Progeny as Numerous as the Stars
The young adventurers who set out from Haran many years ago are no longer young, and the promise of numerous children is beginning to seem like a bad joke. It would seem that Sarai's (or Abram's) infertility is something that dwells heavily on their minds. Abram, one evening, is called out to gaze on what must have been a particularly beautiful star-filled sky. "Count these if you can!" he hears a voice say, "for that will be the number of your descendants".
Though this incident ends with the statement that "Abram had faith in Yahweh", the artist has detected a note of doubt. The stars Abram's eyes look upon, his mind imagines in the form of a question mark. The configuration consists of twelve stars, which might mean very little to Abram, but which we know represent the number of the sons of his grandson, whose names will become the names of the twelve tribes that constitute Abram's descendants -- a great nation.
Lines of seed-like symbols emanate from Abram's loins, representing the potential for descendants that Abram has been promised and so earnestly looks forward to. The perceptive viewer will observe that the line of seeds actually begins behind Abram, suggesting that the ultimate source of Abram's descendants originates in a power higher than himself. And while Abram dreams, Sarai labours on, depicted by the bowl in her hand.