COME AS A CHILD LESSON 137 MOSES HAS A FAMILY REUNION

MOSES HAS A FAMILY REUNION

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Remember that Moses had a father-in-law still living the life of a pagan priest back in Midian? His name was Jethro.  Moses had entrusted his wife and children to Jethro's keeping while he tended to the things that God had commanded him to do.  

Word of mouth travels fast and Jethro heard of how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.   He marveled at all the things that had happened to Moses since leaving Midian. 

Do you remember the details of the Midianites?  The Midianites (Jethro’s people) were descendants of Abraham through his wife Keturah.  They were descendants from her son named Midian.  Remember how Abraham was good to all of these sons by Keturah?  He raised them, but he did not force them to accept his culture.  After they were all grown he sent them off with their portion of the inheritance.  Some suppose this was to protect them from trying to claim any of the intended inheritance of Isaac.  If you need to refresh your memory about the marriage of Abraham to Keturah just follow this link:  ABRAHAM AND KE`TURAH.

Midian was one of these sons  that Abraham “sent off” with his inheritance when he became a man.  After he left Abraham’s home, he settled somewhere near Mount Horeb.  This is the place where his descendants eventually lived and it was Jethro’s homeland.   Midian, being a son of Abraham’s concubine/wife, would have been exposed to the knowledge of Abraham’s God, but he was also friends with Ishmael, who would have influenced him to do things that were contrary to the ways of God.  Ishmael’s influence seems to have won out because the people living in Midian had some very pagan ways. 

The fact that Jethro was a pagan Midian priest probably meant that he would have worshiped Baal Peor and Asherah.  This would not have mattered much to Moses when he first came to Midian; because at that time Moses had not yet experienced the burning bush and encountered The True God.  Moses knew very little of God’s ways when he first came to Midian.  On the contrary; the pagan ways of the Egyptians that Moses had grown up with might have influenced Moses so much that the ways of Jethro, as a Midian priest, would not have seemed so strange. 

The things we know of this fake god called Baal Peor are really disgusting.  I see no good reason to go into great detail here; except to say I definitely understand why God would have been very angry with any worship of such a horrible fake deity.  The practices of the Baal religion were abominable.  Many of the rituals involved perversions and sexual acts before the gods.  The fake goddess, Asherah, was known as the female counterpart to this gross pagan god named Baal.  Her practices were just as disgusting as his; and everything they both did (or were deemed to do - since they were not real) was terribly abominable.  Asherah was said to have worshiped Baal Peor mostly for perverted sexual reasons.  She was known as the fertility goddess of the land.  The practices of the people who worshiped these false gods were sickening and awful to imagine; yet, Jethro, was a pagan priest of Midian; hence it is most likely that he was participating in such things, even though he was described as an honorable and glorious man and in his position as the Priest of Midian; he was well respected.  Strange; but true. 

In those days, just as in the present days in which we live; there were cultures that had no moral compass; and with their religious practices it seemed that “anything goes” was the main mode of worship.  They thought nothing of things godly people of today would find terribly wrong and uncivilized.  Midian was like this; but at the same time it was friendly and welcoming and peaceful; it became the place of refuge for Moses as he ran from Egypt after he murdered the Egyptian.  If you could overlook or not become involved with their religious rites; Midian was probably a peaceful and happy place in which to live.  You could say the same thing about Sodom and Gomorrah too.  Often the most wicked places are hidden among the most peaceful and hospitable places.  That is where we need God's Holy Spirit to give us discernment and guidance.  Moses did not have that luxury when he first came to live in Midian.  

It is even possible that Moses could have participated in the Midian religious practices from time to time.  We do not know for sure.  We do know that the Egyptian culture Moses grew up in was very pagan; so these things of Midian might not have seemed so strange to him at the time.  More than likely, Zipporah, the woman Jethro offered to Moses for a wife, also had pagan ways. 

   
We are told so very little about this Midian wife of Moses.  

I tend to believe that Zipporah came to know God through the stories that Moses brought home to her after his encounter with the burning bush.  None of this is spelled out in the scripture exactly; but the few things that are mentioned about Zipporah suggest that she had become a child of God in spite of her pagan upbringing.  If you need to refresh your memory on some of Zipporah's godly actions; reread the lesson we covered about how she circumcised the first born son of Moses:  HOW ZIPPORAH CAME TO CIRCUMCISE HER FIRST BORN SON,  

Zipporah was definitely a help to Moses following God and not a hindrance, as a few scholars have suggested.  Her obedience at one point actually saved Moses' life.  On that day she had much more spiritual discernment than Moses.  I believe it happened that way because she had converted to the ways of Israel in her heart and had begun to follow God whenever Moses did.  This is merely speculation on my part from the little pieces of the story that are given.  

