Keturah the Hittite Wife of Abraham
Sarah died at the age of 127, Abraham was 137 years old at the time. He lived for another 38 years that proved to be his most productive.
Following their son Isaac's marriage to Rebekah (Genesis 25:20), Abraham married Keturah, and went onto having six additional sons from her. (Genesis 25:1)
Rabbis describe her as a woman of virtue, for which she was worthy of being joined to Abraham.
The medieval Jewish commentator 'Rashi,' and previous Rabbinical commentators, related a traditional belief that Keturah was the same person as Hagar, Ishmael's mother, although this idea cannot be found in any Biblical texts.
According to modern scholar Richard Elliott Friedman, the identification of Keturah with Hagar has "no basis”.
Jewish tradition has it that, Keturah was a descendant of Noah's son Japheth, ‘save and except’ that, the sons of 'Japheth' lived in Asia Minor, towards the coastal lands of the Black, Aegean, and Caspian Sea; whereas, the sons of 'Ham' towards Africa and adjoining parts of Asia (Egypt); and the sons of 'Shem' in the Levant (Canaan).
Deductive reasoning has it that, with Abraham living among the Hittites for almost 100 years, he would have for easier bond intermarried.
Thus, one modern commentator on the Hebrew Bible has called Keturah "the most ignored significant person in the Torah".
Case and point, Keturah is simply referred to in Genesis as "another wife" of Abraham. In First Chronicles, she is even called Abraham's "concubine"…
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Food for thought!
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