIRST series:
The Bible In Paintings 1


HOW GOD PROMPTED
THIS BIBLE-ART SERIES

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[Hebrews 11:6]

P O P U L A T I N G
NOAH BUILDS AN ARK
THE GREAT FLOOD
THE FLOOD RECEDES
GOD'S RAINBOW COVENANT
"RIGHTEOUS" NOAH: DRUNK!
TOWER OF BABEL

C A L L I N G
GOD CALLS ABRAM
ABRAM, LOT, MELCHIZIDEK—and JESUS!
"SO SHALL YOUR OFFSPRING BE"
ABRAM, SARAI & HAGAR
ABRAHAM'S THREE VISITORS
SODOM, GOMORRAH and LOT

I N H E R I T I N G
ABRAHAM EXPELS HAGAR AND ISHMAEL
GOD TESTS ABRAHAM
ABRAHAM FINDS ISAAC A WIFE!

[left that other site]

Good Morning, Dan.

Not all shoveled out yet.

[SisterK]

Hhmm...only 13 and 14 portray Sarai as beautiful.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Have a care, Mary-Lou.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Perhaps because she’s the meanie in this story.

[SisterK]

LOL

[etabeta]

Poor Hagar, ending expelled twice...
I like #23 by Poussin. The landscape, wild and inhospitable, surrounds the small figure of Hagar, highlighting the adversities she faces.

[InkStone]

Thank you Dan for your wonderful ministry; good choice of works, and fine organization. Many here really look forward to these postings- I’m one of them.

RE: this topic of Abram & Hagar :
It may be easier to comprehend our mistakes, when we see them in our ‘rear view mirror’

[Hebrews 11:6]

Glad you highlighted that, Alba. She must have felt very small....

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks for your appreciative and thoughtful words, Leon.

Recently, as with the Holy Spirit's help I have reduced my present sinning substantially, He has begun directing me to my rear-view mirror and various forgotten sins from my past, that I might repent and confess. I'm guessing I am to finish that process before He summons me to heaven.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

For the same reason, #24 is appealing

[rusureitflies?]

Thank you for this ministry. I look forward to it every day. God bless you and yours.

[Hebrews 11:6]

So glad it's working for you. (I like it, too.)

Dan

[Forgiven_Sinner]

I know I’m a week late, but here are my thoughts: 1. Abraham doesn’t resist Sarai’s suggestion. Even though Sarai treats Hagar harshly, God tells her to go back and submit. It’ll work out well for Ishmael. Hagar responds with faith and obeys.3. She speaks one of God’s names for the first time—the God who sees. 4. We’ll understand Hagar and Sarai a bit better if we think of Hagar as a surrogate mother who keeps the baby and mocks the woman who hired her.

Everyone acts human.

[Hebrews 11:6]

I've been hoping to hear from you, Jeff. I see you've made a second reply, too.

Clearly, Abraham's humanness is on full display on many occasions for many years--yet his mere belief was credited as righteousness. He became the model for every saint: just believe!