“No longer Abram, but Abraham”
Genesis 17:5
Foreign wordSettledGod
No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. (Genesis 17:5 BSB)
* Abram means 'exalted father'; Abraham is heard as 'father of a multitude' (av hamon). God stretches the name to fit the promise.
What it sounds like today
God gives Abram a slightly longer name for no obvious reason.
The cultural key
Renaming in Genesis marks a change of destiny, and God claims the right to do it, as He will with Jacob/Israel. 'Abram' already meant 'exalted father', a fine name, but painfully empty for a childless man of ninety-nine. God expands it to 'Abraham,' heard as 'father of a multitude,' so that every use of his own name now declares a promise not yet fulfilled. He is called 'father of many nations' before he has even one son by Sarah.
Recovered meaning
God renames a childless old man 'father of multitudes,' making him carry the promise in his own name years before it comes true. To say his name at all becomes an act of faith in what God has sworn.
Parallels: Genesis 17:15; Romans 4:17