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Keturah

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For other uses, seeKeturah (disambiguation).

Keturah
The wives and sons ofAbraham,with Keturah standing at the far right with her six sons. From the 1630VeniceHaggadah.
In-universe information
SpouseAbraham
ChildrenZimran(son)
Jokshan(son)
Medan(son)
Midian(son)
Ishbak(son)
Shuah(son)
RelativesSheba(grandson)
Dedan(grandson)
Ephah(grandson)
Epher(grandson)
Enoch(grandson)
Abida(grandson)
Eldaah(grandson)
Asshurim(great-grandson)
Letushim(great-grandson)
Leummim(great-grandson)
Sarah(half sister-in-law)
Nahor(brother-in-law)
Haran(brother-in-law)
Terah(father-in-law)

Keturah(Hebrew:קְטוּרָה,Qəṭūrā,possibly meaning "incense";[1]Arabic:قطورة) was a wife[2]and aconcubine[3]of theBiblical patriarchAbraham.According to theBook of Genesis,Abraham married Keturah after the death of his first wife,Sarah.Abraham and Keturah had six sons.[2]According to Jewish tradition, she was a descendant ofNoah's sonJapheth.[4]

One modern commentator on theHebrew Biblehas called Keturah "the most ignored significant person in theTorah".[5]The medieval Jewish commentatorRashi,and some previous rabbinical commentators, related a traditional belief that Keturah was the same person asHagar,although this idea cannot be found in the biblical text.[5]However, Hagar was Sarah's Egyptian maidservant.[6]

Sources

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Keturah is mentioned in two passages of theHebrew Bible:in theBook of Genesis[2]and in theFirst Book of Chronicles.[3]Additionally, she is mentioned inAntiquities of the Jewsby the 1st-centuryRomano-JewishhistorianJosephus,[7]in theTalmud,theMidrash,theTargumon the Torah, theGenesis Rabbah,and various other writings ofJewish theologians and philosophers.[8]

Louis Feldmanhas said "Josephus records evidence of the prolific non-Jewish polymathAlexander Polyhistor,who in turn cites the historianCleodemus Malchus,who states that two of the sons of Abraham by Keturah joinedHeracles' campaign in Africa, and that Heracles, without doubt the greatest Greek hero of them all, married the daughter of one of them. "[9]

According to Doctor of Anthropology Paula M. McNutt, it is generally recognized that there is nothing specific in the biblical traditions recorded in Genesis, including those regarding Abraham and his family, that can be definitively related to known history in or aroundCanaanin the early second millennium B.C.E.[10]

Relationship with Abraham

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Keturah is referred to in Genesis as "another wife" of Abraham[2](Hebrew:אִשָּה‎‎Translit.:'išāhTranslated:woman, wife[11]). In First Chronicles, she is called Abraham's "concubine"[3](Hebrew:פִּילֶגֶשׁ‎‎Translit.:pilegešTranslated:concubine[12]).

According to one opinion in the midrashic work Genesis Rabbah, Keturah and Hagar are names for the same person, whom Abraham remarried after initially expelling.[13]This opinion was adopted and popularized by 11th-century scholarRashi.[5][14]Possible justifications for this opinion include the fact that Keturah is referred to1 Chronicles 1:32as Abraham's concubine (in the singular),[15]and several other verses which suggest that the descendants of Hagar and Keturah lived in the same territory or formed a single ethnic group.[16]However, this idea was rejected by another rabbi in Genesis Rabbah,[13]as well as by traditional commentators such asIbn Ezra,Nahmanides,andRashbam.[5]TheBook of Jubileesalso supports the conclusion that Keturah and Hagar were two different people, by stating that Abraham waited until after Hagar's death before marrying Keturah.[17]According to modern scholarRichard Elliott Friedman,the identification of Keturah with Hagar has "no basis... in the text".[5]

Genesis Rabbah interprets the name Keturah in accordance with the opinion that she was identical to Hagar: the name was said to be related to the Aramaicketur(knot) to imply that she was "bound" and did not have sexual relations with anyone else from the time she left Abraham until her return.[18][19]The name Keturah was alternatively said to be derived from theketoret(meaning "incense" in Hebrew).

