Genesis 17:5

5 and thy name shall no more be called Abram, but thou shalt be called Abraham, for I have made thee [the] father of many folks (for I have made thee the father of many nations);

Genesis 17:5 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 17:5

Neither shall thy name be any more called Abram
Which signifies an "high father", which name he bore for many years before he was the father of anyone:

but thy name shall be Abraham:
with all addition of the letter (h) inserted into it, and makes the last syllable two, "raham": which word in the Arabic language, as Hottinger ^F7 observes, signifies "numerous" {h}; so that with this addition his name Abraham may be interpreted, the father of a numerous offspring; and with this agrees the reason of it, as follows:

for a father of many nations have I made thee;
not that he was so already in fact, but in the purpose and promise of God, ( Romans 4:17 ) ; Abraham has not only been the father of many nations, in a literal sense, as before observed, but in a mystical sense, of the whole world; that is, of all in it that believe, whether Jews or Gentiles; and so the Rabbins ^F9 interpret it: at first, they say, he was the father of Aram, and therefore his name was called Abram, but now he is the father of the whole world, and therefore called Abraham; and so Maimonides ^F11 himself says, quoting this passage,

``behold he is the father of the whole world, who are gathered under the wings of the Shechinah.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Smegma Oriental. p. 88.
F8 <arabic>, "numerus", "copiosus", Golius, col. 1055, 1056. Castel. col. 3537.
F9 In Massechet Biccurim, apud Galat. in Arcan. Cathol. Ver. l. 5, 13. & 9, 12. in Maimon. in Misn. ib. c. 1. sect. 4.
F11 Hilchot Biccurim, c. 4. sect. 3.

Genesis 17:5 In-Context

3 And Abram felled down low on his face. And God said to him,

4 I am, and my covenant of peace is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of many folks (and thou shalt be the father of many nations);

5 and thy name shall no more be called Abram, but thou shalt be called Abraham, for I have made thee [the] father of many folks (for I have made thee the father of many nations);

6 and I shall make thee to wax full greatly, and I shall set thee in folks (and I shall make nations to come out of thee), and kings shall go out of thee;

7 and I shall make my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee, in their generations, by everlasting bond of peace, that I be thy God, and of thy seed after thee; (and I shall make my covenant between me and thee, and thy descendants after thee, in all their generations, an everlasting covenant, that I be thy God, and the God of thy descendants after thee;)