Abraham -- Polygamists in the Bible - Biblical Polygamy . com </script> Faithful friend of God and father of the Hebrew nation "Father of the faithful" 3 Wives - Sarah, Hagar and Keturah "Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar." Genesis 16:1 "And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife." Genesis 16:3 "Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah." Genesis 25:1 Genesis 25 GW - Abraham’s Second Marriage and His - Bible Gateway Genesis 25GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) Abraham’s Second Marriage and His Death 25 Abraham married again, and his wife’s name was Keturah. 2 Keturah gave birth to these sons of Abraham: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan.

Dedan’s descendants were the Assyrians, the Letushites, and the Leummites. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were the descendants of Keturah. 5 Abraham left everything he had to Isaac. 6 But while he was still living, Abraham had given gifts to the sons of his concubines.[ a ] He sent them away from his son Isaac to a land in the east. 7 Abraham lived 175 years. 8 Then he took his last breath, and died at a very old age. After a long and full life, he joined his ancestors in death. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite. The cave is east of Mamre. 10 This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer Lahai Roi. The 12 Tribes of Ishmael 12 This is the account of the descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael.

He was the son of Sarah’s Egyptian slave Hagar and Abraham. 13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth (Ishmael’s firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and their names listed by their settlements and camps—12 leaders of their tribes. 17 Ishmael lived 137 years. Then he took his last breath and died. He joined his ancestors in death. 18 His descendants lived as nomads from the region of Havilah to Shur, which is near Egypt, in the direction of Assyria. They all fought with each other. Esau and Jacob 19 This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac and his descendants. Abraham was the father of Isaac. 20 Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 When the children inside her were struggling with each other, she said, “If it’s like this now, what will become of me?”[ b ] So she went to ask the Lord. 23 The Lord said to her, “Two countries are in your womb. Two nations will go their separate ways from birth. One nation will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” 24 When the time came for her to give birth, she had twins. 25 The first one born was red. His whole body was covered with hair, so they named him Esau [Hairy]. 26 Afterwards, his brother was born with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, and so he was named Jacob [Heel]. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born. 27 They grew up. Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob remained a quiet man, staying around the tents. 28 Because Isaac liked to eat the meat of wild animals, he loved Esau. However, Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once, Jacob was preparing a meal when Esau, exhausted, came in from outdoors. 30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Let me have the whole pot of red stuff to eat—that red stuff—I’m exhausted.” This is why he was called Edom.[ c ] 31 Jacob responded, “First, sell me your rights as firstborn.” 32 “I’m about to die.” Esau said. “What good is my inheritance to me?” 33 “First, swear an oath,” Jacob said. So Esau swore an oath to him and sold him his rights as firstborn. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau a meal of bread and lentils. He ate and drank, and then he got up and left. This is how Esau showed his contempt for his rights as firstborn. Footnotes: Sarah/Sarai: Bible | Jewish Women's Archive by Tikva Frymer-Kensky Sarah is the wife of Abraham, the mother of Isaac, and thus the ancestress of all Israel. The Bible explains that Sarai was her earlier name and that she was renamed at the annunciation of the birth of Isaac (Gen 17:15). Sarah’s ancestry is not clear.

Genesis 11 relates that Abram and his brother Nahor married Sarai and Milcah, respectively (v. 29). It does not name Sarah’s father, even though it relates that Milcah was the daughter of Haran, Terah’s other son, and then names Haran’s other daughter, Iscah. When Gen 11:31 tells that “Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife” from Ur to Haran, it does not call Sarai Terah’s granddaughter. However, in Genesis 20, when Abraham explains his wife-sister ruse to Abimelech of Gerar, he claims that Sarah is his non-uterine sister (v. 12). This contradiction has led some readers to identify Sarah with the otherwise unknown Iscah. But this would make Sarai Abram’s niece, not his half sister; it would not explain why she is identified as daughter-in-law to Terah, not as his daughter. Sarah and Abraham come to Israel as part of God’s promise of numerous progeny and the land (Gen 12:1–5).

Because Sarah’s importance to this promise is not at first obvious, the promise is immediately endangered. Forced by famine to leave the land, Abraham is fearful that Egyptians will kill him in order to take the beautiful Sarah. His concerns make sense in the biblical milieu, for in the Bible, beauty sets up the beautiful to be desired and taken. Indeed, Esther and Judith, at the close of the biblical period, are the first to use their beauty to their people’s advantage. Furthermore, in the ancient world adultery was considered a very grievous offense, possibly even worse than murder. Thus Abraham’s solution seems bizarre; he asks Sarah to say that she is his sister. They would still take her, but they would not kill Abraham, who would thus “share a wife and save a life.” The ruse might have some advantage for Sarah, for a brother was somewhat of a protector, whereas a widow had no protection of any kind. It certainly enriched Abraham, who was given bride wealth for a sister, something that he would never have received as a husband. Genesis 12 relates this strange wife-sister episode in a matter-of-fact fashion.

