Genesis 25:1-11

CHAPTER 25:1-11 Abraham's Posterity From Keturah and His Death

1. Abraham's offspring from Keturah (Genesis 25:1)

2. Isaac the heir (Genesis 25:5)

3. Abraham's death and burial (Genesis 25:7)

Abraham's marriage to Keturah and the offspring from her concludes the history of this remarkable character. That this took place after Isaac's marriage (typifying the marriage of the Lamb) makes it very interesting. After the church is completed and the present age ends the seed of Abraham will be blessed for the nations of the earth and nations will be born and walk in the light. This will be the result after Israel's restoration. Then all the families of the earth will be blessed in Abraham's seed. Abraham's posterity from Keturah stands for the millennial nations.

And Isaac is seen above all these. He still dwelt at Lahai-roi. He alone is the heir and the others received only gifts. So Christ is the Heir of God and His church will be with him far above all the earthly blessings of the age to come. Abraham died 175 years old, which means, he lived till Jacob and Esau were 15 years old. The phrase “gathered to his people” is used only of six persons. Of Abraham (Genesis 25:8); Ishmael (Genesis 25:17); Isaac (Genesis 35:29); Jacob (Genesis 49:29); Aaron (Numbers 20:24); and Moses (Deuteronomy 32:50). Here we add a few words translated from the German and written by Dr. Kurtz, late professor of the University of Dorpat:

The human race has had four ancestral heads, to each of whom the divine blessing is granted: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Of these, Abraham is the third; for he, too, is the head and founder of a new race, or of a new development. The direct reference of that blessing, in the case of the first and second, is to descendants after the flesh; in the case of the fourth, Christ (see Psalms 22:30 --110:3; Isaiah 53:10), to a spiritual seed, but in the case of Abraham, to both; for his spiritual seed was appointed to be manifested through the medium of his seed according to the flesh, agreeably to the promise: “In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” The children of Abraham, according to the flesh, are countless in number. Nations have arisen and disappeared, but his descendants proceed onward, through all ages, unmixed and unchanged. Their history is not yet closed; the blessing given to his seed, still preserves them unharmed, under every pressure of the nations around them, and amid all the ravages of time. But the peculiar feature which distinguishes Abraham does not, properly, belong to him naturally, as a member of the human family, or as an individual of a particular nation, but is found in his spiritual character. Where this character, which is faith, is manifested, we find the true children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7; Galatians 3:29; Romans 9:6). Faith was the polar star, the very soul, of his life. The ancient record, anticipating a development of two thousand years, remarked of him, first of all: “He believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6); and after these two thousand years had elapsed, Christ said of him: “Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). Abraham's true position and importance cannot, therefore, be fully appreciated, until we recognize in him the father of them that believe (Romans 4:11); and innumerable as the stars of heaven, and glorious as they are, are his spiritual children, the children of his faith.