Reasoniong The Scriptures

Keturah- Is She a Type of the New

Covenant ???

By M.S.Mariadas and Y.R.Dinakaran

Bible Students, M.B.S.A

Keturah is mentioned twice in the Scriptures. Once in Genesis the

25th chapter and secondly in 1 Chronicles 1:32.

Genesis 25:1-6
1
Abraham took {Or had taken} another wife, whose name
was Keturah.
2
She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and
Shuah.
3
Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of
Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the
Leummites.
4
The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and
Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
5
Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.
6
But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his
concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the
land of the east. (NIV)

1 Chronicles 1:28-34
28
The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.
29
These were their descendants: Nebaioth the firstborn of
Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
30
Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema,
31
Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were the sons of
Ishmael.
32
The sons born to Keturah, Abraham's concubine: Zimran,
Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. The sons of
Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. (NIV)
33
The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah.
All these were descendants of Keturah.
34
Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau
and Israel. (NIV)

Question no. 1: Does the fact that Keturah is first mentioned

some two chapters after Sarah's death is stated
give us sufficient grounds and proof to say that
Keturah came into Abraham's life after Sarah's death?

Keturah- Is She a Type of the New Covenant ???

Reasoning The Scriptures

Answer: No. To do so would be an assumption. In Gen.

25:1 "Abraham took another wife" (NIV) can also be
translated according to the marginal reference as
"Abraham had taken another wife....". Young's Literal
Translation says, "And Abraham addeth and taketh a wife.."
Genesis 25:1 in the KJV says, " Then again
Abraham took a wife, and
her name was Keturah."
The word "Then" of the KJV, if it were used alone would
infer that
what follows in the 25th Chapter comes after the
narrative of the 24th
Chapter, but that is not the case in this context.
"Then" is directly associated with its adjacent
word "again". "Then again" is used as one thought
and is not meant to connect what preceded it.
The death of Sarah at the age of 127 is stated in Gen.
23:1 while Keturah is not mentioned until the
25th Chapter of Genesis.
To insist that the 25th Chapter would of necessity
have to follow the 23th and the 24th in sequence
of time would present some problems
with other incidents in the accounts of Abraham's life.
For instance, in
Chapter 25, verses 7 & 8 we read that Abraham died.
Later in
Chapter 25, verse 26 Esau and Jacob are born. The
account has the
death of Abraham coming before the birth of Esau
and Jacob. If we
were to use the same logic that because the 25th
chapter follows the
24th it must therefore occur at a later time period then
the 24th, then
we must for consistency sake also conclude that
Abraham was dead
when Esau and Jacob were born since his death is
recorded before the
birth of Esau and Jacob. To make this assumption
would be to make an error, because Abraham
lived yet another 15 years after the birth of
Esau and Jacob. This can be confirmed by using the
ages specified in
the following three scriptures:

2
Reasoning The Scriptures

Genesis 21:5 "Abraham was a hundred years old

when his son Isaac was born to him. "
(NIV)

Genesis 25:7-8 "Altogether, Abraham lived a

hundred and seventy-
five years. Then Abraham breathed
his last and
died at a good old age, an old man and
full of years; and he was gathered to
his people." (NIV)

Genesis 25:26 "After this, his brother came out, with

his hand grasping
Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. {Jacob
means he
grasps the heel (figuratively, he deceives).}
Isaac was sixty years old when
Rebekah gave birth to them." (NIV)
Calculations:
100 Abraham's age when Isaac was born. Gen. 21:5
+ 60 Isaac's age when Esau and Jacob were born.
Gen. 25:26
-------
160 Abraham's age when Esau and Jacob were born.

175 Abraham's age when he died. Gen. 25:7

- 160 Abraham's age when Esau and Jacob were born.
-------
15 Number of years that Abraham lived after
the birth of Esau and Jacob.

Conclusion: Since it would have been a bad

assumption, as shown above, to insist
that Abraham died before the birth of Esau
and Jacob because the account tells us of
Abraham's death first, it would likewise not
make it a safe assumption to conclude
that Keturah came into Abraham's life after
Sarah's death just because Sarah's death is
mentioned first. Since the book of
Genesis is not a "chronicle"
history but a history of the events and lives of
certain
individuals, a particular feature or story is
sometimes
brought to its completion without regard to the
chronology

3
Reasoning The Scriptures

of other concurrent events.