Genesis 20, the parallel account in which Abraham tries this ruse in Gerar, adds new details that perhaps show concern about Abraham’s actions that developed after the original telling of the story. The Gerar story emphasizes that Abimelech never touched Sarah because God immediately intervened with dreams. Moreover, the narrator is not at ease with the wife-sister ruse and may no longer understand it. So Abraham not only relates that Sarah is his half-sister, but also makes it clear that the ruse is done by the grace and benevolence of Sarah. Although the wife-sister stories are difficult to understand, the fact that Sarah becomes a slave in Pharaoh’s house serves to foreshadow Israel’s later bondage in Egypt. She herself is not in danger of her life—but the reader knows that nascent Israel is in danger of losing its ancestress. And so God acts to protect Sarah by afflicting “Pharaoh and his house with great plagues” (Gen 12:17) until he realizes the problem and sends Sarah away. Protection and plague foreshadow Israel’s later redemption at the exodus.

Sarah’s barrenness also endangers the promise and prompts her to give her handmaiden Hagar to Abraham as a surrogate womb (Gen 16:1–2), a custom known also from Mesopotamia. The plan goes awry when the pregnant Hagar no longer acknowledges Sarah’s superiority. Sarah feels displaced and turns her anger on Abraham, declaring, “May the wrong done to me be on you!” and “May the Lord judge between you and me!” (Gen 16:5). Her own experience of servitude in Egypt perhaps has made her feel threatened by the Egyptian Hagar rather than sympathetic to her. Her status as first wife is not invulnerable: she has been given away before, in the wife-sister ruse, and she may now be vulnerable to Hagar, who conceives and will bear Abraham’s heir. Abraham then restores the authority over Hagar to Sarah. However, Hagar’s child Ishmael is never considered part of Sarah’s domain; Abraham has all the authority in the family, and he, rather than Sarah, names Ishmael (compare the stories of Rachel and Leah, who do name the offspring of their surrogates Bilhah and Zilpah).

Abraham seems content to keep Sarah out of the loop and to consider Ishmael the child of the promise. The miracles that God performed for Sarah in Egypt have not taught him her importance. God informs him that, although Ishmael will have his own destiny, the promise—as formalized in God’s covenant—will come through Sarah. God therefore renames her and blesses her when announcing the birth of Isaac (Gen 17:15–21). Abraham falls on his face, laughing (Gen 17:17) because of their age (he is one hundred years old, and she is ninety) just as Sarah laughs when she hears the second announcement of the birth (Gen 18:11–15). God ignores Abraham’s laughter, but reacts to Sarah’s. After all, Sarah should understand how important she is, for God has already worked miracles for her. Sarah’s importance in God’s scheme means that God will have zero tolerance for skepticism from her. Sarah’s importance is certainly clear after she sees Ishmael “sporting” (NRSV, “playing”; Hebrew mezahek) at Isaac’s weaning.

The Septuagint reads “playing with him” (with Isaac), which has led some readers to suspect abuse. But however innocent this act may have been, it was Isaac named as “the one who plays” who was supposed to be doing it. Sarah therefore intervenes, urging Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham, who considers Ishmael his son, is reluctant; but God once again emphasizes Sarah’s importance and tells Abraham to do what she says. As a result, Abraham emancipates Hagar and Ishmael and sends them away as freed slaves. Having secured Isaac’s position in the family, Sarah disappears from Genesis. She plays no role in the near sacrifice of Isaac. She dies at the age of 127 in Hebron (Gen 23:1–2). Abraham buys his first real property in the land of Israel, the Cave of Machpelah, in order to bury her (Gen 23:19). She is mentioned three more times in the Book of Genesis (24:36; 25:10–12). She is remembered in the prophecies of Isaiah 51 (v.

2) as the ancestress of her people. Bibliography Biddle, Mark E. “The ‘Endangered Ancestress’ and Blessing for the Nations.” Journal of Biblical Literature 109 (1990): 599–611. Bledstein, Adrien J. “The Trials of Sarah.” Judaism 30 (Fall 1981): 411–417. Eichler, Barry. “On Reading Genesis 12:10–20.” In Tehillah Le-Moshe: Biblical and Judaic Studies in Honor of Moshe Greenberg. Indiana: 1997, 23–38. Exum, J. Cheryl. “Who’s Afraid of ‘the Endangered Ancestress’?” In The New Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible, edited by J. Cheryl Exum and David J. A. Clines. Sheffield, England: 91–113. Meyers, Carol, General Editor. Women in Scripture. New York: 2000. Trible, Phyllis.

“Genesis 22: The Sacrifice of Sarah.” In Not in Heaven: Coherence and Complexity in Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: 1984, 92–116. How many wives and concubines did Abraham have? - Learn More About The Bible - This Is Your Bible How many wives and concubines did Abraham have? "how many wives and concubine abraham had gen25:5 ? maybe more then 3?" A visitor writes, "how many wives and concubine abraham had gen25:5 ? maybe more then 3?" Thanks for asking a question on thisisyourbible.com Sarah was Abraham's wife. Hagar was a concubine given to Abraham by Sarah. After Sarah's death, Abraham took another "wife" according to Genesis 25:1. However in a later record she is called a concubine Genesis 25:6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. Genesis 25:1 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.

