Monday, July 18, 2011

Abraham’s Final Years

"Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 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. This is the sum of the years of Abraham's life which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi." (Genesis 25:1-11)

The actual Hebrew says that Abraham "had taken" Ketturah to wife; meaning that she was already a concubine, not a replacement for Sarah. This reference to Ketturah and her children, the commentators state, is out of chronological sequence and given only to record the other children of Abraham here at the telling of his passing. But even though Keturah bore six sons to Abraham, none of her children are allowed to inherit from Abraham "all that he had." With the exception of a few gifts to each of his children, the bulk of Abraham's estate goes solely to Isaac. In fact, Abraham sees to it that all of his children eventually are moved eastward away from Isaac (into Arabia), most likely to prevent the kind of persecution that Isaac once experienced as a child from his brother Ishmael or to prevent any interference with Isaac's inheritance.

It is surprising to see that both brothers, Isaac and Ishmael, are in attendance at the burial of their father, Abraham. Any animosity one might feel towards the other, has been set aside in order to honor their dead father. Abraham is buried next to his wife Sarah in the cave that he purchased for her burial.

And Isaac now dwells in a place called Beer Lahai Roi; a place we have heard of before. It is here that Hagar, Ishmael's mother, encountered God as she fled into the wilderness to escape Sarah's wrath after Hagar displayed her contempt for Sarah. The Lord found Hagar there in the wilderness, next to a spring of water. The Lord convinced Hagar to return to her mistress, Sarah, and He prophesied over her unborn child, telling her, among other things, that the child would be a son named Ishmael (Genesis 16).

That place of the spring of water was thereafter called "Beer Lahai Roi" which means "well of the Living One seeing me." This is an appropriate place for Isaac to reside in as the "Living One" obviously "saw" Isaac as well and blessed him after Abraham's death. While we are not told here the manner in which Isaac was blessed, it most likely is the blessing of children (the source of many descendants), as promised to Abraham; a promise which must be carried out through Isaac in order to be fulfilled.

In fact, it is only because we are told that Abraham died at age 175, that scholars have calculated that Abraham lived long enough to see Isaac's children reach 15 years of age. Thus, Abraham was able to witness the further fulfilling of God's promise to Him before he died.

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