Rembrandt: Abraham and the Three Angels

Rembrandt (1606-1669)

After God had announced to the 99-year-old Abraham the birth of a son, whom he was to name Isaac (‘he who laughs’; Genesis 17), he appeared to Abraham once more, by the oaks of Mamre.

At the height of the day’s heat, Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent. When he looked up, he suddenly saw three men standing a short distance away. He immediately rushed out of the tent towards them. He bowed deeply and said, ‘Sir, please do not pass your servant by. I shall have some water fetched for you so that you may wash your feet; please make yourselves comfortable here under the tree. I shall also bring you something to eat, so that you may regain your strength before you continue on your way. After all, is that not why you have come to visit your servant?’

They replied, ‘We’d be delighted to accept your invitation.’ Abraham hurried back to the tent to see Sarah. ‘Quickly,’ he said, ‘three seahs of fine flour! Make some dough and bake some bread.’ Then he hurried to the herd, chose a fine calf that looked tender, and gave it to a servant, who prepared it straight away. He fetched butter and milk, took the roasted calf, and set everything before his guests. Whilst they were eating, he stood with them under the tree. ‘Where is your wife?’ they asked him. ‘Over there in the tent,’ he replied. Then one of them said, ‘I shall return to you in exactly one year’s time, and by then your wife Sarah will have a son.’ Sarah, who was standing at the entrance to the tent behind the man, heard this.

Now Abraham and Sarah were well advanced in years, and the time when a woman is fertile was long past for her. That is why she laughed to herself. ‘Could love still be in store for me?’ she thought. ‘After all, I am withered, and my husband is old too.’ Then the LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why is Sarah laughing? Why is she wondering whether, at her age, she can still bear a child? Is anything too hard for the LORD?
At the appointed time, exactly one year from now, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.’ Startled, Sarah denied it: ‘I did not laugh.’ But he said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’ / GENESIS 18:1-15

Source: Patrick de Rynck
The hospitable Abraham is 99 years old when this mysterious encounter with God takes place. By an imposing, gnarled tree – ‘by the oaks of Mamre’, as the text says – the three visitors have made themselves comfortable at a small table. Abraham is about to wash the feet of one of the three The tent from the Bible has been replaced by a house; in this announcement of the birth of Abraham’s son Isaac, people saw a foreshadowing of the Annunciation in the New Testament. The three angels were interpreted from an early stage as the Holy Trinity (God the Father, the Holy Spirit and Christ). This small painting by Rembrandt, the size of a print (16.5 x 21.5 cm), was hitherto virtually unknown to the public. One of the angels is chewing on something. As the laws of hospitality dictate, Abraham had a meal prepared for his visitors. Rembrandt depicts several moments: the washing of the feet, the announcement of Isaac’s birth and the meal. The 90-year-old Sarah stands in the background in the doorway, watching attentively – smiling?
As a woman, she does not take part in the meal. The Art of Looking
14th–18th century
Patrick de Rijnck

Rembrandt: Abraham and the Three Angels

References