Why would a man be given a new name?

The Old Testament genealogies continue to stretch onward. The next well known name in the list is that of Abram, or Abraham. In order to begin research into his background, I'll again start with the primary source, the Biblical account. This starts in Genesis 11:26, but I will skip a few verses to Genesis 12:1-9:

Now the LORD said to Abram,
            “Go forth from your country,
            And from your relatives
            And from your father’s house,
            To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation,
            And I will bless you,
            And make your name great;
            And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
            And the one who curses you I will curse.
            And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.

Transition to Genesis 17:1-5:

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him,

          "I am God Almighty;
          Walk before Me, and be blameless.

I will establish My covenant between Me and you,
            And I will multiply you exceedingly."
Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,
"As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
            And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
No longer shall your name be called Abram,
            But your name shall be Abraham;
            For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations."

But the name of Abraham is not confined to Genesis alone. Other books in the Old Testament name him (the following instances are not exhaustive, and this does not include the New Testament yet). There is no mistake about the name being belonging to one with a different story:

• Exodus 2:23-24, "Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
• Abraham - portrayed as a historical man.
• Why would God remember a covenant with a man who never lived?
• Why would God relate a detailed covenant of blessing and land (Genesis 12:1-9) to a man who never lived?
• Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--this list of names is replicated numerous times in the Old Testament, indicating that the names must have been rather important to the Israelite people, and to God in speaking with the nation.
• Why would God hearing the groanings of Israel under bondage have anything to do with men (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) who never lived?

• Exodus 3:3-6, "So Moses said, 'I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.' When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then He said, 'Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.' He said also, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God."
• Abraham - portrayed as a historical man.
• God identifies Himself as both the God of Moses' own father, and the God of Abraham.
• How could the father of someone be paralleled with a man who never lived?
• Why would Moses fear if God was identifying himself as the God of imaginary people? Who would fear the lord of an imaginary world?
• Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--again the same genealogical list. 

• Exodus 6:1-5, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.' God spoke further to Moses and said to him, 'I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them. I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.'"
• Abraham - portrayed as a historical man.
• Why would God say He had appeared to imaginary individuals as Almighty God through their imaginary lives?
• Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--again the same genealogical list.
• Why would God Himself reference the sojournings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when these stories were imaginary?
• Why would God Himself say that He made a covenant with imaginary people?

• Deuteronomy 1:6-8, "'The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them."'"
• Abraham - portrayed as a historical man.
• Why would God map out a land promised in an imaginary covenant/with imaginary people?
• Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--again the same genealogical list. 
• Why would the nation of Israel be identified as the descendants of imaginary men?
• How could the sons of Israel possibly be motivated to go and conquer a land promised to them merely through men whom they knew to be fictitious?
• How could the nation of Israel really look upon a land promised to imaginary individuals?

• Deuteronomy 9:25-29, "'So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and nights, which I did because the LORD had said He would destroy you. I prayed to the LORD and said, "O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, 'Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.' Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm."'"
• Abraham - portrayed as a historical man.
• Why would Moses, the current leader of Israel, plead with God turn aside His wrath by remembering imaginary individuals? How could this possibly be a persuasive argument on Moses' part?
• Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--again the same genealogical list. 
• Why would Israel be considered God's people, if so rebellious, unless the stories about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were real?
• Why would the land of Canaan/the Canaanites be likely to mock that God was unable to fulfill promises He never made, or made merely to imaginary people?

Noah--Looking back . . . (Part II)

Resuming exploration of the Biblical Flood in terms of present-day facts and beliefs:

• Subterranean water
• Trapped water - Potentially three times more water in the mineral ringwoodite, 400 miles below Earth's surface, than in surface oceans.
• Aquifers - Supplying ~70% (or more) of fresh water for irrigation and drinking.
• Genesis 7:11, 7:19, 8:3, 8:14, "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened . . . The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered . . . and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased . . . In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry."

• Geysers, showing the reality of forceful expulsion of water from subterranean regions
• Hardly requires a specific source. Here is a Wikipedia list, where most are located in the United States or New Zealand.
• Genesis 7:11, "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened."

• Worldwide, water-deposited sedimentary rocks
• Limestone: Formed by precipitation of calcite from water or by deposition of marine organisms.
• Limestone: Composes ~15% of sedimentary rock in the Earth's crust.
• Oil & Gas Shale (a.k.a. "mudstone"): Found in 46 countries, including vast landlocked regions, as shown in the linked EIA map.
• Genesis 7:17-19, "Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered."

• Un-ending summer, winter, planting, and harvest
• The regularity of seasons is confirmed by the global success of agriculture (talking in general here, not denying localized floods and hurricanes).
• Abnormal seasons are still newsworthy/noteworthy, not commonplace. One example was "The Year Without a Summer", which was still marked by rain rather than snow.
• Genesis 8:20-22, "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, 'I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains,
              Seedtime and harvest,
              And cold and heat,
              And summer and winter,
              And day and night
              Shall not cease.'"

