Genesis 25:1–2

"Then" is hardly a note of time; or rather, there is no "then." It reads, "And Abraham added to take a wife." Abraham lived 35 years after Isaac's marriage. How long Sarah had been dead by then is not stated, though chapter 24:67 would suggest not very long. The word "added" stands for "again" or "another."

The Jewish tradition that identifies Keturah with Hagar has no proof behind it. Verse 6 also sets it aside, since it speaks of "the sons of the concubines whom Abraham had." Hagar was one, and Keturah the other. I do not think this implies that she held that place during any part of Sarah's life. It states her lower position. Scripture directly calls Keturah Abraham's "concubine" in 1 Chronicles 1:32, while it calls Hagar his "wife" in Genesis 16:3.

Scripture mentions Abraham's marriage to Keturah only after Sarah's death, but it may have happened long before. Polygamy was common everywhere at that time. Yet the circumstances around Hagar and Ishmael make us lean this way: Sarah was his only wife during her lifetime, and Abraham took Keturah after her death. God renewed his strength to fulfil the promise of Isaac's birth, and He kept that strength going. It was as easy for God to continue it as to give it at all.

So the marriage of Abraham with Keturah points to the future blessing of the nations in resurrection power. Abraham's faith had reached to resurrection, to life from the dead. Everything that follows carries the stamp of resurrection, starting with his receiving Isaac back from the image of death... The man whose body was dead has many sons.

This family by Keturah is, we may surely judge, a distinct mystery... In these children of the second wife we get, in figure, the millennial nations. They are the nations that 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 shall have their allotments, and be owned as part of the one extended family of that day... Abraham's children will be all the world over.

Abraham's three families show the range of God's blessing. Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, stands for the people of God tied to the Jerusalem on earth. Isaac, the son of the free woman, stands for those tied to the Jerusalem above. The sons of Keturah stand for the saved nations outside Israel, blessed through the millennial reign of Christ.

Still it is written that "Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac." The risen son is the heir of all things. If we are Christ's, then we are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. But to the sons of the concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away. They receive gifts, not the inheritance of the promises; and they are sent away, instead of remaining in the house forever, as the son does.

So Abraham's marriage to Keturah points to the future blessing of the nations in resurrection power. Abraham's faith had reached to resurrection, to life from the dead. Everything that follows carries the stamp of resurrection, starting with his receiving Isaac back from what was as good as death... The man whose body was dead has many sons.

Scripture mentions Abraham's marriage to Keturah only after Sarah's death, but it may have taken place long before... Yet the circumstances around Hagar and Ishmael lead us to think otherwise. We lean to the view that Sarah was his only wife while she lived, and that Abraham took Keturah after her death. God renewed Abraham's strength so that His promise could be fulfilled in Isaac's birth, and that strength continued. It was as easy for God to continue it as to give it in the first place.

Whatever tradition may say to the contrary, Keturah was not a slave woman like Hagar. She was not the mother of the promised seed either. She was the mother of six sons born to Abraham, the father of the faithful.

Midian was a descendant of Abraham. By birth, then, he was related to Israel, as were many of these peoples. But from an early day they had shown themselves the enemies of God's people. It was they who with the Ishmaelites carried Joseph down into Egypt and sold him into bondage there. Later God freed the nation from that bondage. As Israel drew near their inheritance, it was the Midianites, along with Moab, who first tried to bring God's curse on them through Balaam.

In these children of the second wife we see, in picture, the millennial nations. They are the nations who will fill the earth in the days of the kingdom. They are branches of the great family of God in that day, and children of Abraham. They may lie far off, even at the ends of the earth. Yet they will each have their portion, and will be counted as part of the one extended millennial family... Abraham's children will be all the world over.

Isaiah 60:6 names Midian, Ephah and Sheba. There the prophet speaks of Gentile nations converted in the coming millennial age.

Abraham's three families show the range of God's blessing. Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, stands for the people of God linked with the Jerusalem on earth. Isaac, the son of the free woman, stands for those linked with the Jerusalem above. The sons of Keturah stand for the saved nations of the Gentiles, blessed through the millennial reign of Christ.

Abraham was indifferent to none of them. Neither is the God of Abraham, who will remember them in the coming age of earth's joy and gladness. But Isaac has a place altogether distinctive. To the rest Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, to whom he "gave all that he had."