Genesis 25:4 And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 1 Chronicles 1:32 Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan. It would seem then that Abraham's sons by Keturah were not considered heirs so she was indeed a concubine as 1 Chronicles 1:32 has it. Genesis 25:1 is not incorrect because a concubine is a secondary wife. Genesis 25:6 seems to indicate that he had other concubines of lesser status than Keturah but we cannot be sure as we aren't told specifically who they were or what their names were. Genesis 25:6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

If you want to come to grips with what the Bible really teaches, why not take the free Bible study course on You may take this course either online or by regular mail. This course will give you a background in the major themes of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. As with everything we offer, there is no cost to you other than your time and effort. You will also have a personal tutor to whom you may pose questions either from the course itself or those questions which come to you as you read the Bible. To sign up for the course, go to and click on the “Register” menu item just under the “Learn about your Bible with us” banner. Select the course you wish to do and click on “Register now”. Fill in the registration form and submit it. If you sign up for the free online Bible course, you will be able to start immediately. I hope you have found this helpful. KETURAH KETURAH, THE THIRD WIFE OF ABRAHAM Much has been made about young women marrying old men for their money, fame, and fortune. Abraham had all these when he remarried after the death of his wife Sarah.

ï¿½And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.ï¿½ (Gen. 24:1) The widower Abraham was over 137 years old when he married a very young woman of child-bearing age named Keturah. ï¿½Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummin. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.ï¿½ (Gen. 25:4-5) Keturah bore Abraham six sons and took care of him until he died at the ripe old age of 175. (Gen.

25:7-8) Itï¿½s interesting that many Bible scholars overlook the fact that Shem, Noahï¿½s youngest son on the Ark was the founder of Abrahamï¿½s Shemitic heritage, and he was still alive at the time of Abrahamï¿½s death. Father Shem outlived ï¿½father Abrahamï¿½ by 35 years, according to Genesis 11:10-26, and he died at the ripe old age of 600 years. The origin of Abrahamï¿½s third wife, Keturah, is not disclosed in the biblical record although many other sources allege she was a Canaanite. However, much evidence in Scripture leads us to believe Keturah was indeed a descendent of Ham through one of his sons other than Canaan. For it is highly unlikely that Abraham would himself marry a Canaanite, because in choosing a wife for his favorite son Isaac, he gave strict instructions that his son was not to wed any of the ï¿½daughters of the Canaanites.ï¿½ (Gen.

24:3) Abraham instilled this in Isaac, and when Isaac and his wife Rebecca were considering bridal prospects for their twins, they agreed that ï¿½the daughters of Heth,ï¿½ Canaanite women, were not to be considered. (Gen. 27:46) Jacob honored his parentsï¿½ wishes to marry within his Shemitic lineage, but did not promote these marital values to his twelve sons. However, his twin brother, Esau, married Canaanite women to spite his parents, Isaac and Rebecca. (Gen. 26:34, 34:1-9) Nevertheless, one must remember that Abraham did not mind mixing his seed with a descendent of Hamï¿½s race named ï¿½Hagar the Egyptian,ï¿½ from the land of Ham. (Gen. 21:9, 16:1) KETURAHï¿½S LINEAGE ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE In order to deduce Keturahï¿½s lineage, we must recall that Abraham mixed his Shemitic blood with Hagarï¿½s Hamitic blood to produce Ishmael, the first Arabian.

After Abraham married Keturah, he then fathered six Arabian sons by her. (Gen. 25:1-3) Through logical deduction, we can see the recipe to produce the first Arabian: Abraham mingling his Shemitic seed with a Hamitic woman, Hagar. It follows that since all of Keturahï¿½s children by Abraham were also Arabs, then she, like Hagar had to be a descendant of Hamï¿½s bloodline and thus of Negroid descent. Although both women were descendants of Ham, neither Keturah nor Hagar were Canaanites. Though their sons were the foundation of todayï¿½s Arab nations, the Arabians swear allegiance to Abraham, and give no thought to their founding black mothers, Hagar or Keturah. In modern slang the Shemitic lineage is all about, ï¿½Whoï¿½s ya daddy?ï¿½ This is tremendously good information but nothing in comparison to the whole story that can be yours.

Order Blacks in the Bible today with the $10.00 off coupon at WWW.BLACKSINTHEBIBLE.NET Keturah and Abraham’s Other Children | Coat of Many Colors – A Geek and the Bible Coat of Many Colors – A Geek and the Bible Joe Pranevich 7 Comments His story being told, God grants Abraham something of a retirement for a job well done: roughly 35 years where he can settle down with a new wife, have six more children, and generally just stay out of the way. Isaac and his descendants will take the stage in a moment, but before that happens let’s take a brief look at Keturah, his new wife, and what the bible says about his new children. It’s not much, but anything the bible can do to flesh out the final days of the first great patriarch is welcome. A mysterious new wife (that may have been an old wife)? New children who will lead great nations? Read on! Is Keturah the same person as Hagar? “Expulsion of Ishmael and His Mother by Abraham” by Gustave Doré (Source: Wikimedia Commons) When it comes to describing Abraham’s new wife and children, the bible is very straight-forward.

