(6/3/15) We don t know if Abraham married Keturah before or after Isaac married Rebekah.

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1 Genesis 25:1-34 (6/3/15) Genesis 24:67 (NKJV) 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Genesis 25:1 (NKJV) 1 Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. We don t know if Abraham married Keturah before or after Isaac married Rebekah. Isaac married Rebekah three years after his mother Sarah died when he was 40 years old. If Abraham married Keturah around the same time that would mean that he was 140 years old. So Abraham would have been married to Keturah for roughly 35 years before he died. Now in 1 Chronicles 1:32 Keturah is called Abraham s concubine a truth verse 6 seems to confirm. A concubine was kind of a second class wife but now Abraham officially marries her and she is elevated to full wife status. 1

2 Genesis 25:1-4 (NKJV) 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. So once again it seems that God supernaturally rejuvenated Abraham s body allowing him to have six more sons. Because Keturah s name means spices, and because several of her sons names are associated with the Arabian Peninsula most Bible scholars believe that her sons became principals in the international spice trade the gathering and distribution of frankincense and myrrh and other aromatic substances. The only name we recognize is Midian. We will discover in the book of Exodus that Moses will go down into the land of Midian and take a wife from there. Genesis 25:5-6 (NKJV) 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. (Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia) Abraham divides his wealth among his sons while he was still living which kept them from fighting after he died. And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. in other words Isaac, a type of Christ, remained preeminent above all the other sons of Abraham they got gifts but Isaac was his father s heir. 2

3 Genesis 25:7-8 (NKJV) 7 This is the sum of the years of Abraham's life which he lived: one hundred and seventyfive years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. Abraham died in a good old age, an old man and full ( satisfied, happy, content ) The reason Abraham died full in the sense of satisfied and content was because he was a man full of God. A man, who although he had many material blessings, always set his sight on things to come a sojourner that was looking for a city whose builder and Maker was God. Abraham lived 175 years and since he was seventy-five when he left Ur of the Chaldees his last hundred years were lived as a pilgrim and a sojourner. Yes but Abraham was wealthy isn t wealth evil? NO. The Bible doesn t say that money is the root of all evil it says the love of money is the root of all evil. Deut. 8:18 says that God gives some the ability to gain wealth but Scripture also says, If God increases your riches don t set your heart on them. I think one of the things that made Abraham happy at the time of his death was that he had Isaac and Ishmael by his side (I can t prove it but it appears that way). 3

4 Isaac would have been 75 when Abraham died, Ishmael would have been 88, and Esau and Jacob would have been 15 when their grandfather died. Here s something interesting that you may not have known Abraham died only 2 years after Noah! (Comment) Genesis 25:9-10 (NKJV) 9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. Abraham s body was buried in the cave of Machpelah but his soul and spirit went down to Sheol (Hades) to a place that would be named after him called Abraham s bosom. Sometimes people will ask me, What happened to the believers who died in the OT before Jesus came? According to what Jesus said in Luke 16, Abraham s bosom a place of paradise was where the Old Testament believers went after they died. These were those who were believers in God and His promises that looked forward to the coming Messiah Unable to go directly to heaven because Jesus had not yet died for their sins, they went to Abraham s bosom, the good side of Hades, where they were comforted but held captive. After Jesus died He went to Abraham s bosom and led the Old Testament believers out of their captivity and brought them to heaven where they are today (Ephesians 4:8-10) their bodies won t be resurrected until Jesus returns at His Second Coming. (Dan.12) 4

5 So today Abraham s bosom is empty ( to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord ) but the torment side of Hades is where all unbelievers go when they die and are kept there awaiting the great judgment of God which we see in Rev. 20:11-15 Genesis 25:11 (NKJV) 11 And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi. Isaac was the son of promise the one through whom Messiah would be born the Seed through Whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi. ( Well of the One who lives and sees me ). Genesis 25:12-16 (NKJV) 12 Now this is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's maidservant, bore to Abraham. 13 And these were the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations. In chapter 21:13 God had promised Abraham that He would make Ishmael a great nation. Many of Ishmael s sons settled in and around the area of Saudi Arabia the place where the god Allah is worshipped the place that gave birth to the Islamic faith. Who is Allah? To understand Allah you have to understand Mohammed. Mohammed the prophet of Islam was born in 570 AD in the city of Mecca in Arabia. 5

