CHAPTER XXV. Ven 5, G.-And Abraham gave all that he had unto Iaaao. I. e. constih1tetl him Ver. 1. -Then again Abraham took a wife, his chief heir, according to previous Divin" -literally, and Abraham added and took a appointment (eh. xv. 4), and made over to w~fd (i. e. n secondary wife, or concubine, him thn bulk of his possessions (eh. xxiv. pilgash; vide vcr. 6 nntl 1 Chron. i. 28, 36). :But unto the sons or the concabines 32) ; but whether after (Kalisch, Lange, (Hagar and Keturah), which Abraham had, Jl,fo_rphy) or before (Calvin, Keil, Alford, Abraham gave gifts, - ''doubtless esta blishe,l Bush) Sarah's death it is impossible to de- them as youthful nomads" (Lange) - and cide-and her name we.s Keturah-" In- sent them away from Isaac his son,-Ish- cense" (Gescuius); probably o. servant in the mao1l's dismissal took place long before (eh. family, as Hagar had been, though not Hagar xxi. 14); probably he then received his por- herself (Targums), whom Abraham had re- tion- • while he yet lived (i. e. during A bra- called after Sarah's death (Lyra), since ver. 6 ham's lifetime), eastward, unto the east speaks of concubines. country (or Arabia in the widest sense; to Ver. 2.-And she bare him (since the the east and south-east of Palestine). patriarch's body at 100 years was practically Ver. 7.-And these are the days of the dead, it is almost certain that his mo.rriage years of Abraham's life which he lived,- with Keturah took place after the renewal of an impressive antl appropriate expression for his powers; and it is easier to suppose that the computation of life (cf. eh. xlvii. 9)- his physical vigour remained for some years an hundred and threescore and fllteen years after Sarah's death thnn that, with his --i. e. 175 years; so that he must have live,[ former experience of concubinage, and his seventy-five years after Isaac's birth an•.l parental joy in the birth of Isanc, he should thirty-eight years after Saro.h's death. "His add a second wife while Sarah lived) Zimran, grandfather lived 148 years, his fatl1er 205, -identified with Zabram, west of Mecca, on his son 180, antl his grandson 147; so that the Red Sea (Knobel, Keil) ; or the Zimareni, his yeo.rs were the full average of that periotl" in the interior of Arabia (Delitzsch, Ko.lisch) (Murphy). -and Jokshan,-the Kassainitre, on the Red Yers. 8-10.-Then Abraho.m gave up the Sea (Knobel); or the Himarytish tribe Ja- ghost (liternll_y, breathed out, sc. tho brcnth kish, in Southern Arabia (Keil)-and Medan, of life), and died in a good old age,-liter- and Mid.ian,-Modiana, on the ee.st of the 11lly, in a good hoary age, i. e. ""ith " Efamitic Gulf, nnd llfadiana, north of this crown of righteousness upon his hoary hen,!" (Rosenmuller, Keil, Knobel)-and Ishbak,- (Hughes)-an old man, and full of years. perhaps preserved in Schobeck, in the land of Literally, and satiated, i. e. satisfictl not lhe E,lomite8 (Knobel, Koil)-and Shuah- merely with life an,l 111! its blessings, bnt for which tho epithet Shuhite (Job ii. 11) with living. The three clauses gi1•e an elc- mnypoint to Northern ldumreo. (Keil, Knobel, vatetl concoption of the patriarch's lifo ns Kolisch). that of one who !1:1d tastetl all tho sweets Ver. 3.-And Joksho.n begat Sheba,-pro- ancl realised o.11 the ends of o. mundane exist- bal.,ly tho So.beans: Job i. 16; vi. 19 (Keil) ence, and who accordingly was ripe nnd rendy -and Dedan-probably the tr,uling people for trnnsition to n higher sphere. And was mentioned in Jcr. xxv. 23 (Keil). And the gathered to his people. An expression sons of Dedan were Asshurim,-who have similnr lo "going to his fathers" (eh. xv. been nssociatcd with tho warlike tribe of the 15, q. v.), nnd to II being gathered to one's Ash-, to tho south of Hejas (Kcil)-and Letu- fathors" (Judges ii. 10). 11 The phrnso is shim,-the Bann l,eits in Hejas (Keil)-and constantly distinguished from depat·ting this Leummim-tho tribo Bann L1im, which ex- life and heing buried, denotes the rennion in tended even to llo.bylon Rntl I\Iesopotamin Sheol with friends who ho.ve gone before, am! (Keil). therefore presupposes faith in the pcrsoun I Ver. 4.-And the sons or Midian; Ephah continmrnce of n mnn nfter death" (Keil). (vide Isa. Ix. 6), and Epher (lleni Ghifor in Abro.hom died in the hooo of o. bettor country, Hejas), and Hanoch (Hanakye, three <lnys even Rn heavenly (Heb. xi. 13-16). And north of Medinah), and Abidab, and Eldaah his sons Isaac and lshmae!-13.'l..'\C ns the -the tribes of Abide nntl VadRR in the neigh- heir t1Lkcs proce,Icnco ; but Ishmael, rnther bourhood of Asir. Keil adtls that all these than tho sons of Keturnh, is associated with identifications nre uncertain. All these were him at his fother's flincrnl; probably becsiusu the children of Keturah-six sons, seven he was not so distant as they from Hebron b'fllntlsons, three grent.grnmlsons; in all six- (Lange), or bc,::ause he was the subject of 11 teen drscrn,hnt~. spr,·i-tl l,lessi11g, which they were not (Keil, 814 nm BOOK OF GENE8IS. [rrt. i.xv. 1-tl
Murphy); or perhaps simply Ishmael and Ver. 11.-And it came to pass after the Isaac uni·;cd ns the eldest sons to perform the death of Abraham, that God - Elohim; last rites to a parent tl1ey revered (Kalisch). whence the preceding section is ascribed to Funerals of parents are reconciliations of the Elohist; but the general name of God is children (eh. xxxv. 29), and differences of here employed because the statement par- con tending religionists are often softened at takes merely of the nature of nu intimation the side of a grave " (W ordsworth)-buried that the Divine blessing descended upon him (vide on eh. xxiii. 19) in the cave of Isaac by inherit.iucc (Hengstenberg), and the Ma.chpelah, in the field of Ephron the son particular blessing of which the historian of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre speaks is not so much the spiritual and (vule on eh. xxiii. 3-20) ; the field which eternal blessings of the covenant, as the Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth (a. material and temporal prosperity with which repetition which augments the importance Isaac, in comparison with other men, was of the statement that Abraham did not sleep enriched (Murphy)--blessed hie son Ieaao; in a borrowed tomb): there was Abraham and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi (vicle buried, and Sarah his wife. eh. xvi. 14; xxiv. 62)