In Genesis, God changed Abram's name to Abraham and the name of his wife from Sarai to Sarah. In the posts for October 6th and 7th I had some thoughts about this. Rabbi Nehemiah's writings are certainly not scripture, especially for a Protestant Christian, but the quote above raises an interesting question. What could it mean that God united his name with Isaac?
God told Abraham and Sarah that the heir would not be Ishmael, Abraham's beloved son by his wife's Egyptian slave woman, but a new son by the very old Sarah. They both laughed out loud. Some commentators try to make this a laugh of joy or an exclamation of surprise, but the Bible says Abraham fell down laughing. (Genesis 17: 17-19)
God told them the son would be named Isaac (Yitzhak = Hebrew = "he laughs.") This could have been a reference to Abraham's laughter. Maybe God laughed at them for their silliness in not believing that He could fulfill His promise even with old folk like them.
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