In fact, it doesn’t describe them at all: Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah. Genesis 25:1-4 And that’s it, or nearly so. In fact, the Book of Chronicles also briefly covers this in their opening genealogy: The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. […] The sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

1 Chronicles 1:28,32-33 Eagle-eyed observers will note only two differences between those two lists: Keturah is called a “wife” in Genesis and a “concubine” in Chronicles, and the chronicler omits the tribes descended from Dedan. Neither Sarah nor Hagar are named in the chronicler’s account either, even though Keturah is. I find that odd, but can’t explain it. Truth is, Keturah is much more prominent in Jewish legends than she is in the Torah itself. The fact that she is called both Abraham’s “wife” and “concubine” has given commentators through the ages some pause; some speculate that she was first a concubine and then a wife. From there, it’s a relatively easy step to make the connections that Jews since antiquity have. Let me quote Rashi here: This is Hagar. She was called Keturah because her deeds were as beautiful as incense, and because she tied her opening, for she was not intimate with any man from the day she separated from Abraham.

Abraham’s treatment of Hagar was shameful and it’s very easy for us as readers (today and in the past) to wish that she had been redeemed and that they could be happy together in their old age. And yet, tradition aside, there is scant textual evidence for that claim. If they were the same person, you might expect Chronicles to list Ishmael as one of her children, but it does not. It would be beautiful if Keturah was Hagar, but I cannot bring myself to believe that she is. You may make a different choice than I and still be in great company. Abraham and Keturah’s Children The descendants of Abraham and Keturah from Genesis 25 Some people find the “begats”, the seemingly endless lists of names that sometimes haunt Genesis and the later books, as being boring or unimportant. I cannot bring myself to find anything that is in the bible (and especially the Torah) unimportant, though it is sometimes challenging– but this particular set isn’t particularly difficult. You can discover some amazing things in the bible if you pay attention to the little details! For those of you that don’t find this all that interesting, I’ll try to keep it moving.

Of the six named children, only Midian unambiguously has an impact on the rest of the story. Sheba, Dedan, and the Ashurites might be mentioned later, though it is unclear if the references (such as the famous “Queen of Sheba” who tests Solomon’s wisdom) are to these individual’s descendants or others with similar names. But why is that? Why are people as important as Abraham’s children not involved in the story? Because he wanted it that way: But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. Genesis 25:6 Abraham sent the rest of the children away, so they couldn’t interfere with the promise that God had made him. And if you think about it, that must have hurt him very much as a father, to see these children move far away– none of them were present even to bury him. And this verse implies that he may yet have had other concubines and other children which the Torah doesn’t name.

Midian and the Midianites “The Women of Midian Led Captive by the Hebrews”, watercolor by James Tissot, c1890-1900 (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Of Abraham’s six sons, only Midian ends up with some dubious prominence later in the bible. Midian will become the patriarch of the Midianites, a tribe and religion that will feature prominently in the biblical story: Joseph was sold by his brothers to Midianites, Moses’s father-in-law was a priest of the Midian religion, and Israel will later fight a war (and fail to genocide) the Midian people. Actually, that’s worth dwelling on for a moment because it’s one of the more shameful passages in the whole of the bible. It saddens me to even remember it: They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. […] The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.

[…] Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle. “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. [..] Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. Numbers 31:7-18 Some Midian women had led Israelites astray, so God commanded that every Midianite man be slaughtered. It hardly seems fair, but I’ll get to that eventually when we get to the Book of Numbers. If there is any good here, it’s that the genocide failed. God later used the Midianites to punish the Israelites, so I guess what goes around comes around: The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Judges 6:1 Why did the Midians become such a thorn in the Israelite side? I think the answer lies in geography. While Abraham sent his later children away to the east, at least some Midianites emigrated west.

Moses found his father-in-law quite near Egypt and Midianite merchants were with the Ishmaelites that Joseph was sold to. By the time of the judges though, the Midianites were an eastern people (Judges 6:3) so they must have been pushed back by their war with Israel. Sheba, and Dedan, and the Ashurites “The Queen of Sheba Kneeling Before King Solomon”, painting by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Of Abraham’s five remaining sons, not one is mentioned again in the bible– but there are three of his descendants, Sheba, Dedan, and the Ashurites– that might possibly be related to tribes later but probably aren’t. This is because none of those are the first times those names are used in the Torah and when they are used later, textual evidence points at the earlier figure as being the patriarch. While Genesis often tells us that such-and-such is the father of a tribe, it just as often doesn’t. So for Midian, for example, we are left to infer that the Midianites are related to him rather than being explicitly told so.

Sheba, Abraham’s grandson through Jokshan is a great example of this. You probably associate Sheba with the Queen of Sheba, a woman who visited the court of King Solomon to discover his wisdom. Was Abraham’s grandson Sheba the patriarch of that tribe? It’s difficult to know. The Torah speaks of three people named Sheba: Sheba, the son of Raamah in Genesis 10:7, a descendant of Cush and four generations after Noah. Had a brother named Dedan. Sheba, the son of Joktan in Genesis 10:28, a descendant of Shem and seven generations after Noah. Sheba, the son of Jokshan in Genesis 25:3, Abraham’s grandson and twelve generations after Noah. Had a brother named Dedan. Which of these three is the patriarch of the tribe of Sheba? My money goes on the first one. Extra-biblical sources place the Queen of Sheba as being from roughly Ethiopia, biblically Cushite territory. But look at those “coincidences”: Two of the Shebas had brothers named Dedan, and a different two had fathers named (roughly) Joktan!

