CHAPTER 25

(1800 B.C.)

KETURAH

¹Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah (Sarah having waxed old and vanished away [Heb. 9:13], that is, the Jewish Covenant of works, Keturah, the Gentile, now appears with her sons; thus is the future pictured).

²And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

³And Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.

⁴And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. (Abraham was probably between 140 and 150 years old when these sons were born. So, we must conclude that the rejuvenation given to Abraham by the Lord, as it regards the birth of Isaac, carried over for many more years, which it no doubt did. With God all things are possible! This having been accomplished, the nations of the Earth [represented by Keturah and her sons] will be raised up as children of Abraham and receive their inheritance, which of course speaks of the Church.)

⁵And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac (only the Child of the Spirit can be heir to the Promises).

⁶But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country (there is a vast difference in mere gifts than the entirety of the inheritance; in the natural or literal sense the same holds true; those who follow the way of the Cross can have no fellowship with those who follow the way of the flesh).

ABRAHAMS DEATH AND BURIAL

⁷And these are the days of the years of Abrahams life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years (175 years).

⁸Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. (Abraham was born about two years after the death of Noah, and was contemporary with Shem, Noahs son, for many years. Few men in history, if any, have affected the world as did Abraham. That which characterized his person and his life was that of Faith, and we speak of Faith in Christ and what Christ would do to redeem the fallen sons of Adams lost race. It could be said of him as it was said of Paul, He fought a good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith [II Tim. 4:7-8].)

⁹And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; (It is pleasant to read that Isaac and Ishmael stood side by side at their fathers grave, which speaks to us of prophetic overtones. This will literally happen in the coming Kingdom Age.)

¹⁰The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife. (This burial plot alone belonged to Abraham and Sarah when they died; however, that burial place proclaimed to all that one day the entirety of the land, which would ultimately be called Israel, would belong to him; and it yet shall, in the coming Kingdom Age.)

¹¹And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi (well of the living one; God blessed Isaac, but it doesnt mention anything about God blessing the other sons of Abraham).

DESCENDANTS OF ISHMAEL

¹²Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abrahams son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarahs handmaid, bore unto Abraham (Ishmael had every opportunity to serve God, but, regrettably, he chose another path):

¹³And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

¹⁴And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,

¹⁵Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.

¹⁷And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.

¹⁸And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren. (Ishmael was the head of the Arab people, who regrettably, at least for the most part, chose also a path of faithlessness. Christ being rejected, as always is the case, a false deity filled the void. That false deity was Muhammad, who has enslaved the Arab people from then until now. For there is no freedom outside of Christ.)

ESAU AND JACOB

¹⁹And these are the generations of Isaac, Abrahams son: Abraham begat Isaac (Isaac was born of the Spirit):

²⁰And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian (Laban the Syrian is mentioned here simply because he will figure very prominently as it regards Jacob, Rebekahs son).

²¹And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren (Satan hindered the birth of Jacob for twenty years): and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived (God overruled the malice of Satan to emphasize once more the great truth that He displays the riches of His Grace and Glory where nature is dead; this is a principle in the spiritual life which nature is unwilling to learn).

²²And the children struggled together within her (they were twins in her womb; two energies struggled within her, the one believing and the other unbelieving, and were present even before they were born; it is like the two natures, sin nature and Divine Nature, within the Believer); and she said, If it be so, why am I thus (could be paraphrased, If, in answer to prayer, God is about to give me the joy of being a mother, why am I so physically oppressed that I am in danger of death?; it must indeed have appeared perplexing to her that such an answer to prayer should be accompanied by such mysterious suffering)? And she went to enquire of the LORD.

²³And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in your womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from your bowels (those two nations were Edomites and Israelites; from the time of their birth, Esau and Jacob would be separated, divided, even hostile, for they would have nothing in common); and the one people shall be stronger than the other people (Jacob, who was younger, would be the stronger, but only through the Lord); and the elder shall serve the younger (every person is born with a sin nature, which makes that the elder; the Divine Nature comes into the Believer at conversion, and is the younger; however, if we follow Gods pattern of victorious living, which is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, the elder shall serve the younger, meaning that the Divine nature will be victorious over the sin nature).

²⁴And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

²⁵And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau (his name means the hairy one, which speaks of sensuality).

²⁶And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esaus heel (Jacob taking hold of Esaus heel at birth portrays the Believer trying to gain spiritual supremacy by means of the flesh and not the Spirit, which characterized Jacob for many years); and his name was called Jacob (meaning heel-catcher or supplanter): and Isaac was threescore years old (60) when she bore them.

THE BIRTHRIGHT

²⁷And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents (the original Hebrew proclaims Esau as a wild, undisciplined man, and Jacob as a quiet, mature individual; he was sensible, diligent, dutiful, and peaceful).

²⁸And Isaac loved Esau (preferred Esau above Jacob, which proclaims a character flaw in Isaac, which was to bring him grief; the Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Hebrews calls Esau a profane person, and this because he sold his birthright), because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob (she remembered the prediction of Verse 23).

²⁹And Jacob sod pottage (a stew): and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:

³⁰And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray you, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom (the father of the Edomites).

³¹And Jacob said, Sell me this day your birthright. (The birthright then dealt primarily with spiritual things, of which Esau had no regard or concern. It had to do with the earthly inheritance of Canaan, but would take place hundreds of years in the future. It referred to the possession of the Covenant Blessing, which included his seed being as the stars of the sky and all the families of the Earth being blessed in him. As well, it was the progenitorship of the Promised Seed, which was the greatest Blessing of all, and spoke of Christ. The firstborn was to receive the birthright, and Esau was the firstborn.)

³²And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? (Esau bartered future and eternal wealth for present and temporary need. He had no concern for spiritual things, so the birthright meant nothing to him.)

³³And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he swore unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. (Jacob, deplorable as was his character, valued Divine and eternal blessing; and, had he placed himself in Gods Hands, the prophecy made to his mother before he was born would have been fulfilled to him, and without the degradation and suffering which his own scheming brought upon him.)

³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright. (The natural heart places no value on the things of God, as we see evidenced in the choices made by Esau. To the natural heart, Gods Promises are a vague, valueless, powerless thing, simply because God is not known. Upon that which the unredeemed cannot see, they place no value. Thus it was with Esau.)