Scripture Daily

Context No. 1386 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 25:1-11: in context

1Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. 2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, 6but 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. 7These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years. 8Abraham gave up his spirit, and died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 9Isaac 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, 10the field which Abraham purchased from the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. 11After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi.

The account of Abraham's life comes to its close. He takes another wife, Keturah, and has more sons, to whom he gives gifts while sending them eastward, but he gives all he has to Isaac, the son of the promise. Then Abraham dies, at a hundred and seventy-five years, an old man, full of years, and is gathered to his people. And in a quiet, striking detail, his two sons Isaac and Ishmael, long separated since Ishmael and his mother were sent away, come together to bury their father in the cave of Machpelah, beside Sarah. After Abraham's death, God blesses Isaac.

Two gentle notes close Abraham's story. The first is that he died full of years, an old man gathered to his people, a life complete. It is a picture of a good death, not cut short or embittered, but full, the natural end of a life that had walked with God through decades of promise and testing. To die full of years, one's life brought to its appointed fullness, is a kind of blessing, and it is how Abraham's long journey ends. The second note is quieter and more touching: Isaac and Ishmael, the two half-brothers, buried their father together. These were sons long divided; Ishmael and Hagar had been sent away, and the brothers had grown up apart, the one the child of promise and the other the child sent off. Yet at their father's grave they stood side by side, reunited by the death of the man who was father to them both. There is something quietly hopeful in that, the way a shared loss can draw estranged family back together, the way the grave can be a place of reconciliation. Old divisions do not always have the last word; here two long-separated brothers came together to do their father honor, and for that moment the breach between them was bridged. A good death, full of years, and a small reconciliation at the graveside: it is a gentle ending to a long and eventful life.

Can I hope, as Abraham's sons show, that old divisions need not have the last word, and that even a shared loss might draw estranged family back together, and do I long for the kind of full, completed life that ends gathered to one's people in peace?

Sources