The Daughters of Keturah (1) Deborah Hurn*
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80 The Testimony, March 2006 Two-part article The daughters of Keturah (1) Deborah Hurn* This two-part article explores the possibil- ity that Zipporah, Achsah, Jael and Abigail Proposed genealogy of Jethro were all of Kenite descent from Keturah, the (With the genealogy of Moses for comparison) slave-wife of Abraham. Closely connected in Abraham Abraham culture and circumstance, they also shared many aspects of trial and attitude. Each and Midian Isaac all of them model unique lessons, particu- larly on how to deal with alienation and Epher? Jacob disadvantage in ecclesial life. (1 Chron. 1:33) ETWEEN THE eras of Abraham and David [Kain/Kinah] Levi we read of five tent-dwelling women who Blived at the fringes of the Promised Land. [Jehallelel (4:16)] Kohath Their stories surface at signal times in Israel’s history, and, as with many people of the Bible, Asarel/Ezrah Amram one event in each life illustrates the whole. When (vv. 16,17) considered alone, some of their stories are brief and obscure, but, as this two-part article shows, Jether/Jethro Moses together their examples form a pattern of ex- hortation to courage and faith during crisis. The Zipporah exhortation of this article is addressed primarily to sisters, but may also be of interest to brethren. ter of Caleb the Kenezite, had a Kenite mother.4 This idea is rooted in the ‘Caleb conundrum’: Kenites all? how could an Edomite, descended from Kenaz,5 Of Keturah,1 Abraham’s concubine, we know rise to prominence as a prince in Judah? The Jews little, and must deduce her origin and guess her end. She bore Abraham six sons, one of whom * Acknowledging Sister Faith Erickson-Gini for research support, and Brother Roger Lewis and Sister Maxine was Midian (Gen. 25:1,2). Jethro the Kenite was a Linden for comments and changes. 2 descendant of Midian (Num. 10:29) and gave his 1. Try saying her name correctly as ‘Ket-oorah’ not ‘Ket- daughter, Zipporah, to be Moses’ wife (Ex. 2:21) yurah’. (see genealogy). Moses’ sister, Miriam, despised 2. We may presume that Midian had a grandson called his “Cushite” wife (Num. 12:1).** Kain or Kinah who was the progenitor of the Ken- In the absence of the mention of any wife or ites. children to Moses other than Zipporah and her ** All Scripture quotations are taken from the RSV unless otherwise indicated. two sons, we may deduce that the Midianites, 3. It is possible that Keturah’s ‘Sheba’ and ‘Dedan’ mar- through Keturah, were descended from Cush, the ried into and took over existing Cushite Arabian tribes son of Ham (Gen. 10:6). As both Cush and Keturah of the same names. This was also the case with the had grandsons called Sheba and Dedan (1 Chron. tribe of Amalek, which predated by many generations 1:9,32), a strong link between them is indicated.3 Amalek the grandson of Esau (see “The Amalekites”, Keturah, therefore, was probably a Cushite, and Part 1, Nov. 2003, p. 423). her children to Abraham became founders of 4. This theory was more fully developed in “Kenezites and Kenites” (Sept. 2005, p. 348). Arabian tribes. The tents of Cushan and Midian 5. Neither Esau’s son Eliphaz nor his grandson Kenaz are mentioned in parallel in Habakkuk 3:7. entered Egypt with Jacob’s family, for they were both The five-strand ‘Keturah’ theme of this article “chiefs” in Edom and dwelt “in the land of their pos- relies on a novel suggestion: that Achsah, daugh- session” (Gen. 36:15,16,43). The Testimony, March 2006 81 seem to hold that the Kenezites, like the Kenites, and [having] no dealings with anyone” (18:7). joined with Israel in the wilderness.6 In that these There, in the picturesque north, water and veg- tribes were neighbours, both in the Negev (Judg. etation in great abundance provided an easy and 1:10-16) and in the Promised Land (Gen. 15:19), aesthetically satisfying lifestyle. The warning for this theory is feasible. us may be this: if the ‘better’ suburbs or the long As Caleb’s family members are the only Kenez- desired ‘acreage’ are so far away that we cannot ites who appear in the record, it may be that Caleb maintain our connections with the ecclesia, we married one of Jethro’s younger daughters and are in danger of making ‘peace with Jabin’. It is joined his household in a similar arrangement to better to subsist with our brethren than prosper that of Moses and Zipporah. He could then have amongst unbelievers. integrated with Israel at Sinai as Moses’ young Abigail could have been of Calebite (Kenezite) brother-in-law and a leader of his adopted Ken- descent like her