It is probably shocking for anyone who has grown up hearing all of the wonderful stories of the life of Moses to think of him ever living in this pagan lifestyle of the Midians.   Yet; before Moses met God in the burning bush; he was basically a pagan too.  His blood was Hebrew; but his training was not.  Perhaps the time he was looked after by his own mother disguised as just another Hebrew nurse would have had an effect on Moses; and perhaps that is why he became sympathetic to the plot of his natural family when he learned the truth of his heritage; but, many, many years had passed and all those years were years Moses had lived in pagan cultures.  He basically lived a pagan life for at least 80 years before he met God and began to be taught the proper way to live directly by God.  This fact alone should give hope to many living in our broken world today! 

Keeping all of these things in mind; Moses probably didn’t give much thought to Jethro’s strange religious practices until he encountered The One True God.

After God revealed himself to Moses though; things in his life changed drastically.  Jethro must have been totally confused with the new Moses that evolved from that day forward.  Perhaps the conversion of Zipporah also confused and disappointed Jethro.  What father wants his daughter to change from the way he has raised her?   Who knows how many family relationships were strained after Moses began to learn of the holiness of God and a better way to live.  

These are not really such odd circumstances.  The same such situations are actually happening all the time every where on earth.  People are converted to God and they have a change of heart that produces a change in lifestyle.  They are invited to bloom where they are planted.  If they were converted in an evil and wicked culture; it will not go away just because God choses to bring them to a new understanding.  They must continue to live and function in the old world, though their spirit has been renewed.  Hence; we often find good and evil coexisting simultaneously together; not even being bothered with each other, and carrying on their own private business in their own private ways all the time.  

Even in the Christian cultures of today, there are people quietly living among us who are practicing these same disgusting, abominable religious rites and rituals which give homage to pagan gods and idols just as the Midians did.  We simply never know about these people or even notice them as being different because we are not exposed to that part of their lives.  They see what we believe and they do not share this with us.  On the surface, these people appear to be just like the people who have chosen to follow God.  They appear to be good, honest and humble.  We only see their daily interactions in the world and those interactions seem just the same; good, honorable and noble.  No one sees the hidden pagan practices except those who are actually participating in the rituals.  That is the type of picture I first got of Jethro.  He appeared to be loved and respected by all the people in every way, despite his strange pagan practices.

So we note that except for his weird religious practices; which the culture in Midian had totally accepted as normal; Jethro was considered to be a very sound citizen, one who was charming and wise and loved by all of the people.  He exuded humility and grace in every other way.  He was studious and often joyful and kind and loving toward his neighbors.  He seemed to be a loving and caring father. He had been very good to Moses at a time when Moses needed a friend.

Jethro had treated Moses as a beloved son; thinking he was an Egyptian who would be a good match for his daughter.   Moses had a love and respect for this man; no matter his odd religious practices.  Like so many times when someone converts to Christianity; those who were former friends and relatives are STILL their friends and relatives.  You do not change your relationships when you become a Christian; you simply change your ways and actions within those relationships to something that is more pleasing to God.  You hope your changed actions speak of your love and devotion for God to those who notice the change.  You strive to live in harmony and peace with all people; especially those who have been good to you in the past.  

This seemed to be the case with Moses and Jethro.  Moses did not wish to harm or upset Jethro; yet; I’m sure as time went on Moses was becoming more and more uncomfortable with the way of life in Midian, and the fact that he had married into a family ruled over by a Midian priest.  Moses seemed to be an expert in finding difficult situations in which to live his life!

Obviously, Moses eventually felt that God wanted him to leave Midian, and that had now proved out.  Zipporah’s feelings are not really explained here; but I’m sure she had mixed emotions if she had grown up in the culture of her father and had no other influences toward the ways of God. Her conversion had to be deep in order for her to blindly follow Moses from her home and the ways of her father.  She must have known that she would not be able to bring up her sons in the Midian culture and still live a godly life with Moses.  This was a very sharp turn in the road for her.   We understand how faithful she had become when she circumcises her first born son after Moses neglected this godly act.  It was this very thing that had actually caused Moses to send her and the two boys back home temporarily as he went to Egypt to deliver the people for God.  

