New Name, New Boundaries
Continued faithfulness is rewarded by renewed recognition. New names and a re-affirmation of the covenant. A new school calls for a new uniform, a new business for a new logo. So we now have a new name for God (in the Hebrew) and changes for Abraham and Sarah, though their significance is uncertain. What we still need to remember is that we cannot attribute to God (of whatever name) all that we today associate with Moses, the prophets and the Christian tradition.
Recall your own experience of fresh starts, changed names and logos. Were they cosmetic or did they reflect real change, and if so, change for whom?
Change here seems to suggest a broadening of the horizon. We now have ‘a multitude of nations’, fruitfulness beyond measure, parity with neighbouring kings, firm land tenure and a secure future. Such is the way new starts are made, and in contemporary terms this is electioneering with a vengeance; everything promised, no guarantee and no delivery date.
But now there are also conditions. One is obedience. Failure to keep the covenant will result in a loss of privileges and nullify any special relationship. So with a broadening goes a narrowing.
Next comes circumcision (the new logo or initiation ceremony) but is it the mark of belonging intended to confirm the status of those who are ‘in’ or to make it abundantly clear who is not? Once again, as the boundaries get wider the entrance gates seem to become more restricted.
With the date of the texts uncertain, and allowing for frequent editorial changes, it is not clear whether the new names are really new (signifying a fresh start) or whether they are a reading back into an earlier story of something that emerged much later, possibly when when Jews were wrestling with the problem of whether Judaism was a missionary faith with a God who embraced all peoples (as in Ruth, Esther and Daniel) or an exclusive group with a God who worked only for them (Ezra, Nehemiah, Jonah). Circumcision may have marked a boundary, but did it become a passport?
The resolution is not easy and there is no definitive answer. The questions are still with us.
