Image Details

Courtesy of Pucker Gallery, Inc./Boston, MA

In Sarah and Hagar, by Naftali Bezem, God commands Abraham to accede to Sarah in casting out Hagar, the maid procured by the childless Sarah to be Abraham’s co-wife. Bezem’s darkly brooding painting depicts, in the upper left-hand corner, the Beersheba-bound Hagar and her son, Ishmael, sent forth by a jealous Sarah. In the foreground, Sarah retains the comforts of a richly colored tent, while Hagar and Ishmael, ravished by the elements, can only look homeward.