Descendants

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Keturah bore Abraham six sons:Zimran,Jokshan,Medan,Midian,Ishbak,andShuah.Genesis and First Chronicles also list seven of her grandsons (Sheba,Dedan,Ephah,Epher,Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah).[2][3]Genesis records that Abraham gave them gifts and sent them to the East, while makingIsaacson of Sarah his primary heir. Keturah's sons were said to have represented the Arab tribes who lived south and east ofIsrael(Genesis 25:1–6).[20]According to theJudeanauthorsJosephusand Malchus,Punicpeople were descended from Epher.[21]

According to the African(Igbo) writerOlaudah Equiano,the 18th-century English theologianJohn Gillbelieved theAfrican peoplewere descended from Abraham and Keturah.[22][relevant?]According to theBaháʼíauthor John Able, Baháʼís consider their founder,Bahá'u'lláh,to have been "descended doubly, from both Abraham and Sarah, and separately from Abraham and Keturah."[23]

References

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  1. ^Schloen, J. David. "Caravans, Kenites, and Casus Belli: Enmity and Alliance in the Song of Deborah."The Catholic Biblical Quarterly,vol. 55, no. 1, 1993, pp. 18–38. JSTOR, jstor.org/stable/43721140.
  2. ^abcdeGenesis 25:1–4(1917Jewish Publication Society of Americatranslation). "And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah...."
  3. ^abcd1 Chronicles 1:32–33(1917Jewish Publication Society of Americatranslation). "And the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine...."
  4. ^https:// encyclopedia /religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/keturah[bare URL]
  5. ^abcdeFriedman, Richard Elliott (2001).Commentary on the Torah.New York, NY: HarperCollins. p. 85.ISBN0-06-062561-9.Keturah.The most ignored significant person in the Torah. Rashi follows an old rabbinic idea that she is Hagar. But there is no basis for this in the text, and other traditional commentators reject it (Ibn Ezra, Ramban, Rashbam).
  6. ^"Genesis 16:1".sefaria.org.Retrieved2024-01-19.
  7. ^Flavius Josephus (1930).Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Books I–IV.Thackeray, H. St. J. (translator).London:William Heinemann Ltd. p. 117 (book 1, ch. 15, para. 238).Abraham afterwards married Katura, by whom he had six sons....
  8. ^Harris, Maurice (1901).The Talmud Midrashim and Kabbala.M. Walter Dunne. p. 241.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-07-09.Retrieved2016-11-03.Rashi supposes that Keturah was one and the same with Hagar—so the Midrash, the Targum Yerushalmi, and that of Jonathan.... but Aben Ezra and most of the commentators contend that Keturah and Hagar are two distinct persons....
  9. ^Feldman, Louis H. (1998).Josephus's Interpretation of the Bible.University of California Press. p. 134.ISBN9780520208537.Archivedfrom the original on 9 July 2021.Retrieved25 August2019.
  10. ^McNutt, Paula M. (1999).Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel.Westminster John Knox Press. p. 41.ISBN978-0-664-22265-9.Archivedfrom the original on 2016-12-07.Retrieved2017-06-28.
  11. ^Strong's Concordance,Hebrew word #376.
  12. ^Strong's Concordance,Hebrew word #6370.
  13. ^abGenesis Rabbah 61:4
  14. ^Rashi, Genesis 25:1
  15. ^Singer, Isidore; Adler, Cyrus, eds. (1907)."Keturah".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York, New York: Funk & Wagnalls.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-01-23.Retrieved2015-01-23.
  16. ^1 Chronicles 5:18–20refers to "Hagrites" (descendants of Hagar?) who later lived in the same region that was known to be inhabited by the descendants of Keturah. Also, inGenesis 37the "Medanites" (apparently descended from Keturah) and "Ishmaelites" (descended from Hagar) appear to be interchangeable. Also, inJudges 8:22–24the "Midianites" (descended from Keturah ") and" Ishmaelites "appear to be interchangeable. SeeYaakov Medan,Ki Karov Elecha: Breishit,p.195
  17. ^Jubilees 19:11.Singer, Isidore; Adler, Cyrus, eds. (1907)."Jubilees, Book of".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York, New York: Funk & Wagnalls.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-12-23.Retrieved2014-12-28.
  18. ^Singer, Isidore; Adler, Cyrus, eds. (1907)."Hagar".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York, New York: Funk & Wagnalls.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-01-23.Retrieved2015-01-23.
  19. ^Neusner, Jacob (1985).Genesis Rabbah: The Judaic Commentary to the Book of Genesis: A New American Translation.Vol. 2. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press. pp. 334–335 (section 61:4).ISBN0-89130-933-0.'Abraham took another wife'... R. Judah said, 'This refers to Hagar.'
  20. ^Orr, James, ed. (1915)."Keturah".International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.Chicago: Howard-Severance Co.Archivedfrom the original on 24 September 2018.Retrieved21 September2018.
  21. ^Stuckenbruck, Loren T.; Gurtner, Daniel M. (2019-12-26).T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism Volume Two.Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 145.ISBN978-0-567-66093-0.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-01-30.Retrieved2021-12-11.
  22. ^Equiano, Olaudah(1995).The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings.Penguin Books. p. 44.ISBN0-14-243716-6.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-07-09.Retrieved2020-12-31.
  23. ^Able, John (2011).Apocalypse Secrets: Baha'i Interpretation of the Book of Revelation.McLean, Virginia: John Able Books Ltd. p. 219.ISBN978-0-9702847-5-4.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-07-23.Retrieved2020-12-31.
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