Portrait of God II (Gen. 15)

(Gen 15)  Visually, this passage is extraordinarily compelling. However, I have never before seen a painting of it in any museum or art history book. What makes it even more interesting for me is that it is the first visual manifestation or “portrait of God” in the Bible. Genesis 15 describes the setting of the original covenant that Abram made with God. Here I have painted the nocturnal scene as I saw it in my mind's eye. In the foreground is Abram who, after butchering the animals according to God’s instructions, falls asleep. He has a nightmare about the future enslavement of his people by the Egyptians (you can see the pyramids up on the horizon line). In the middle ground are the animals that God commanded to be sacrificed, including the dove and the pigeon which were to remain whole. God himself, in the form of a smoking oven and a flaming torch (like the pillars of smoke and fire which traveled with the Jews in the Sinai) passes between the pieces. In the background a flock of birds of prey, driven away by Abram, is silhouetted.