A New Name

The Story

Abram was ninety-nine years old. Twenty-four years had passed since God first promised to make him a great nation. He and his wife Sarai were still childless.

Then God appeared to him again. “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Abram fell on his face, and God spoke.

I am making a covenant with you, God said. You will be the father of many nations. And then God gave him a new name. “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham.” Abram meant “exalted father.” Abraham meant “father of a multitude.”

Every time anyone said his name from that day on, they would be repeating God’s promise.

God renamed his wife too. “Thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.” She would be the mother of nations, and kings would come from her.

Abraham fell on his face again, and this time he laughed. A son, at a hundred years old? And Sarah, at ninety?

But God said, Yes. Sarah will have a son, and you will call him Isaac.

Reflection