Question no. 2: Is there any significance in the sequence of

the listings of Abraham's descendants in 1
Chronicles 1:28-34?

Answer: Let us note that the Chronicles is a historical record

from Adam to Abraham. This being so, then the
sequence of recorded information is of prime
importance. Since Chronicles is a historical record, let us note the
sequence in which the descendants of Abraham's wife
and concubines are
listed:
Hagar's descendants was listed first in verses 29-31.
Keturah's descendants were listed second in verses 32
and 33.
Sarah's descendants were listed last in Verse 34.

It should be noted in 1 Chronicles, Chapter 1, that verse

28 says that the sons of
Abraham were Isaac and Ishmael. Keturah's sons are not even
mentioned. This is a very interesting point and may
have some significance
that is unknown to the writer of this paper at this time.

Conclusion: Since the sequence of chronological

sequence is important in
Chronicles and since we know that Ishmael was
born first, the fact that Keturah's sons are
listed second could very well infer
that Abraham had taken Keturah, another
concubine (Gen. 25:6 & 1 Chron. 1:32),
who bore him six sons prior to the birth of
Isaac. Some commentators have concluded that
Keturah was another concubine of Abraham, having replaced
Hagar, and who lived with them while Sarah was
still alive.

Question no. 3: Would not the births of Keturah's sons

likewise have had to been miraculous if they
were born after Sarah died and Isaac was
married since Isaac was born miraculously in Abraham and
Sarah's old age and since Abraham would be at
least 140 years of age when
Keturah's firstborn came upon the scene?

4
Reasoning The Scriptures

Answer: Abraham and Sarah were already aged at the time they
were told by the angel that they would have a son and even
doubted their ability to have children
at that time.

Genesis 18:11 "Abraham and Sarah were already old

and well advanced in years, and Sarah
was past the age of childbearing." (NIV)

Genesis 17:17 "Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and

said to himself, "Will a son be born to a
man a hundred years old? Will Sarah
bear a child at the age of ninety?" (NIV)

Genesis 21:5 "Abraham was a hundred years old

when his son Isaac was born to him."
(NIV)

Genesis 23:1 "Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-

seven years old." (NIV) Since Abraham
was ten years older than Sarah, he
would have been 137 years old when she
died.

Genesis 25:20 "Isaac was forty years old when he

married Rebekah daughter of
Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram..."
(NIV)

90 Age of Sarah when Isaac was born. (Gen. 17:17)

+4 0 Age of Isaac when he married Rebekah. (Gen. 25:20)
-------
130 Age of Sarah if she had been alive when Isaac married Rebekah.
- 127 Age of Sarah when she died. (Gen. 23:1)
------
3 Number of years Sarah was dead when Isaac married Rebekah.
+ 137 Age of Abraham when Sarah died. (Abraham was 10 yrs. older
than Sarah- (Gen.17:17)
-------
140 Age of Abraham when Isaac married Rebekah.

Conclusion: Isaac's birth was miraculous because he was

born after their child bearing age. If Keturah
became Abraham's wife after Sarah died
and after Isaac was married, Abraham would have
been at least 40 years older when Isaac was born. Even
at 100 years of age he questioned his
ability to produce

5
Reasoning The Scriptures

children. Since so much was written about

the miraculous birth of Isaac, would not it
seem reasonable that the
Scriptures would also at least make some
mention that the birth of Keturah's sons were
also miraculous?

Question no. 4: Are we on safe ground to use a type to prove a

New testament doctrine when the type is not
mentioned even once in the New Testament?

Answer: If Keturah was to be a type that pictured the New

Covenant, it would
definitely have been mentioned or at least inferred
somewhere in the writings of the New Testament.

Conclusion: Since there is no mention or even any

inference by any of the writers of the
New Testament Scriptures, it is mere
speculation and an assumption that is
totally void of
any "thus saith the Lord" to teach that
Keturah is a
type of the New Covenant.