Genesis 25:1-6

Genesis 25:1-6

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Abraham and Keturah

1 Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. 6 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.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 25:1-6

• Transcript

  Then make sure we go live over here are almost there. Perfect. Oh, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. It's so good to be with you this morning. It's very every day you and I, we get together we have a little bit coffee, we get into God's word and we grow and our love for the Lord together. And this year 2023 Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus. Now, I gotta tell you something. Once you get into routines, sometimes it's hard to break those routines. I keep saying this is where every day you and I will get together but that's actually true anymore. That we first started coffee and devotions a few years ago. We did do it Monday through Sunday, or Sunday through Monday, but now I've decided to take the weekends off. And so now it's Monday through Friday, so let me know down in the comments how how would the How should the intro change? How would it make sense you know, this we're every weekday? I know, let me know down in the comments, what you think, let's have some coffee, we'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. Thank you, thank you. That you are a God who is gracious and merciful. And Father, we pray that as we come to Your Word this morning that you would help us to understand and believe father give us winds give us wisdom and give us insight this is only what your Spirit can do. So Lord, we pray that you would please help us in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, so we are at Genesis chapter 25. I was really excited. I'm proud of Nathan how well he did yesterday afternoon and coffee and devotion. So this was a much shorter passage before us. Yesterday was a very long, entire chapter, Genesis 24. Today we're at just a few verses in Genesis chapter 25. Abraham again took a wife and her name was Cateura and she bore him Zim ran dakshin Meidan MIDI median ish buck. And sure, Jacque Shan became begat Sheba and didn't. And the sons of didn't were extreme. Let's let Ooh Shem and Lou meme and the sons of Midian were EFA a fair Hanoch Abida and all da these were the children of Cateura. 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. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about? B, what's the best first to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to this? So what's this about? Well, in the chronology, what this is about is that Sarah has had a child Isaac, but Abraham, we find out actually has other children. And who receives the inheritance who's going to be the one who receives the vast wealth, and all the servants and all the promises especially especially the promises where will the seed from Genesis 315? Where will the promise line come through? And what we find out in the chronology of the stories that Abraham took another concubine. Now we know I'm gonna call her a concubine here it says she's a wife, but in First Chronicles, it calls her a concubine. And so I'm of the opinion that she's a concubine. What's the difference between a concubine and a wife? A concubine doesn't have all the full rights and standings of a wife in the ancient Near East. Is this the right thing to do? Well, this is where it kind of gets a little bit murky here, right? Because some people will argue that this section isn't crunched chronologically, in order that it was sometime between Ishmael and Isaac that he took Cateura as a concubine. Now I have a little bit of a hard time with that. Because of the place that this is in the story, it while it's difficult to think about a man who's over 100 years old, taking a concubine and having children. Just the chronology of this, it's gone. through Isaac getting a wife and then Abraham talking, or taking Cateura as a concubine or as a wife. I think this is after Sarah's death. That's me. I could be wrong here. Even if Abraham did take Cateura as a concubine, that would be immoral, but it wouldn't nullify the promises. And I think chapter 25 comes after 24 and after 23 And so I don't think that this is chronologically misplaced. So the point is, no matter what the Abraham has more children. He has another concubine besides Hagar. And the question is, who's going to receive the promises? Who's going to receive the inheritance and we find out is this is where it's extremely important. Verse five. And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. This was the child of the promise. This was the child God had ordained to receive the promise and the wealth of Abraham. So as he keeps going in in verse six, he does something to ensure that he says, But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, and while he was still willing, he living so in a while he was still living. He sent them eastward away from Isaac his son to the country of the East. Whereas the East most likely Mesopotamia, he sent them back to the homeland. And so as Abraham is there, he's extremely concerned that Isaac is the sole heir he's receives the lion's share of everything. He's the firstborn, he does give gifts to Cateura and to Hagar, these are the the concubines listed in First Chronicles and he sends them away to the east he sends them away to ensure that Isaac is the one who receives the promises. Now this is like giving your wife and children a trust fund and in sending them away as you're in your old age and about to die. I'm not going to argue that this is, quote unquote, ethical thing to do. This is set up with all sorts of things that make you scratch your heads that you wish I Abraham, what do you do and that the heartache and the pain that this seems to develop is, as you can imagine, being in Cateura Hagar shoes, this would not be a system that I would want to live in or I would want any of the women in our congregation to live in, or my daughters to live in. And you have a system in which Abraham finds himself. So I'm not going to try to justify Abraham here. But what is this about? This is about Abraham, trusting in God's promises that there is one promised child and it was Isaac it was the miraculous child knows from that child that the promise would continue down the line, he would be the firstborn heir. So that's what this is about. What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I have verse five in verse six underlined what are we called to do? Well, let me encourage you don't be taken concubines very don't have a bunch of babies with a bunch of women. That's always gonna cause problems, right? Just this doesn't hardly ever doesn't end well. I shouldn't say hardly ever. This is why in the New Testament we are to have one wife. It's as Christ loves the church, the churches, he has one bride, and so Husbands are to be men. A one woman man is what the qualifications for the elders are in First Timothy three one woman man that's that's the standard by which it's set now, it's a standard in which he was and then in the Garden of Eden, and the Lord God made Eve. He didn't make Eve and Melissa and I name a whole bunch of women's names. I don't know. He didn't know what he made. If what God has joined together let no man tear asunder, right? This is not the picture that's supposed to be there. So that's, I know that there's laws against polygamy now, about polyamory is on the rise. In America, where women you have I think it's actually worse than what's going on in the ancient Near East. They have no rights to what's going on and in their lovers life. And so one woman, man, that's, that's what the New Testament calls us. To. But I think in a deeper way, this is telling us to believe in the promise. Then all these other children that he had, whether it be Ishmael or all these children with Cateura and in all these different areas, what do we find? We find that it's the child of the promise who receives the inheritance, and Abraham lives according to that promise. So what we to live our lives according to the promises of God, to order our affairs to make sure that our lives are in line with what we believe in to walk according to the promises that God has given to us. Well, let's go and pray. Father, we thank you for a story that's kind of makes us scratch our heads. And yet, Lord we also seen a man who is a man of this earth a man of his own times, who's living according to the promise, or the pray that you would please teach us. Teach us Lord to live according to your promises, to do hard things. According when we see it, being in accord with your word, when we see it, as something we should do in line with the promise, Lord, please let us walk by faith. Let us know that this promise seed with Isaac has found his fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who was also born a miraculous means in Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ? And I'll see you next time. Bye. Transcribed by https://otter.ai