Names are a big deal...
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Names are a big deal in Christianity. It's a big deal when Adam goes through and names all the animals. Throughout the Bible, we see God changing people's names. Today we read about a particularly famous name change: the change that brings us Abraham and Sarah. It's interesting that neither Abraham nor Sarah had that big of a leap to make in their name: Abraham only has to add one syllable to his former Abram, and Sarah changes a single letter from her original Sarai. For Abraham, not even the meaning of his name changes much: Abram means "high father"; Abraham means "father of many." A slight difference, but one that will become important. For Sarah, on the other hand, one single "h" changes her from Sarai, which is believed to be a Hebrew name meaning "contentious," to Sarah, which many parents still use today. After all, it means "princess." God wasn't playing havoc with us or trying to create confusion with his name changes; he was giving everyone a clue. Abraham was not simply a "high father"; he would become the father of multitudes. God had better things planned for Sarah than to let her die old, lonely, and contentious. She would be a princess of God's people and mother to a nation.