This suggests to me that we have some cut-and-paste going on by the original writers of Genesis, perhaps to give Abraham credit for fathering those tribes or perhaps just by the accident of similar names. If you are looking for a less meta-textual explanation, you could always just say that Abraham’s grandchildren were named in honor of the sons of Ramaah. Similar stories exist for Dedan (the two mentions above plus additional others that suggest he was descended from Esau) and the Ashurites (listed as descendants of Shem as well as the name of an Assyrian god). If anyone is interested, I can trace those references to show the ambiguity, but I suspect that’s only interesting to me. And that’s it! 1600 words devoted to Abraham’s final children. I’m very glad that God gave him this retirement after all of his troubles. Although he’s not mentioned in the stories, Abraham lived until Jacob and Esau were around fifteen, so he very well could have been in the background of those stories, a loving but silent grandparent. Up next: One of my favorite tiny stories in the Torah Apologetics Press - Was Keturah Abraham's Wife or Concubine?

Was Keturah Abraham's Wife or Concubine? by Eric Lyons, M.Min. Although Keturah is mentioned only four times in the Bible (in two different sections of Scripture—Genesis 25:1,4; 1 Chronicles 1:32-33), her relationship to Abraham has come under severe scrutiny. Skeptics have charged the Bible writers with erring in regard to their portrayal of Keturah. Allegedly, Genesis 25:1 and 1 Chronicles 1:32 are contradictory, because the first passage indicates Keturah was Abraham’s “wife,” while the other says she was “Abraham’s concubine.” Based upon the understanding of some that there is a distinction of the words “wife” (Hebrew ‘ iššâ) and “concubine” (pilegeš) during the monarchic period, even some Bible believers may be somewhat perplexed at the different titles given to Keturah. Was she Abraham’s wife, or was she his concubine? Many are aware that during David’s reign as Israel’s king, he had “wives” and “concubines” (2 Samuel 19:5).

Also, during Solomon’s kingship, “he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines” (1 Kings 11:3). In these contexts, the terms “ wives” (‘iššâ) and “concubines” (pilegeš) are distinct terms that rarely, if ever, are used interchangeably. Such begs the question, “Why was Keturah called Abraham’s wife in one passage, and his concubine in another?” Are these two sections of Scripture really contradictory, as Bible critics would have us believe? First, for Genesis 25:1 and 1 Chronicles 1:32-33 to be a contradiction, one must know whether or not these passages are referring to the same time. It is possible that Keturah was Abraham’s “concubine” in the beginning, and then became his “wife” at a later time. If such were the case, Bible writers could legitimately use both terms when describing her.

Second, although it was unusual for the terms “wives” and “concubines” to be used interchangeably during the monarchic period, evidence indicates that in patriarchal times, using these terms to refer to the same person was somewhat normal. Consider the following: And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east (25:5-6, emp. added). Isaac, son of Sarah, was set apart from all of Abraham’s other sons, which were born to him by his concubines. By implication, Keturah, who was not the mother of Isaac, was described as a concubine (cf. 1 Chronicles 1:32). Bilhah, Rachel’s maid (Genesis 29:29), was one of Jacob’s “concubines” (35:22). But, she also was called his “wife,” both before and after she gave birth to two of Jacob’s sons (30:4; 37:2).

Genesis 16:3 calls Hagar Abraham’s “wife” (‘iššâ), while Genesis 25:6 implies that Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant, also was his “concubine” (pilegeš). Although Genesis 25:1 says, “Abraham again took a wife” (Keturah), verse 6 of that same chapter indicates Keturah also was his concubine. Hebrew scholar Victor Hamilton believes this concubine-wife relationship to be dissimilar to what was seen during the days of David and Solomon. It is reasonable to conclude that this “coidentification” in Genesis indicates “that the concubines of Abraham and Jacob were not pilagšîm [concubines—EL] in the later sense, but that no term was available for that type of concubinage; thus pilegeš and ‘iššâ were used as synonyms to describe these women in the patriarchal narratives” (1990, p. 446). In an article that the late Semitist Dr.

Chaim Rabin wrote regarding the origin pilegeš, he stated: “By alternating the terms within the easily apprehended framework of a story, a similar impression of ‘in-betweenness’ was created” (1974, p. 362). Keturah was a concubine-wife. Its seems that she was more than a concubine (often considered a second-rate wife of servant status), but not on a par with Sarah, Abraham’s first “wife,” and mother of the promised son (Genesis 17:15-22). Just as Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine-wife, did not rival Rachel or Leah, Keturah was not equivalent with Sarah. Thus, Bible writers were not mistaken when referring to Keturah and Bilhah as both wives and concubines; they simply used two words to indicate the “in-between” position the women held. REFERENCES Hamilton, Victor P. (1990), The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).

Rabin, Chaim (1974), “The Origin of the Hebrew Word Pilegeš,” Journal of Jewish Studies, 25:362.

