A visual Journey into the Bible The Book of Genesis

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A Visual Journey into the Bible Page: 46 with the morality of a God. This brought their God closer, more accessible and made him more reassuring. The tower of Babel was a convenient way to explain the differences in languages and it holds something of the fascination of wandering rural tribes for the cities and the high structures of Babylonia’s famous ziggurats. Like the Deluge it is a story of a disaster, as may have struck a ziggurat during an earthquake. Again we feel the power in these ancient stories of memories of important catastrophes and see how these stories were combined, explained and used by the Hebrew writers in their epic of God’s acts. Other paintings: The Tower of Babel. Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Ca. 1525-1569). Kunsthistorisches Museum – Vienna. The Tower of Babel. Lucas van Valckenborgh (ca. 1540-1597). Musée du Louvre – Paris. 16 th century. The Tower of Babel. Lucas van Valckenborgh (ca. 1540-1597). Alte Pinakothek. Munich. The Building of the Tower of Babel. Leandro da Ponte called Leandro Bassano (1557-1622). The Prague Castle Gallery – Prague. The Tower of Babel. Jan Van Scorel (1495-1562). Casa d’Oro. The Giorgio Franchetti Gallery. Venice. Copyright ©: René Dewil Date: October, 24 2000
A Visual Journey into the Bible Page: 47 Abraham Abraham was the first patriarch of Genesis. Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews made a covenant with him and gave him the land of Canaan. Paintings on the life of Abraham centre on the character of this formidable figure. The Meeting between Abraham and Melchizedek. Francisco Henriques. Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga – Lisbon. Ca. 1508-1511. Abram descended from Shem, one of Noah’s sons. His father was called Terah; his brothers were Nahor and Haran. Haran died early but fathered Lot. Abram married Sarai but he had no children of her. Terah took Abram and Lot with him to leave the land of Ur of the Chaldaeans where they had lived, a region that lay in the country of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Ur is a historical Sumerian city. It has been excavated and the remnants of its streets and temple ziggurat were found. When Terah lived in Ur it could not have been a city of Chaldaeans for these probably conquered the city much later. But the storyteller may remember it as a Chaldaean city. Terah wanted to travel to the land of Canaan. On the way, in Haran, Terah died. God told Abram to proceed to Canaan, as Terah had wanted to do. Abram travelled to Canaan slowly and settled in the Negeb. Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and promised to give him this land of Canaan. There was a famine in Canaan however, so Abram set off for Egypt. He presented Sarai, who was a very beautiful woman, as his sister in order not to attract jealousy. Sarai was taken up in Pharaoh’s household. But this displeased God and he sent plagues to Egypt. Pharaoh found out that the misfortunes that befell unto him were because of Sarai, so he scorned Abram and sent the group of Abram back on the road to Canaan. Abram went to between Bethel and Ai. By then Abram had grown prosperous, he had many herdsman with him as well as much cattle. Disputes broke out among the men as there was not enough in the land to accommodate both Abram’s and Lot’s flocks. Abram talked to Lot about this and the tribe split. Lot chose to go into the plains of the Jordan, which looked as green to him as the Garden of Eden, irrigated as it was everywhere. God promised once more all the land in sight to Abram and told him to travel the length and breadth of the country. In the Jordan lay Sodom and Gomorrah and nine kings of that region fought a battle there. The King of Sodom was among the defeated and Lot, who had lived there, was captured. When Abram heard of this, he went with over three hundred men after the conquerors and beat them, recuperating Lot and his kinsmen. When Abram returned from having beaten Chedor-Laomer and his allies, the King of Sodom came to meet Abram in the valley of Shaweh, the valley of the King. Melchizedek, King of Salem, was a priest. He brought bread and wine to Abram and blessed him. Melchizedek proposed the spoils of the battle to Abram and asked him to leave the people in Melchizedek’s care. But Abram refused to take the possessions and also to give up his people. Abram took nothing, but a share was given to the men who accompanied him. Copyright ©: René Dewil Date: October, 24 2000
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A visual Journey into the Bible The Book of Genesis

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