(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.”
(Genesis 25:1-4)
Abraham was an aging man who was all dried up until the Lord made him a promise. Abraham grabbed a hold of that promise and didn’t let go until he was restored. That restoration wasn’t a one-off. He was RESTORED. He fathered Ishamel, Isaac, and after Sarah died and he re-married he fathered six more children. Abraham was 140 years old at a minimum when he married Keturah and fathered these six kids in the thirty-five years that followed. THAT is restoration. THAT is a promise of God.
Isaac was the child of the promise. It was through him and him alone that the nation of Israel sprang up. But Abraham’s other children also contributed to the fulfillment of the promise because they too became nations – come of whom interacted with Israel and other people in the bible. Sheba fathered the Sabeans who took Job’s cattle (Job 1:15). Midian fathered the Midianties who were enemies of Israel and also who took Joseph and sold him to the Ishmaelites (Genesis 37:28, 36). They were also those Moses hid among when he left Egypt searching for a word from God – even taking a wife there (Exodus 2:15-22). Gideon also fought against the Midianites (Judges 6-8).
Who was this Keturah? Some believe she was just a woman Abraham met, fell for, and married. But there are others who believe a story – that has no corroboration in the Word – that I particularly like. The name Keturah means ‘sweet incense’. The story goes that Keturah is actually Hagar. That there had been some feelings between Hagar and Abraham, and when she left she stayed faithful to him. After his first love Sarah died, he sought her out and married her – preferring her to all others now that his beloved Sarah had passed on. That her name change reflected her personality change, that she had converted to a follower of Yahweh and her life was now a sweet incense to the Lord. I like the idea of some romance between Abraham and Hagar. I like the idea that they found each other years later and made a new family together. But again, there is zero proof in the Word. We only have a name and the details are not given. Details that are unimportant because they are not the main thrust of the story: God’s faithful relationship with humanity and His special relationship with the bloodline that chose to trust in Him and make covenant with Him.
The sage Rashi writes: ‘קטורה KETURAH — This is Hagar. She was named Keturah because her deeds were as beautiful (sweet) as incense (Ketoreth) (Genesis Rabbah 61). And since she closed her ‘opening,’ as she did not mate with anyone from the time she separated from Avraham (Genesis Rabbah 61:4).’
The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 1. That Abraham married again is not so surprising when we remember that he lived thirty-five years longer after Sarah’s death, more than the average length of married life nowdays. Apart from that, our sages teach that a man is not “whole” without a wife, the task of a human being is at all times too great to be able to be fully accomplished by one person alone. According to Reb Yehuda (ב״ר) Ketura is only another name for Hagar, the same wife whom Sarah had led to him. Thereby one can not overlook how pure and human our sages regarded a relationship which later on is regarded as sad and depressing. Isaac, they say, went to the well in the desert to bring Hagar to Abraham to be what we call his “step-mother”. And still he had loved his mother so much. And when he went there he was still inconsolable for the loss of his mother! Now whether one takes this as an actual historical happening or whether the story was meant to be merely a means of teaching, in any case it shows — and in the latter case, even more forcibly — the point of view which was prevalent in the time of our sages. How much lower does even our present day aspect sink in which the relation of a second wife to grown-up children of the father tends to be strained if not actually hostile. According to Reb. Yehuda the ויוסף ויקח means “he took again”, and על פי דבור, following the same Divine command which previously had ordered him to obey Sarah who had demanded that Hagar be sent away. Hagar had lived since then as קטורה (קטר, Chaldean for knotted, tied up) closed up and lonely, without connection with any other man (her name Hagar, related to הגר ,אגר has a similar meaning) otherwise probably Abraham would not have been allowed to take her back. V. 3. אשורם etc. seem to be, as Onkelos takes it too, not proper names, but the names of tribes, expressing their national characters, אשר, walking straight forward from which אשורים would come, those who walk straight ahead, living in the plains. לטושים from לטש to sharpen, perhaps living individually armed, able to look after themselves.’
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘In the previous story, Abraham’s concern was providing Isaac with a wife. In this unit, he takes steps to ensure that his other sons shall have no portion in the inheritance of the land of Canaan, which is destined for Isaac’s hands alone. In this manner, he fulfills Sarah’s demand that others will not inherit with her son Isaac (21:10). Some interpreters see Keturah as one of Abraham’s concubines, since v. 6 mentions “the sons of Abraham’s concubines.” Such is in fact stated in I Chronicles 1:32. The name Keturah is connected in Hebrew to incense and fragrant spices (see Song of Songs 3:6). The Bible gives no further information about her (but see Post-biblical Interpretations). 2–4. The names of the sons of Keturah are those of nomadic desert tribes.’
The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘Following the banishment of Ishmael to the desert with Hagar, the death of Sarah, and the marriage of Isaac, Abraham, who was left alone, took another wife, and her name was Ketura. And Yokshan begot Sheva and Dedan. These tribes possibly lived in the southern Arabian peninsula. Sheva and Dedan also appear in the list of the sons of Raama, son of Kush, son of Ham (see 10:7). And the sons of Dedan were Ashurim, and Letushim, and Le’umim. These are either simply the names of the tribes, or descriptions of their character traits, which mean, respectively: Those who dwell in encampments, those who are swift, and those who form nation-units. And the sons of Midyan, who is listed here among the sons of Abraham, were: Ephah, and Efer, and Hanokh, and Avida, and Eldaa. All these were the children of Ketura. Since Abraham was very old and had been infertile until the births of Ishmael and Isaac, some commentaries suggest that these were the sons of Ketura alone, and were not Abraham’s, although he raised them in his house. However, this explanation is not particularly convincing. It seems more likely that whereas Abraham considered himself elderly and advanced in age, he was still quite capable of procreation and he himself fathered a number of children from Ketura. It can also be inferred from here and from the story of the birth of Ishmael that it was Sarah who was infertile.’
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