Abraham & Isaac Essay

In this classical piece of art, there is a connection with the biblical story of Abraham abiding to God’s command. Abraham is commanded to sacrifice his one and only son. â€Å"Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.† (Genesis 22:1-2) And so the picture depicts the last moments of Abraham and his son, where Abraham is about to make the greatest sacrifice; therefore, God sends down an Angel to stop him and bless him afterwards for showing great faith. â€Å"Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore†¦ said the Lord† (Genesis 22:15) See more: Recruitment and selection process essay By analyzing the painting, we can distinguish the characters and determine the setting, harmonizing with the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. First, there are three important characters in the painting that are drawn in great detail. The first character we can identify is Abraham who is in the center of the picture, where all the action is happening. We can tell that Abraham is the one who is holding the knife in his dominant hand ready to make sacrifice, with Isaac on the table. The main character Abraham, is wearing bright colors of red and purple, known to be royal colors and revered. Abraham is also clothed fully from top to bottom showing little skin. The Angel in the background is wearing a bright white garment clothed from top to bottom. We can tell that the Angel is advising Abraham because Abraham’s attention is towards this Angel. We know this is an angel who came down from heaven because of the white wings on its back and how it is levitating from the ground. And know that Isaac is on the table because of how young he looks and little he is clothed. I also identified how innocent they are by observing the skin tone in each character. Abraham is the darkest because of his life experience and coming of old age, the Angel has a mild tone after Abraham, and then there is Isaac who is palest of them all. I also interpreted their level of maturity by the color of their hair. Abraham being the oldest having white hair, the Angel having mild brown hair, and Isaac being the youngest with healthy dark, black hair. Looking at the position of the characters we can also depict the hierarchy levels in each character. Angel remains on the highest ground, then Abraham, and then Isaac. I find it particularly interesting to find the lamb being on higher grounds than Isaac, this could be to show the importance of this animal that is chosen to be sacrificed for God. Before Abraham is to make his sacrifice, he kneels before the wooden altar staying close to his son. We can pick up senses that the father has a loving relationship for his son. There are also emotions in these characters. Abraham exhibits sadness and worry in his facial expression. Isaac has a helpless, sad expression, where he knows his end will come by his own father’s hands. What I find amusing the most is that in this painting, Isaac may have knew he was going to be the sacrificial lamb. I believe Isaac knew from the point when he asked his father where the lamb for burnt-offering was. I conclude that he knew of this because the way he is tied up. Isaac is not tied up by the feet, nor is his hands tied to the table. If Isaac really wanted to run away he could’ve easily done so. Instead Isaac accepted the fact that he was going to be sacrificed and so he did not struggle. Next, the scenery helps us identify the setting of the biblical account on Abraham sacrificing Isaac. The picture background clearly identifies that the sacrificing takes place in a mountain. In the background there is large land below their elevation noting how high this is taking place. With the details in the picture we can tell that the setting took place in a dark shady area. This picture also exhibits the time of season, around the time of fall because there are missing leaves on the branches. On the right bottom corner there is moss growing on rocks, and moss only grows in moist and shady areas. With the details of the moss and dark colors we can get a sense of dark atmosphere of something is not right in the picture. The location of the sun and the angle of the shadow on the land below do not correspond with each other. The area where it’s brightest above the Angel’s finger can actually represent God or the Heavens above. The sun should be more towards our left in front of the characters where the light shines on the tree and the characters. Also the branches and the angle of this painting show that it is pointing to the West. I can only conclude that the reason to pointing to the West has to do something with the sun rising in the West and setting in the East. Even the Angel and the lamb are looking to the West while Abraham and Isaac is the only one in the picture looking to the East. In conclusion, I can speculate from the details in the painting that it interprets the biblical text of the Lord testing Abraham to sacrifice his own son. This painting exhibits a theme of fear. Abraham fears the Lord and so he chooses to pursue God’s command by free will. Isaac displays fear in his facial expression but does not struggle for his life.