On the Change of Names

A scoffer laughs at a God who rewards Abraham with one extra letter; Philo answers with a theory of why names matter and why God has none.

by Philo of Alexandria95 passages held

English, a translation held here, and your language

Original title: De mutatione nominum
Original language: Ancient Greek

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Overview

Shortly before he wrote this treatise, Philo says, he heard a man mocking the chapter of Genesis in which God renames Abram as Abraham and Sarai as Sarah. What a gift, the man jeered, to add a single letter to a name and, in the Greek, double another in the wife's, and he went on in that vein through example after example. Philo reports that the mocker soon afterwards hanged himself over some trivial slight. Then he sets out to answer him, on the grounds that the error ought not to spread. The answer depends on what a name is. God himself, Philo argues, has no proper name at all, because a name marks off one thing from others and nothing stands beside God; when Scripture calls him Lord or God it is naming his powers, a concession to human need. People, by contrast, change as they grow, and their names mark the change. Abram, the lofty father, was a student of the heavens; Abraham, the chosen father of sound, has become wise. From this Philo explains an oddity of the text: Abraham is never called Abram again, but Jacob goes on being called Jacob after he becomes Israel, since a soul that wins its virtue by effort keeps slipping back; Isaac, whose virtue came by nature rather than by study or practice, never needs a new name at all. Moses renaming his assistant Hoshea as Joshua gets the same treatment. The treatise takes up Genesis 17, the chapter of the covenant and the promise of Isaac's birth, and it kept its long descriptive title through antiquity: the catalogue of Philo's works drawn up by Eusebius in the fourth century lists it as a treatise on those whose names were changed and why they were changed.

Key concepts

Why does God have no proper name in On the Change of Names?

Because a name marks one thing off from others, and nothing stands beside God to be marked off from. Philo reads the answer given to Moses, 'I am that I am', as saying that it is God's nature to be, not to be named. Titles such as Lord and God are real, but they name his powers, not his essence, and Scripture uses them because people need something to call on.

What do the names Lord and God refer to, for Philo?

To two of God's powers, not to God himself. 'God' names the creative power by which the world was made, 'Lord' the kingly power by which it is ruled. So when Scripture says 'the Lord was seen by Abraham', Philo reads it as one of the powers surrounding the cause of all things making itself visible, since no human mind could contain the sight of the cause itself.

What do Abram and Abraham mean?

Abram means 'lofty father' and Abraham 'chosen father of sound'. For Philo the change records a change of mind. Abram studied the heavens and the nature of the world; Abraham turned from the world to the being who created it, and from natural philosophy to the knowledge that makes a person wise and pious. The added letter, which the scoffer thought a paltry gift, marks that conversion.

What are taught, practised and natural virtue in this treatise?

They are the three ways virtue is acquired, embodied by the three patriarchs. Abraham gains it by teaching, Jacob by practice, Isaac by nature. Taught virtue, once learned, stays, so Abraham is never called Abram again. Practised virtue has to be won in struggle and slips back, so Jacob keeps his old name beside Israel. Natural virtue needs no improvement, so Isaac is never renamed.

Themes of the book

What this book returns to, gathered into themes and ordered by how much of the text each one occupies.

A God Who Has No Proper Name

What can a person call the being who made everything? Philo's answer is that nothing fits, and that the titles Scripture uses are a concession to human need.

A name marks one thing off from others, and nothing stands beside God, so God has no proper name at all. When Moses asks what to tell the people, the answer is 'I am that I am', which Philo takes to mean that it is God's nature to be, not to be named; when Jacob, after wrestling, asks the name of his opponent, he is refused. 'Lord' and 'God' name the kingly and the creative powers, which is why Philo can read 'the Lord was seen by Abraham' without claiming that anyone has seen the cause of all things.

language
speech
scriptural interpretation
allegory
divine causation
humility
piety

Enter a dialogue

Why Abraham Stays Abraham and Jacob Slips Back

If a person has truly changed, why does the old name keep coming back? Philo reads the renamings of Genesis as a record of how virtue is won, and how securely it is held.

A scoffer laughed at God rewarding Abram with one extra letter; Philo answers that people change as they grow and their names mark the change. Abram, the lofty father, studied the heavens; Abraham, the chosen father of sound, turned from the world to its maker and became wise. Scripture never calls him Abram again, but Jacob is still called Jacob after he becomes Israel, since virtue won by practice keeps sliding back into the struggle that produced it. Isaac, whose virtue came by nature, keeps his name unchanged. The same reading extends to Hoshea becoming Joshua.

moral development
virtue
education
human nature
repentance
self-control
wisdom

Enter a dialogue

Within this work

passages held: 95
distinct concepts: 180
by passages held, corpus-wide: #511

What this book thinks together

The wheel takes this book’s leading concepts and shows how often they come up together. The wider the band between two, the more of its passages speak of both. Among them, most often together: “allegory” and “virtue”.

Concept co-occurrence, strongest first 7 concepts, joined by 14 pairings. 67 pairings reach beyond these concepts and are not drawn.
Concept	Paired concept	Shared passages
allegory	virtue	12
education	virtue	6
divine providence	virtue	5
allegory	education	4
allegory	wisdom	3
human nature	virtue	3
soul	virtue	3
virtue	wisdom	3
allegory	divine providence	2
divine providence	education	2
divine providence	wisdom	2
allegory	soul	1
education	human nature	1
human nature	wisdom	1

Works held

The author's work in order, this book marked in place. Your-language title first, the original beneath it where the two differ; side chips show which full texts are held.

