Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. (1 Chronicles 1:32)
It’s funny how you can read something in the Bible and yet it never sinks in. I read this verse in the Bible and Bam! I have always thought of Abraham has having two sons, Isaac and Ishmael.
The promise of God to Abraham would pass on to Isaac. The promises would pass on to his son Jacob and his offspring and to God’s chosen people. Ishamel would go on to tell the story of a great white whale. (Just seeing if you are paying attention).
Anyway, if I missed that one line in this verse that would not be so bad, right? Well lo and behold, Genesis 25 tells of Abraham’s second wife and their six sons together. Abraham took a second wife after Sarah died. When Sarah died, Abraham was 137 years old. Now everyone points out that God had to be behind Sarah getting pregnant when Abraham was a 100 years old, but here Abraham was having six more sons with Keturah when he was much older.
The Bible says that Abraham left his entire inheritance to Isaac, but while he was still alive he had given some (apparently substantial) gifts to the other sons. He then sent the sons of Keturah to the East.
Each of Abraham’s eight sons became the progenitor of a civilization, people, tribe or nation. As an interesting little point of discussion, in the Book of Matthew, it is written that the Magi (the Wise Men) came from the East to see the Christ child. Could they have been descendants of Abraham also?
My point being, if I missed this, how much more have I missed? The Bible tells us that it is the Holy Spirit that reveals truth to us and guides us. Many verses apply, but check out John 16:13. Wouldn’t it be a good idea for me to ask God for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth and guide me through scripture every time I read my Bible.
Hey, I had a thought! Wouldn’t it be a good idea to ask God to reveal the truth and guide me through EVERYTHING every day of my life. Might cause me to look at things differently.