Paradise
The swordsmen have the sword as an attribute and they were responsible for the protection of the city. The guild of Saint Michael introduces this scene.
Ancient myths tell us fundamental truths about human life. The creation myths recount how an angel with a sword has driven man out of paradise.The creation is entrusted by God to man. But man is at the same time good and evil. The greatest sin is the hubris, the pride, out of which arises envy and quarrel. Once evil has taken root in the human heart, it can lead to crime and murder, as when the farmer Cain murdered his brother, the shepherd Abel.
Abraham
Because the Brokers acted as intermediaries by trading in the cosmopolitan market of Bruges, they present the scene of the Covenant.
At the invitation of God’s voice, symbolised by a horseman, Abraham moved away from his familiar surroundings to a strange but better land to begin his life anew. He is the symbol of the searching man who trusts in God.
