Gen 25:1
Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah.: Strange that in 1Ch 1:32, Keturah is noted as Abraham's concubine. Couple this with Gen 25:6 and color me shocked! This means Abraham had tons of wives and wasn't faithful to Sarah, right? That doesn't seem likely. In the story of Abraham and Hagar, Abraham doesn't even consider Hagar after the birth of Ishmael. He certainly doesn't refer to her as a wife, even though scripture calls her his wife. And calling Keturah a concubine seems to relay his devotion to Sarah, as the wife of the child of promise. Yes, Abraham and Sarah sinned in what they did with Hagar, but it doesn't appear that it happened again.
Gen 25:2
And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.: All we know of Zimran is that he's the eldest son. The name Jokshan should be familiar because he fathered Sheba and Dedan. We know of those names because of Eze 38:13, concerning the future Gog/Magog invasion of Israel. Medan is unknown. The Midianites were a tribe that lived in northern Arabia, but vanished. Midian is the place that Moses flees to after killing the Egyptian. Nothing is known of Ishbak. Shuah may have been the father of the Shuhites, of whom Bildad, one of Job's friends (Job 2:11), was from.
Gen 25:3
Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.: Sheba was probably the founder of the Sabeans, who lived in Southern Arabia. They were spice traders, and their queen visited Solomon, bringing gold, spices and precious stones (1Ki 10:1-13). Dedan settled in Syria, around Edom. Nothing is known of Asshurim. Nothing is known of Letushim. And nothing is known of Leummim.
Gen 25:4
And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.: Midian was where Moses fled after killling the Egyptian (Exo 2:15). The Midianites were defeated by Gideon (Jdg 7:1-25). Not much is known of any of the sons of Midian.
Gen 25:5
And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.: He made Isaac the heir of his household. He was to carry on the family, leading it into the future.
Gen 25:6
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.: The east country is Arabia. Soudi Arabia can be traced back to them, specifically Sheba and Dedan, the sons of Jokshan. He only gave gifts to these children, but he gave Isaac the inheritance. Isaac was the son of promise.
Gen 25:7
This is the sum of the years of Abraham's life which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years.: This particular verse used to confuse me because it seemed to contradict God's statement in Gen 6:3. The way I read that statement, it seemed that God meant that man would only live 120 years. However, that was an incorrect way of reading it. It simply meant that in 120 years, the flood would come. So Abraham living here to 175 makes sense. Isaac was 75. Seems like people just lived longer in those days. It could also be that Abraham was physically restored by God. Who knows?
Gen 25:8
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 led a good life, and was ready to move on. "Gathered to his people," seems to mean that he would go to Sheol, in the side of Abraham's Bosom (Luk 16:19-31), where the people destined for eternity in Heaven went before Jesus.
Gen 25:9
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,: It's nice to see that Isaac and Ishmael were reconciled. The cave of Machpelah was the cave that Abraham purchased as the family plot (Gen 23:9), where Sarah was buried.
Gen 25:10
the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife.: This is the reminder of the story of Abraham purchasing the cave of Machpelah.
Gen 25:11
And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi.: The promises of God followed to Isaac, as promised. We'll learn more of Isaac soon, but since promises were also made concerning Ishmael, Moses moves on to give a brief record of the descendents of Ishmael. I do find it interesting that Isaac would live at the well where Hagar, Ismael's mother, received the promise. However, before he died, Abraham had sent his other children to Arabia (Gen 25:6). I don't think it means anything, but it is interesting.
Gen 25:12
Now this is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's maidservant, bore to Abraham.: This story was written down by Moses in Gen 16:1-15. One of my favorite sites has a good summary of the story.
Gen 25:13
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,: Nebajoth is possibly the father of the people who made the carved cities in Petra. They were the Nabathaeans. Link to nebajoth in Smith's Bible Dictionary. Kedar means dark-skinned, and they were attacked by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 49:28-29). These people of Kedar really fulfilled God's promise that Ishmael's descendents would be wild men (Gen 16:12). Well, we can actually see the promise fulfilled in our day too. The muslims claim to be sons of Ishmael and look at the strife they're causing all over the world. Nothing of significance is recorded of Abdeel or Mibsam that I could find.
Gen 25:14
Mishma, Dumah, Massa,: There isn't much recorded about either of these three, other than they founded tribes. Only Dumah has history, but from what I found, even that history isn't certain.
Gen 25:15
Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.: Hadar could be the same as mentioned in Gen 36:39. Tema is mentioned in Job (Job 6:19), Jeremiah (Jer 25:23), and Isaiah (Isa 21:13-14), and in modern times, there's an Arab town named Teima which is beleived to be the same town. Jetur is also called Ituraea, and is mentioned in Luk 3:1. In 1Ch 5:19 we learn that Israel went to war with them, and Naphish. Apparently, Jetur and Naphish lived together and were pastoral people, raising camels, sheep and donkeys. Not much is known of Kedemah.
Gen 25:16
These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations.: So we know that their names are recorded by Moses as "princes according to their nations." So even though we don't have records of the nations that they founded in a lot of cases, they did originally form their own nations.
Gen 25:17
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.: Ishmael lived 48 years after Abraham died. "Gathered to his people," could mean that he went to Abraham's bosom, but I don't know. It does seem that way though.
Gen 25:18
(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.: Here's a map of this.