Sarah, Sarai, Sara - All the Women of the Bible - Bible Gateway Sarah, Sarai, Sara The Woman Who Became Mother of Nations Scripture References— Genesis 11:29-31; 12:5-17; 16:1-8; 17:15-21; 18; 20:2-18; 21:1-12; 23:1-19; 24:36, 37; 25:10, 12; 49:31; Isaiah 51:2; Romans 4:19; 9:9; Hebrews 11:11; 1 Peter 3:6 Name Meaning—Among the classified names of the Bible are those known as sacramental names, and are so-called because they were names given by God Himself, or under His inspiration in association with a particular promise, covenant or declaration of His, as to the character, destiny or mission of those distinctly named. Thus a sacramental name became a sign and seal of an established covenant between God and the recipient of such a name.

Two Bible characters bearing sacramental names are Abraham and Sarah, both of which signify the gracious purposes and promises of God. The wife of the patriarch was originally known as Sarai, meaning “princely” or “a princess.” Elsdon C. Smith suggests it may signify “contentious” or “quarrelsome,” but was changed, not accidentally, or by the whim of the bearer, but by God Himself that it might be a sign of His purpose, into Sarah, implying the princess, a princess or princesses, the source of nations and kings. Sarah or “chieftainness,” the feminine of Sar, meaning a “captain” or “commander” is repeatedly used in this sense as a common noun as, for instance, by Isaiah who renders it “queen” ( Isaiah 49:23 ). It has been observed that among ancient Jews there was a sort of a cabalistic translation that “the Hebrew letter yod signifies the creative power of God in nature, while the letter hay symbolizes the state of grace—that state into which Sarah had entered after receiving the covenanted promises.” The promise of ancestorship of many nations came with the change of the name of Sarai to Sarah.

“I will bless her and she shall become nations.” She was thus associated with her husband in the great blessing of the covenant whose name was also changed from Abram to Abraham. The former, original name means a “high, or honored father,” the latter, “a father of many nations.” The Apocrypha speaks of Abraham as “a great father of a multitude of nations” ( Ecclesiasticus 44:19-21 ). The root idea of Sarah means “to rule,” and fits the personality of the bearer. It was a name intended as a seal of the promise given to Abraham, “kings of peoples shall be of her.” Paul has an allegorical reference to Sarah as one who typified the gospel dispensation, “Jerusalem which is above ... which is the mother of us all” ( Galatians 4:26 ).

Thus, Sarah was to be the princess, not only “because she was to be the ancestress of a great nation literally, of many nations spiritually, but also because the rank and power were to be possessed by her descendants, or rather because the people descended from her were to be ruled over by a regal dynasty, by a succession of kings of their own race and lineage, is derived from her.” In the genealogy of the descendants of Esau, Sarah’s grandson we read, “These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.” The line of kings descended from Sarah terminated in God’s Anointed One, the Messiah, whose “kingdom is not of this world.” The sacramental name of Sarah, therefore, also symbolizes the spiritual seed, the whole multitude of believers of all nations who are “kings and priests unto God.” Then the personal application of the changed name must not be forgotten.

Called Sarah by God and the Angels ( Genesis 17:15; 18:9 ), she exhibited the traits of a princess, “wielding a sceptre by the magic of which she could lord it over men’s hearts after her own will, even bring kings to her feet. If she came into the world with a will of her own as her dowry, nature further assisted her in developing it by the great beauty of her face and the grace of her stature. By these gifts she made her wish a command and disarmed opposition.” Both in bearing and character she illustrated the significance of her name. Through the long, long years of the quiet and stedfast devotion of Abraham to Sarah, peace reigned in the matrimonial tent more because of Abraham’s gentleness, kindness and forbearance, even though he lived so long with the more expressive and possessive ways of Sarah. Twice over in the kjv of the New Testament she is referred to as Sara, but the asv uniformly gives us Sarah ( Hebrews 11:11; 1 Peter 3:6 ).

Family Connections—Sarah came from Ur of the Chaldees, Babylonia, and her former name Sarai, “princely,” identifies her as coming from an honored family. She was the daughter of Terah and was therefore half-sister to Abram, her senior by ten years ( Genesis 17:17 ), whom she married in the Ur of the Chaldees. While Abram and Sarai had the same father, they had different mothers ( Genesis 20:12 ). Marriages between near relatives were countenanced in those days and were sometimes common for religious reasons ( Genesis 24:3, 4; 28:1, 2 ), but not marriages between those actually by the same mother. Sarai was well past middle life and childless when with Abram she left her own country and with him went out “not knowing whither they went” ( Genesis 11:29, 30 ).

There are various ways of looking at this remarkable woman who through a long span of life was the faithful wife of a prophet known as “The Friend of God.” Her Uniqueness Strange though it may sound and seem, the first Jew was a Gentile, for Abraham who came from beyond the Euphrates was the first man to be called a Hebrew, “Abram the Hebrew” ( Genesis 14:13 ). The word Hebrew itself means, “the immigrant,” and was no doubt the usual designation among the Canaanites. As his wife, Sarah was the first Hebrewess—the joint fountainhead of the great Jewish race ( Genesis 11:29-31; Isaiah 51:2 ). Abraham has been fitly called, “The fountainhead of the Hebrew hero life,” and Sarah is the heroine of such life. She remains the first unquestionably historical woman of the Hebrews, and their first mother. She is, therefore, one of the most important female figures in the world’s history, as the natural source of the Jewish people, through whom the nations of the earth were to be blessed.

