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, . 4 And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the chLetushim, and Leummimildren of Keturah.
20 years after the death of Sarah, Abraham marries keturah whose name means “Incense”. In verse 2-4, we see the names of sons she bore to Abraham. They tell us the prophesy regarding the people of Israel after the rapture of the church. It speaks of the millinium reign (revelation 20) after the tribulation. I do not want to go in details regarding this verses as God has put in my heart to share a different msg from this chapter. I will be spending majority of the study on the subject of reconciliation.
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.
Here is an excellent message on parenting. Abraham made sure there would be no confusion as to who the heir is. He already had sent Ismael away without giving him any possessions. Now, in his old age, he sends his other sons away from him while he was living. He did not want any family quarrel after his death.
This is the sum of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five 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.
Life of one of the most amazing character in bible comes to an end. He would later be called “father of faith “. About 13 chapters of Genesis are dedicated to his journey of faith. And life of Abraham teaches us a great lesson. Verse 7 speaks of quality of life. Our life is made up of days, not weeks, months or years. Psalmist says, God teach me to number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom. What is wisdom according to scripture? Fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom. World says, wisdom comes with old age but if you do not know God and his word, all it means is you are an OLD FOOL. One of the greatest misconceptions in spiritual life is that when we are old, we will automatically be spiritual. I need to know God’s word today. Our journey is called ” Christian Walk”. We walk with Jesus each day, it is not christian leap or Christian event, or Christian bounce, it is a walk. It happens one step, one day at a time. Live each day of your life glorifying God, walk with him daily not weekly, not monthly, not just on Christmas & Good Friday but daily. Verse 8, The words “Of years” is in Italics meaning the phrase was added later. Thus, The original text just reads Abraham ‘Died Full”. All of us should want to die full-full of joy & peace.
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. 11 And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi.
This next verse is an amazing verse and one we as Christian need to apply to our lives. This is an issue we as Christians struggle with in our family, marriage, churches . We have so many broken relationships because we have failed to learn the lesson of reconciliation. If you want to heal a broken relationship, verse 9 teaches us how we should approach it as born again Christian. In this verse we see Ishmael & Issac come together at the Abraham’s funeral. We know this to be true in our own life, we meet people that we have not seen in years at a funeral. If you recall Ismael was about 13 years of age when Abraham sent him away at the command of God, there is no mention of him again until now. Two brothers have no relationship until they come together at the death of their father because true reconciliation can only happen through the death. Our relationship with God was broken when Eve ate the fruit in garden of Eden but now it is restored by the death of Jesus on cross. It is through the death of Christ we are reconciled. If you are having trouble in your marriage or any relationship, one of you going to have to die. I do not mean you literally have to die physically but die to having your own way. If there is to be reconciliation with your wife, your husband, your boss, your friend, your neighbor, your inlaws, you have to die. We say, “I don’t want to die” why can’t she die? why is it always my turn to die? Well, as Christians we are given the ministry of reconciliation. Paul says following in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. Jesus is so big on reconciliation that he told us to stop worshipping & to go and fix our relationship with the one who is offended. 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. Notice it does not say, if you have something against them. My dear friends, we are called to reconcile. ” If relationship is not right” Jesus said, I want you to deal with that matter before you continue in worship. why should I be the one to die? Here are couple of reasons.
- It pleases God when we do his will. As read in the above scripture, we are given a ministry of reconciliation. We are called to be a peacemaker. According to Matthew 5, Blessed are the peacemaker because they will be called children Of God. Those of us who are parents know, how happy we are with a child, who shares with brother or sister.
- It defeats Satan. The motto of English empire was to divide & rule. And small nation of England ruled all over the world with that tactic. Satan is the original divider. He has one tactic from the very beginning : division. Lucifer persuaded 1/3 of angels to see things his way. So when you say I will die before I allow a separation between me & my wife, or friend, or neighbor, it deals a death-blow to Satan. There is nothing more pleasing to Satan then God’s children bickering over meaningless stuff in church. He likes nothing more than broken Christian home or broken family because when we are fighting, our focus is not on God.
- Lastly, reconciliation is victory of spirit over flesh. In Matthew 10:39 says 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. We are told to bear our cross. Jesus endured the cross not because it was his will but father’s will. Cross we are to bear is not sickness or financial trouble, death etc but rather it is something we choose to do to please our spirit and cause agony to our flesh. We just celebrated Resurrection, In order for resurrection to happen, Jesus had to die. Jesus was only on cross for 6 hours before he died. Most people took 2-3 days before they died on cross. Jesus was in hurry to get to Sunday morning and resurrection. That’s why he said, If you deny yourself, you will have life. But if you choose to hang on to your life, you will prolong your misery. Roman soldier stuck a spear in his side and there was no reaction, only blood & water came out and he knew Jesus was dead. Just like that, when that person you have had hard time pokes you yet again and you don’t respond, react or retaliate – you will know you have died to your flesh. So question is not so much ” Why I have to die “? but rather you get to die. Do you love the God so much that you will delight him by dying to your rights, your way, your self? If you do, restoration of relationship will happen.