husband, Nabal (1 Sam. 25:3), ite clan. The Kenites were allocated to the tribe but for the sake of the theme of this article and which led the nation on its march, Judah, and her ‘Bedouin’ sisterhood with Keturah, Zipporah, not to Levi, presumably because of their native Achsah and Jael, I am proposing that she also experience in desert navigation. One year later at was a Kenite, which tribe had close relations Kadesh-barnea, Caleb—faithful, skilled and well with the Kenezites. It seems likely that there connected—would have been an obvious choice was intermarriage among the Kenezites and the to represent Judah as a spy. Kenites because of their shared history and ter- Of Jael’s life and history we also know little ritorial proximity in both Patriarchal and Israelite except that she was married to Heber, one of the times. Kenite descendants of “Hobab the father-in-law In nomadic cultures it has often been the case of Moses” (Judg. 4:11; see panel below). After the that only older men can afford to ‘buy’ and keep Conquest, the Kenites “went up with the people wives, while younger men like Jacob and Moses of Judah . into the wilderness of Judah, which may have wives only ‘on credit’ while they work lies in the Negev near Arad” (1:16). Heber’s off the debt to their fathers-in-law. Keturah, a name recalls ‘community’, but he severed that young woman, was married to a man at least 100 fellowship, moving about as far away from his years old! Othniel was probably between twenty brethren as was possible while still in the Land, and forty years older than his niece Achsah. That and became a ‘companion’ to Canaanites. Nabal was old enough to ‘die of fright’, while We may only speculate about his reasoning. Abigail was as yet not a mother, indicates that Perhaps, like the people of Dan, he sought un- this also was a marriage between an old man allocated territory in a lush environment, where and a young woman. We do not know the de- “they dwelt in security, after the manner of the tails of Heber’s and Jael’s union, but of the five Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking noth- ‘Bedouin’ women, only Zipporah certainly mar- ing that is in the earth, and possessing wealth . ried a ‘young’ man, Moses being forty when he arrived in Midian. Moses’ father-in-law Abigail clearly had been given no choice in her marriage to Nabal, for his ignorance and ar- Judges 4:11 refers to “Hobab the father-in-law rogance are of the type that cannot be disguised to Moses”. Compare this with the reference in for a moment. In cultures where an older wealthy Numbers 10:29 to “Hobab the son of Reuel man could have his pick of the youngest and fair- the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law”. One way est women by offering an exorbitant bride-price, to harmonise these descriptions is to suggest the reluctance of the bride was often overlooked. that “Reuel”, meaning ‘friend or shepherd of El’, In this sense, Abigail was not a free woman, but and used of Jethro in Exodus 2:18, was the a slave, and her life with this objectionable man priestly title of both Jethro and his father, the must have stretched bleakly before her. Some former priest of Midian. Comparing Numbers might dispute that Abigail was a slave, for she 10:29 with Judges 4:11, we may deduce that was Nabal’s wife and mistress of his household. Hobab, meaning ‘cherished’, was also a title, She was, however, owned by him just as surely as possibly secular, used of the chieftain of the clan. Jethro, or Jether (cf. 1 Chron. 4:17), was 6. Shelach: A Case Study in Jewish Leadership, Bayme S., therefore his birth name. posted 23 June 2003, WHF Electronic Beit Midrash, www.wexnerheritage.org. 82 The Testimony, March 2006 any of his servants. In type, Abigail represents us is unrecorded and the place of her burial is un- in our slavery to the “old man of the flesh”, who memorialised. must die before we can be released, and David It is a matter of some speculation as to when represents Christ our Redeemer and rescuer. Abraham ‘married’ Keturah. Hagar bore no more sons to Abraham after Ishmael, so we may assume Fringe-dwellers that she was out of favour until her exile thirteen All five ‘Cushite’ women lived at the fringes of years later. Perhaps Sarah, still not believing that Israel, more or less outside the Promised Land. she would ever have a son of her own, saw the Keturah, with Abraham, was a sojourner, and need to replace her. Keturah’s children, therefore, spent her married life in the wilderness areas may have started to arrive between Ishmael’s and south of Hebron that were later given to the Isaac’s births.