And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
After Sarah dies and Isaac marries, Abraham takes another wife, and this verse names six more sons. Two questions follow: how could a man whose body was as good as dead father a second family, and why record these names at all?
One writer reads this second family as a work of resurrection:
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.
Readers have long asked how a man that old could father six more sons. One answer is that God did not take back the strength He had given:
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.
On Keturah herself, one writer corrects a common assumption:
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.
These are not private family details. Midian, the fourth name here, grew into a people Israel met again and again:
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.
Yet the same family carries a brighter meaning. One writer sees in these sons a picture of the nations in the coming kingdom:
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.
The names themselves turn up again in prophecy:
Isaiah 60:6 names Midian, Ephah and Sheba. There the prophet speaks of Gentile nations converted in the coming millennial age.
Why keep these names at all? One writer reads Abraham's three households as a map of God's blessing:
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 is generous and exclusive at once. He gives gifts to many sons, but everything to one:
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."
- Death first. Abraham's body was as good as dead. The six sons of this verse came after that, so his later family bears the stamp of resurrection.
- Strength continued. God did not withdraw the power He gave for Isaac's birth. It was as easy for Him to keep giving it as to give it once.
- Names spread wide. Midian and his brothers became real peoples, kin to Israel by nature yet often its bitter enemies.
- Reach to the ends. Midian, Ephah and Sheba turn up again in prophecy as nations brought into blessing. Abraham's children are all the world over.
- One heir still. Gifts went to many sons. The inheritance went to Isaac alone, and a wider blessing never blurs that line.
And Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan; and the sons of Dedan were the Asshurim, and the Letushim, and the Leummim.
Genesis 25:3 belongs to a short family list that follows Abraham's marriage to Keturah. It names grandsons and great-grandsons who never appear again in Genesis, which raises a fair question: why record them at all?
Sheba and Dedan are not unique names in Scripture. Several different men carry them. One writer counts the men named Sheba and shows which one belongs to this verse:
Sheba needs the greater care because in the inspired history we hear of no less than three heads of tribes who bore the name: the tenth of Joktan's sons now in question, preceded by Sheba the son of Raamah, who descended from Cush (Genesis 10:7), and followed by Jokshan, Abraham's son by Keturah, who fathered another Sheba (Gen. 25:2-3).
Dedan needs the same care. Two different Dedans appear in one chapter of Ezekiel, and the goods they trade tell them apart:
In the same way the men of Dedan in Ezekiel 27:15 appear to be descendants of Cush living on the Persian Gulf, where the island of Dadan preserves the name. Their imports and exports match that. But verse 20 names a different Dedan, who appears to descend from Shem through Keturah.
Abraham did not keep this branch of the family near him. He sent them east, into desert country:
We read that Abraham sent the sons of Keturah and of his concubines "eastward to the east country" (Gen. 25:6). There were also the descendants of Ishmael and those of Esau. Many of these became "princes," and there can be no doubt that their descendants still hold the land.
Sheba, Dedan and Dedan's three sons — Asshurim, Letushim and Leummim — received something from Abraham, but not everything. One writer draws the line sharply, and without coldness:
To none was Abraham indifferent, nor the God of Abraham who will remember them in the coming era of earth's joy and blessedness. 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."
Keturah's sons had sons of their own. One writer sees in that growing family the final stage of a lesson Abraham began learning when God promised him Isaac:
Abraham's faith had reached to resurrection — life from the dead. Everything that follows has a resurrection stamp on it, starting with his receiving Isaac back from the image of death. The power of it, the first lesson, was taught when the promise was given that Sarah should have a son... fully learned when he was ready to offer up Isaac, and abundantly proved in his children by Keturah. The man whose body was dead has many sons.
One writer reads this spreading family as a picture of something later:
In these children of the second wife we get, as a picture, 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 will have their allotments, and be owned as part of the one extended family. "Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people," will be said to them... Abraham's children will be all the world over.
That reading rests on the prophets. Names from this family list appear again there:
The names Midian, Ephah and Sheba appear in Isaiah 60:6, where the prophet speaks of Gentile nations converted in the coming millennial age.
