Genesis 25:1-18
The Death of Abraham and the Blessing of Isaac

  1. The Un-Choosing of Abraham's Other Descendants
    1. Abraham's Descendants by Keturah (1-6)
      1. How is this possible? (v. 1)
        1. After Abraham has fallen on his face and laughed at the idea of having Isaac at age 100, he takes another wife and has not one or two but 7 children?
        2. No, this part of the story happened earlier, long before Sarah was dead or Abraham was too old to have children.
        3. Verse 1, in Hebrew, can be read, "Now Abraham had taken another woman, and her name was Keturah."
      2. Why not mention it at the time?
        1. Because the Bible presents historical events in thematic rather than chronological order.
        2. We saw this from the very beginning, with the order of the days of Creation. That was God, letting us know at the start how he was going to tell this history.
        3. And we see it in the fact that Abraham dies in this chapter, when Jacob and Esau aren't born until the next.
          1. Huh?
          2. Let's do the math
            • Birth of Isaac - Abraham is 100 (Gen 21.5)
            • Death of Abraham - Abraham is 175 (Gen 25.7)
            • Birth of Jacob and Esau - Isaac is 60 (Gen 25:26)
            • Conclusion: Abraham lived for 15 years after the birth of Jacob and Esau
          3. But it's more important thematically to the Holy Spirit to tell you about Abraham, then about Isaac, then about Jacob and Esau.
      3. Why bring it up now?
        1. To show that Abraham did not falter in his faith until the end.
        2. Although he had other children upon whom to bestow blessing and inheritance, he saved it all for Isaac.
      4. Keturah, by the way, is not really a wife but a concubine like Hagar (v. 6)
      5. Abraham's descendants by Keturah are mostly obscure
        1. They aren't the promised seed
        2. There's no need to follow their story
        3. Isaac is the one in whom Abraham's seed will be called. (explain)
      6. But occasionally a name pops up about whom we know something.
      7. Midian
        1. Midianites become traders, moving between Gilead and Egypt, outside the promised land
        2. Jacob's sons will one day sell their brother Joseph to Midianite slave traders who will take him to Egypt
        3. Moses will marry a Midianite woman and be greatly helped by his father-in-law, a Midianite.
        4. But the Midianites will also lead Israel astray during the Exodus and the Israelites will worship false gods because of the Midianites.
        5. Because of this God will declare a special hatred against the Midianites
          1. He will command Moses to engage in a holy war against them
          2. This war will continue for 2 centuries or more until the Midianites are decisively defeated by Israel under Gideon in the time of the judges.
          3. This defeat will become legendary, with the prophet Isaiah twice referring to it centuries later
          4. Isaiah 9:4 - For the yoke of their [Israel's] burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
          5. Isaiah 10.26 - The LORD of hosts will wield a whip against them [the Assyrians], as when he struck Midian
        6. Not an auspicious history.
        7. The seed of Abraham is Isaac only and his descendants will war against these false descendants of Abraham. (Though they are truly descended from his flesh; yet God does not regard that.)
      8. Dedan, Abraham's grandson by Jokshan (v. 3) fares no better. Jeremiah 25.18ff. calls the nation that came from him "an object of hissing and cursing" along with Egypt, the Philistines, and an assortment of other heathen and Canaanite nations. Such company!
      9. Sheba, another grandson by Jokshan, comes off a little better
        1. Sheba becomes a rich nation
        2. The Queen of Sheba visits King Solomon in Israel to bring him gifts and marvel at his wisdom
        3. But even then she returns to her home … outside the Promised Land.
      10. These children are not the seed concerning whom God made promises
      11. And Abraham recognizes that.
      12. None of these children receive any part of the inheritance
        1. Abraham doesn't make the same mistake with them that he did with Ishmael
        2. He gives them gifts and sends them away
          1. while he was still living, to make sure it is done and they don't stick around to trouble Isaac, the true and only seed
