Keturah

Keturah
The wives and sons of Abraham, with Keturah standing at the far right with her six sons. From the 1630 Venice Haggadah.
In-universe information
SpouseAbraham
ChildrenZimran (son)
Jokshan (son)
Medan (son)
Midian (son)
Ishbak (son)
Shuah (son)
RelativesSheba (grandson)
Dedan (grandson)
Ephah (grandson)
Epher (grandson)
Enoch (grandson)
Abida (grandson)
Eldaah (grandson)
Asshurim (great-grandson)
Letushim (great-grandson)
Leummim (great-grandson)
Sarah (half sister-in-law)
Nahor (brother-in-law)
Haran (brother-in-law)
Terah (father-in-law)

Keturah (Hebrew: קְטוּרָה, Qəṭūrā, possibly meaning "incense";[1] Arabic: قطورة) was a wife[2] and a concubine[3] of the Biblical patriarch Abraham. According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham married Keturah after the death of his first wife, Sarah. Abraham and Keturah had six sons.[2] According to Jewish tradition, she was a descendant of Noah's son Japheth.[4]

One modern commentator on the Hebrew Bible has called Keturah "the most ignored significant person in the Torah".[5] The medieval Jewish commentator Rashi, and some previous rabbinical commentators, related a traditional belief that Keturah was the same person as Hagar, although this idea cannot be found in the biblical text.[5] However, Hagar was Sarah's Egyptian maidservant.[6]

  1. ^ Schloen, J. David. "Caravans, Kenites, and Casus Belli: Enmity and Alliance in the Song of Deborah." The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, vol. 55, no. 1, 1993, pp. 18–38. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43721140.
  2. ^ a b Genesis 25:1–4 (1917 Jewish Publication Society of America translation). "And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah...."
  3. ^ 1 Chronicles 1:32–33 (1917 Jewish Publication Society of America translation). "And the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine...."
  4. ^ https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/keturah [bare URL]
  5. ^ a b Friedman, Richard Elliott (2001). Commentary on the Torah. New York, NY: HarperCollins. p. 85. ISBN 0-06-062561-9. Keturah. The most ignored significant person in the Torah. Rashi follows an old rabbinic idea that she is Hagar. But there is no basis for this in the text, and other traditional commentators reject it (Ibn Ezra, Ramban, Rashbam).
  6. ^ "Genesis 16:1". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-01-19.