Only two women are named in the illustrious roll of those conspicuous for their faith: Sarah is the first, and Rahab the second ( Hebrews 11:11, 31 ), both of whom lived by faith and died in faith ( Hebrews 11:13 ). Sarah or Sara have always been popular female names both among Jews and Gentiles. Her Beauty The testimony of the Bible is that Sarah was unusually beautiful ( Genesis 12:11, 14 ). The lines of Keats were true of her— A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams ... Hebrew folklore has kept alive stories of her remarkable beauty and ranks her next to the most perfect woman the world has known, Eve, “the mother of all living.” Sarah seems to have had beauty that grew more attractive with the passing years. “Of the things that are unfavourable to the preservation of beauty, the Orientals count travel as one that is most baneful, even fatal to it,” says Gustav Gottheil.

“Yet when Sarah arrived, after a long journey through dusty deserts and under a scorching sun, at the frontiers of Egypt, she was more beautiful than ever, and this explains the curious speech of Abraham to his wife at that juncture: ‘Now I know that thou art a woman beautiful to look at.’ Did he not know that before? Not so convincingly, explains the rabbi, as after he had seen that even travel had left no touch on her countenance.” Isaiah says that, “Beauty is a fading flower” ( Isaiah 28:1 ), and a song of old has the stanza— Beauty is but skin deep, And ugly to the bone. Beauty soon fades away, But ugly holds its own. But with Sarah it was different, for even when she was 90 years of age she was so lovely that Abraham feared that kings would fall in love with her bewitching beauty—which Pharaoh and Abimelech did, as our next glimpse of her proves. As one of the most beautful women who ever lived we can imagine that wherever she journeyed the admiring eyes of all were cast upon her. “Grave is all beauty,” and Sarah’s renowned loveliness certainly brought its trouble.

Her Peril When famine drove Abraham and Sarah into the land of Egypt, and they felt that hostile kings might take them prisoners, Abraham came up with the abject, base proposal that if taken prisoners then his wife should represent herself as his sister. Fear of death unmanned him and led him to risk the dishonor of his wife and thereby save his own neck. She dearly loved her husband, and his life was too precious to her to make her think of the shame she might incur. Sarah was utterly wrong in yielding to her husband’s plot. How nobler she would have been had she stoutly refused Abraham saying, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” But she called her husband “lord,” and evidently he was lord of her conscience. Abraham felt that if oriental despots knew that Sarah and he were married they would slay him and add the lovely woman to their harem. Married to a conspicuous beauty caused Abraham to be afraid, and he resorted to a falsehood to save his life. If taken, Sarah was not to say that she was his wife but his sister. This pretense was not an outright lie, but a half-truth, seeing that she was his half-sister.

They were children of the same father, but not the same mother. It seems hard to believe that such a good man could deliver his lovely wife over to a heathen monarch, but he did, and Sarah entered Pharaoh’s harem. But God protected her by sending plagues upon the monarch. Pharaoh sent her back to her own husband, untouched. The same unworthy plan was carried out when Abimelech, king of the Philistines, admiring her bewitching beauty had her taken to his harem. But again God interfered and commanded the king to restore Sarah to Abraham, seeing she was his wife. Threatened with violent death, Abimelech obeyed, but severely rebuked Abraham for his deceit ( Genesis 12:10-20; 20 ). Years later Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, used this same form of deception ( Genesis 26:6-13 , see href="/id/42314245-4242-3341-2D30-3838372D3345">Rebekah ).

God expressed His displeasure with Abraham and his wife because of their ill-conceived plot. As the Righteous One, He could not condone such trickery. Had He not called them out from their country for a specific mission? And was He not able to protect and preserve them from harm and danger in a strange land? Was not the halflie told on two occasions an indication of the lack of faith in God’s overshadowing care and power to fulfill His promise? Abraham’s lofty soul suffered an eclipse of the virtue of faith for which he was renowned when he adopted such a plan of deception, exposing his wife to great peril, and also thwarting of the divine plan for and through Sarah. (Compare Hagar.) Abraham’s deception was followed by an attempt to ease an offense, and the patriarch was more blameworthy than Sarah who should have resisted the dangerous plan of exposing herself for the sexual gratification of other men. A lie that is half a truth Is ever the worst of lies. A half-truth is always a lie. While it was true that Sarah was Abraham’s sister, the assertion was in reality a falsehood.

After the severe rebuke from Pharaoh for their deception, they should have learned their lesson, but to commit the same sin again a few years later, and further imperil God’s plan to make of them a great nation, leaves Abraham and Sarah without excuse. How slow we are to learn from our past failures? Her Sorrow The one great grief of Abraham and Sarah was that through their long life together they had no children. To a Hebrew woman, barrenness was looked upon as a gnawing grief, and sometimes regarded as a sign of divine disfavor. Childless, even when back in Babylonia ( Genesis 11:30; 16:1-8 ), Sarah remained so until at 90 years of age God miraculously fulfilled His promise and made her the mother of the son of promise. Through the long years, “side by side with the prosperity, beat for beat with the pulse of Abraham’s joy, there throbs in Sarah’s heart a pulse of pain ...