Zipporah's faith in God and her love for Moses had to be very strong and it appears that maybe she was tested by being sent back all alone into the culture that her heart had left.  Perhaps God wished to see if she would remain true under all circumstances.   She had the good sense to hold on to the hope of returning to Moses and becoming an Israelite herself.  She remained faithful and choose to take her two sons into this new life with her.  Finally the day had come.  Her father was taking them to meet Moses and she must have been very grateful to God.    

The next thing we hear from the scriptures is the fact that they came to him when Moses was camped near The Mountain of God (Mount Horeb.)  Jethro came to see Moses by traveling through the wilderness bringing Zipporah and Moses' two sons Gershom and Eliezer.  Jethro had sent word ahead that he was coming, and Moses went out to meet them.   This must have been quite a reunion for the little family.  Jethro must have had many emotions running through his heart and his head that day.  He must have realized he might never see his daughter, her husband, or his grandsons after this visit was over.  It seems that in spite of all his pagan ways; Jethro was a compassionate man, putting the concern for others over his own desires.  

When Moses saw his father-in-law coming to greet him with his family in tow; he bowed down before him and kissed him.  This was a customary greeting for family in those days, probably an honorable way for a son-in-law to act to his father-in-law.  At any rate it appeared the two men were very glad to see each other.  

Soon the whole family was gathered into Moses’ tent for a happy reunion.  Can’t you just imagine the dinner conversations between these two men?  Moses must have vividly described the details of all that happened with Pharaoh and how God had delivered them from an impossible situation.  Jethro must have taken it all in with wide-eyed astonishment.  

Moses also must have shared with Jethro the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had sustained them through these troubles every time.  So Jethro would have heard the stories about the Red Sea crossing, the beauty of Elim, the water that was turned from bitter to sweet at Marah, and the water from the rock at Mirabah.  He would have heard how the Israelites defeated the Amalekites through the power of God.  Jethro must have heard the stories of how the Israelites began to receive food called manna from heaven, and how they had learned to keep the Sabbath because of the way God had miraculously given them their daily bread.  He heard of how the quail had been provided when the people complained of having no meat, and he heard of how the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  Jethro must have taken all of this in with amazement.  Surely none of his pagan gods had shown such wonder and might and care for his people! 

I can just imagine Zipporah coming and going with food and water as the two old friends sat at the table and talked just as they had done in days gone by, when Moses was a Shepherd of Midian.  

Zipporah must have been so relieved to be with her husband again, and to have her whole little family in one place under the shelter of his tent.  She must have cherished seeing her husband and her father in deep conversations again.  I wonder how many times Zipporah got caught in the middle of their theological disagreements?  

I can visualize the two young sons of Moses playing nearby, quietly listening to the older men talk of the amazing things that God had done for all of the people of Israel.  They must have missed having their father with them as much as they loved and respected their grandfather.  Perhaps this was the first realization for these young sons that their father and grandfather were very different in their religious beliefs.  Who do you think would carry more weight with them and their thinking as they grew older?  Role models are so important in the formative years of young children.  
  

Jethro was delighted with all of this amazing news that Moses was sharing!  As a priest who related to many gods, (a whole pantheon of them), his first reaction was to give praise to The Lord!  This was certainly a new development!  Jethro KNEW how to worship Moses' God with the same holy actions of Moses; and now Jethro seemed to understand who he should worship and thank for these miracles. His very words were “Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians!"

Moses must have loved hearing such words of praise to God coming from his father-in-law.  

That would not have been so strange for Jethro to do; considering the fact that the Midians believed in plural gods ruling the land.  Perhaps he was simply adding God to his long list of other gods.  This would not work though; God is a jealous God and He does not tolerate His people acknowledging other gods.  

The next thing that Jethro said must have given Moses great hope.  Jethro said “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.”  For the first time in a long time; Moses and Jethro could agree on something religious.  It was a start!

I’m sure it pleased Moses to know that Jethro was finally recognizing how great the True God is.  The end of the sentence speaks for itself though; that part where Jethro says that the LORD is greater than all the OTHER GODS pretty much makes it clear that Jethro still believed in MANY gods; not just the One True God.  That part may have made Moses’ heart skip a beat after being so hopeful.  

I’m sure Moses longed for his father-in-law to come to the saving knowledge of The One True God.  Do you not have people in your life that you love very much that are too blind to see who God really is?  Do you not wish with all of your heart that they would come to know the truth?  We all can identify with this!  We all long for our loved ones to come to know The One True God.

