John Gill Commentary Genesis 25

Then again Abraham took a wife
Three years after the death of Sarah, and when his son Isaac was married, and he alone, and now one hundred and forty years of age:

and her name [was] Keturah ;
who she was, or of what family, is not said. An Arabic writer ^F26 says she was a daughter of the king of the Turks; another ^F1 of them calls her the daughter of King Rama; and another ^F2 the daughter of Pactor, king of Rabbah; but there were then no such people in being.

Very probably she was one of Abraham's handmaids born in his house, or bought with his money, perhaps the chief and principal of them.

The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem say she is the same with Hagar, and so, Jarchi; but this is rejected by Aben Ezra, since mention is made of Abraham's concubines, (Genesis 25:6) ; whereas it does not appear he ever had any other than Hagar and Keturah, and therefore could not be the same; and besides, the children of Hagar and Keturah are in this chapter reckoned as distinct.

Cleodemus ^F3 , a Heathen writer, makes mention of Keturah as a wife of Abraham's, by whom he had many children, and names three of them. Sir Walter Raleigh ^F4 thinks, that the Kenites, of whom Jethro, the father- in-law of Moses, was, had their name from Keturah, being a nation of the Midianites that descended from her.

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: Abul. Pharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 14.
• F1: Elmacinus, p. 34. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 309.
• F2: Patricides, p. 19. in ib.
• F3: Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 20. p. 422.
• F4: History of the World, l. 2. c. 4. sect. 2. p. 157.

And she bare him Zimran That Keturah should bear children who probably, was a young woman, is not strange; but that Abraham, whose body forty years before this was dead should now have any bore to him, may seem difficult to account for, and only can be attributed to the fresh vigour his body was endued with at the generation of Isaac; and which still continued for the fulfilment of the promise to him of the multiplication of his seed.

But if the notion of a late learned bishop ^F5 is right, there will be no need to have recourse to any thing extraordinary; which is, that Abraham took Keturah for his concubine, about twenty years after his marriage with Sarah, she being barren, and long before he took Hagar; though not mentioned till after the death of Sarah, that the thread of the history might not be broken in upon; and there are various things which make it probable, as that she is called his concubine, (1 Chronicles 1:32) , which one would think she should not be, if married to him after the death of Sarah, and when he had no other wife, and seeing before he died he had great grandchildren by her, and the children of her are reckoned down to the third generation; whereas there are only mention of two generations of Hagar, as in (Genesis 25:1–4Genesis 25:12–16) ; and therefore seems to have been taken by him before Hagar, and even when he was in Haran, and the children by her are thought to be the souls gotten there; nor does it seem very probable that he should take a wife after the death of Sarah, when he was one hundred and forty years of age, and was reckoned an old man forty years before this;

and Dr. Lightfoot ^F6 is of opinion, that Abraham married her long before Isaac's marriage, or Sarah's death; and if this was the case, the difficulty of accounting for Abraham's fitness for generation vanishes.

The first son of Keturah, born to him, was called Zimran, from which came the Zamareni, a people in Arabia Felix mentioned by Pliny ^F7 ; and hereabout the sons of Keturah settled, being sent by Abraham into the east country, even into Arabia, which lay east of the place where he then was; and very probably Zabram; or it may be rather Zamram, a royal city in the country of the Cinaedocolpites, a part of Arabia Felix, as placed by Ptolemy ^F8 , may have its name from this man: five more of Abraham's sons by Keturah follow,

and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah : Some think that the first of these is the same with Cahtan, whom the Arabs call the father of their nation; but that Cahtan rather seems to be Joktan the son of Eber, see (Genesis 10:25) .

Philostorgius ^F9 speaks of a nation in his time, called Homerites, who were a people that sprung from Keturah, and inhabited Arabia Felix, and who used circumcision on the eighth day: and Bishop Patrick observes from Theophanes, a chronologer of the ninth century, that the Homerites, who lived in the interior parts of Arabia, descended from Jectan, which he conjectures should be read Jocshan, though perhaps he is no other than the Joktan before mentioned.

From Medan and Midian sprung the Midianites, so often mentioned in Scripture; their posterity seem to be confounded together, for the same people are called Medanites and Midianites, (Genesis 37:28Genesis 37:36) ; from these men the towns in Arabia might have their names, as the Modiana and Madiana of Ptolemy ^F11 :

as for Ishbak, there is no tracing of his name anywhere, unless, as Bishop Patrick observes, some footsteps of it are to be found in Bacascami, a town of the Zamareni, who descended from his brother Zimran, and in the people Backliltae, both mentioned by Pliny ^F12 ; though Junius think that Scabiosa Laodicea, in Laodicene of Syria, has its name from him; which seems not likely.