Gen 25:19
This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot Isaac.: Isaac is now the focus because he's the child of promise. We learned about the descendents of Ishmael earlier, who had his own promise that we see playing out today in Islam through the world-wide havoc they cause. Ishmael's lineage would be summed up as a wild donkey (Gen 16:12), uncontrollable and untamable, fighting everyone. Very fitting for what we see today all over the world.
Gen 25:20
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.: Again here, we have it confirmed that Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel. So there was something very strange about the family structure because when Eliezar the servant of Abraham was sent to find a wife for Isaac, Bethuel is only mentioned briefly, with Laban conducting the transaction. Bethuel agreed that the thing was of God, but that's all you hear of him. My guess is that he was probably bed ridden, or had passed the responsibilities onto Laban by then. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't involved. Padan Aram was somewhere along the border between modern Turkey and Syria. I took a screenshot of the Google map from that page:
Gen 25:21
Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.: She was barren for nearly 20 years. Perhaps this was another test? The LORD had promised Abraham that Issac would have descendents (Gen 17:19). I'm not sure who Murphy is/was, but I saw this in something he wrote about the verse, "The heir of promise was to be a child of prayer." Once Isaac prayed for his wife to have a baby, she was given a baby.
Gen 25:22
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.: This is an amazing video of the development of a child in the womb. It's got to be distressing with the two of them trying to get comfortable and fighting over that little space. It's not as modern science tries to tell us. They're little humans in the womb, not just some clumps of cells. But Rebekah does the right thing and brings her questions to the LORD.
Gen 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.": The response is a prophecy that would be fulfilled through the descendents of her two children. These two nations were the Edomites and the Israelites, and later, this prophecy that the older shall serve the younger was fulfilled when Israel (when David was king) conquered Edom (2Sa 8:13).
Gen 25:24
So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb.: So, this is a partial fulfillment of God's prophecy. She did have twins.
Gen 25:25
And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.: This is pretty funny. Esau means hairy. I wonder if this is where the modern name of Harry came from...
Gen 25:26
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.: Easton Bible Dictionary defines the mean of the name Jacob as "One who follows on another's heels; supplanter." They were likely born at Beer-Lahoi-Roi. The NET translation notes add that the negative connotation wasn't immediate, but added by Esau later, probably because of his deceitfulness.
Gen 25:27
So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.: Esau and Jacob couldn't be more different. Esau was a man of action, a hunter, while Jacob was God-fearing. The description of a mild man concerning Jacob has a connotation of a perfect, blameless man. This description is in the eyes of God, not humans, simply because Jacob was deceitful. God has always counted the faithful as blameless. Nothing in that regard has changed, even under the new covenant established by Jesus. The sacrifices required faith, not just action. Our following of Jesus requires faith, not just action. Funny how faith and action are tied together though. Faith produces action which is valued by God, but action without faith produces nothing of value in the eyes of God, but is admirable in the eyes of humanity.
Gen 25:28
And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.: Sad. We all know parents should love their children equally, but this is a fallen world. There are traits admired by different people, usually those traits that we ourselves wish we had. Jacob was mild-mannered, while Rebekah was brash. Esau was a man of action, while Isaac was mild-mannered.
Gen 25:29
Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.: This story of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew really shows what kind of person he was. He didn't care for his birthright, and only thought of the here and now. It's really a strange story because we have no cultural ties to it here in the US. All possessions are passed down by a will.
This stew was probably some kind of lentil stew. The NET translation notes say that there is a deliberate play on words based on how they sound. "The verb “cook” is זִיד (zid), which sounds like the word for “hunter” (צַיִד, tsayid). This is deliberate, for the hunter becomes the hunted in this story. The word זִיד means “to cook, to boil,” but by the sound play with צַיִד it comes to mean “set a trap by cooking.” The usage of the word shows that it can also have the connotation of acting presumptuously (as in boiling over). This too may be a comment on the scene."
Gen 25:30
And Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary." Therefore his name was called Edom.: When Esau was born, he was red and hairy, but he was named hairy. If he was named red, he would have been named Edom. After this incident, he gained the nickname Edom, meaning red, because he sold his birthright for red stew, which he wouldn't even name.
Gen 25:31
But Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright as of this day.": First, what does this even mean? Why is this significant? According to GotQuesions, the birthright included passing on the family responsibilities and the father's authority. It also included a double portion of the allotment received by the other sons, and the succession to the throne. As Christians, we need to focus on our inheritence, and not give it away for something worldly. Indeed, we should be willing to lose everything to retain the only thing of real importance, our salvation in hopes of spending eternity with Jesus. I think this is the significance of this story. We have to safeguard our inheritance, the gift from Jesus of salvation.
Gen 25:32
And Esau said, "Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?": Really? About to die? I've seen starving people, and they couldn't barely move. Esau surely wasn't about to die. He just didn't care about the birthright.
Gen 25:33
Then Jacob said, "Swear to me as of this day." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.: Esau agrees to sell his birthright for the bowl of stew, and swears it. This really sounds ludicrous to me. Esau just didn't care. However, this is also dispicable behavior on the part of Jacob. How could he do this to his brother? It's terrible on both sides.
Gen 25:34
And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.: And this sealed the deal. Esau simply didn't care about the divine nature of this birthright. He made light of it instead. God had promised that He would make Isaac's descendents flourish, but Esau paid God no attention.
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