I'm sure that Moses and Zipporah must have prayed often for Jethro's eyes to be opened.  Progress seemed to be happening with Jethro; but the task didn’t yet seem to be complete.  Moses was a humble and a patient man.  He simply waited on God to do His work.  

Some of the old Jewish sages seem to think that Jethro had a total change of heart, that he was so moved by this new realization of God's power that he believed ONLY in God and asked to be circumcised and wanted to became a full fledged Israelite.  This isn’t very likely; but we can always hope.  

I tend to think that Jethro’s eyes were opened part of the way but he never fully made a full commitment to believing in only One True God.  The practice of paganism is very hard to overcome.  We do know that Jethro made a good appearance of worshiping as Moses did.  He brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses and his father-in law in the presence of  God.  

If Jethro did not believe fully in the same way as Moses and Aaron; he showed no evidence of this in their presence.  He respected their beliefs and acted as they did before their God.  He seemed truly grateful and happy to be making these sacrifices of thanksgiving.  

Maybe you know a few people who are like this.  They turn to God when it is the popular thing to do.  They seem sincere, but deep in their hearts they are only following the crowd and doing the popular thing.  They fall away the first time that troubles come and they quickly forget the things they appeared to be thanking God for in the public worship ceremonies.  

The people of God are always patient, humble and kind to such worshipers, simply trusting God to show them the rest of the truth.  In turn the people of Israel, including Aaron as high priest and all the elders of the Israelites, also extended the warm hand of fellowship to Jethro.  Things appeared, on the surface to be okay and in harmony.  Jethro made himself at home among the tents of Moses for a time.

The scriptures do not say; and we are left to wonder if Jethro continued to do his pagan rituals while living with the Israelites.  We do not know what his influence actually was with the people in the congregation.  We do not know if he interjected false teachings into the lives of the men following Moses.  Sometimes these things creep into a work of God, sitting silently, festering and boiling up until they become noticed one day much later.  I suspect that Jethro might have swayed a few against the ways of God and toward the worship of idols.  There is no scripture to back this up; it is strictly my own theory.  Someone influenced the people to do wrong later in this story.  It could have been a combination of factors, or it could have been the influence of Jethro who was wondering through the crowds being his charming self as Moses was tending to business.  Moses was often too busy to be spending time with the family in those days.  It is often in those hours when we are most distracted and busy that the devil comes tip-toeing into the camp; unseen and unnoticed.  He likes to come in through the people that we love and trust; and catch us totally off guard.  

One day, in the usual capacity that he had been following since they left Egypt, Moses went up to serve the people as their judge.  He would sit from sunup till sunset for several days in a row, helping the people solve and resolve their disputes in a godly way.  His father-in-law observed this and noticed that it was “all consuming” and that it was taking all of Moses’ time and energy. 

I had to wonder if Zipporah had complained to her father of her husband always being so busy with tending to the people and other things besides tending to their marriage.   Like any good, concerned father-in-law, Jethro inquired of Moses; asking him why he was doing this and allowing it to take up so much of his time.  

Moses explained that he was simply helping the people to understand God’s will.  Moses must have felt the heavy responsibility of this task and he had not taken it lightly.  

Jethro criticized this practice; not that judgment wasn’t needed; but that Moses was the only one who had to preside over every single case.  Jethro advised Moses to be more of a teacher, continuing to teach the people; but to select men who feared God, who were trustworthy and would not exercise dishonest gain to represent Moses as officers over the thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.  Jethro advised Moses to leave the minor things to these men and only have them bring the very difficult cases before Moses. 

Moses listened to the recommendation of the older man and decided to take this advice.

This was the beginning of an order that Moses would form for governing the people of Israel. God must have looked down on two men beginning to make decisions on their own.  Perhaps he decided the time had come for Him to intervene and give some laws to these people in the wilderness so that they could learn how to live better.  There are a lot of new changes coming of which neither Moses nor Jethro are yet aware.  God has His own timing and it is this timing that usually proves who are truly his people.  Men may try to rule their own way; but God always prevails in the end.  Until Jethro appeared; Moses had been only listening to God.  Perhaps God took Moses aside and pointed this fact out.  The next thing we know; Moses is helping his father-in-law pack his bags and we hear of him sending him back to his own home with a blessing for the journey.  It was time for the little family of Moses and Zipporah to began a whole new way of life.  The more time passed, the closer they came to God.  As they began to live a holy lifestyle the pagan things of the past faded into the background.  They were totally committed to the mission God had given them.    