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,[a] 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. 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.
Abraham died and now we move to life of Issac and his story but before we do that here is the story of Ishmael. The twelve sons of Ismael portray the history of Islam, which is based on idolatry & paganism. Most of them settled in the general region of central Arabia. Ismael died at the age of 137 . The word “DIED” literally means FELL. He apparently was a loner as predicted back in Genesis 16:12. At this point, I choose not to dive further into history of Ismael’s son in interest of length of blog. One very important thing to remember is, as great as Abraham was, he died.
Did the plan of God stop there? NO. So no matter how important you think you are to your church no matter how close you think you are to God, you may think you are very strong in faith but at the end, we all die. We have purpose to serve and we move on. Our job is to just direct people to Jesus. Abraham was just part of the plan to Jesus. This is not about ME or YOU, this is about Jesus. As faithful and obedient a servant Abraham was, he was just a man like me & you. We are not to worship him as Jews & Muslims call him their father. But, we have only one father in heaven. We need to be careful that we do not become follower of man. There is nothing wrong in respecting a man of God, Pastor or support a ministry but be careful that you do not become follower of them. We are to follow Jesus and his teaching not follow a pastor or preacher.
The next major section of Genesis actually starts in middle of this chapter. According to Henry Morris, It is probable that the statement “And these are the generations of Issac” is actually the signature terminating the records beginning in Gen 11:27, dealing with life of Abraham and early life of Isaac. The next section beginning in Gen 25-19 and continuing through 37:2 was probably recorded by Jacob.
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.
Rebekah was a daughter of Syrian but become a bride of promised son much like we who are gentiles became a Church ( bride of Christ). We, who once walked in darkness are now saved by promised son but much like Rebekah we too can remain barren. Are you barren? Then like Isaac, you need to plead ( pray ) to Lord. Like Isaac our savior Jesus is pleading for us to the father.
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.
Rebekah was no longer barren, but the twins in her belly were fighting, and it troubled her. She teaches us a beautiful lesson here. She did not go asking 10 people around her, but she went to “Inquire of the Lord”. Is something not right in your life? is something bothering you? Take it to him in prayer. As popular Hymns says what a friend we have in Jesus ….. Take it to him in prayer. No one can give you an accurate answer like him.
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.”
Like Rebekah once we come to Jesus, we are no longer barren but there is a conflict within us. It is a constant battle between SPIRIT & Flesh. They are constantly at war within us. What can we do about this? The answer is very simple: we must feed the one we want to get stronger. Paul tells us in letter to Galatians : For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. I suggest you feed the spirit.
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.[b] 26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob.[c] Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.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.
Jacob & Esau represent the 2 natures at conflict within us. Jacob represents the spirit & Esau flesh. Esau is older because we all walked in flesh before we came to Christ and were touched by the spirit. In this verse we see Isaac loved Esau because and reason is given but it say Rebekah loved Jacob and no reason is given. Flesh has to have a reason in order to love but Spirit just loves. Jesus loved us enough to die for us not because of any reason but he Just loved us .
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.
This experience with “RED LENTILS” in fact was closely associated with Esau. People from then on called him Edom ( meaning red) and whenever he heard the name it reminded him that he sold his birthright. Why do people so often consider Jacob the culprit in this transaction? Scripture does not say a single word of correction or condemnation of Jacob. Instead, it condemns Esau.
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.
In days of old Testament, the first-born child would receive a double inheritance. He would also carry out the spiritual leadership of the family. He would make sure family was taken care of financially and walked with God. By his actions you can see Esau ( representing flesh) could care less about spiritually ministry. He simply wanted to satisfy his flesh. Jacob on the other hand understood the importance of birthright and responsibility it came with it. Jacob, of course should have let God work out the issue of birthright. God had already made known to Rebekah who the inheritance should belong to. However, Jacob’s sin was not sin of greed but rather lack of faith. We all fall short on that matter. I know I continually fall into sin of lack of faith. Jacob’s actions led to increasing estrangement from his father and brother. How much better it would have been to resort to only to a prayer about the matter, and then wait for God to work it out. How much we ourselves are quick to criticize Jacob, need to learn the same lesson. Let the God work it out. Amen.
only savior jesus 
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