Bonus Content from March 14th, 2021

Bonus Content from March 14th (Genesis 23:1-20; 25:1-11)

Below find a response to the question that was texted in this week.

We know Ishmael became a great nation. Did these other sons become great nations? Did they oppose Israel?

This question refers to the sons of Abraham through Keturah, listed in Genesis 25:1-4.

Short answer: we learn only a little more about the nations that came from some of these sons later in the Old Testament. However, the most notable of these sons for the biblical storyline is Midian. Moses marries a Midianite woman (Ex. 2-4). Israel will experience conflict with Midian in the years to come (Num. 31; Jdg. 6-8).

Below find a longer answer from OT scholar Tremper Longman:

We can only speculate about Zimran, but Jokshan fathered two sons, who were the ancestors of the Sabeans and the Dedanites (though the connection between this Semitic Dedan and the descendant of Ham in Gen 10:7 is unclear, see Jer 25:23 – 24; 49:8; Ezek 25:13; 27:20). The descendants of Dedan are said to be the Ashurites, maybe the Assyrians but more likely a smaller tribe, the Letushites, and the Leummites, about which nothing further is known.

Midian, the fourth listed son of Abraham and Keturah is the patronym of the Midianites, a nomadic people who wandered in the Sinai Peninsula and the western wilderness of the Arabian peninsula. His children are considered to be clan heads of the Midianites (see Isa 60:6, which mentions Ephah with Midian [and Sheba]).

Longman III, Tremper. Genesis (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (p. 324). Zondervan.