The story of Abraham and Keturah has held my attention for many years. There are many questions that have bothered me about this situation that people have never answered for me. I guess we can look into it ourselves and see what answers we come up with.

Before we look directly at Keturah, we need to set the stage for her entrance. What had taken place before she came on the scene? At the age of 100, Abraham and his wife Sarah at age 90, have a child in their old age (Isaac). This was considered to be a miracle and the Bible puts a lot of emphasis on the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah.

So here comes my first question or thing I don’t understand. When Abraham is 100 and has a son, it is a total miracle. After Sarah dies and Isaac is married, Abraham marries Keturah and has a whole new batch of kids. Although Abraham is now around 135 years old, it is recorded as though it is just an everyday occurrence; nothing new, nothing abnormal, just another average day. So what was the difference? Why was it a total miracle for Sarah to have Isaac in old age; but the children that Keturah bore to Abraham were just ho-hum, a normal event?

There seems to be two reasons that Isaac’s birth was so notable. I believe the first has to do with the age of Sarah, not so much Abraham. Sarah lived to be 127 years old. When she had Isaac, it would have been like a woman today having a child at age 60. The second reason is because he (Isaac) was a fulfillment of God’s promise. God’s reputation was on the line, His honor and glory were at stake.

Now let’s take a minute and look at Keturah. It is assumed that she was much younger than Abraham. Who was this woman and what people did she come from? In Jubillees 19:11 it says, “And Abraham took to himself a third wife, and her name was Keturah, from among the daughters of his household servants.” Although Jubillees is only a historical record, not part of the cannon of scripture, the information is worth considering if it agrees with the Bible.

From what we can tell she (Keturah) was a descendent of Shem through Joktan. That would make her of the same blood line as Abraham and Sarah. She is considered to be one of the most ignored significant people in the Bible, ref. Wikipedia. She had at least six sons to Abraham, ancestors to Arabian tribes. There is nothing negative mentioned about her in the Bible.

I guess you could say, that’s the rest of the story. I hope it has made things a little more understandable for you as it has for me. When you think of Keturah-think good. What will the historical records say about you and me?

Comments or questions, contact me at: thoughtsonword@gmail.com.

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Lyndon Stimeling, of Richfield, has been writing about faith and family for many years. He has self-published two books, “Common Thoughts on The Word” in 2016 and “Eye of a Needle” in 2017. He has also had articles published in The Coming Home Journal and local newspapers and has written a children’s book.