Photo ©2025 and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take on a totally new identity? Perhaps like being put under the witness protection plan by the F.B.I.? Or maybe we should opt for something not quite as radical such as just changing your name. For many contemporaries the first thing that comes to mind might be how many cards and documents would need to be updated to fit the new you. Start with your driver’s license then work your way through your Social Security card and then, of course, there’s all those credit cards. The task could be quite daunting.
While these peripheral issues may not have been of concern to biblical characters who underwent that change, I suspect it may have taken awhile for some to make the needed adjustment. Did Abraham have to be called twice before he recognized he was being paged? What about Jacob learning to respond when the name Israel was called out? Was the Apostle Paul’s change so absolute that he never thought of himself as Saul ever again? I have to believe each of those individuals was eternally grateful for the change that took place, but were there ever flashbacks to the bad-old-days?
From 1886 until 1985 the Clark’s Grebe shown here was just another Western Grebe with some regional variations. But taxonomists enacted a split and a new species was formed. In all likelihood this made no difference in the slightest to the bird. It was the human observers that had to make the adjustment. But when those humans’ names were changed it wasn’t just a matter of getting a new Master Card. They were changed from inside out, not just a new paint job.