A New Name Part III

A New Name Part III

Genesis 17:15-18

Genesis 17:15-18:

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

As we have seen, God was establishing His covenant with Abraham. Abraham's new name foretold a bright future with many offspring. In addition to getting a new name, the Lord promised Abraham that his descendants would inhabit the land of Canaan as an eternal possession. Moreover, God sought to mark His people in a physical way. The major external sign of the covenant would be circumcision of males. In Genesis 17:9-14, God reminded Abraham that he and his descendants were to keep His covenant. Circumcision was one such way to keep the covenant.

Just as Abram's name was changed to Abraham to reflect his new reality and future, so also Sarai's name would be changed in anticipation of her new and coming reality in verse 15. The Lord commanded Abraham not to call his wife Sarai any longer. Instead her name would be Sarah. The name Sarah means “princess” or “noble lady.” People knew Sarai as the old woman with no children; Sarah would be her new name and bring with it the new reality of the building covenant community.

As God had promised to bless Abraham, he also promised to bless Sarah in verse 16. The result of God's blessing would be a son for Abraham by her. Through the promised son, Abraham's faith legacy would be passed on through the generations.

The feminine singular pronouns her and she are important in this verse, calling attention to what God was going to do specifically through Sarai. Twice in this verse, the Lord declared, “I will bless her.” So what happens to a childless woman, unable to conceive, who is empowered by the Lord? The Lord answered the question for Abraham: “I will give you a son by her.” The emphasis in the phrase by her was on showing that God's empowerment would bring life out of a presently dead womb.

The bold promise that “she will produce nations” stood in stark contrast to the previous description of Abraham's wife in Genesis 11:30. Moreover, not just nations but “kings of peoples will come from her.” Just as God's blessing made fruit trees bear fruit, so also would His blessing result in Abraham fathering a son by Sarah.

Just as he had done earlier when God had appeared to him (17:3), Abraham fell face down. Yet this show of reverence-if that is what it was-was accompanied by a laugh of skepticism. Abraham knew his circumstance; he would soon be 100 years old, and Sarah would soon be 90. God's renewed promise accompanied by a change of name for his wife seemed to overwhelm Abraham and rattle his frail faith.

The simple revelation that he laughed is loaded with irony and foreshadowing. In Hebrew, the verb for laughed (yitzhaq) is the basis of the very name Abraham would give to his son by Sarah, the name rendered into English as “Isaac” (Gen. 21:3). Clearly, Abraham's laugh revealed the skepticism with which he received the news that he and Sarah would have a son.

Abraham asked two questions to himself-literally, “in his heart.” Did Abraham think God did not know his heart? His first question (Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man?) betrayed Abraham's lack of confidence that he could father a child at his advanced age. His second question (Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?) bespoke his doubts that his barren wife could produce a son. It would seem Abraham had grown weary of unfulfilled promises of offspring.

So in verse 18 Abraham decided to introduce God to a plan for a substitute heir. The statement, “Abraham said to God,” stands in sharp contrast to the previous verse in which Abraham “said to himself.” Like Abraham, we need to remember God is a discerner of the thoughts and intent of the heart. He can hear the words we offer Him in prayer and the ones we speak to ourselves.

Abraham's statement, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you,” (“might live before thee,” KJV; “might live under your blessing,” NIV) conveys a strong desire, yet one that has not much chance of happening. Abraham was being very specific in this context. He did not desire that Ishmael merely live but that Ishmael should be considered as the substitute in God's plan. Thus Ishmael became an example of the folly of human effort to shortcut God's plan. Abraham offered an alternative, but did God really need a way out? As we shall see in 17:21, God's words nixed any possibility that Ishmael would be a substitute for God's plan.

Applying the Scriptures:

Why do we try to offer alternatives to God's plans? What are some dangers that come with following our own plans instead of His?