There is as yet no heir.” The constant grief of barrenness caused Sarah to become “The Woman Who Made a Great Mistake.” In spite of the fact that, along with her husband, she had received the divine promise, that from her nations would spring, the possibility of ever becoming a mother died in her heart. Such a cross as barrenness inflamed and intensified her pride, and forced her to find a way out of this embarrassment to her husband. “Sarah sacrificed herself on the cruelest altar on which any woman ever laid herself down; but the cords of the sacrifice were all the time the cords of a suicidal pride: till the sacrifice was both a great sin in the sight of God, a fatal injury to herself, to her husband, and to innocent generations yet unborn.” Sarah revealed the sad defect of her qualities when she said to Abraham, “Take Hagar my maid, and let not the promises of God fail through me. Through her I can continue your hereditary line.” But all poor Hagar could do was to produce an Ishmael. It was only through Sarah that the promised seed could come.

Although it might have been a custom of the time for a man with a barren wife to take a concubine in order that he might have an heir, Abraham, as a God-fearing man, should have stoutly refused to go along with the unworthy scheme, which in the end produced jealousy and tragedy. “Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai,” but the voice was the fatal siren of Satan who sought to destroy the royal, promised seed ( Genesis 3:15 ). As one modern writer expresses it— Little did Sarai think when she persuaded Abram to take Hagar, that she was originating a rivalry which has run in the keenest animosity through the ages, and which oceans of blood have not quenched. In our cameo of Hagar (which see) we sought to show all that followed the blunder of Sarah, when she intervened in God’s plan and chose her way to continue her husband’s posterity. Her Joy In His forgiving love and mercy God appeared to Abram when he was 99 years old, and assured him that his long barren wife, although now 90 years old, would conceive.

To confirm His promise God changed the name of Abram to Abraham, and of Sarai to Sarah ( Genesis 17; 18 ). At such a revelation of God’s purpose, “Abraham fell upon his face and laughed.” Although he marveled at the performance of the naturally impossible, Abraham yet believed, and his laughter was the joy of a man of faith. Laughter is sometimes mad ( Ecclesiastes 2:2 ) but that of Abraham was highly rational. He rejoiced in the thought that Isaac should be born, and perhaps at that time he had a vision of the Messiah. Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day” ( John 8:56 ). As for Sarah, what was her reaction when she overheard the Lord say to her husband, “Sarah thy wife shall have a son”? The record says, “Sarah laughed within herself,” but hers was the laugh of doubt. Yet when her son was born he was named Isaac, which means “laughter”—a memorial of her sin ( Genesis 18:13 ), and of her husband’s joy ( 17:17 ).

Sarah’s joy knew no bounds, “God hath made me to laugh” ( 21:6; 24:36 ). She had laughter before, but God was not the author of her laugh of doubt. The joy of Sarah in the birth of Isaac reminds us of “the great joy” proclaimed by the angels who made known to the shepherds the birth of Christ who came of the line of Isaac ( Luke 2:10; Romans 4:18-21 ). Paul reminds us that it was by faith that Sarah conceived beyond nature ( Hebrews 11:11 ). It was not only in itself a miracle wrought by faith, but also in earnest of something far greater, even the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Her Longevity Sarah is the only woman whose specific age is stated in Scripture. A girl’s approximate age is given us in the gospels. The only daughter of Jairus whom Jesus raised from the dead was “about 12 years of age” ( Luke 8:42 ). Sarah called herself old when she was 87 ( Genesis 18:12 ), but she was 127 years of age when she died.

Abraham had reached the patriarchal age of 175 when God called him home. Godliness has always been favorable to longevity. The “good old age” ( Genesis 15:15 ) was a signal proof of the faithfulness of the Lord. When the Countess of Huntingdon came to die she said, “My work is done, and I have nothing to do but to go to my Father.” Surely the same contentment was experienced both by Sarah and Abraham who were not satiated with life, but satisfied with it. Abraham lived for another 38 years after Sarah’s death before his God-given task was completed. The day came, then, for Sarah to leave the world in which she had sojourned so long, and hers is the first grave to be mentioned in Scripture. Although Abraham and Sarah were nomads living in their tent in a desert land, the aged patriarch wanted a more permanent resting place for his beloved wife than the shifting sand of the desert. Here vultures and beasts of prey would wait to gorge themselves off the dead, leaving behind nothing but white bones.

Breaking with the ancient custom of the desert burial, Abraham purchased a cave at Machpelah as a sepulcher for his dear Sarah, and when Abraham himself came to die his sons “buried him beside Sarah.” Thus, in death, symbolically, they were unseparated as they had been through their long and eventful life together. When Cornelia, the mother of Caius and Tiberius Gracchus, whom she called her “jewels” died, on her monument was inscribed, “Cornelia, the mother of Gracchi.” Had a monument been erected for the noble woman we have been considering, the simple inscription in enduring marble would have been sufficient— Here lies

Question: In the Bible, what was the name of Abraham's wife?
Answer: SARAH