Despite the fact that the Hebrew and Greek Bibles are bound together into one text, the two function in ways that are often difficult to reconcile. For instance, the two sets of scriptures involve radically different stories and characters that make them seem, at least initially, to have more points of divergence than convergence. However, the Greek Bible can ultimately be understood as responding to the struggles that the Hebrew Bible has with the meaning of God's covenant promise of land for his people. This covenant promise of land frames the entirety of the Hebrew Bible as is evidenced by the fact that, after it is first given by God to Abraham, it is notably repeated to each of the successive patriarchs. Thus, when the Israelite's are exiled from the land of the covenant, questions inevitably arise as to what the existing relationship is between the Israelite's and their God, and, without answers to these questions, the narrative simply ends. The introduction of the Greek Bible into the narrative can then be understood as seeking to resolve these issues surrounding land by recasting the promise in terms of a metaphysical kingdom. The Greek Bible, in turn, enacts this recasting through the repetition of type scenes from the Hebrew Bible in the Greek Bible. Thus, the writings in the Greek Bible are responding to the covenant problem in the Hebrew Bible by taking what was rooted in the physical and moving it to the metaphysical, which ultimately culminates in the Hebrew Bible's promise of physical land becoming a promise of a metaphysical kingdom. .
In the Hebrew Bible, the type scene of the barren woman acts to emphasize the Hebrew Bible's focus on the physical. This type scene is first seen in the story of Sarah and Abraham. In this story, the significance of Sarah's barrenness is highlighted by the nature of God's covenant with Abraham. In addition to the promise of land, God promises Abraham that he will be the father of many descendants, saying, "You shall be the ancestor to a multitude of nations.
