Question: What is the significance of God changing Abram’s name to Abraham?

Answer: When God chose to change Abraham’s name from Abram to Abraham a new era of human history began. Up until the time of Abraham God’s will and expectation was that all human beings should obey his commandments and draw closer and closer to him. Repeatedly human beings failed to live up to God’s expectations and will. God recognized that a priestly people was needed to help guide humanity to come to the close relationship with Him that He desired from the time before the first man drew his first breath. God recognized in Abraham a capacity to not only learn who God was for himself but how to communicate the knowledge of God to others and aide them in drawing closer to God. God saw that this capacity would be similarly shared by Abraham’s descendants through Sara. God changed Abraham’s name from Abram to Abraham to signify the much larger scope of responsibility Abraham was chosen to bear. I hope this helps answer your question.

Shalom,
Adam