6 He was a 26 yr. old camel driver when he first heard a voice that he later considered to be a revelation. There is a Christian Arab doctor who after studying Mohammed s life came to the conclusion that he suffered from a neurological disorder like epilepsy only worse. Mohammed was given to fits where he would foam at the mouth and lose control of his body. Others, including myself, believe that he was exhibiting signs of demonic possession. Even Mohammed himself didn t know if he was hearing from God or the jinns (evil spirits genies). In time, with the help of his wife, he came to believe that he was a prophet of God. Dr. William Miller, a missionary to the Muslim community for over 40 yrs., records the manner of the subsequent revelations: Sometimes Mohammed saw the angel Gabriel, sometimes he only heard a voice, and sometimes he heard the sound of a bell through which the words of the angel were brought to him. Sometimes the message came in a dream, and at other times it came in the thoughts of his mind. When revelation came to him, his whole frame would become agitated, and perspiration would pour down his face. He would often fall to the ground and foam at the mouth. The messages always came to him in the Arabic language, and Mohammed spoke the words that he received Mohammed was convinced that the words which came to him were not his own, but the very Word of God. And he was only the reciter And everything the spirits told him was written in the Koran. 1 John 4:1 (NKJV) 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 6

7 After Mohammed tried to pass himself off as a prophet of God to the Jewish and Christian communities but was rejected he went to the pagans of Mecca and Medina. They had 360 gods one for every day of the year. The 3 most important gods out of the 360 were: the moon god, the sun god and the star god. Mohammed got rid of 357 of their pagan gods but later he even went farther and got rid of the sun and the star gods. He said, This is old stuff, the Jews and the Christians are right, they re monotheists and we must create for ourselves a monotheistic god as well. And what we ll do is take the greatest of all the 360 gods Ella he (Moon Crescent) and we will make Ella he our Allah. (Allah being the generic name for God) This is where Allah came from the pagan moon god, a war god, a sword god. The word Islam doesn t mean love or peace it means submission. The Islamic religion divides the world into two groups: the Dara al-islam and the Dara al- Harb. The Dara al-islam is the house of Islam containing all true Muslim (also known as the house of peace) anyone who is not a Muslim belongs to Dara al-harb (house of war). The Dara al-islam cannot have peace on earth until the Dara al-harb is destroyed. 7

8 It s not until all of the Jews, Christians and pagans are gone and the whole world is Islamisized that there can be peace on earth this is a cardinal doctrine of the Islamic religion. Islam is a warrior religion committed to converting the world to Islam or killing those who refuse. The Muslim motto is: Kill the Jews on Saturday and kill the Christians on Sunday. Remember what God said about Ishmael (and his descendants) Genesis 16:12 (NKJV) 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man's hand against him Genesis 25:17-21 (NKJV) 17 These were the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 18 (They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria.) He died in the presence of all his brethren. 19 This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot Isaac. 20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. 21 Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. To Isaac s credit he didn t resort to his own Hagar to try to help God out as his father had done. Isaac knew that the promise God had given to his father would be fulfilled through him but he didn t use that as an excuse to do nothing he prayed fervently for his wife to conceive. 8

9 The same word for pleaded is used in Exodus to describe how Moses pleaded with the Lord to remove the plagues (cf. Exodus 7 10). And notice that Isaac pleaded with the Lord for 20 years that Rebekah would bear a child just because God hasn t answered your prayer yet doesn t mean He won t someday don t give up! Genesis 25:21-23 (NKJV) 21 and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If all is well, why am I like this?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 And the LORD said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger." Someone has said that there is never spiritual progress without warfare. Isaac, a type of Christ (our Intercessor), prays for his wife Rebekah, a type of the Church, to be fruitful and the result is a struggle within her. The struggle is the result of two nations (natures) within her but the older (the old nature) was supposed to serve the younger (the newest nature). This is Galatians 5 Galatians 5:17 (NKJV) 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. For twenty years Rebekah was barren and Isaac kept pleading with the Lord and finally she conceived. 9

10 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If all is well, why am I like this?" (v.22) The literal Hebrew is, The children smashed themselves inside her she felt as if her womb had become a battlefield. According to Nahum Sarna, the Jewish scholar, the sense of her dismay was something like: Why then did I yearn and pray to become pregnant? or Why do I go on living? Rebekah had no idea what was going on inside of her except she knew it wasn t normal so she went to the Lord in prayer. Genesis 25:23 (NKJV) 23 And the LORD said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger." The two rival nations were Jacob (Israel) and Esau (Edomites). And the older shall serve the younger God chose to go against the normal pattern of the younger serving the older. In Romans 9:10 13, the Apostle Paul used this choice of Jacob over Esau before their birth as an illustration of God s sovereign election 10

