Image Details

Graphik Zur Bibel

Abraham looks heavenward as he hears the voice of God in this 1960 woodcut by German artist Walter Habdank, entitled “God’s Call to Abraham.” According to Genesis, when Abraham cries out to God that he has no heir, God takes him outside and responds, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5). God later says to Abraham, “I am God Almighty. Walk in my ways and be blameless. I will establish my covenant between me and you” (Genesis 17:1–2). But the Bible never really explains why God chose Abraham. From about the second century B.C. to the second century A.D., early Jewish readers attempted to explain God’s decision in various early histories and in the apocryphal texts known today as the pseudepigrapha. They suggested that God chose Abraham because Abraham had already boldly chosen God.