On the day Roberta Flack died, as I was writing my gift to her, I listened to her album song” First Take”. All of the tracks have a deliberate speed, one I read said that no other musician could decrease the intensity of a song over as much as Flack did and get ahead with it.
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One trail on the recording is the old religious” I Told Jesus”, which I hadn’t heard before.
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The second verse of the music repeats,” I told Jesus,’ Become all proper if You change my name.'” In succeeding verses, Jesus tells her of the consequences of letting Him alter her name, and in the conclusion, she decides that it’s worth it.
I can’t help but think of title changes in the Bible. God changes women’s titles on many occasions in the Old Testament. We perhaps most often think most of Abraham and Sarah’s brand change:
And God said to him,” Watch, my contract is with you, and you may be the father of a multitude of countries. No more shall your title be called Abram, but your name may get Abraham, for I have made you the parents of a multitude of countries. I may make you exceedingly useful, and I will render you into countries, and princes may come from you. And I did build my covenant between me and you and your sons after you throughout their years for an everlasting covenant, to get God to you and to your sons after you …”
And God said to Abraham,” As for Sarai your partner, you may not call her name Sarai, but Sarah may be her name. I did love her, and furthermore, I will give you a child by her. I will love her, and she may be countries, kings of individuals may come from her”.
Genesis 17: 3b-7, 15-16 ( ESV )
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The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary explains that the single Abram, whose name means” the parents is glorified”, became Abraham, which means “father of a multitude”. God also changed Sarai’s title to Sarah, while both names suggest “princess”, the change of spelling reflected the new personality that He had for her.
In the Hebrew society, one’s name was tied to one’s personality. So, names carried deep religious importance, and a shift of label wasn’t anything 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 ).
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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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