Two seals were at this time affixed to the covenant: the one for Abraham himself, the other for every one who shared with him in the blessings of the covenant.
1. The first consisted in the change of his own name to Abraham, “the father of a multitude,” and of his wife's to Sarah, “princess,” or “queen,” because she was now announced as the destined mother of kings.
The early Hebrews were not wont to name a child without considering the significance of the name; even when this was a family possession, its meaning did not escape the attention. But new names were continually formed to express special characteristics of the person, and the formation of the language owes much to the creation of personal names. Indeed, in the giving of the name, one of the aims was to express some outstanding and particularly marked individuality. Personal names sometimes expressed the circumstances of the family when the child was born. Prophets gave to their children names which were living testimonies to the content of their utterances. But the general principle was to characterize the child's own individuality by the name bestowed. But among the Hebrews religious affairs and circumstances influenced much the formation of names, though the creation of names having as an element a Divine name is by no means confined to them, such formations being common among Arabs, and similar early Canaanite and Hebrew names are found, such as “Abimelech,” “Abiezer.” In the numerous cases in which a definite attribute of deity or some close relationship is expressed in the name, the idea intended is that of invocation of a blessing, and it is generally found that the mother has the most influence in the choice of the name.… In the earliest period the Divine name in most common use was the simple “El”-cf. “Israel,” “Ishmael”-and this is true as well of the Arabs as of the Hebrews. Frequently the idea expressed is that of relationship, as when words indicating fatherhood, brotherhood, and the like are employed-the Semitic “ab,” father, “ahi,” brother, “ammi,” uncle, and the like. From the time of Moses, with increasing frequency names were compounded with forms derived from the Divine name Yahweh. The formation of new names continued until post-Exilic times-a proof that the significance of these names remained a living factor in their application, though it is a fact that family names were often chosen which carried with them historic reminiscences. Among the Hebrews then was especially true the maxim, “nomina sunt omina,” since to the Israelite the name was the expression of personality; were there disagreement between name and character, it was fitting to change the former. Indeed, a change of name under new circumstances was no novelty. Sometimes teachers gave to their disciples appellations which expressed the latters' spiritual peculiarities. Inasmuch as between the person and the name a living connexion existed, it was regarded as of great importance that the name be transmitted to posterity.… Going back to the fact that the name expressed the individuality is the frequent statement that God calls men by name; while sometimes “name” stands for “person.”1 [Note: C. von Orelli, in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, viii. 77.]
The name “Ruskin” is of doubtful origin; and it matters little whether it is the same word as Erskine, or a mere nickname, Roughskin, or whether it is a diminutive, meaning the little red man. But it falls under the law which seems to assign to English men of genius quaint, striking, or beautiful names-and this is especially true of great writers; there is hardly a great English writer who has not borne a seemly name.1 [Note: A. C. Benson, Ruskin: A Study in Personality, 8.]
He had a curious dislike to the sound of his surname, and habitually took trouble to avoid using it, a weakness best explained by his own simile: “One man may walk into a beautiful house with the dust of the highway on his boots, quite unconscious of this; while to another it would be so disagreeable as to amount to its being a real pain.” He had fancies about the inheritance of a name, and used to say when he heard of one that pleased his ear, “Ah, if I had had a name such as that, I should have done my work better.”2 [Note: George Frederic Watts, i. 3.]
2. The change of name was special to Abraham and Sarah, the other seal was public. All who desired to partake with Abraham in the security, hope, and happiness of having God as their God were to submit to circumcision. This sign was to determine who were included in the covenant. By this outward mark encouragement and assurance of faith were to be quickened in the heart of all Abraham's descendants.
Circumcision is not, as is sometimes supposed, a rite peculiar to the Jews. It was, and still is, widely practised in different parts of the world. In ancient times we hear of it especially as usual in Egypt, where indeed the monuments afford evidence that it was practised as early as the period of the 4th dynasty (3998-3721 b.c., Petrie), and whence Herodotus declares that the custom spread to the Ethiopians, the Phœnicians, and the “Syrians of Palestine” (i.e. the Jews). Jer_9:26 shows also that it was practised by the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, and certain Arab tribes; indeed, from the fact of the Philistines being so pointedly referred to as “uncircumcised,” it may be inferred that most of Israel's neighbours were circumcised like themselves.
In Israel, the two distinctive characteristics of circumcision are (1) its being performed in infancy; (2) the religious ideas associated with it. To take (2) first: the idea of membership in the nation is absorbed in that of consecration and dedication to Jehovah; the religious point of view supersedes the civil or political; circumcision becomes the external condition and seal of admission into the religious privileges of the nation-the first condition of membership in it, as a religious community. (1) The age was fixed at eight days. This was probably a consequence of (2): when the religious point of view superseded the secular or civil, it would be natural for the child to be dedicated as early as possible to the God who was to be his protector through life. At the same time a humanitarian motive may have co-operated; for the operation is much less serious when performed upon an infant than when performed upon one more or less grown up.
Thus circumcision, like sacrifice and other institutions of Israel's religion, was a rite common to Israel with other nations, but stamped in Israel with special associations and a special significance.1 [Note: S. R. Driver.]
God has marked or stamped His people for His own treasure. A seal distinguishes the property of him whose it is; and so God has marked His people as His own peculiar property. Every seal is a mark, but every mark is not a seal. A seal secures property, as well as distinguishes it. If you want a thing to be secured so as not to be touched, you seal it. And so were God's people secured from apostasy and harm. They were stamped with the image and superscription of the King. No evil should befall them. The pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at noonday, should not come nigh them. They would carry the lamp of their spiritual life, unquenched, to glory. Once in Christ, believers are always in Christ; they go on infallibly to glory.… How were men to know that they were sealed? Not by climbing into heaven, and searching the sealed book of God's elect there. How did they know this beautiful summer had come? Did God send an angel to blow a trumpet and announce it, or write it in golden letters on the blue firmament? No, they felt the warm breath of summer upon them; they saw the fruits and flowers of summer growing and ripening around them. So also they felt the warm breath of God's love dissolving their ice-bound hearts, and the flowers and fruits of God's grace springing up around them. They had thus the double evidence, in their character, of the feelings within and the fruits without. Sealing also meant consecration. As when they wrote a letter to a friend, they did not care to let every one through whose hands it passed know all that was in it, they sealed it; so God's children were secreted. The world knew them not. Under the mystery of love, and under the clods of the sepulchre, God sealed them, on till that day when the trump shall be blown, the seals opened, the treasures displayed. “Then, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day shall I make up my jewels.”2 [Note: Life of Robertson of Irvine (by A. Guthrie), 132.]
