Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder if you know anyone who has lived a long life and experienced the unusual joy of another marriage after their first spouse died? I know several people like this, including my own father. Did you know Abraham, the man we’ve been traveling with for several days, had this experience?
Abraham’s dear wife Sarah died when Abraham was 137 years old. Genesis 25 begins with this statement: “Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah…” I’m sorry I don’t know much more about this woman. I know nothing of her family heritage, her ethnicity, or her age. I don’t know when or where she and Abraham met. I do understand the loneliness of a widow or widower, and even at the age of 137, I can understand Abraham desiring the companionship of marriage in his old age. Keturah must have been considerably younger than Abraham for Genesis 25:2 gives us the names of 6 children she bore with Abraham! That’s right, I said six!!
You’ll remember Abraham’s son Isaac married Rebekah 3 years after his mother Sarah died, and it didn’t take long for them to discover that Rebekah, like Isaac’s mother Sarah, was barren, unable to get pregnant! Yesterday I suggested to you that during those years Abraham likely had a major role of frequently counseling Isaac and Rebekah about how to patiently wait for God’s answer to this problem. It was a long wait, 20 years, but finally God blessed Abraham with twin grandsons, through Isaac and Rebekah!
The Genesis record seems to indicate it was during those 20 years of childlessness that Isaac’s old father and widower Abraham married Keturah and was having several children with her. Can you imagine how that made Isaac and Rebekah feel, when they had no children? Yet, Abraham understood God’s Covenant promise to him was beginning to be fulfilled through his miracle son Isaac. I’m confident Abraham and Isaac and Rebekah had many conversations about God’s Covenant promises and the importance of growing their relationship with God while they waited for God to continue the Covenant promise through them.
While marriage after the death of a spouse is wonderful, at the same time it builds a blended family of children from at least two marriages. Sometimes that can be very complicated especially in the equitable distribution of assets. Abraham faced that challenge. The record says: “Abraham left everything he owned to his son Isaac. But while he was still living he gave gifts to his other sons and sent them away from Isaac to the land of the east.” (Gen. 25:5,6) Does that sound harsh or lacking in love, my friends? It tells me Abraham had learned some very important lessons about the Covenant promise of God regarding the special family, and the nation of people, that God purposed to build through Abraham, Sarah and their miracle son Isaac. Abraham knew any wife he might marry after Sarah’s death, and any children they may have, would be outside the Covenant promise he and Sarah had received from God. I imagine Abraham went to great lengths to explain this to Keturah as they talked about getting married, and then when her children were old enough, I’m sure Abraham explained it to them as well.
Genesis 25:7 says: “Altogether Abraham lived 175 years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man, full of years. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah… There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.” Do you see something very special here my friends? Abraham had sent Ishmael and Hagar away from his tents when Abraham was about 104. We have no record that Ishmael and Isaac had seen each other since that time. That’s 70 years! There is also no mention of Hagar at the burial service of Abraham, thus I presume she had died by that time. I’ve often wondered what that reunion of Ishmael and Isaac was like, as they came together to bury their father Abraham?
Ishmael would have been 89 years old and Isaac 75 years old when Abraham died. I wonder how all those years had matured them? Who had they each become? Genesis 25:13-15 names the 12 sons of Ishmael and indicates that each of them became the leaders of a tribe of people. Isaac had only two boys. Can you imagine what these two dads talked about as they shared the challenges of parenting which they had each faced? Sadly there is one key statement about Ishmael’s sons which is telling: “Ishmael’s descendants settled in the area near the border of Egypt…and they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.” (Gen. 25:18) What a sad commentary on a family! As far as we know, when Ishmael and Isaac had completed their burial task, they each went their separate ways and they never saw each other again.
I don’t know for sure where Ishmael lived out the rest of his life, but Gen. 25:11 says this: “After Abraham’s death, God blessed Abraham’s son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.” As Isaac walked back home to Rebekah and their boys, I imagine he talked with God, often and mostly about how God wanted him to live out the Covenant promise God had made to his father Abraham. The record says this: “Isaac’s boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents.” (Gen. 25:27) Now if you are a parent or grandparent of more than one child, you know all about how vastly different siblings can be, right? Seems like these twins could not have been more different from each other! Sadly their drastic differences resulted in this family description: “Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
Oh my! Based on that one statement, what do you suppose the family dynamics were in the tents of Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau? Jealousy, arguments, competitiveness, divisiveness, discord, anger…and so much more? And yet, this was a miracle family? As they sat around the evening fires and talked about their family heritage, over and over they should have celebrated God’s miracles! Isaac was a miracle, born to very old parents. Jacob and Esau were both miracles! May I ask, how often do you and your family talk about the great miracles of God in your family heritage?
We have no record of the spiritual vitality of Isaac’s family, but I wonder what difference it might have made in their family if they’d worshiped God together more, talked about God’s greatness more, or maybe if Isaac and Rebekah had been parents who prayed TOGETHER more for their sons? I wonder if Isaac ever prayed something like this as recorded in Psalm 71: “You have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on You; You brought me forth from my mother’s womb… Since my youth, O God, You have taught me, and to this day I declare Your marvelous deeds. Do not forsake me when I am old and gray, O God, till I declare Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.” (Ps. 71:5,6,17,18)
We need to remember Satan knew all about God’s Covenant promises with Abraham and the dark kingdom was determined to prevent those promises from becoming reality for Isaac. So may I ask… what things have you and your family been doing to help your descendants know God and grow in their relationship with Jesus? How are you combating Satan’s schemes to bring discord, division, anger and bitterness into your family? Here’s a song to help us consider this for our day. . .
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 25:1-11.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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