The name of Shuah or Shuach may be traced in Socacia, Soaca, and Socheher, cities placed by Ptolemy ^F13 in Arabia Felix: though some think the posterity of this man are those whom the geographers call Sauchites, Sauchaeans, and Saccaeans, who settled in Arabia Deserta, and from whom Bildad the Shuhite, (Job 2:11) , descended; which is not improbable. But others have been of opinion, that the town of Suez, which Pliny calls Suaza, had its name from this Shuah, situate at the extremity of the Red sea ^F14 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: Dr. Clayton's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 83
• F6: Observations on the Book of Genesis in his Works, vol. 1. p. 695.
• F7: Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.
• F8: Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.
• F9: Eccl. Hist. l. 3. sect. 4. p. 477.
• F11: Ut supra. (^F8)
• F12: Ut supra. (^F7)
• F13: Ut supra. (^F8)
• F14: See Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 2. p. 184.

And Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan Bochart ^F15 is of opinion, that the posterity of this Sheba are the same with the Sabeans who inhabited at the entrance of Arabia Felix, not far from the Nabathaeans; and who, by Strabo ^F16 , are mentioned together as near to Syria, and used to make excursions on their neighbours; and not without some colour of reason thought to be the same that plundered Job of his cattle, (Job 1:15) .

From Dedan came the Dedanim or Dedanites, spoken of with the Arabians in (Isaiah 21:13) ; Junius thinks Adada in Palmyrene of Syria had its name from this man, and in which country is the mountain Aladan or Alladadan.

Bochart ^F17 more probably takes Dedan, a city in Idumea, to derive its name from him. There is a village called Adedi in the country of the Cassanites, a people of Arabia Felix, which Ptolemy ^F18 makes mention of, and seems to have some appearance of this man's name:

and the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim ; these names being plural are thought not to be proper names of men, but appellatives, descriptive of their places of abode, or of their business: hence the Targum of Onkelos represents them as such that dwelt in camps, in tents, and in islands; and the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call them merchants, artificers and heads of the people:

however, Cleodemus ^F19 the Heathen historian is wrong in deriving Assyria from Asshurim, whom he calls Ashur; since Assyria and Assyrians are so called from Ashur, the son of Shem, (Genesis 10:22) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: Phaleg. l. 2. c. 9. col. 227.
• F16: Geograph. l. 16. p. 536.
• F17: Phaleg. l. 4. c. 6. col. 219.
• F18: Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.)
• F19: Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. 9. c. 20. p. 432.)

And the sons of Midian
The fourth son of Abraham by Keturah; he has five sons next mentioned, who were heads of so many tribes or families in Midian: hence we read of five kings of Midian; (Numbers 31:8) ; their names follow,

Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah :
the two first of these, whom Cleodemus ^F20 calls Aphra and Apher, and makes them to be sons of Abraham by Keturah, when they were his grandsons, he says, from them the city Aphra, and all Africa, had their names, and that these accompanied Hercules into Lybia, he having married a daughter of Aphra. Ephah is mentioned along with Midian in (Isaiah 60:6) ; but of the rest no notice is taken in Scripture.

Ptolemy ^F21 makes mention both of a mountain, and of a village, near Madiana in Arabia Felix, called Hippos, which perhaps had their name from this man. Some trace of Epher is thought to be in Taphuron which Philostorgius says ^F23 was the metropolis of the Homerites, before mentioned; and Arrianus, as Bishop Patrick observes, expressly says, the metropolis of the Homerites, is called Aphar: to which may be added, that Ptolemy ^F24 speaks of a people called Tappharites, near the Homerites.

Hanoch, the next son, is thought to have some footsteps of his name in Cane, a mart, which Ptolemy ^F25 places in the country of the Adramites in Arabia Felix, and also in the country of Canauna in Arabia, mentioned by, Pliny ^F26 : near Cananua is placed, by the same writer, the island Devadae, called by Philostorgius ^F1 (dibouv) , "Divus", in which it is supposed there is some trace of the name of Abidah, by an inversion of the two last syllables; and perhaps also in Abissa, which Ptolemy ^F2 places in the country of the Sachalites in Arabia Felix.

As for Eldaah, Bishop Patrick thinks there are no remains of this name, unless in the city of Elana, from where there was a gulf called Elanites, and a people that lived there Elanitae; but one would think there are some traces of it in the cities Alata, Lattha, and Leaththa, all, according to Ptolemy {c}, in Arabia Felix:

all these [were] the children of Keturah ; her children and grandchildren.

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 20. p. 432.)
• F21: Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.)
• F23: Eccl. Hist. l. 3. sect. 4. 478.
• F24: Ut supra. (^F21)
• F25: lb.
• F26: Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.
• F1: Ut supra, (^F23) sect. 3.
• F2: Ut supra. (^F21)

And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac .
] By his last will and testament; not all out of his own hand, while he lived, at least he reserved somewhat for himself, and for gifts to his other children; so his servant declared to the parents and friends of Rebekah, (Genesis 24:35) ; wherefore some render the words here "had given" ^F4 ; or the sense is, that he had at that time purposed and promised to give all that he had to Isaac, and now he actually did it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (Ntn) "dederat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.