On the day Roberta Flack died, as I was writing my tribute to her, I listened to her debut album “First Take.” All of the tracks have a deliberate pace; someone I read said that no other artist could slow the tempo of a song down as much as Flack did and get away with it.
One track on the album is the old spiritual “I Told Jesus,” which I hadn’t heard before.
The first verse of the song repeats, “I told Jesus, ‘Be all right if You change my name.’” In subsequent verses, Jesus tells her of the consequences of letting Him change her name, and in the end, she decides that it’s worth it.
I can’t help but think of name changes in the Bible. God changes people’s names on several occasions in the Old Testament. We probably most often think most of Abraham and Sarah’s name change:
And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you…”
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 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.”
Genesis 17:3b-7, 15-16 (ESV)
The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary explains that the childless Abram, whose name means “the father is exalted,” became Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.” God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah; while both names mean “princess,” the change of spelling reflected the new identity that He had for her.
In the Hebrew culture, one’s name was tied to one’s identity. Therefore, names carried deep theological significance, and a change of name wasn’t something to take lightly.
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Never Anonymous
According to the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, changes in one’s name happened under one of three circumstances. First, “the new name replaces the old in order to signify the bestowal of powers not hitherto possessed. In this case, the new name is equivalent to the experience of regeneration.” This explains Abraham’s change of name.
Second, “the new name may indicate a new character and status with God.” This was the case when God changed Jacob’s name, which was connected to the Hebrew verb “to cheat,” to Israel, which meant “God strives” (Genesis 32:28). It’s also what happened when Jesus gave Simon the nickname Peter to line up with His statement, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
Name changes could go in the opposite direction as well. “The new name may cement a new loyalty in the place of an old.” This is what happened when the chief of the Babylonian eunuchs gave Daniel and his friends new Babylonian names (Daniel 1:7). The idea was that giving them Babylonian names would lead them to forget the God of Israel — which we know didn’t happen.
When we come to faith in Jesus, we don’t receive new names, but we do get new identities. We are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). We’re no longer slaves to sin, but children of God (Galatians 4:7). We are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,” and “God’s people” (1 Peter 2:9-10). That should lead us to rejoice, worship, and bring Him glory!
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