• Mankind filling the earth
• This requires no specific source.
• Genesis 9:1, "And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.'"

• Animals' fear of man
• Seen by anyone who tries to walk up to a deer or a bird in the wild. An animal has to be domesticated to subdue this fear.
• Genesis 9:2, "'The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.'"

• Distastefulness of eating live meat (of animals with blood circulation systems)--(Edited 3/14/2016)
• Generally accepted, with exceptions mainly just dishes prepared for sensational effect.
• Genesis 9:3-4, "'Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.'"

• Retribution of death to murderers
• This may require a specific source today, although not in the past. About 55 countries, according to Death Penalty Worldwide, still consider murder to be punishable by death.
• Genesis 9:6-7, "'Whoever sheds man’s blood,
              By man his blood shall be shed,
              For in the image of God
              He made man.
        As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
              Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.'"
  

Noah--Looking back from today (Part I).

This subject is difficult. Talking about a worldwide flood sounds very strange. Many people can accept the idea of mankind descending from two earlier human ancestors--although there's disagreement where those ancestors came from. But when you raise the idea of a global flood you find yourself patted on the shoulder as a believer in myths:

While some scholars have offered possible explanations for the origins of the flood myth including a legendary retelling of a possible Black Sea deluge, the general mythological exaggeration and implausibility of the story are widely recognized by relevant academic fields. The acknowledgement of this follows closely the development of understanding of the natural history and especially the geology and paleontology of the planet ("Genesis flood narrative." Wikipedia.).

 I will grant that a global flood is not something anyone living has seen.


"The Flood?" Answers in Genesis. 2016. Web. March 5, 2016.


With no one living to tell the tale, I'll turn again to present-day facts and widespread beliefs:

• No worldwide flood in modern, accepted history
• This requires no specific sources.
• Genesis 9:11, "'I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.'"

• The rainbow, broadly visible to both man and beast following rainstorms
•  This requires no specific sources.
• Genesis 9:12-15, "God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.'"

• Giants (i.e. very tall people, often of great strength, some with more than the normal number of toes/fingers)
• Robert Wadlow, native of Illinois, reached 8 ft 11.1 in.
• Anna Swan, Canadian, reached 7 ft 6 in.
• Pranamya Menaria and Devendra Harne, Indian, having 25 total fingers & toes.
• Andre the Giant (a.k.a. the giant "Fezzik" in The Princess Bride movie), French, was a wrestler and reached 7 ft 4 in.
• Jorge Gonzales, Argentinian, was the tallest World Wrestling Federation member, reaching 7 ft 7in.
• Genesis 6:4, "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."
• Numbers 13:32-33, "So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, 'The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.'"
• II Samuel 21:20-21, "There was war at Gath again, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born to the giant. When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down."

• Multicultural accounts of a great flood similar to Noah's
• Escape in an ark/chest:
• Masai (East Africa)
• Altaic (Asia)
• Flood covering the mountains:
• Altaic (Asia)
• Tuvinian (Asia) 
• Salish (North America)
• Survival of only a few people and pairs of animals:
• Altaic (Asia)
• Tuvinian (Asia) 
• Eskimo
• Salish (North America)
• Sending out a bird/animal to discover if the waters had subsided:
• Masai (East Africa)
• Genesis 7:13-20, "On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered."

• Ability of ancients to build large boats

"How large was Noah's Ark?" Answers in Genesis. 2016. Web. March 5, 2016.

• The Leontifera and a 420 ft long later model
• Chinese junks over 400 ft long
• Egyptian ship made of cedar around 450 ft long
• Genesis 6:14-16, "'Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.'"

Conservatively, if 1 cubit = ~1.5 ft (from fingertip to elbow of a man's arm):

• Length = 300 cubits = ~450 ft
• Breadth = 50 cubits = ~75 ft
• Height = 30 cubits = ~45 ft

• Worldwide fossil beds
• Essentially no need for a specific source. Here is one general reference.
• Genesis 6:17, "'Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.'"

• Rapid Fossilization
• Fossilization largely occurs when animal/creature/plant is buried in mud, quickly enough to avoid complete decay.
• Rapid petrifaction of wood with volcanic eruption.
• Fossilization of soft tissue: "The Medusa Effect"

But specimens where no phosphate could be seen still yielded small pieces of phosphatized soft tissue.Tissue types so far recovered include muscle fibres with banding present (Fig.6). Some muscle fibres display ultrastructure and show fibrils and even cell nuclei arranged in neat rows (Fig.7). Underneath the scales small pieces of dermis (skin) are preserved and show thin sheets of muscle and connective tissue. A female Notelops had ovaries with developing eggs inside, and one egg even had phosphatized yolk.

Martill, David M. "The Medusa effect: instantaneous fossilization." Geology Today (1989): 203. Web. Feb. 5, 2016. 

• 80-day mineralization of plants: "Understanding fossilization: Experimental pyritization of plants"
• Genesis 7:11-8:5, "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights . . . Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth . . . In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible."