A NEW EXHIBITION AT THE BIBLE LANDS MUSEUM JERUSALEM The development of Christianity two thousand years ago marked the growth of a new religion whose roots had been deeply laid in Jewish soil. The first Christians were for the most part Jews, well-versed in the Old Testament, who regarded Jesus as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies regarding the arrival of the Messiah. With this belief in mind, early Christians reinterpreted the stories of the Old Testament, applying new layers of meaning to the traditional Biblical tales. Adam&Eve: Square tile with Adam, Eve, and the Tree of Knowledge, V-Vith centuries, Kairouan, Tunisia. Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem's exhibition Images of Inspiration: the Old Testament in Early Christian Art, presents a wide array of early Christian art depicting the familiar scenes of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Isaac, Noah and the Ark, Daniel in the Lion's Den and more. Enhanced with biblical quotes throughout, the exhibition opens January 26, 2000, and will remain on display through January 6, 2001. One example of the interplay between Christian and Jewish themes can be found in artistic renditions of the Sacrifice of Isaac, which are on display in the exhibit. The Biblical narrative of the Sacrifice of Isaac describes how God tests Abraham's faith by demanding his son Isaac as a sacrifice. They journey to Mt. Moriah where Isaac is bound to the altar. Just before the sacrifice is completed, an angel orders Abraham to release Isaac. Having demonstrated his fear of God by his willingness to kill his son, Abraham then sacrifices a ram in Isaac's place and receives God's blessing. In Jewish thought, Abraham and Isaac become the supreme example of self-sacrifice in obedience to God's will and the symbol of Jewish martyrdom throughout the ages. In Hebrew, the story is known as the Akedah, or the "binding" of Isaac. In the late Roman period, the Akedah symbolized the hope for the liberation from the Romans and for the rebuilding of the Temple. The Akedah was a popular theme in Jewish art, appearing in the synagogues of both Dura-Europos in Syria and Beth-Alpha in the Galilee. Early Christians also saw the Sacrifice of Isaac as one of the most important of the Biblical stories. But they, unlike the Jews, related it to the sacrifice of Jesus. The narrative similarities between the two stories, the Akedah's importance in prompting God's blessing of the descendant of Abraham, and its particularly dramatic content, made it one of the most popular motifs of early Christian art, especially in the period before the representation of the crucifixion itself became common. For Christians, the depiction of Isaac's sacrifice, particularly in funerary art, where it appears on at least twenty-two frescoes and around ninety sarcophagus reliefs, came to be used as an allegory for the sacrifice of Jesus. Holy Cup: Beaker for Eucharistic service inscribed in both Greek and Latin, Eastern Mediterranean, 5-6th centuries. The current exhibition is divided into a number of sections, with each section exploring a particular Biblical theme. Through the display of the same story in a variety of different media, the popularity and versatility of the particular stories are revealed. The objects which form the basis of the exhibition are drawn from the museum collections and from loans from local and international sources, among which are the Israel Antiquities Authority, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Romisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne, Musee due Louvre, the National Museums of Italy and Princeton University. The exhibition contains the artwork for the emerging Christian faith, illustrating the transition from the first Jewish-separatist followers of Jesus to the rich, layered and inspired religion of the fourth through seventh centuries. Early Christian art reveals the theological as well as the artistic evolution that took place in the earliest and most formative period of Christianity's development. Like the Jewish artists before and contemporaneous to them, the early Christians found in these Biblical stories the themes of sacrifice and redemption as well as resurrection, hope, peace, and eternal welfare with which they were concerned. For Additional information please contact Bible Land Museum Israel at: Tel: 972-2-561-1066 Fax: 972-2-563-8228 E-mail: biblend@netvision.net.il Back to Main