Genesis 25:1-18--The Death of Abraham and the Family of Ishmael

Genesis 25:1-18
World English Bible

25 Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, 6 but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of Abraham’s concubines. While he still lived, he sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward, to the east country. 7 These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years. 8 Abraham gave up his spirit, and died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 9 Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is near Mamre, 10 the field which Abraham purchased from the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. 11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi.

12 Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. 13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations. 17 These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up his spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. 18 They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.

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Two parts of the Genesis narrative come to an end in today's passage.  We have reached the end of the story of Abraham (note that as we go into the story of Isaac a bit more, Abraham is still alive for some of those events).  It is also the end of the story of Ishmael as we are given the genealogy of his family and, as we mentioned in the beginning of Genesis, this is our indication that we are passing from one scene with one main character to the next scene with a different main character.  With the death of Abraham, Ishmael and his family will become minor characters in the play and will no longer be front and center with the conflict of if Abraham would try to favor his firstborn son Ishmael, or if he would show favor to the promised son Isaac.

We don't talk much about this passage when we speak of Abraham, but there are many other Abrahamic peoples besides the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael.  In fact, Abraham took another wife after Sarah, named Keturah, and she bore him six additional sons who were all princes of other Abrahamic peoples:  Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.  We know very little about them outside of their names in this passage.

Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac (including his servant that we talked about in the last passage), but he only gave gifts to the children of his concubines.  While he was still alive, he sent all his children other than Isaac to the east out of the Promised Land, because Isaac was the only one who was to possess the Land (this also included Ishmael, who wandered in the eastern wilderness and became the father to the Arab peoples whose name means "nomads" or "wanderers.").

The only thing that I want to say about the generations of Ishmael is that the LORD kept His promise to make a great nation out of Ishmael as Abraham requested, but it would not be the line through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed.  That blessing resided with Isaac and then Jacob after him, as we'll see the LORD renew the covenant with each of them throughout the book of Genesis.  Ishmael became the father of twelve nations (people groups).  As the Bible does not primarily follow his family, it is hard to say what happened to each of these people groups and who got absorbed into which kingdom/empires as they swept across the region and who still exists but by different names.  All of the "Arab" peoples claim relation to Ishmael, but it is uncertain how many actually are--it is much easier for instance to tell with a combination of genetic testing and vital records that someone is Jewish and we can even tell which of the tribes of Israel they belong to.  The same cannot be said for the children of Ishmael who seem to have turned into twelve lost kingdoms.

One final point. This should help show why the wars that we see in the Middle East are so different from the ones we see other places around the world.  It is not about land and border disputes or fights over resources or simply that one side is mad at the other side and wants to "bloody their nose" a bit to satisfy their pride.  No, these are long-fought battles that stem back to Abraham giving all that he owned to Isaac and everyone else being jealous of that and trying to take what doesn't belong to them.  There is no peace that will ever be made between these rival families unless Jesus changes them to make them love each other.  However, the only way true and lasting peace is going to come is when Jesus comes back and destroys all the wicked who threated HIs people, Israel.  Then, and only then will this family feud end and Israel will no longer be surrounded on every side by people who wish to destroy and devour her, but instead by the Gentile believers who will pay tribute to her and protect her (though she will need no protection).