-- And the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine she bore Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan Sheba and Dedan.
This verse pauses in a long chain of names to record a second family born to Abraham: six sons by Keturah, and two grandsons through Jokshan. Why does a book tracing the line of promise stop to name a branch that Abraham sent away?
The order here is not random. These names come after Ishmael's, and the placement means something.
Verse 32 lists the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine, as we find them in Genesis 25:1-4. They come after Ishmael's descendants (vv. 28-31) in our chapter, which shows that they too belong to the line according to the flesh.
The same pattern runs through the chapter. A side branch gets its turn before the chosen line.
In God's eyes, Shem, chosen by grace, has the first place. But in the natural order what is spiritual is not first, as we have already pointed out. It is the same with Abraham's offspring. Verse 28 says, "The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael." Isaac is named first, seen as first in God's thoughts. But the record lists Ishmael, the elder, first (v. 29) as the seed according to the flesh.
The verse calls Keturah a concubine. That word decides what her sons received from their father.
Still it is written that "Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac." The risen son is the heir of all things. And if we are of Christ, then we are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. But to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away. They receive gifts, not the inheritance of the promises. They are sent away, instead of staying in the house forever, as the son does.
Being outside the chosen line is not the same as being outside God's kindness. Commentators read this second family as a picture of the nations.
This family by Keturah is, we may judge, a distinct mystery... In these children of the second wife we get a picture of the nations of the coming kingdom. They are the nations who will fill the earth in the days of the kingdom, branches of the great family of God in that day, and children of Abraham. They may lie far off, at the ends of the earth. But they will have their allotments, and be owned as part of the one extended family of that day.
Scripture does not say when this marriage happened. But it does bring some of these names back later.
We are not told when Abraham took Keturah as a wife... All of this reminds us that God's main interests are centred in His Son and the bride His Son receives. Yet He does not forget His kindness toward Gentile nations. The names Midian, Ephah and Sheba appear in Isaiah 60:6, where the prophet speaks of Gentile nations converted in the coming age.
Chronicles does not copy Genesis wholesale. It trims, and the trimming has a purpose.
We believe we must mention these details, because they mark the aim of the Spirit of God in this book. They are not, as some critics claim, a very inexact or deliberately altered compilation of other documents. They are a selection out of earlier documents of what fits the purpose God has before Him.
Names like Ishbak and Shuah do not hold a reader the way John 17 does.
We do not claim that we should linger with equal interest over 1 Chronicles 1 and John 17 or Romans 8. But we do say that each of these scriptures is inspired by God, one just as much as another. We say further that 1 Chronicles 1 and passages like it fill a place that John 17 cannot fill, and do a work that Romans 8 cannot do... We are not able to judge what is, and what is not, worthy of a place in the inspired Scriptures. The very portion we might think beneath the dignity of inspiration may have some very important bearing on the history of God's ways with the world, or with His people.
And there is comfort in a God who keeps names men have long dropped.
There is something deeply solemn about being allowed to go over such a record of names. People forgot these names long ago. But God has remembered every one of them, with every detail of their path through this world. Some day our own names will be lost to people too. Yet neither we nor our ways will be forgotten by God.
- Flesh — Keturah's sons stand with Ishmael's in the line according to the flesh, named before the chosen line.
- Order — the natural comes first in the record, but Isaac is first in God's thoughts.
- Gifts — these sons receive gifts and are sent away; the inheritance goes to the son who stays.
- Reach — sent far off, they are not forgotten. Names from this verse return among the nations blessed in the coming age.
- Record — nothing here is filler. The selection serves God's purpose, and God remembers every name.
And the sons of Midian Ephah, and Epher, and Enoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah.
This verse closes the short branch of Abraham's family that came through Keturah. It names five grandsons born to Midian, and then the record turns back to Isaac. Why does Chronicles pause over this branch at all, and what became of them?
The order here is deliberate. Keturah's line sits right next to Ishmael's, and one writer explains the reason.
In verse 32 the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine, are listed as we find them in Genesis 25:1-4. They come after Ishmael's descendants (vv. 28-31) in our chapter to show that they too are part of the lineage according to the flesh.
Five names, and then the record moves on. Each is a Hebrew word with a meaning, and one writer gives four of them (Hanoch appears as Enoch in his list).
Eldaah — God's knowledge... Enoch — Dedicated; Teaching... Ephah — Darkness. Epher — A young hart.
The verse sums the whole group up as Keturah's sons. Verse 32 has already called her Abraham's concubine, and that one word settles an old guess about who she was.
Jewish tradition identifies Keturah with Hagar. There is no proof of this, and Genesis 25:6 sets it aside, because it speaks of the sons of Abraham's concubines, in the plural. Hagar was one of them, and Keturah was the other. I do not think this means she filled that relation during any part of Sarah's life. It means rather that her place was an inferior one. Chronicles plainly calls Keturah Abraham's "concubine" (1 Chronicles 1:32), while Genesis 16:3 calls Hagar his "wife."
Scripture does not say when Abraham married Keturah. Commentators differ over whether it happened before or after Sarah's death.
Abraham's sons by Keturah were not left with nothing. But what they received and what Isaac received were two different things.
Still, Scripture says that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. The risen son is the heir of all things; and if we are Christ's, then we are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. But to the sons of Abraham's concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away. They receive gifts, not the inheritance of the promises; and they are sent away, instead of staying in the house forever, as the son does.
Midian is the son of Keturah whose descendants keep appearing later in Scripture — mostly as trouble. The family tie never went away.
Midian was a close relative of Israel, descended from Abraham through Keturah his second wife. Again and again the Midianites come into contact with the chosen people. In the wilderness the LORD spoke to Moses — and Moses had married Zipporah, daughter of the priest of Midian — saying, "Harass the Midianites and strike them down, for they have harassed you with their wiles." (Numbers 25:16-18; Numbers 31:1-12.)
That hostility ran its course. In the time of the judges God handed Israel over to Midian for seven years. Then He raised up Gideon, and the Midianites "raised their heads no more" against Israel (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
The names in this verse are not the end of the story. Two of them reappear in Isaiah, no longer as raiders but as worshippers bringing tribute.
God's prime interests are centred in His Son and in the bride His Son receives. Yet all of this reminds us that He does not forget His kindness toward Gentile nations. To these sons Abraham gave gifts, but sent them away from any close nearness to Isaac, to the land of the east (Genesis 25:6). The names Midian, Ephah and Sheba appear in Isaiah 60:6, where the prophet speaks of Gentile nations converted in the coming age.
In Isaiah 60:6 "the young camels of Midian and Ephah" arrive with "gold and frankincense," bringing "the praises of the LORD."
- Listed — Chronicles places Keturah's line after Ishmael's, marking both as descent according to the flesh.
- Named — Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah appear once and vanish. Eldaah means "God's knowledge."
- Gifted — Abraham gave these sons gifts and sent them away; he gave Isaac everything he had.
- At odds — Midian was a close relative, yet harassed Israel in the wilderness and held them down for seven years, until Gideon.
- Returning — Isaiah 60:6 names Midian and Ephah among the nations that come with gold and frankincense. God has not forgotten His kindness toward the nations.