Against Flaccus (In Flaccum)
Written as a demonstration of divine justice, this account of the Alexandrian riots of 38 CE and of the prefect Philo blamed for them stands with his historical and apologetic works.
EN
Allegorical Interpretation (Legum allegoriae I–III)
The first surviving treatise of the Allegorical Commentary, Philo's long verse-by-verse reading of Genesis, covering its second and third chapters in three books.
EN
Every Good Man Is Free (Quod omnis probus liber sit)
Written in the manner of the Greek schools rather than as commentary on Moses, it is, with On the Eternity of the World, one of Philo's philosophical treatises.
EN
On Abraham (De Abrahamo)
The first of Philo's lives of the patriarchs in the Exposition of the Law, following On the Creation of the World; its companions on Isaac and Jacob are lost, and On Joseph continues the set.
EN
On Cultivation (De agricultura)
Noah the farmer is a subject Philo splits across two treatises; this first one is built on the difference between near-synonyms, and On Planting continues it.
EN
On Dreams (De somniis I–II)
A treatise of the Allegorical Commentary, in two surviving books on the dreams of Jacob, Joseph and Pharaoh's court.
EN
On Drunkenness (De ebrietate)
Of the two books on drunkenness known in antiquity, this is the one that survives; it sits between On Planting and On Sobriety in the Allegorical Commentary's run on Noah and the vine.
EN
On Flight and Finding (De fuga et inventione)
Hagar's flight and the angel who finds her, Genesis 16:6–14, read within the Allegorical Commentary.
EN
On Joseph (De Josepho)
The life of the statesman in Philo's series of patriarch lives within the Exposition of the Law. It follows On Abraham; lives of Isaac and Jacob, now lost, once stood between them.
EN
On Mating with the Preliminary Studies (De congressu eruditionis gratia)
Philo's reading of Genesis 16 as a theory of education, set within the Allegorical Commentary; On Flight and Finding continues Hagar's story.
EN
On Planting (De plantatione)
The second of Philo's two treatises on Noah as farmer, turning from farming in general to the planting of the vineyard.
EN
On Rewards and Punishments (De praemiis et poenis et de exsecrationibus)
The closing treatise of the Exposition of the Law, on the rewards, punishments, blessings and curses the Law sets before its hearers.
EN
On Sobriety (De sobrietate)
A short sequel to On Drunkenness in the Allegorical Commentary, on Noah waking and pronouncing his blessings and curse. Its Greek title names exactly that: what Noah prayed for and cursed once sober.
EN
On the Change of Names (De mutatione nominum) you are here EN
On the Cherubim (De Cherubim)
Two short commentaries joined under one title: the cherubim at Eden's gate, then the birth of Cain. Within the Allegorical Commentary it picks up where the three books of Allegorical Interpretation stop.
EN
On the Confusion of Tongues (De confusione linguarum)
The Tower of Babel in the Allegorical Commentary, opening with a defence of Genesis against critics who likened it to Greek myth.
EN
On the Contemplative Life (De vita contemplativa)
A portrait of the Therapeutae, classed with Philo's historical and apologetic writings; it opens by referring back to his account of the Essenes, the active life to this contemplative one.
EN
On the Creation of the World (De opificio mundi)
The overture to Philo's Exposition of the Law, the series that goes on to lives of the patriarchs and a code of laws. It stands apart as his reading of the creation story in its literal order.
EN
On the Decalogue (De decalogo)
The hinge of the Exposition of the Law, turning from the lives of the patriarchs to the written law.
EN
On the Embassy to Gaius (Legatio ad Gaium)
The companion of Against Flaccus: an eyewitness history of the embassy Philo led to Gaius, and the fullest account he left of his own public life.
EN
On the Eternity of the World (De aeternitate mundi)
Among Philo's philosophical treatises, the one that names the Greek schools and their arguments most openly.
EN
On the Giants and On the Unchangeableness of God (De gigantibus; Quod Deus sit immutabilis)
Two treatises that editions usually separate but that read as one commentary, in the Allegorical Commentary, on the verses of Genesis leading up to the flood.
EN
On the Life of Moses (De vita Mosis I–II)
Philo's biography of Moses in two books, usually counted with the Exposition of the Law though it stands on its own.
EN
On the Migration of Abraham (De migratione Abrahami)
Abraham's call in Genesis 12, read as the soul's migration toward God; in the Allegorical Commentary it follows On the Confusion of Tongues in the order of Genesis.
EN
On the Posterity of Cain (De posteritate Caini)
The last of the Cain treatises in the Allegorical Commentary, following Cain from his exile through his descendants.
EN
On the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain (De sacrificiis Abelis et Caini)
One of the run of treatises on Cain and Abel in the Allegorical Commentary, taking up the brothers' offerings in Genesis 4.
EN
On the Special Laws (De specialibus legibus I–IV)
The largest work in the Exposition of the Law, in four books; it follows On the Decalogue and is followed by On the Virtues.
EN
On the Virtues (De virtutibus)
A pendant to On the Special Laws in the Exposition of the Law, gathering laws under the virtues they train rather than under the Ten Commandments.
EN
The Worse Attacks the Better (Quod deterius potiori insidiari soleat)
It follows On the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain in the Allegorical Commentary and carries the brothers' story on to the murder itself.
EN
Who Is the Heir of Divine Things? (Quis rerum divinarum heres sit)
Best known for its long passage on the Logos dividing the world into opposites, this reading of God's covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15 belongs to the Allegorical Commentary.
EN

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