Commentators differ on how far each prophetic mention traces back to Keturah's line, and how far to the other men named Sheba and Dedan.
- Branch — Jokshan's sons are the second generation from Keturah. Abraham's family widens into tribes, not just one chosen son.
- Distance — Abraham sent this branch "eastward to the east country." One writer notes that their descendants still hold that land.
- Gift — Isaac received all that Abraham had; Sheba, Dedan and the rest received gifts. Neither is nothing, but only one is the inheritance.
- Proof — a man whose body was dead ends up with grandsons. One writer sees resurrection power still at work.
- Reach — Sheba appears again in Isaiah 60:6. Commentators see here a picture of far-off nations counted among Abraham's children.
And the sons of Midian were Ephah, and Epher, and Enoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah.
Genesis 25:4 ends a short family list: five grandsons of Abraham through Midian, all counted as Keturah's children. Every one of them is Abraham's own flesh and blood, yet not one of them inherits the promise.
Who was Keturah? One writer marks what her place was, and what it was not:
Whatever tradition may say, 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.
These are not private family details. The names in the verse grew into tribes that Scripture meets again much later:
Son of Midian, being the son of Abraham and Keturah, and referred to by Isaiah as the head of a tribe. Genesis 25:4; 1 Chronicles 1:33; Isaiah 60:6.
Right after this list, Abraham divides what he owns. One writer marks the difference between what Isaac received and what the other sons received:
Still it is written that "Abraham gave all he had to Isaac." The risen son is the heir of all things. And if we are of Christ, then we are Abraham's seed, 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 for ever, as the son does.
What then of the sons who were sent away? One writer answers by looking to the future:
In these children of the second wife we get, as a 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, at the ends of the earth. But they will have their own portions, and they will be owned as part of the one extended millennial family. "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people," will be said to them. […] Abraham's children will be all the world over.
Another writer sets Keturah's sons beside the rest of Abraham's household:
These three are Isaac and his bride, Ishmael, and Keturah's sons. Together they seem enough to show the different blessing of the family of faith — in the Church, in Israel, and in the millennial nations.
Two names from this verse appear again in a prophecy about Zion: Midian, and his first son Ephah. One writer describes that coming day:
It will be a day when all burdens will be taken away and the earth will yield its increase. No doubt man's heart will be opened, and "a multitude of camels shall cover Zion, the young camels of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall publish the praises of Jehovah."
The ESV reads: "they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD."
The real history of Midian runs the other way. One writer holds both sides together, and finds the name itself telling:
Midian was a son of Abraham by Keturah. As we have seen in Genesis 25, he and Abraham's other children are the witness and pledge of how the nations of the earth will find blessing at last in Abraham. […] The history of both Ishmael and Midian, however, speaks of something very different from God's grace. Man's history everywhere speaks the same way. […] Midian in this way stands for the world, as its history has shown it to be. The name matches this: it means "strife".
That strife shows up early. Another writer traces it:
Midian was a descendant of Abraham, and in that way related by nature to Israel, as many of these peoples were. 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 slavery there. Later the nation was freed from that slavery and was nearing its inheritance. Then the Midianites joined with Moab and were the first to try to get God's curse on Israel, through the prophet Balaam. That failed, so they defiled Israel instead. Israel shared in the unholy rites of Baal Peor, and God's hand of affliction came on them because of it.
- Kinship — Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah are Abraham's grandsons through Midian. Their line goes back to Keturah, who was no slave woman like Hagar, and no mother of the promised seed.
- Gifts — these sons received gifts and were sent away. Isaac alone received everything, so blood ties never equalled the inheritance of promise.
- Reach — as a picture, these distant sons stand for the nations of the coming kingdom. Abraham's children will be all the world over.
- Strife — in real history this same family became the enemy of God's people. Midian helped sell Joseph, then tried to curse Israel through Balaam, and the name itself means "strife".
- Return — yet Midian and Ephah appear again in prophecy, bringing gold and incense to Zion. The branch that was sent away comes back praising.