          2. He sends them "away from Isaac his son" (6)
          3. Such faith! To send one's own children away.
          4. Let goods and kindred go.
        3. He sends them "eastward … to the country of the east" (6)
          1. We've seen this motion eastward before
            • Adam and Eve
            • Cain
            • The people of Babel
            • Eastward is away from God
          2. And Abraham was brought back from the east, back to the presence of God
            • So he warned his servant in the last chapter on no account to take Isaac back there
            • Isaac belongs here, with God
          3. But these others he sends away
            • God has said nothing concerning them
            • They are not those who will stand in the presence of God
          4. Again, such faith!
        4. But to Isaac, he gives it all (5)
          1. He believes the promises of God concerning Isaac.
          2. He doesn't try to divide his loyalty
          3. Isaac must be the sole inheritor.
    2. Abraham's Descendants by Ishmael (12-18)
      1. We bring up Ishmael briefly again
      2. Here we see that Abraham did not falter in his faith concerning this most precious son (apart from Isaac)
        1. He sent Ishmael away and does not bring him back
        2. Ishmael returned to bury his father (9)
        3. But he left again to die outside the Promised Land (17,18)
      3. Ishmael has twelve sons who become rich and famous
        1. 12 princes, 12 nations (16)
        2. They continue to this day, the various Arabic peoples of the Middle East
        3. The nations mentioned dwell on the fringes of the Promised Land, getting mentioned here and there in Scripture.
        4. They are successful as the world counts success
        5. But in God's plan, they are nothing, outcasts like their father, occasional irritants to the true people of God.
      4. For all their wealth and fame, they don't have what truly matters
      5. So they disappear from this story for the most part and we follow Isaac.
  2. The Death of Abraham and Singling Out of Isaac (7-11)
    1. Abraham Dies in Faith (7-10)
      1. We have noted that Abraham lived in faith; now we see how he dies.
      2. He dies at a good old age, full of years
        1. Or "satisfied," might be a better translation for "full of years"
        2. God has blessed him and he is content with what God has done
        3. After all his years of fighting with the Lord and trying to do things his own way … at the end he is finally, completely, contentedly, submissive to the will of God.
        4. May we all die like this.
        5. And seeking to die like this, may we all live this way as well.
      3. He is buried in the Promised Land
        1. In the cave he had already purchased to bury Sarah (10)
        2. To the end, he has faith in God that this place will be given to his seed, and to the seed of Isaac.
        3. And so he is buried in this place as a sign of that faith, just as he buried Sarah there for that reason.
      4. But still he dies
        1. He dies in faith, not having received what was promised, but having looked at those promises as one far off. (Heb 11.13)
        2. God had promise an everlasting covenant to Abraham's seed, to Isaac.
        3. How can Abraham benefit from this if he is dead?
        4. He dies in faith that his death is not the final word.
        5. He knows that his redeemer lives and that he shall stand at the last day upon the earth.
        6. Christ, the true seed of Abraham, must come and fulfill the everlasting covenant so that Abraham and you and I may rise again to true life (which does not end) in the true promised land in the true presence of the living God.
        7. Abraham dies in faith waiting for the appearance of that seed.
        8. How much more may you and I die in faith when the Seed has been put to death and raised, never to die again?
    2. Isaac Inherits the Blessing (11)
      1. So far we've heard about God promising to bless Isaac.
      2. And we've heard about Abraham giving Isaac the inheritance in faith that God would fulfill this promise
      3. Abraham died in that faith; it wasn't until after his death that God actually blessed Isaac.
      4. All of Abraham's work would have been for nothing without that
        1. He could not compel the blessing of God if God did not wish to give it.
        2. (Isaac will find this out later when he wants to bless Esau, his eldest)
        3. So all his actions were in faith that God would be true to his word.
        4. If God had not been true, Abraham would have been of all men most miserable.
      5. But God now officially passes the blessing from Abraham to Isaac and we begin to follow Isaac's story.
        1. Abraham's faith is vindicated!
        2. His rejection of his other children was not mean-spirited but a faithful following of the word of God
        3. And now God, who did not bless any of Abraham's other children, singles out Isaac. God blesses Isaac, and Isaac alone.