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 68 HAGAR BECOMES KETURAH

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So, the story hiding within the story is that Abraham married Keturah shortly after Isaac married Rebekah. 

 There is much fascination around the thoughts as to who Keturah really was.  It seems that Abraham was 140 when he married her; that would mean that they were husband and wife for thirty-five years, since Abraham died at a ripe old age of 175.  

We see Keturah mentioned in the scriptures of the Torah as the one Abraham married after Isaac’s wedding, as if she were a whole new person in the story, but many believe she had a past history with Abraham.  Some think she was actually Hagar with a new name. It seems that the Midrash also leans toward the theory that Hagar was Keturah, and her name was changed due to the fine qualities that she had developed over a lifetime of living on her own.
 

One has to stop here to remember that God changed the names of Abraham and Sarah, and it seems highly possible that this would also have been the case with Hagar.  Yet, none of this is explained exactly, so all we can do based on the solid scriptures is speculate.  It is almost as if things were deliberately vague regarding Keturah.  
 

In the questions around Keturah there is also that nagging question of whether or not Abraham actually married and/or divorced Hagar in the first place, or if she was simply a concubine and he just sent her away.

The Midrash teaches that Abraham DID divorce Hagar when he sent her away (which would indicate that he was actually legally married to her also.) It states that as she sat by the well and cried out to God that she demanded for God to look down on her shame and bring her justice.  This same story teaches that God heard her prayer and much later granted her this justice by speaking to Abraham after Sarah’s death and commanding him to take back his divorced wife, Hagar.
 

It is also hinted in the Torah scriptures and repeated in the Midrash that Isaac too actually initiated this action of his father’s remarriage.  The story notes that Isaac, having just married Rebekah, said to himself “I have taken a wife, while my father is without a spouse.  What did he decide to do about this?  He went and brought Keturah to Abraham.  The one who had inadvertently caused them to be separated in the first place, now brought them together again.  

This traditional teaching is based on Genesis 24:62 that reads “Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Be’er-la-hai-ro’i”.  So; many think that it is highly possible that was when Isaac brought Hagar back to live with Abraham again, probably hoping she would keep him company and he would not be so lonely since Sarah had died.  We know that same area is where she had established a life when she left Abraham’s camp, and it was where she had been living for most of her days since her time with Abraham.  It was also where several of her experiences with God had taken place, and where her eyes had been opened, hence how the place had been given its name.  (Genesis 16:14)  A lot had happened to Hagar at this well.  Perhaps Hagar had learned even more by living beside this well than the scriptures tell us.  There seems to be a drastic change between the first woman we knew as Hagar and the woman we meet later named Keturah.  God had done a work in Hagar and this had changed her name.

Let’s ponder this and go a bit deeper with it.  When Abraham sent Hagar

and Ishmael away on the day of Isaac’s weaning, it is certainly very possible that he did give her a certificate of divorce.  Sarah had been very angry and wanted Abraham to be rid of this servant and her son forever.  She wanted it to be legal so there could be no question that Isaac was the only heir of Abraham.
 

Hagar was left alone in the wilderness to care for her son without anyone helping her for years and years.  Some think Abraham had mercy on her and sent her in the direction of the well, knowing that if she found water, she would be saved.  Still, she was lost and on her own without the identity of Abraham's name for years and years.  It is said that he sent help to her, but had promised Sarah that his foot would never step down from his camel on Ishmael’s property.  So when he visited with Ishmael, it was not inside Ishmael’s home.  It was by indirect contact or infrequent face to face encounters for many years.
 

Let’s even take these thoughts about Abraham and Hagar’s divorce a step further and ask another question:  Was this not a very similar situation to the time when God sent Israel away with a divorce and dispersed them into the world and they became lost without any sign of their true identity?
 

God had married Israel at Mt. Sinai on Pentecost when the cloud had settled over the mountain like a wedding canopy. God gave the people His covenant in writing on stone called The Ten Commandments.  Moses, acting in the place of the priest, had written out the marriage certificate, the Ketubah, containing all of the words, and all the people who had cleansed their clothes and consecrated themselves for two days, stood before God on the third day and agreed to this marriage covenant.   

