Abraham’s death
25
📚Then again Abraham took a wife. Her name was Keturah.25:1 Keturah means “incense”.⚜
2 📚And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 📚And Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 📚And the sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
5 📚But Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. 6 📚But to the sons of the concubines 📖 whom Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward, to the east country.
7 📚And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life: he lived a hundred and seventy-five years.
25:7 Abraham lived 38 years after the death of his first wife.⚜
8 📚Then Abraham expired, dying in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people 📖. 9 📚And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre, 10 📚the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth 📖. Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there.
25:9-10 See Gen 23:17-18.⚜
11 📚And it came about after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived by the well Lahai Roi.
Ishmael’s descendants
12 📚Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bore to Abraham; 13 📚these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth, and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 📚Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 📚Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 📚These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their camps, twelve princes according to their nations. 17 📚And these were the years of the life of Ishmael: a hundred and thirty-seven years, and he expired. He died and was gathered to his people. 18 📚And they lived from Havilah to Shur, that is east of Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He died in the presence of all his brothers.
25:18 Many present-day Arabs claim descent from Ishmael.⚜
Birth of Jacob and Esau
19 📚And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begot Isaac. 20 📚And Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-Aram 📖, the sister of Laban the Syrian.
21 📚And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren 📖. And his prayer 📖 was accepted by the LORD, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 📚And the children struggled together in her, and she said, “If it is so, why am I like this?” And she went to ask the LORD.
23 📚And the LORD said to her, “Two nations 📖 are in your womb, and two kinds of people will be separated from your body; and the one people will be stronger than the other people, and the older will serve the younger 📖”.
24 And when her days to give birth were fulfilled, indeed there were twins 📖 in her womb. 25 📚And the first came out red, like a hairy garment all over. And they called his name Esau.
25:25 Esau means “hairy”.⚜
26 📚And after that his brother came out, his hand holding on to Esau’s heel. And his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
25:26 Jacob means “he grasps the heel”. This signified a person who is a “supplanter” or “deceiver”.⚜
Esau sells his birthright to Jacob
27 📚And the boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the open field 📖, but Jacob was a quiet man, staying in tents. 28 📚And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 📚And Jacob was boiling some soup 📖, and Esau came from the field, and he was weary. 30 📚And Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me eat some of that red soup, for I’m worn out”. Therefore his name was called Edom.
25:30 Edom means “red”.⚜
31 And Jacob said, “Sell me 📖 this day your birthright 📖”.
32 📚And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die, and so what good will this birthright do me?”
33 📚And Jacob said, “Swear to me this day”, and he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 📚Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil soup, and he ate and drank, and got up and went his way. Thus Esau despised 📖 his birthright.
25:32-34 Esau was not about to die. It was simply that he cared nothing for the promises of God, and for his birthright which made him the heir of those promises. He was a mere worldly man without faith and saw no reason to sacrifice a present pleasure for a future good. Like many today his god was his belly (Phil 3:19). He is described in Heb 12:16-17. Jacob in many ways was an unspiritual man and was willing to take advantage of his brother. He should of course simply have fed him without asking anything for it. Later, in chapter 27, he was willing to deceive his father to get what he wanted. But with all his faults he had a true faith in God which made him value God’s promised blessings. Faith is exceedingly important in God’s sight – Gen 15:6; Heb 11:6; 1 John 5:10; Ps 78:21-22; Hab 2:4; Matt 17:20; 21:21-22; Mark 9:23; 11:24; John 3:36.⚜