15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

Earlier Abram received his new name and became Abraham. Now it is Sarai’s turn, and her new name, Sarah, means “Princess,” which is explained in the statement “kings of people shall be of her.” Abraham’s new name signified that he would be the patriarch of many nations, Sarah’s new name signified that those nations would be populated with heroes and royalty, figures both mighty and important.

Just consider a few examples of the progeny that would come through this “princess:” Joseph the prince of Egypt, Moses the liberator, Joshua the conqueror, Gideon the miracle fighter, Samuel the counselor to kings, David the warrior-poet, Solomon the wise monarch, Samson the strong, Daniel the faithful, Elijah the caller-down of fire, Esther the bold queen, and of course Jesus the savior of the world.

Abraham and Sarah were going to be the foundation for something great and powerful, and now they had names to reflect that. I do wonder what sort of insight they might have had as to the caliber of their future family. Did they ever have visions of the mighty sons and daughters that would look back and revere them?