The very first commandment was “thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”  No sooner were the words written down and read  aloud than the people were building and worshiping a golden calf.  They were committing spiritual adultery almost as soon as they took their wedding vows.  How did God chose to handle this?  Though His heart was broken, after many repeated episodes of the same thing, He gave these rebellious people a writ of divorce.  God cannot dwell with pagans.

We read about this in Jeremiah, Chapter 3.  The prophet speaks in parable and allegory to describe all of this.  He speaks of how Israel had been untrue to God by worshiping other gods.  The two parties had created a covenant together of the most serious kind.  It was an extension of the original covenant God had given to Abraham.  
   

A marriage contract is always based on compete faithfulness of both the bride and the groom.  This was a blood covenant.   Moses had built an altar of twelve stones to represent each of the twelve tribes.  He had read the contract aloud and sprinkled the people with half the blood of the sacrifices and poured the other half of the blood on the altar. 

In those days when a blood covenant was made it meant that if one party broke the covenant it was punishable by death (by the shedding of a party of the covenant’s own blood.)  Yet, serious as it was, in no time at all the people had broken the covenant.
   

The words “thou shalt have no other gods before me” were the same as a groom saying to his bride, “You will have no other husband but Me.”  When the people sinned by worshiping the idol of the golden calf, they committed spiritual adultery.  They were untrue to God.  They lost their purity before Him.  This broke the covenant with God and ended the marriage.  At that point, the people were doomed to die for their sin of adultery and rebelliousness.

How odd to think that the God of Heaven had married a harlot, but that was the case with Israel!
 

We could stay within the bounds of our present story and look at Abraham and Hagar and say “How odd that Abraham would have married an Egyptian slave girl who would eventually rebel against his household!  He divorced her and sent her away when she was rebellious against his house.  Hagar and Ishmael had treated Sarah and Isaac grievously.  Her own rebellion had caused her divorce.
 

The story of Hagar and Abraham continues to reflect the story of God and Israel.  It is not the story of Isaac.  Isaac represents the people who did not rebel against God in spiritual adultery.  It is about another son, the son of Hagar who was very different from the son of Sarah.  Ishmael was wild and rebellious.  Ishmael paid no attention to the laws and rules of Abraham’s household even though when he was but a young boy God had given him mercy and saved him beside a wellspring of water.  Ishmael remained rebellious, but it seems that Hagar had begun to change.

Hagar wandered in the circumstances that Abraham had decided for her until she came to rest by a well where God spoke to her and satisfied her thirst as well as the thirst of her son.  This nourishment from the water of the well and the words from heaven to her here in this place made her realize her worth as a child of God.  Miracles can do that for all of us.  Sometimes things just happen that we know were impossible without God’s total intervention, and those things tend to strengthen our belief and help us to hold on until we are spiritually stronger and able to overcome our circumstances.

  

There at the well provided by God, Hagar found her purpose and destiny.  She became the woman that God had intended for her to be all along.  Her circumstances helped her to understand need and suffering.  This developed a trait of compassion and love for others that had not come naturally to her before.  Now that she had known thirst, she shared the precious water from the well with all those passing by, and they maintained life from it and were grateful.  They paid her good wages for this water and Hagar began to support herself and her son from the bounty of the one good thing that God had given them of their own.
 

We all have one thing in our lives that we know is our greatest blessing from

God.  Usually when we become grateful for that one thing and turn it completely over to God, He multiplies that one thing into a way for us to become survivors and over-comers in a hard, cold and uncaring world.  For people of God living in the modern world today, a way to over-come tribulation and survive is critical.  It is a trait we must learn from Hagar.  We must find out and understand how she came to be Keturah.  Keturah was a woman who was prepared to become a bride.
 

God's love gives our hearts the capacity to grow and reach out to those who have even more needs than we do.  In this unselfish act, we begin to find our blessings and we cultivate love.  That is exactly what had happened to Hagar as she waited by the well and tended to her son.  That is the very thing that turned her into Keturah.  She developed compassion and love for all of mankind.  She forgave Sarah and Abraham for putting her into circumstances beyond her control.  She did not question God's destiny for her life any longer, and she began to fulfill the true destiny that God had designed especially for her to be.
 

A whole new woman appeared; one much different than the one that had left the home of Abraham so many years ago.  The change from Hagar to Keturah prepared her to become acceptable as Abraham’s wife again.
 

