Abraham and Sarah

"Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you." Genesis 17:3-6

God was giving Abram a new name. The actual name Abram means Exalted Father, and Abraham means the Father Of Many. There is a bit of a difference there. Even more so, since Abraham was 99 years old, and here was God telling him that he will be a father to many. At this point he had his son Ishmael, but God still told him there would be more children in his life.

"God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"

19 Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him." Genesis 17:15-22

Something to note hear is that up to this point in their lives, Abraham and Sarah had not been able to have a child. The Bible makes it clear that she was barren- which is actually saying that she lacked the correct plumbing to have a child. It was more than just not having all their ducks in a row- she was missing a few parts. So for God to say this was saying that he was going to perform a miracle for Abraham and Sarah. You'll notice that Abraham laughed at this idea. I am sure it was amusing at the time. Here he is, a 99 year old man, being told that he was going to be a father- that would be amusing to anyone I would think.

This chapter in the Bible is also where circumcision comes from. God told Abraham that all the men in his household must be circumcised as part of their covenant with each other. Abraham complied at the age of 99- every male in his household was circumcised. Ishmael at the time was 13 years old- and that was where the tradition of a bar mitzvah began. Ishmael was the first. Just thinking about all of this at Abraham's age is amazing to me. Here he is, a very old man, just willingly doing whatever God asks of him. His willingness is what God found favor in and why he chose to use Abraham as he did. Abraham was a man of God and often spent time just talking with him. That is exciting to me. To think that he was talking- having a conversation with God- just the same as you and I can talk. Wow.