      6. And Isaac dwells at Beer Lahai Roi
        1. Do you remember where that is?
          1. Abraham went into Hagar at Sarah's request and she conceived
          2. So Hagar mocked Sarah and Sarah made Abraham kick her out
          3. It was at Beer-lahai-roi that God spoke to her and told her she would bear a son and that she should return to Abraham
          4. So it's a place really connected with Abraham's other major son, Ishmael
        2. But now, even Ishmael's place belongs to Isaac
        3. Isaac has inherited the whole land
        4. And he dwells there as a sign that he is like Abraham in his faith (and unlike Ishmael who has departed)
      7. It is like the singling out of Christ
        1. (And of course Isaac is a type of Christ)
        2. Only Christ has inherited the blessing from God.
        3. Only he has been counted worthy to enter into God's kingdom
          1. We read Ps. 24:1-6 as the Law
          2. Hear the rest of it, for it speaks of Christ!
        4. Only of Christ does God say, "You are my Son, Today I have begotten you."
      8. Forget Abraham's other children! They are nothing! Come kiss the Son and bow down before him and share in his inheritance.
      9. Even if you are like the children of Keturah or Ishmael, sent far away because by birth you have no inheritance.
      10. This is not the end of their story.
        1. Abraham sends them away, rejected
        2. But the gospel will reach a fuller glory one day!
        3. God twice told Abraham that in him all the families, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
          1. Can we then leave these Ishmaelite nations and these children of Keturah outside the Promised Land?
          2. Bring them back!
          3. Bring them, not as those who will compete for the inheritance with Isaac or with Isaac's greater Son
          4. Bring them as those who will kiss the Son and bow before him and receive freely from him the inheritance of heaven itself!
  3. The Coming of Christ and Abraham's Other Children
    1. Isaiah's Prophecy (Isaiah 60:1-7)
      1. Who is being addressed here?
        1. Zion, Israel, Jerusalem … the Church
        2. This is a prophecy of all the nations of the world streaming into Israel to worship Israel's God
        3. It is a prophecy of what will happen in the Church
      2. Do you hear those names, especially in verses 6 and 7?
        1. Camels from Midian and Ephah (son and grandson of Abraham by Keturah) - Now God is not really concerned with camels is he?
        2. Everyone from Sheba (grandson of Abraham by Keturah) returns to Zion, becomes part of the Church
        3. The flocks of Kedar and the rams of Nebaioth (the first two sons of Ishmael) shall come to you and minister to you (instead of working against you) and they shall be acceptable on my altar.
        4. Again, God is not concerned with sheep and rams, is he?
      3. So the glory of the gospel is represented as these outcasts returning.
      4. Those who left the Promised Land, who had no covenant with God, who made their home in this world.
      5. The sons of Keturah and the sons of Ishmael, streaming back into the Promised Land as those redeemed.
      6. Having narrowed the entire blessing of God down to a single seed, Christ, the blessing is expanded in him to the ends of the earth.
    2. The Prophecy Fulfilled in Christ
      1. This is exactly what Christ came to do, to call all these outcasts back, to give them the inheritance they forfeited by their own sin and sinfulness.
      2. For no one deserves the inheritance. Not even Abraham or Isaac. Only Christ.
      3. We are all like sheep who have gone astray, we are all like the rejected children who didn't even know enough to fall at Abraham's knees and say, "Please! Make me Isaac's slave, only let me stay in the land of God's blessing and covenant."
      4. And in Christ the Lord has mercy on us all.
      5. In Christ this prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled.
      6. He himself reiterated this promise
        1. He blessed the Roman centurion and said: "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11"And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."
        2. These sons have not been cast off forever. For all who have faith in Christ may inherit with Abraham and Isaac.
      7. And so when he was raised again, he told his Jewish apostles, go make disciples of all nations!
        1. And so they did.
        2. Beginning in Jerusalem, they went throughout Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth.
        3. This prophecy is still being fulfilled; it is that glorious!
        4. Arabs, the descendants of Ishmael, have become like Isaac the blessed son, through faith in Christ.
        5. Descendants of Keturah, wherever they are, come to Christ and are not rejected!
        6. Those who have less right than the sons of Keturah and Ishmael to be called children of Abraham are becoming his children by faith in Christ.

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