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Now when a promise so great and clear was made to Abraham, in which
it was so plainly said to him, "I have made thee a father of many
nations, and I will increase thee exceedingly, and I will make
nations of thee, and kings shall go forth of thee. And I will give
thee a son of Sarah; and I will bless him, and he shall become
nations, and kings of nations shall be of him,", a promise which we
now see fulfilled in Christ, from that time forward this couple are
not called in Scripture, as formerly, Abram and Sarai, but
Abraham and Sarah, as we have called them from the first, for every
one does so now. The reason why the name of Abraham was changed is
given: "For," He says, "I have made thee a father of many
nations." This, then, is to be understood to be the meaning of
Abraham; but Abram, as he was formerly called, means "exalted
father." The reason of the change of Sarah's name is not given;
but as those say who have written interpretations of the Hebrew names
contained in these books, Sarah means "my princess," and Sarai
"strength." Whence it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
"Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive
seed." For both were old, as the Scripture testifies; but she was
also barren, and had ceased to menstruate, so that she could no longer
bear children even if she had not been barren. Further, if a woman is
advanced in years, yet still retains the custom of women, she can bear
children to a young man, but not to an old man, although that same old
man can beget, but only of a young woman; as after Sarah's death
Abraham could of Keturah, because he met with her in her lively age.
This, then, is what the apostle mentions as wonderful, saying,
besides, that Abraham's body was now dead; because at that age he
was no longer able to beget children of any woman who retained now only
a small part of her natural vigor. Of course we must understand that
his body was dead only to some purposes, not to all; for if it was so
to all, it would no longer be the aged body of a living man, but the
corpse of a dead one. Although that question, how Abraham begot
children of Keturah, is usually solved in this way, that the gift of
begetting which he received from the Lord, remained even after the
death of his wife, yet I think that solution of the question which I
have followed is preferable, because, although in our days an old man
of a hundred years can beget children of no woman, it was not so then,
when men still lived so long that a hundred years did not yet bring on
them the decrepitude of old age.
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