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Photo by Foto Marburg/Art Resource, N.Y.

“God appears to Abraham” by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669). Abraham drops to the ground laughing when God promises him “all the land of Canaan” and tells him that, in fulfillment of their covenant, Abraham, age 100, and Sarah, 90, will have a son (Genesis 17:8, 17). Philip Davies suggests that Abraham, remembering that God once promised him the land from Egypt to the Euphrates, falls to conceal his laughter over God’s ever-changing promises.