So it seems that after the death of Sarah Abraham found Hagar again, after many years of not knowing her, and he saw how beautiful she had become, both inside and out.  It was said by the people in the land that her deeds were as pleasant as incense, and that is part of the meaning of her new name.  Where she once had been bitter and harsh Abraham now saw her kind ways.  He saw that she had not neglected her only son, but had raised him to be strong.  He was amazed at the business woman that she had grown to be, smartly buying and trading with the merchants that came and went through the land, always selling them the right to use the water in her well; but always keeping the well for her livelihood.  Some think that she also sold spices to the merchants that she had grown and cultivated in her garden, but the well was her main source of income.  Even her garden was watered by it. 

Let’s not forget – it was Abraham’s well.  He never took it from her, but let her use it freely and this provided a living for her while she was away from him. (Does this remind you of  how God sent The Holy Spirit to His people when Jesus had to go back to Heaven?)  

Hagar/Keturah had become quite wealthy and prosperous, and she had kept herself moral and pure.  She had never even looked in the direction of another man after her relationship with Abraham.  She had very strong strong morals and very high standards.  She had made it on her own, with God’s help.  She had relied on no other man to solve her problems and had risen above her harsh circumstances with dignity and grace.  Abraham recognized this change of character and admired the very valuable woman that she had become.  He saw so many new qualities that had come to take root in her life since the days of the Egyptian slave girl from so long ago.  This totally different woman had a new name.  Hagar was gone.  Now they called her Keturah.  So Abraham remarried Keturah and they had six sons.

  

There is another story about a prophet named Hosea that had an experience with a rebellious wife.  Like Abraham’s marriage to Keturah, his marriage was also a picture of God’s marriage to Israel, only an even better comparison.  

Hosea and Gomer (his wayward wife) had three children.  Gomer went out and committed adultery and eventually she found herself standing in the slave market shamefully waiting to be sold as a slave.  God instructed Hosea to go find her and redeem her.  Hosea did this and redeemed her for fifteen shekels of silver and one-half an omer of barley.
  

In a similar fashion, God instructed Yeshua to go find the lost sheep of Israel and to redeem them.  He did this.  He bought them back from the slave market of sin for thirty shekels of silver and his own flesh and blood.

When we read of the death of Abraham, who died at 175 years old, we see a picture of Isaac and Ishmael burying their father together.  How very strange to know that the two sons who were kept apart during the life of Abraham came together in the death of Abraham.  We had a hint of this reconciliation when Isaac brought Keturah back to Abraham after Sarah died.  Maybe this reconciliation of the two sons came even before Abraham died, perhaps some time after the Akadah?  We do not know exactly when, but now we see two very different men coming together in peace in order to bury their father.

 Some believe that in his old age Abraham had worked very hard to reconcile the two grown men to one another as brothers.  Perhaps as he grew older and older Abraham did not want to die with the thought that the two that he loved most on earth were enemies, and this situation had been partially of his own making; because he had divorced Hagar and separated them.
  

When Isaac and Ishmael come together in grief over losing their father, we are reminded of the split between the tribes of Israel that happened much later in history, where the ten tribes were separated from the two tribes and both groups, once separated. wound up being exiled to different places, with ten tribes totally losing their identity within the family of Israel and only two tribes eventually returning from exile to Jerusalem.
 

Many today believe that one day these two parts of the nation of Israel will rediscover their identity as one family and re-unite in the power of The Holy Spirit under a shared belief that Yeshua is Messiah and the true Son of God.  A day may come where they will honor their Father and become One again. 

We know that it is promised that Yeshua,  like the shadow we see of Isaac in our story, will bring His family together once more; and Israel will again become one with God.  It is a day we all hope and pray for, a day when we will all find the peace of God that has been so elusive for so long.  
  

Will that time be like the time at the end of Abraham's life?  Will it too be a long slow process with many twists and turns?  Will it take that long for two brothers of one Father to become friends again and agree on the truth of their family history?

But wait….God had divorced Israel, at least the scriptures indicate that He divorced all but the tribe of Judah.  How could these two divided pieces of one nation ever reunite again?  It would break God’s own law. 

Abraham was able to remarry Keturah (Hagar who had changed), but she had remained faithful and had not gone after other men.  We know that the reason the lost sheep were divorced from God in the first place was that they were committing spiritual adultery, or they were worshiping idols and using pagan practices in their lives.  God could not endure this, hence the writ of divorce.  

It is said in God’s own law (Deuteronomy 24: 1-4), in the Ketubah that was given at Sinai, the document that contained the ten commandments for all to follow on the wedding day; that a man could not remarry a woman he had divorced if she had been wed to another, even if that person died.  

