1388-Sabbath_School_19May_Thu

Believes Unasp - Sabbath School

A Wife for Abraham
Read Genesis 24:67–25:8. What is the meaning of these final events in
the life of Abraham?
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After Sarah died, Abraham married again. Like Isaac, he is com-
forted after the death of Sarah (Gen. 24:67). The memory of Sarah
must still surely be vivid in the mind of the patriarch, as it is for his son.
Yet, the identity of his new wife is unclear. The fact that the chroni-
cler associates Keturah’s sons together with Hagar’s sons, without
mentioning the name of Keturah, suggests, however, that Keturah could
(as some have suggested) be Hagar. It also is significant that Abraham
behaves with Keturah’s sons the same way he did with Hagar’s son:
he sends them away to avoid any spiritual influence and make a clear
distinction between his son with Sarah and the other sons.
He also gives “all that he had unto Isaac” (Gen. 25:5) while he “gave
gifts to the sons of the concubines” (Gen. 25:6, NKJV). The classifica-
tion of “concubines” may also imply that Keturah’s status, like Hagar,
was that of a concubine. The potential identification of Keturah as
Hagar may also explain the subtle allusion to the memory of Sarah as
a prelude to his marriage with Keturah-Hagar.
What’s interesting is that in Genesis 25:1–4, 12–18, a list of the
children that Abraham had with Keturah, as well as a list of Ishmael’s
children, is given. The purpose of the genealogy after Abraham’s mar-
riage with Keturah, who gave him six sons, versus his two other sons
(Isaac and Ishmael), is perhaps to provide immediate evidence of God’s
promise that Abraham would father many nations.
The second genealogy concerned the descendants of Ishmael, who
also composed 12 tribes (compare with Gen. 17:20), just as Jacob’s
would (Gen. 35:22–26). Of course, God’s covenant will be reserved to
the seed of Isaac (Gen. 17:21), not Ishmael, a point that Scripture is
very clear about.
The report of Abraham’s death sandwiched between the two gene-
alogies (Gen. 25:7–11) also testifies to God’s blessing. It reveals the
fulfillment of His promise to Abraham, made many years earlier, that
he would die “ ‘at a good old age’ ” (Gen. 15:15, NKJV) and “full of
years” (compare with Eccles. 6:3).
In the end, the Lord remained true to His promises of grace to His
faithful servant Abraham, whose faith is depicted in Scripture as a great
example, if not the best example, in the Old Testament of salvation by
faith (see Rom. 4:1–12).