RCL reading for Sunday, March 8, 2009:
Excerpt from The New Revised Standard Version
via Oremus (http://bible.oremus.org)
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’
3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,
4 ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 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.
15 God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’
QUESTIONS:
In verse 5, what is the difference in meaning between the names "Abram" and "Abraham"?
Why do you think our reading included verses 15-16 instead of just ending at verse 7?
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This passage is about the institution of the rite of circumcision but we must bracket that out. What we have left is some rather odd verses about God, El Shaddai in this case, and Abraham. The names of Abram and Sarai are changed to Abraham and Sarah to denote the radical change brought about by circumcision, which we are not allowed to talk about.
ReplyDeletemaimon