The only way for God to be able to legally remarry the lost sheep of Israel would be for Him to die, thus ending that part of the covenant.  (A covenant that was broken only ended with the death of one party of the covenant.)   If God died and was resurrected to new life it would then be possible for Him to remarry those of Israel that He had previously divorced.  That is exactly what happened.
 

Wonder of all wonders, there was a way and it was legal!  Romans 7:2-3, written in the words of Paul explains it:

“For a woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives, but if her husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband.”

If the first husband dies, the woman would be free to marry another man, even if she had been married to someone else in the meantime (spiritual adultery.)  We know the first husband of Israel was God, and we know He gave most of Israel a writ of divorce.  We know a portion of Israel has been lost and wandering around in the wilderness of the world for years and years (like Hagar) not even realizing their true identity any more.  We also know the only way that God could legally remarry these “lost sheep” was to die first and then be resurrected to new life.
 

That is just what happened!  This was exactly what took place when God came as Jesus Christ and gave His life on a cross for the redemption of sins.  When that happened the lost ten tribes were legally free to remarry if they chose to do so.  

It was Jesus who died, but Yeshua and God are One, are they not?  God paid for His Bride with His life.  He separated a part of himself to come to earth to live in the flesh so that He might live and die for His Bride, Israel to be made whole again.  

Once Israel is made whole, the Gentiles may also be saved by the atonement of this same precious blood of Christ.  In this act the Son reconciled the Father back to his original wife, and it was completely legal and in keeping with the Law.   The first marriage, the one to Sarah was still in tact, but she had died making it legal for God to marry again.  The second marriage to Hagar had received Sarah's blessing, but it had not been God's will.  It was ended with the death of God and made new through the Resurrection.  Jesus said "I make all things new."  It is still the same Ketubah, or marriage contract with a new and deeper covenant and commitment and now, this time,  the bride has a choice.  She is free, no longer a slave.  She can remarry if she chooses to do so. 

Now the decision is in the former wife’s court.  Will she come back to be reconciled with her husband?  God allows for free will.  Will she work with her first and true love to bring ALL under the cloud of covering, the wedding canopy of God?  Will the Bride chose the Groom and start to prepare herself  for the next wedding?  Two thousand years have ticked off from the clock in order for us to come to the time of this decision.  Is the bride becoming prepared?  Is she ready?  In the first wedding the bride spent two days getting ready, washing her clothes and consecrating herself to meet God.  On the third day the wedding took place.  We are approaching the third day of humanity on this earth after the death of Christ on the cross.  Is the bride ready?  Yeshua is going to return!

Yes, it is true that Yeshua came to bring ALL men to God, but He came FIRST

to the lost sheep of Israel.  Until God’s household was in order again the whole family could not be complete and legal.  Because Israel had sinned and caused a divorce to happen Yeshua now had to die to make this remarriage possible.  He has now been resurrected into new life, and He is waiting on his Bride to be ready.

Do you see how much of this story is like the story of Abraham and Hagar/Keturah?  They had already been married once before and were divorced.  Hagar was sent away never to return. Things looked pretty hopeless.  Hagar had gone back to Egypt and back to her old pagan ways for a while, but these things had died in her heart because she had seen the truth right there beside the well and she knew of God.  She remembered how she had lived  in God's ways with Abraham’s house under the covenant blessings, and she once again decided on her own accord to return to the ways of God in her life; only this time she kept God’s laws from within her heart instead of just because that was the proper thing for a servant to do in Abraham’s house.  She was free to make a choice and she made the RIGHT choice.  This is what turned her into Keturah!  This is what made her ready to be reunited with her husband.   

It was like God had been preparing her heart to be re-united with her former husband all along.  His son initiated this and encouraged their reconciliation.  Once the father was again happily married the son could go on with his life and live out the purposes that God had planned for him.
    

This is just a small portion of all the essence of what is contained in the few small paragraphs of scripture that we know of Abraham’s remarriage to Keturah.  Perhaps we will hear of them again later as we now go back and continue to study the love story of Rebekah and Isaac.  Whether we do or not, just know that Abraham died a happy man having lived a fulfilling life before God.  

We hear that at the end of his life Abraham came with the fullness of his days and was gathered to his people.  How many times do you hear of such a happy ending?   And the best part of all is that Abraham's ending, just like any child of God, was only his new beginning in eternity.