Abram the same is Abraham.
This verse is one line in a long list of names. Yet it closes a whole movement. The chain that began with Shem ends on one man, and the verse gives both of his names. Why record the old name at all, next to the new one God gave him?
This verse is the last link in the second of two runs of names.
In 1 Chronicles 1 we find two series of names. The first (vv. 1-4) begins with Adam and ends with Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. The second (vv. 24-27) begins again at Shem and ends with Abraham. These two series form one unbroken chain. It starts from grace toward fallen man. It ends in the promises made to Abraham and taken hold of by faith.
The verse keeps both names because each says something different.
The name Abram means "great, or high, father." It sets out what he himself was, as head of the family of faith. But Abraham points us to the greatness of the family he heads, for it means "father of a multitude" — not only of people, but of nations. In giving this name God is indicating the vast results of the principle of faith and of promise. Nothing is as fruitful as faith. It is "exceedingly fruitful." It is the only principle that brings forth anything for God, because it counts on His power alone.
One dividing has already appeared in this chapter, in Peleg's day. This one works the other way.
The record starts fresh (v. 24). The Holy Spirit goes back to Shem, and from him straight to Abram — the same is Abraham. No side branches appear. And here is another dividing. Not a dividing of the earth, as in Peleg's day, but God dividing out a people for Himself from among the nations. Judgment did the first; grace works now. But the dividing that began with Abram has eternal results.
Up to this verse the record spreads out over many peoples. From here it narrows.
But the record starts again with Shem and goes straight to Abram. This is one of many signs that Christ — the Son of David — is the object of the Holy Spirit in this genealogy. Up to this point the chosen line has not been clearly marked off from the others. Now it is. The call of Abram comes, and with it the starting point of a new race in relationship with Jehovah-God, with all other nations outside.
The chapter does not put the chosen line first. One writer sees a rule of God in that.
There is another thing here too. It shows not only God's general way in this chapter, but His principle throughout Scripture: first the natural, afterward the spiritual. The chapter sets out Japheth and Ham, with their sons, before it introduces Shem and the line of God's promise. It is the same even with Abraham. He is the man God called out, yet even there the natural comes first. So we have Ishmael and his descendants, and even the sons of the concubine, and last of all Abraham's son Isaac. God's purposes ripen latest. God lets the world take its own way, and the world exalts men on the earth. God means to exalt the Man who humbled Himself. There is nothing in the Bible without profit for the soul — not even a list of names.
This list first reached people whose nation lay in ruins.
It is all the more striking to find in Chronicles this picture of grace working in the heart of man. These books were written, as we have seen, after the final ruin of the people and of kingdom rule. But what consolation for the poor remnant! They had come back from Babylon in servitude and contempt, and here they found their history, written in those disastrous times by the Spirit of God Himself. Every page shows that no unfaithfulness on the part of the people could change God's counsels or alter the grace by which He would establish, in relation to His people, His eternal purposes in the person of Christ.
- Chain. Two unbroken runs of names carry the record from Adam to this verse. They start in grace toward fallen man and end in the promises made to Abraham.
- Name. "Abram" is what one man was — a great father. "Abraham" is what God made him — father of a multitude. Faith bears fruit because it counts on God's power alone.
- Dividing. Peleg's day divided the earth by judgment; Abraham's call divides a people out of the nations by grace.
- Order. Japheth and Ham come before Shem. Ishmael comes before Isaac. First the natural, then the spiritual — and God's purposes ripen last.
- Aim. The list narrows because the Spirit is moving toward Christ, the Son of David. That is why a ruined remnant could read these names as consolation.
The sons of Abraham Isaac and Ishmael.
One short line names both of Abraham's sons: the son God promised and the son born first. The order of the two names, and the order of the families listed after them, is where commentators find the meaning.
The verse names Isaac before Ishmael. Yet the verses that follow trace Ishmael's family first. One writer sees the same order earlier in the chapter, with Shem:
In God's eyes Shem, chosen by grace, has the first place. But in the natural order what is spiritual does not come first, as we have already pointed out. It is the same with Abraham's offspring: "The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael" (v. 28). Isaac is named first, seen as first in God's thoughts. But Ishmael, the elder, comes first in the list (v. 29) as the seed according to the flesh.
The same pattern shapes the whole opening section of the book:
In the nine chapters that make up this opening section we have the principle that the apostle Paul stated long afterwards: not first the spiritual but the natural, then the spiritual. Even the general genealogy of 1 Chronicles 1 follows this divine purpose.
There is a reason for the delay. God does not unfold grace until the other line has been tried and has failed:
God has ordained it so. The whole question of man's responsibility had to be settled before the Man of God's purposes of grace would appear. In fact, grace could not be unfolded until it was first made clear how deep man had fallen when left to himself. This great truth is the foundation of all Scripture. All Scripture presents man's ruin, which nothing can repair, as the basis of the gospel of grace.
Both men were Abraham's sons. Yet God's choice, not birth order, settled which son carried the promise:
The apostle quotes the saying recorded in Genesis 21:12: "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." His inspired comment on this is: "it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring." The flesh can produce nothing except what is flesh… God knew it was a corrupt source, and so a source of nothing but corruption. That is why He passed by Ishmael, the child of the flesh. His election rested on Isaac, the child of promise, the son whose origin lay in the resurrection power of God, shown in His promise years before.
(The older translation Hole used reads, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called.")
Ishmael went on to a large future. His standing never changed:
It was not Ishmael changed, but it was Isaac born. The son of the slave woman could never be anything else. He might become a great nation. He might live in the wilderness and become an archer. He might become the father of twelve princes. But he was the son of the slave woman all the while. On the other hand, no matter how weak and despised Isaac might be, he was the son of the free woman. His position and character, his standing and prospects, were all from the Lord.
Abraham had sons by Keturah as well. Where the chapter puts them carries the same message:
In verse 32 the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine, are listed as we find them in Genesis 25:1-4. In our chapter they come after Ishmael's descendants (vv. 28-31), to show that they too belong to the line according to the flesh.
Readers often skip these chapters as bare names. One commentator answers the objection head-on:
But someone may still challenge us like this: "Do you believe that the long string of names in the opening chapters of 1 Chronicles — those lists of family lines — were inspired by God? Were they written for our learning? And if so, what are we to learn from them?" We say without hesitation that we believe, with reverence, that God inspired all of these. And we have no doubt that their value, interest and importance will be proved in full later on, in the history of the people they especially apply to.
As to what we are to learn from those records of family lines, we believe they teach us a most precious lesson about the Lord's faithful care of His people Israel, and His loving interest in them and in all that concerns them. He watches over them from generation to generation, even though they are scattered and lost to human sight. He knows all about the twelve tribes. He will bring them into view in due time, and plant them in the land of Canaan, the inheritance meant for them, according to His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- Order. Isaac stands first in the verse because he is first in God's thoughts. Ishmael's family is traced first because the natural comes before the spiritual.
- Reason. God lets the natural line run its course. Man's ruin must be shown in full before He unfolds grace.
- Choice. Both are Abraham's sons, but only the child of promise is counted as the offspring — descent settles nothing.
- Nature. Isaac's birth did not improve Ishmael. It brought in something new that came wholly from the Lord.
- Care. Ishmael's sons and Keturah's sons close off the line of flesh; the lists that remain show the Lord's faithful watch over His people, generation after generation.