The power and the significance of Abraham's name and his name change in the BIble

A rose by any other name would still be a rose, or would it? How important do you think names are? Better still, how does the God of the Bible view names? Take the name of father Abraham, for instance. You know that song, Father Abraham had many sons?

As the story went, in the beginning Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were barren. Did you know, however, that Abraham’s original name wasn’t always Abraham? God changed his name slightly and it was after that that he saw his miracle and had a son.

Abraham’s name started off as “Abram” (as in the image above) It was missing the “heh” (or "hey") as in the fifth Hebrew alphabet that speaks of the breath of God. What does Abraham mean anyway for God to want to have the man change it? Was there any pertinent reason for this change? Believe it or not, “Abraham” means father of many (children). Of course, he didn’t have his son (Isaac) the moment his name was changed. It took some years and so, during these barren time, when others called him they always hailed him as “Abraham” –“father of many”--even before he had a single child.

I believe every story or anecdote in the Bible is there for a reason—aside from the fact that many of the stories are part of history. I take it that our God wanted us to learn from this small name change incident. To call that which isn’t as though it already is (Romans 4:17 ¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;).

Also, the word “Abraham” has the added “Heh” in it. His breath into Abram’s name and that breath translated supernaturally into the miracle that Abraham and his wife were waiting for—a son from his legitimate union of marriage with his love and wife, Sarah.

Next week we will look at Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Sarah’s name holds a story of its own, too.

We will see her name change and its effects on her and her life with Abraham.

Meanwhile may the breath of God (heh) in your life fill you with joy and give you the miracle you have been asking for.