11 Romans 9:10-13 (NKJV) 10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger." 13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." (Quoting Malachi 1:2-3) Hate in the Hebrew language is often used as an idiom for expressing a preference. Genesis 29:30 Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years. Genesis 29:31 (KJV) And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. Was Leah hated? No, Jacob loved Rachel so much that by comparison Leah seemed as though she was hated. Jesus, who was also a Hebrew, used the word hate in a similar way: Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. Jesus is not telling us to hate our families or ourselves He is saying that our love for God is to be so great that by comparison every other relationship seems like hatred. Now that s part of the interpretation of Romans 9:13 part but not all of it. 11

12 As Norm Geisler points out Few Scriptural texts are more misused by extreme Calvinists than this one. Extreme Calvinists believe that what Paul is teaching here is that in eternity past before Esau and Jacob were ever born God chose to love Jacob and to hate Esau, to save Jacob and send Esau to hell and that is how works with everyone they say He chooses to love and save some and to hate and condemn others and that s all there is to it. However God is not speaking here about the individual Jacob but about the nation of Jacob (Israel) and the same for Esau. Genesis 25:23 And the LORD said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger." (This never happened during the lives of Esau and Jacob) You can read Genesis until your eyes fall out and you will not find anywhere the statement where God says He loved Jacob but hated Esau. To find that statement you have to go from the very first book in the O.T. to the very last book Malachi 1:1-2 God s love for Jacob and hate for Esau is not speaking of those men before they were born, but 1500 years after they lived and died. He was speaking how He had sovereignly elected Jacob (Israel) to a special place of blessing as His chosen people over Esau (Edom). God was speaking nationally not individually and it was to them as nations God was saying that He loved the one but the other He hated (loved less). 12

13 This election was only for special privilege not eternal salvation. God wasn t saying that He wouldn t allow anyone from the nation of Edom to be saved individually. In fact the Bible records that people from both Edom (Amos 9:12) and neighboring Moab (Ruth 1) were saved. Just as the Bible says that there will be people in heaven from every tribe, kindred, nation and tongue. (Rev.7:9) So regardless of corporate election (putting one nation in a special place of blessing over another nation) doesn t preclude individuals in those nations from the possibility of being saved. That comes as a matter of each individual choosing to exercise faith in Jesus or choosing not to exercise faith of their own free will. Genesis 25:24-26 (NKJV) 24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. The firstborn twin was named Esau (hairy) the other was named Jacob (heel-catcher). The idea behind heel-catcher was trickster, con-man, scoundrel, or rascal it wasn t a compliment. 13

14 Genesis 25:27-28 (NKJV) 27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. So Isaac was partial to Esau because he was a man s man a rugged, out-doorsy kind of guy who was a great hunter and would bring his dad home meat! But Rebekah was partial to Jacob because he liked to cook and spend his time with her instead of going out hunting and coming home smelling like an animal. Now because Jacob liked to cook and is referred to as a mild man some infer that he was a bit effeminate. However the Hebrew word for mild is used 13 times in the O.T. 9 times it s translated perfect ; 2 times undefiled ; 1 time upright ; and 1 time (right here) mild. The idea is that Jacob (although definitely not perfect practically speaking) was blameless and undefiled positionally before God because he was a believer. So Esau was a man of the field (world) and Jacob was a believer who lived in tents (sojourner). Genesis 25:29-34 (NKJV) 29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary." Therefore his name was called Edom. 31 But Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright as of this day." 32 And Esau said, "Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?" 33 Then Jacob said, "Swear to me as of this day." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. 14

15 To the first born son went the birthright what did that mean? He got a double portion of his father s inheritance. In case of his father s death he became the priest and spiritual leader of the family. Esau was the kind of guy who was going to make his own way in life so a double portion of his father s inheritance wasn t that important to him. And especially he had no concern for spiritual things so he in no way wanted to be the family priest and spiritual leader. I believe that Esau was an unbeliever but how many Christians are selling their birth right for things that feed the flesh and not the spirit? God has blessed us with great material blessings in America but don t let them become a distraction and take you away from the things (of the Spirit) that really matter. 15